South Carolina basketball fan favorite Olivia Thompson shares plan for her next steps
Fan favorite Olivia Thompson doesn’t want to say goodbye to the South Carolina women’s basketball program just yet.
Which makes her next chapter that much smoother.
Thompson, a four-year player who was part of three Final Fours and a national championship team at USC, said she’ll spend her summer traveling before transitioning into a newly created job at i3, a Lexington-based family wealth management company.
Not only will that give her a logical role where she can use her psychology degree, but it’ll keep her close — physically close — to the program that gave Thompson a college experience she described as “nothing short of perfect.”
By working in her hometown of Lexington, Thompson will remain a stone’s throw away from Columbia and Colonial Life Arena, her de facto home over the past four seasons.
“It definitely makes me feel a whole lot better about leaving, knowing that I’m this close to the university and that I’ll be able to just come whenever I want and pop my head and say hello,” Thompson said.
And, while nothing’s imminent, don’t rule out Thompson returning to the Gamecocks in a graduate assistant role or some other capacity under coach Dawn Staley down the line.
“I haven’t really thought about it, but potentially,” she said. “I told Coach that I was interested in doing something with the team. So I do want to stay involved. I mean, it’s hard to say goodbye to this. It’s been some of the most special years of my life.”
Thompson — who spoke with reporters after a ring ceremony for South Carolina student-athletes in early May — formally graduated from the university May 6 at Colonial Life Arena, a fitting location to put a formal cap on the career of one of USC’s more popular players.
An all-state player at Lexington High School, Thompson turned down scholarship offers from smaller colleges to commit to USC as a walk-on in Staley’s 2019 recruiting class.
Top recruits Aliyah Boston, Zia Cooke, Laeticia Amihere and Brea Beal later joined Thompson in that group, which ranked No. 1 nationally and assumed the nickname “The Freshies.”
In their four seasons with the Gamecocks, those players went 129-9 overall and 61-3 against SEC opponents while spending two seasons as the AP’s wire-to-wire No. 1 team, winning three SEC regular season and tournament championships apiece, appearing in three Final Fours and beating UConn for the national championship — South Carolina’s second — in 2022.
While Boston became the most statistically decorated player in program history and Cooke, Amihere and Beal also thrived — all four players were selected in last month’s WNBA Draft — Thompson occupied a different role from the start.
She averaged 1.0 point and 3.9 minutes per game in 80 career appearances, operating exclusively in a reserve role while developing into a prominent voice in the locker room. Staley awarded Thompson a full scholarship in summer 2020 ahead of her sophomore year.
“She’s an amazing coach and an amazing person,” Thompson said of Staley.
When Thompson subbed into games, she had free rein to let it fly — and as a record-breaking 3-point shooter in high school, she sent Colonial Life Arena into quite a few frenzies (including once during her final game there, in the NCAA Tournament second round this season).
Thompson also played two early minutes and took two 3-pointers in USC’s season-ending loss to Iowa in the Final Four in March, which spoiled what could’ve been a undefeated championship repeat season for the ultimately 36-1 Gamecocks.
Thompson had a fifth year of eligibility available to her due to the coronavirus pandemic but decided against using it at USC or anywhere else. With graduation behind her, she said she’ll visit Europe, the Grand Canyon and the Turks and Caicos Islands over the next few months.
“I’m going to be enjoying my summer,” she said with a laugh. “We don’t really get to do that (as student-athletes). It’s four weeks after school ends, and then we’ve got to come back. … So I’m gonna be enjoying that thoroughly.”
From there, it’s on to i3, where she’ll work in a newly created role for a local company that’s been providing families with financial portfolio and wealth management services since 2007.
“I’m really excited to get my foot in the door with that,” she said.
And she’ll do it with fond memories of her time as a Gamecock — and the peace of mind knowing that her second home is a short drive away.
“Just having this program in my home state and having the opportunity to come here and compete and learn and graduate, it’s amazing,” Thompson said. “I mean, it’s been nothing shy of perfect. I’m just super grateful.”
This story was originally published May 9, 2023 at 9:00 AM.
