A look at USC women’s hoops’ history of roster retention in transfer portal era
In the Wild West age of college athletics, it’s become commonplace for coaches in any sport to have to deal with roster turnover due to the transfer portal.
Some coaches thrive off the chaos and have found success in constantly flipping rosters. Others have found success by adding a player or two from the portal while keeping their roster mostly intact from year to year.
South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley is the perfect example of the latter.
For the first time in five years Staley won’t have to deal with losing a player to the transfer portal. The window for women’s basketball players to enter the portal closed Monday night and not a single member of South Carolina’s team has entered.
South Carolina was one of 14 teams in the country to not have a player enter the transfer portal, according to On3’s tracker. Of those teams, two played in the 2026 national championship game (UCLA and South Carolina) and the other 12 are mid-major programs.
While Staley and the Gamecocks didn’t lose anyone to the portal, they did add to their 2026-27 roster. Texas guard Jordan Lee announced her intentions to transfer to South Carolina late last week.
South Carolina’s history of portal defectors
Staley has a better track record than most when it comes to players deciding to enter the transfer portal and leave her program.
South Carolina has lost an average of just over one player to the transfer portal since its inception in 2018.
This year marks the third time since the 2018-19 season (the first after the portal was created) that Staley hasn’t lost anyone to the portal. The other two times were in back-to-back seasons in 2019-20 and 2020-21. It’s a testament to the winning program Staley has built at USC. Staley would probably aptly call it Uncommon Favor.
South Carolina has seen at least one player enter the transfer portal after the conclusion of four of the last five seasons. Four Gamecocks left after the 2021-22 season, two left after the 2024-25 season and just one left after the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, respectively.
In all, South Carolina has had just 11 players leave since the portal was created in 2018. Staley has never lost more than three players to the portal in a given season.
That may seem like a lot, but in the grand scheme of things it’s hardly any. For context, Pittsburgh saw 13 players enter the transfer portal this year alone, per On3’s tracker. Granted, the Panthers are dealing with a coaching change but the point still stands: South Carolina rarely loses multiple players to the portal.
Here’s a list of who the Gamecocks have lost after any given season since the transfer portal was created:
- 2018-19: LaDazhia Williams, Bianca Jackson and Te’a Cooper
- 2019-20: Nobody
- 2020-21: Nobody
- 2021-22: Elysa Wesolek, Eniya Russell, Saniya Rivers, Destiny Littleton
- 2022-23: Talaysia Cooper
- 2023-24: Sahnya Jah
- 2024-25: MiLaysia Fulwiley, Sakima Walker
- 2025-26: Nobody
How it compares to other teams this year
South Carolina is certainly one of the outliers of the transfer portal age. Several schools are having to deal with losing almost its entire roster year in and year out.
This season, South Carolina is the lone SEC team to not lose a single player to the transfer portal.
Schools that underwent coaching changes this offseason — like Alabama, Florida and Georgia — have dealt with the most roster turnover. And some schools coming off rough seasons, like Tennessee, are looking for a near complete re-tool of their rosters as well.
Generally speaking, teams that finished in the top half of the SEC standings have done a better job at retaining players. The biggest surprises come with LSU and Texas both losing both players to the transfer portal.
Here’s a look at the number of players from each SEC team who have entered the transfer portal, per On3’s tracker. Note: compliance has a 48-hour window to officially enter a player’s name into the portal. These numbers may change slightly after Monday’s deadline.
- 1) Florida – 10
- 2) Arkansas – 9
- 3) Georgia – 9
- 4) Tennessee – 8
- 5) Alabama – 7
- 6) Mississippi State - 6
- 7) Missouri – 5
- 8) Auburn – 4
- 9) LSU – 4
- 10) Texas – 4
- 11) Kentucky – 3
- 12) Ole Miss – 3
- 13) Texas A&M – 2
- 14) Vanderbilt – 2
- 15) Oklahoma – 1
- 16) South Carolina – 0
Losing players to the portal is not unique to the SEC. Other title contenders lost players around the country.
UConn, Duke, Notre Dame and TCU all made at least the Elite Eight in the 2026 NCAA Tournament. The Fighting Irish lost one player to the portal, the Huskies and Blue Devils both lost two and the Horned Frogs lost four.
