South Carolina's Raven Johnson has consistently produced high-quality performances this season, turning many heads about her profile, especially among the WNBA's GMs.

WNBA analyst Andraya Carter first revealed this news to WachFox, dropping an insight into the positive things she has heard about Johnson recently.

“I’ve talked to a lot of GMS,” she said. “I think of one that I was on a phone with last week, and this particular GM was like, ‘Man, I love Raven.’ I’m like, yeah, how can you not love Raven? She is a winner.”

The 23-year-old has nothing left to prove in her collegiate career, and one look at her accolades tells the whole story.

Johnson is a two-time NCAA champion with the Gamecocks and has also won the SEC Defensive Player of the Year this season. Moreover, she has often received praise from coach Dawn Staley for her leadership as one of the team's great locker room presences.

This season, the senior guard has averaged 10.2 points, four rebounds, and 5.3 assists. Most recently, in the Elite Eight win against TCU, she scored 10 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, and dished out 6 assists.

“She is a leader, she is a winner, her teammates love to play with her, she is an excellent defender, so there are a lot of things that I feel like coaches and GMs have seen this year from Raven,” Carter added.

Johnson is likely to be a first-round pick in the upcoming WNBA Draft on April 13, going up against top picks like Azzi Fudd, Lauren Betts, Olivia Miles, and Awa Fam. To add on to this, her draft stock can further increase should the Gamecocks go on to win the NCAA national championship.

Raven Johnson's Winning Mindset is What Impresses Dawn Staley

Johnson is USC's top scorer in the NCAA tournament and also won the Sacramento 4 Regional’s MVP after wins over No. 4 Oklahoma and No. 3 TCU, where she combined for 28 points and 10 rebounds.

The 23-year-old revealed her thoughts that helped her deliver game-winning performances throughout the NCAA tournament to NCAA.com's Autumn Johnson.

“I’m in a zone of just winning. In my head. I’m just thinking, whatever it takes to win. If that’s me defending the best player, if that’s me scoring, if that’s me trying to uplift my teammates. If that’s me having to sit on the bench if it’s not my day, and somebody else on my team, it’s their day, I would do that," Johnson said.

This is exactly the kind of requirement that HC Dawn Staley wants from her team, and Raven Johnson fills that spot to perfection. Naturally, it comes as no surprise to anybody that Staley thinks really highly of the 23-year-old's leadership skills.

“When it’s time to elevate in regards to winning, she takes on this narrow-mindedness of only seeing things that will help winning," Staley said after the Sweet Sixteen matchup against Oklahoma.

As we head to the high-pressure Final Four game between UConn and South Carolina, Raven Johnson's innate qualities will once again be in the spotlight as the Gamecocks will look to avenge their defeat from last season's national championship against the Geno Auriemma-led side.

Read more at She Got Game!

Written by

Joy Bassy

Edited by

Siddharth Rawat