COLUMBIA — South Carolina women’s basketball’s theme for the 2025-26 season is “Beyond Measure,” the team announced via X on Aug. 25
The Gamecocks pick a theme each season and it typically reflects on the previous year but also sets focus on the upcoming era and identity of South Carolina basketball. Coach Dawn Staley has picked a theme each year beginning in the 2012-13 season.
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In the news release, the team wrote “The theme nods to some core values of the program. A player’s value to a team is not measured just by her stat line but also by a myriad of other ways she elevates her team. Championships and accolades are not valuable just because of trophies in a case but also because they lift up a university, a city, a state.”
Last season, the word was “Uncommon” which Staley said referred to many things that happened the year before. It was a reference to the undefeated 38-0 season in 2023-24, and “uncommon favor” which has Biblical roots and is one of Staley’s favorite phrases. Staley’s book, which released in May, is called “Uncommon Favor: Basketball, North Philly, My Mother, and the Life Lessons I Learned from All Three.”
South Carolina finished the season with a loss to UConn in the national championship, and shortly after the roster shifted as a result of the WNBA draft and transfer portal. Bree Hall, Sania Feagin and Te-Hina Paopao all moved from Staley’s starting lineup into the professional league, then star guard MiLaysia Fulwiley transferred to LSU soon after.
Reserve center Sakima Walker also transferred out of the program, and is now at Cal Berkeley. Ashlyn Watkins would be a senior this season but is taking a year off of basketball and plans to return in 2026-27.
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Staley added 6-foot-6 Madina Okot and the nation’s leading scorer last year Ta’Niya Latson to her roster, in addition to freshman Ayla McDowell and Agot Makeer.
The season opens Nov. 3 in Colonial Life Arena against Grand Canyon, coached by former assistant Winston Gandy.
In the announcement for the theme, the team had a nod to its fans, writing “The value of the FAMS who support the team at Colonial Life Arena and around the country cannot be measured just by ticket sales, but also by the way they form a united community that supersedes all their differences.”
South Carolina women’s basketball theme for seasons
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DNA – Dreams, Nets, Assets (2022-23)
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Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Dawn Staley, South Carolina women’s basketball announce theme for 2025-26
