The South Carolina men's and women's basketball teams signed a total of three top 30 ranked players in the 2026 recruitment class, according to ESPN.
The early signing period for college basketball opened up on Nov. 12, allowing any player who had verbally committed to a school or held a scholarship offer is able to sign a letter of intent to the university. The early signing period will close Nov. 19 and reopen again on April 15.
The women’s basketball team added two players, five-star forward Kaeli Wynn from Santa Ana, California, and four-star forward Kelsi Andrews from Hazel Green, Alabama.
Andrews committed to the Gamecocks on Oct. 7. She also held offers from LSU, Auburn, Mississippi State and Virginia. Andrews is the No. 18 overall player in the class of 2026 according to ESPN and will play her last year of high school basketball at IMG Academy in Florida.
The past season at IMG, her team won the high school national championship. She also has won gold medals in the 2024 FIBA U17 World Cup, as well as the 2023 FIBA U16 Americas Championship.
“She can shoot it. She's very efficient in the paint,” head coach Dawn Staley said. "We're getting a really good player that's used to playing great competition and used to winning.”
Wynn, ranked as the No. 17 player in the class of 2026 according to ESPN, recently committed to South Carolina on Nov. 10, picking the Gamecocks over Stanford. Both Michigan State and Texas Tech also offered scholarships as well.
In her junior season, Wynn averaged 17 points and 7.1 rebounds for Mater Dei High School. Her team ended up losing in the regional semifinals in the CIF State Girls Basketball Championships.
Wynn announced her commitment to the Gamecocks after she called Staley following a practice on Nov 10.
“I was like, 'She's going to Stanford,'” Staley said. “I felt the energy in the text message. And then for real, I was really surprised. I did not think she was coming. She surprised me.”
South Carolina is still in contention for several other players, most notably, five-star guard Jerzy Robinson. The Gamecocks are also still targeting forwards Fope Ayo and Sara Okeke.
South Carolina has had a top five recruiting class in each of the past three seasons. For the 2024-25 season, the Gamecocks also had 10 former McDonald’s All-Americans before adding two more this past offseason in freshman guards Ayla McDowell and Agot Makeer.
FILE — Men's basketball head coach Lamont Paris speaks to his bench during South Carolina's game against the Texas Longhorns on Feb. 22, 2025, at Colonial Life Arena. Paris was the head coach at Chattanooga for five years before starting at South Carolina in 2022.
The men’s basketball team signed four-star guard Marcus Johnson from Cleveland, Ohio. Johnson is the cousin of redshirt senior guard Meechie Johnson.
Marcus Johnson committed to the Gamecocks on Nov. 13 and is ranked as the No. 28 player in the class of 2026 according to ESPN. He also had offers from Alabama, Ohio State and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
In his junior year, Marcus Johnson averaged 29.2 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game. He was named the 2025 Ohio Mr. Basketball, the same award his father won when he played in high school.
Back in April 2024, Marcus Johnson committed to Ohio State. He remained committed to the Buckeyes for over a year until he decommitted on Oct. 27, 2025.
Head coach Lamont Paris praised Marcus Johnson for his ability to attack the basket while also having the potential to be an effective on-ball defender.
Johnson is now the fourth-highest rated prospect to commit to the Gamecocks in the 21st century according to 247Sports. This also gives Paris his fifth recruit ranked as a four-star prospect or higher in his tenure as head coach, all of which were inside the top 10 in highest-rated prospects.
Both sophomore guard Cam Scott and freshman guard Eli Ellis were four stars and members of the 2025-26 roster. The other two players are current NBA players Collin Murray-Boyles and GG Jackson II. Jackson plays for the Memphis Grizzlies and Murrary-Boyles is a member of the Toronto Raptors.