Mid-season report card: Grading South Carolina's offense, defense and coaching

South Carolina isn't the No. 1 team in the nation. That honor belongs to UCLA, one of just two undefeated teams in the country.

But being ranked No. 1 isn't necessarily the same thing as being the best team in the country. No. 2 South Carolina may have a loss on its resume — to UCLA, actually! — but the team also has nine wins over teams with a top-50 Her Hoop Stats rating. UCLA has seven such wins, showcasing how South Carolina has played a slightly tougher schedule.

But I'm getting bogged down in the wrong debate here. Instead of focusing on the resumes of the two best teams in the nation, let's just focus on what one of those teams has done right in the 2024-25 season.

Below you'll find our report card for South Carolina women's basketball, grading the team's offense, defense and coaching halfway through the 2024-25 campaign.

Offense: A

If you were looking exclusively at where a team ranks relative to other teams, you might think the Gamecocks have taken a step back offensively this season as the team has dropped from third to eighth in offensive rating.

But that number feels misleading. The team's 114.8 offensive rating is just 0.1 worse than last season, and so far the Gamecocks are on pace to better their conference stats from last year, with a 114.8 offensive rating through six conference games vs. a 112.7 offensive rating last season.

The South Carolina offense has been among the best in the country at scoring inside, with 42.0 points in the paint per game ranking sixth in the country. That's an important stat because the ability to score inside is key in college. Of the top 10 teams in that stat, nine are ranked, and that includes both undefeated teams, UCLA and LSU.

Meanwhile, the team continues to shoot more from outside, diversifying the offensive attack. For the second year in a row, the team is making 6.something 3-pointers per game, connecting on 6.4 of them per contest this year after hitting 6.7 per game last season. The 18.7 attempts per game from deep is the most of the Dawn Staley era. SC becomes much harder to defend when the team has a shooter as good as Te-Hina Paopao to stretch the floor and keep defenses honest.

Defense: A-

It's really hard to find anything to fault about this Gamecocks team, but I'm giving South Carolina's defense an A-, but it's a borderline A-. Back when I was teaching, this would have been one of those situations where at the end of the semester, I looked at the final grade and rounded up because I thought the student deserved to have it rounded up.

At the current moment, South Carolina doesn't rank in the top 10 in defensive rating, sitting 11th in that stat. This comes after three consecutive seasons ranking first or second.

Now, that's obviously not to say that SC is anything less than great on that end. The team's actually allowing 0.5 points fewer per 100 possessions than it did last year when it led Division I in net rating.

The team is holding opponents to 46.3 percent shooting at the rim and 27.0 percent shooting on non-rim paint attempts. There was some concern with Kamilla Cardoso off to the WNBA that the team might fade a bit when it comes to interior defense, but Ashlyn Watkins and Sania Feagin both average 1.5 blocks per game or better. Rim protection has been a strength of this Gamecocks squad.

However, it's worth noting that overall, the team is averaging just 6.0 blocks per game, its lowest total since the 2016-17 season, but it's made up for that by poking away 9.5 steals per game.

All in all, the Gamecocks defense has played well this season and remains a key strength of the team.

Coaching: A

This season is shaping up to be one of Dawn Staley's finest coaching jobs. Staley, who signed an extension earlier this month that made her the highest-paid college women's basketball coach ever, has balanced a deep roster and weathered the loss of the team's defensive anchor.

One of the most impressive things about Staley's coaching is her ability to adapt. From the increase in outside shooting after adding Paopao before the 2023-24 season to the minutes distribution that's kept the team fresh, Staley just doesn't seem to make mistakes.

The only real knock against her this year was how little MiLayshia Fulwiley played in the loss to UCLA, but that's something that will happen sometimes. Matchups decide matchups.

Staley has built an incredibly deep roster in Columbia and has had to deal with the challenge of figuring out how to play all those players, which is why no one is averaging more than 25.0 minutes per game. Nine players are playing at least 17 minutes per contest.

Of the 19 Division I teams with that many players playing that many minutes, the Gamecocks are the only ranked team. Credit Staley for building what appears to be the deepest team in the country.