South Carolina women's basketball: June Mailbag

On Monday, I opened the floor to women’s basketball questions on The Women’s Basketball Forum. Here’s a sample of what was discussed.

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(Questions and answers have been edited for clarity.)

DarkCock said: Will the French players be here over the summer?

I haven’t heard anything to suggest they won’t be in town for the beginning of summer workouts with everyone else.

SilverSurfer said: Will Alicia Tournebize room with one of the freshmen despite being an early enrollee, or is she free to do her own thing? How exactly does her status work?

I’m not sure exactly how they decide on roommates (except that Tessa Johnson and Chloe Kitts are inseparable). It was one of my story ideas in the spring that I never got to. I know Ali, Agot Makeer, and Ayla McDowell got pretty close last year, so they might continue to room together.

SilverSurfer said: I was asking more about orientation/practice activities, etc. I assume that the freshmen probably do some freshman-specific activities and fun stuff as a group. Given that Ali is a tweener, will she be allowed to participate in those types of things with the freshmen, or did she miss out? Just curious how this early enrolle thing works for stuff off the court.

They have to do the freshman orientation that all freshmen at USC do. Ali did hers in January and missed practice because of it. But, team-wise, they don’t really do anything special for the freshmen. The first several weeks of summer workouts is just skills work and Final Four Fridays. The team will get together at Dawn’s house sort of informally, but FFF is the de facto bonding event.

winloseortie said: Updates on scheduling are always appreciated. Also would love if you would do a story on Final Four Fridays paired with a feature/interview with Molly Binetti. Also, interviews with non-coaching staff (Freddy Ready, Ariana Moore, Hudson Jacobs) and their roles

Mingo Martin just so happens to have written a story on Freddy Ready. He tried to write about Ari as well, but she declined to be interviewed.

Here’s a story on Freddy from 2023, as well.

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GivEmDaSpurs said: Can we get an update on Chloe Kitts’ health? Will she be ready by game one? Same for Adhel Tac, Kelsi Andrews, Kaeli Wynn, and Ashlyn Watkins? Also, do you see anyone taking a redshirt?

Everyone appears to be on target. It’s only June 1, so nobody (except Kelsi Andrews) is thinking about playing in a game right now.

They’ve been on their own for the past month or so, so there are no formal updates. And there won’t be, given how USC handles injuries. The biggest thing with Chloe is slowing her down. She already got in trouble for jumping before she was cleared to do so.

It is definitely a really good sign (and bit of a surprise) that Andrews was not only healthy enough to attend USA Basketball team trials but also make the U18 team. She worked extremely hard over the past couple of months to get back on court and back in game shape.

No on redshirts. They most likely will no longer exist by November if the NCAA goes to the 5-in-5 eligibility. Even if it doesn’t pass, good programs (sorry, Lamont) don’t redshirt healthy players.

Beehaver said: Do you think Adhel Tac will be full go by November? Poor girl has been through a lot.

Adhel told me she’ll be ready to play next season, so hopefully she’s right. I suspect, given her injury history, they will be cautious and make sure she has a lighter load in practice.

Adhel probably understands the ins and outs of the entire program better than any other player. Everything Dawn Staley said last season about how she would hire Maryam Dauda in a heartbeat also applies to Adhel. She makes a positive impact whether she’s playing or not.

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