South Carolina’s Madina Okot during the Gamecocks’ NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 win over Southern Cal on Monday at Colonial Life Arena.
Phoenix
Madina Okot’s future with South Carolina women’s basketball is still a mystery.
There’s a shot the senior forward returns and plays another season with Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks. In order for that to happen, South Carolina will need to get a waiver from the NCAA for a fifth year of eligibility. In November, Staley made it known South Carolina intended on pursuing an extra year for Okot.
On Saturday, Staley told reporters in Phoenix there still is not a resolution.
“I’m hoping to hear back shortly,” Staley said. “I think our compliance is doing a great job. It’s just keeping the lines of communication open. The NCAA always asks for more and more information, more and more information. Madina is complying with getting the information. Hopefully they’ll have an answer soon.”
Okot played her first two years of college ball at Zetech University in her native Kenya. Last season, Okot made the move to the United States and played her junior season for Mississippi State. Okot is currently listed as a senior for the Gamecocks.
The NCAA waiver process can be confusing, but South Carolina has to essentially prove that Okot’s time playing in Kenya shouldn’t count toward her eligibility clock in the USC. Staley said as much in February.
“We’re trying to get a year back,” Staley said. “Whether or not we’ll be able to do that and prove that the conditions that she played in her first two years in Kenya were not comparable to NCAA standards.”
Getting a waiver approved by the NCAA can be an arduous process. Just take former South Carolina running back Rahsul Faison’s nine-month wait for an extra year, for example.
Time is of the essence for Okot, though. The 2026 WNBA Draft is set to take place April 13. Okot and other draft-eligible players who are in the NCAA Tournament and could return to college have 48 hours to declare for the draft after being eliminated.
South Carolina’s win over UConn in the Final Four gave South Carolina a few extra days for the waiver process. Okot’s deadline is now 48 hours after the Gamecocks play in the national championship game Sunday.
If Okot can’t get another year at USC, her playing days won’t be done. Okot is currently projected to be a first-round draft pick by several outlets should she go pro.
South Carolina could, hypothetically speaking, take the legal route that so many other schools have taken to get players an extra year if Okot’s waiver is denied. Take Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, whose wavier was denied by the NCAA, but the case was taken to court where he won another year of eligibility. The timeline for Okot is much tighter, but it would be an option. Staley was asked whether South Carolina would consider going to the courts, but did not anwer Saturday.
Michael Sauls is The State’s South Carolina women’s basketball reporter. He previously worked at The Virginian-Pilot covering Norfolk State and Hampton University sports. A Columbia native, he is an alum of the University of South Carolina.
