When A’ja Wilson announced in April 2014 that she would play for South Carolina women’s basketball, it marked the recruiting high point of the Dawn Staley era at USC.
By persuading the nation’s No. 1 high school player to stay home and play for the Gamecocks, Staley secured ESPN’s second-ranked recruiting class in the country, the highest the program has ranked in Staley’s 11 years in Columbia.
That recruiting success eventually paid off in 2017, when Wilson led Carolina to a national championship — with plenty of help from transfers Allisha Gray and Kaela Davis.