South Carolina Basketball (Women's)

South Carolina was the unanimous pick to lead the preseason Associated Press Top 25 poll ahead of the 2022-23 women's college basketball campaign.

The defending-champion Gamecocks collected all 30 first-place votes. Head coach Dawn Staley told the AP's Doug Feinberg that No. 1 "is where we wanted to be and envisioned for our program."

"I got to give it to our players," she said. "We constantly get some of the best players in the country. They put us in this position, as they work extremely hard. I don't know if they come in and say, 'I want to be the No. 1 team in the country,' but they do say they want to be national champions. This is a step to being a national champion."

Stanford, Texas, Iowa and Tennessee round out the top five.

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AP Preseason Top 25 Poll

1. South Carolina 
2. Stanford 
3. Texas 
4. Iowa 
5. Tennessee 
6. Connecticut 
7. Louisville 
8. Iowa State 
9. Notre Dame 
10. North Carolina State 
11. Indiana 
12. North Carolina 
13. Virginia Tech 
14. Ohio State 
15. Oklahoma 
16. LSU 
17. Maryland 
18. Baylor 
19. Arizona 
20. Oregon 
21. Creighton 
22. Nebraska 
23. South Dakota State 
24. Princeton
25. Michigan

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The Gamecocks aren't totally running it back from last year, with Destanni Henderson now plying her trade in the WNBA. But the bulk of a roster responsible for a 35-2 record in 2021-22 is returning.

No star shines brighter than Aliyah Boston. The 6'5" forward averaged 16.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 2.4 blocks en route to winning every major individual award. Zia Cooke, who averaged 10.7 points and 1.7 assists, will help to shoulder some of the playmaking burden following Henderson's departure.

Staley also reloaded by bringing in Georgia Tech transfer Kierra Fletcher, who dished out 3.7 assists per game in her final year with the Yellow Jackets. Incoming freshmen Ashlyn Watkins and Talaysia Cooper were the Nos. 12 and 18 players, respectively in HoopGurlz's 2022 rankings, too.

The Cardinal, meanwhile, are poised to make a third straight Final Four run and potentially lift their second title in three years. Head coach Tara VanDerveer supplemented a roster that already included Haley Jones and Cameron Brink with Lauren Betts, the No. 1 recruit in the country.

South Carolina and Stanford meet on Nov. 20 in Palo Alto, California, in a game that could further cement the Gamecocks' hold as the early season championship favorite.

Feinberg noted this is the first year since 2006 that UConn didn't earn a top-five preseason ranking, and that's partially because of Paige Bueckers' torn ACL. Still, the Huskies landed a pair of 5-star recruits in Ayanna Patterson and Ice Brady to help fill the void left by Evina Westbrook, Christyn Williams and Olivia Nelson-Ododa.

Fresh off winning a national championship, players for the South Carolina women's basketball team can make $25,000 each for the 2022-23 season through a name, image and likeness deal.

According to a release from NOCAP Sports, the deal was orchestrated by South Carolina NIL collective Garnet Trust and NOCAP Sports and is funded by former South Carolina State Rep. Bakari Sellers and a group of prominent alumni.

Sellers issued a statement about the deal included in the release:

"The South Carolina community and alumni network are proud to support the reigning national champs as they continue to build the best program in the country. NIL has created an awesome opportunity for these athletes to earn what they have always deserved, and we are excited to continue to support this team for years to come."

As part of the deal, individual members of the team will be responsible for "various deliverables that involve community appearances, social media engagement, sponsored interviews, and other marketing and communications endeavors."

A website has also been set up by Garnet Trust that allows fans to sign up for a membership and receive special perks, including messages from Gamecocks student-athletes in Trust-sponsored interviews, the opportunity to submit questions for athlete interviews and a monthly newsletter featuring a message from one of the athletes.

Per Emily Adams of the Greenville News, the total value of the NIL deal for all 13 players on South Carolina's roster is approximately $325,000.

Aliyah Boston, the reigning Naismith Women's College Player of the Year, and Zia Cooke were already poised to cash in on their talent. Boston has multiple NIL deals in the bag, including with Crocs, Under Armour and Octagon Basketball.

Cooke has deals with H&R Block and Bojangles.

South Carolina won its second national title last season. Head coach Dawn Staley led her team to a 35-2 overall record, an SEC regular-season championship and a 64-49 victory over Connecticut in the NCAA tournament championship game.

A heartbreaking finish capped Stanford's 66-65 win over South Carolina in the Final Four of the NCAA Division I women's college basketball tournament on Friday in San Antonio.

South Carolina was THIS close to winning the game on a buzzer beater 🤯 https://t.co/n9jCk2OHxx

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 3, 2021

South Carolina forward Aliyah Boston stole the ball from Stanford forward Cameron Brink with the Cardinal up one and seven seconds remaining.

The ball found its way to South Carolina guard Brea Beal, who missed a running layup with a couple seconds left.

Boston then flew in for the rebound and got a game-winning shot attempt before the buzzer, but the ball bounced off the back rim and onto the floor.

Before the sequence, South Carolina guard Destanni Henderson went on a personal 6-0 run to turn a 64-59 deficit into a 65-64 lead. Stanford guard Haley Jones (24 points on 11-of-14 shooting) responded by grabbing an offensive rebound and nailing a baseline jumper with 32 seconds left for the 66-65 edge.

Stanford got a stop on the other end, forcing South Carolina to play the foul game in hopes of putting the Cardinal on the line, but Boston got the steal instead, leading to the end.

South Carolina isn't getting as far as it did without Boston, who was named one of five finalists for the John R. Wooden Award, given to the best women's and men's collegiate basketball players.

The sophomore entered Friday averaging 13.8 points, 11.4 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game for a 26-win South Carolina team. Boston was also phenomenal again in the Final Four, posting 11 points, 16 rebounds and four blocks.

And obviously, South Carolina would have had a much harder time putting itself in position for the win if not for Boston's game-ending defense.

As for Beal, the sophomore has been excellent on the boards, averaging 7.4 for the tournament. She also led South Carolina with three steals on Friday.

After the game, Las Vegas Aces star, WNBA MVP and ex-South Carolina standout A'ja Wilson tweeted the following:

https://twitter.com/_ajawilson22/status/1378139911971278849

As for Stanford, the Cardinal will advance to the national championship to face Arizona.