South Carolina enters the 2026-27 season with one of the nation’s most talented rosters.
Dawn Staley has welcomed an elite five-player recruiting class, added one of the top transfers in college basketball, and regained the services of Ashlyn Watkins after her year away from the game.
Yet the Gamecocks’ most valuable addition may be someone who never actually left.
Chloe Kitts returns after missing the entire 2025-26 season with a torn ACL, and her comeback could be the difference between another Final Four appearance and another national championship.
Before her injury, Kitts had developed into one of South Carolina’s most complete players.
During the 2024-25 campaign, she averaged 10.2 points, a team-best 7.7 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game while earning SEC Tournament MVP honors and Birmingham 2 Regional Most Outstanding Player recognition.
Last season proved South Carolina could survive without her production.
Joyce Edwards emerged as the team’s offensive leader, breaking the program’s single-season scoring record.
Madina Okot dominated the glass and finished as the SEC’s leading rebounder.
Freshman Alicia Tournebize also made an immediate impact after joining the team midseason.
Collectively, they filled much of the statistical void.
What they couldn’t replace was Kitts’ leadership, communication, and relentless competitive mentality.
Throughout her career, Kitts has built a reputation as one of the Gamecocks’ fiercest competitors.
Whether responding to adversity or demanding more from herself, she has consistently embraced accountability.
After a quiet performance in the national semifinal against NC State during South Carolina’s undefeated championship run, Kitts responded with a double-double in the national title game, using disappointment as motivation instead of frustration.
That mindset has become one of her defining traits.
She constantly evaluates her own performances, looks for areas to improve, and expects the same level of commitment from those around her.
That attitude also helped fuel one of her strongest stretches of basketball following South Carolina’s lopsided loss to UConn late in the 2024-25 season.
Over the following weeks, Kitts elevated her play on both ends of the floor, helping guide the Gamecocks to SEC regular-season and tournament championships while leading another deep NCAA Tournament run.
Ironically, her greatest leadership growth came while she was unable to play.
With South Carolina adjusting to life without one of its defensive anchors, Kitts became an extension of the coaching staff from the bench.
She offered guidance to new transfer Ta’Niya Latson during halftime of one game, helping boost the guard’s confidence before an explosive second-half performance.
She also spent games mentoring freshman Agot Makeer through film study from the sidelines and helped Alicia Tournebize adapt after arriving in the middle of the season, sharing lessons from her own experience as a midyear enrollee.
Her influence became so noticeable that teammates began referring to her as “Coach Chloe.”
Dawn Staley praised Kitts’ maturity throughout the season, emphasizing how valuable peer leadership can be inside a championship program.
As South Carolina prepares to integrate another highly ranked freshman class featuring stars Oliviyah Edwards and Jerzy Robinson, that leadership becomes even more important.
Young players often learn just as much from veteran teammates as they do from coaches.
Kitts now returns with firsthand experience of winning championships, overcoming adversity, and leading from both the floor and the bench.
Her voice, defensive awareness, basketball IQ, and competitive edge provide qualities that rarely appear in a box score but often decide championships.
For a South Carolina team loaded with talent, Chloe Kitts may once again become the player who holds everything together.
If she returns to full health, the Gamecocks won’t simply be deeper.
They’ll be more connected, more disciplined, and significantly tougher—exactly the qualities that could carry them back to the top of women’s college basketball.
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