USC’s No. 1 recruiting class from 2019 looks to turn its trials into another title
Brea Beal remembers speaking to the media for the first time at South Carolina with the other recruits in her class, with the then-new Gamecocks wearing matching collared shirts with patterned garnet stripes and the team’s logo sitting on the left side.
“It was us as little tiny freshmen,” Beal told The State. “It was kind of adorable to look back and see us and how far we’ve grown.”
The 2019 Gamecocks recruiting class was the best nationally among women’s college basketball, as the program signed Beal, Aliyah Boston, Zia Cooke, Laeticia Amihere and Olivia Thompson. Three of those players — Boston, Cooke and Beal — were McDonald’s All-Americans.
A 2022 national championship win followed a disappointing Final Four loss from the year before, and the group’s first season together ended early because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now in their last year together, they hope to get back to the top.
“We want to chase that feeling of winning a national championship again,” Thompson said. “Having that feeling, you don’t want to lose it. You want to hold onto it as much as you can.”
The group has matured over time on the court, as adversity persisted throughout their first three years. The 2019 class’ success as a group was punctuated by its title run last season, and the Gamecocks enter this year as the team to beat.
South Carolina was unanimously voted the preseason No. 1 team in the Associated Press Top 25, a spot they held didn’t relinquish all of last season.
USC is 93-8 since the arrival of the 2019 class.
“Each time we step on the floor, whoever we’re playing is coming for us,” Boston said.
Dawn Staley after the team’s first preseason practice said the Gamecocks had established “championship behavior.”
USC won a first title in 2017, two years before getting the class that would play a big role in guiding it to its next championship.
Now, the team’s seniors are passing along that behavior to the younger players.
The 2022-23 team is littered with McDonald’s All-Americans and five-star recruits. But the adjustment to playing college basketball shows occasionally, as the young Gamecocks experience peaks and valleys in practice.
Boston said she notices the work the freshmen are putting in and makes sure to offer her support.
“All you have to do is continue to encourage them,” Boston said. “You see that they are continuing to get better each time they step on the floor.”
The team was driven by its loss in the 2021 Final Four to win its latest championship, and now they’re looking toward a repeat. In order to do that, the team doesn’t want to dwell on past achievements, but rather set its sights on defending the title.
“It’s past us,” Cooke said. “We did it, love it, but we gotta move on. We have another chapter in life that we have to make sure we close the way we want to close it.”
Some of the Gamecocks have ventured deep into the name, image and likeness space, which took off after the 2019 class arrived.
The team announced in September that each player was “offered the opportunity” to make $25,000 or more through NIL partnerships in the 2022-23 school year. Prior to that, some of the players had their own off-court deals, with Boston and Cooke leading the way.
Through NIL, Beal said she taught herself some of the language used in various contracts when exploring business ventures.
“I really applaud myself for going through and actually learning those big, uncomfortable words,” Beal said. “I think it really sets you up, especially for the future.”
South Carolina’s 2019 class has endured its share of pitfalls and triumphs — and with one more year, the journey continues.
The veteran group has come a long way from where it started. They’ll look to help pass on the program’s championship pedigree to the team’s new players.
“It’s crazy. Now they’re the freshman class, and it was just us,” Boston said.
This story was originally published October 20, 2022 at 8:50 AM.
