3 things to know about South Carolina MBB’s roster evolution after NCAA season

Lamont Paris sat behind a podium on Monday, answering questions about a South Carolina basketball program that has perhaps as much offseason enthusiasm and hope as any since the Gamecocks were coming off a Final Four in 2017.

A year ago, Paris made South Carolina men’s basketball fun. Made them endearing. Made them a NCAA Tournament team. The Gamecocks won a school-record 25 regular-season games. They were in the mix for the SEC title with a week to go. And Paris was named the SEC Coach of the Year.

Now, after adding four intriguing players this offseason, Paris has put South Carolina in a spot to again compete in the SEC.

With four months until the Gamecocks tip off in 2024, here are three things to know about USC:

1. Collin Murray-Boyles can be elite

Murray-Boyles started his freshman season isolated. Literally. The Columbia native came down with mononucleosis and missed the first month of the season. Even when he came back, progress was slow. It took time to get comfortable. To get his weight back up. To get his cardio to basketball form.

By the season’s end, he had to answer whether or not he was going to enter the NBA Draft.

In the Gamecocks’ final 10 regular-season games, the 6-foot-7, 240-pound forward averaged 16 points and 8.2 rebounds a game — all while taking very few free throws and shooting no 3s.

With three starters gone from South Carolina’s 2023-24 squad, including forward BJ Mack, there’s a strong possibility Murray-Boyles will be the face of this Gamecocks team.

“I still believe his ceiling is incredibly high and he’s not that close to it,” Paris said. “I’m also going to encourage him to be more aggressive to generate offense for himself. He’s not going to do that because I tell him. It’s gonna take some time.”

To get there, Paris said, it might take Murray-Boyles becoming a better shooter.

“He’s got really good touch,” Paris said, “and I want him to explore that this summer and see what it really likes so when November and December hits, we know what that looks like and we won’t be out there guessing.”

2. Someone has to fill the point guard void

There seems to be three candidates to become South Carolina’s next point guard, a role left vacant with the departures of Meechie Johnson (transferred to Ohio State ) and Ta’Lon Cooper (graduated) .

Perhaps the favorite is Jacobi Wright, the senior who played in all 34 games last year but made just one start. Wright, a Fort Mill native, is one of the few guys who was at South Carolina before Paris arrived. He’s a veteran who, importantly, already knows Paris’ system and exactly how it’s supposed to be run.

“He’s comfortable with what we do and what the expectations are,” Paris said.

Right behind Wright is a newcomer, Norfolk State transfer point guard Jamarii Thomas . The 5-foot-10, 185-pound senior, who committed to South Carolina for his final season of college basketball, is expected to fill a need for scoring. Last year, the MEAC Player of the Year averaged 17 points a game while shooting almost 40% from deep.

“(We brought him in) with the expectation that he would go out there and compete for that role,” Paris said.

Then there’s the wild card, four-star freshman Cam Scott, who flipped from Texas to South Carolina in April. Though 6-6, Paris joked with Scott and his family during the recruiting process that Scott plays the game like a true point guard.

“We’ll see what that looks like when some older SEC guys get underneath him,” Paris said. “He can pass. He’s long. He can see over top some of these guys.”

3. Look out for redshirt Arden Conyers

Those who redshirt in college basketball can easily get overlooked. Rare is the situation of LaNorris Sellers in football, the highly touted recruit who has to wait his turn before taking the reigns.

Which makes it understandable why some have forgotten about Conyers, the former three-star prospect from Westwood High in Blythewood.

But when asked about Conyers on Monday, Paris was as bullish on the 6-7, 210-pound guard as anyone on his squad.

“My anticipation, with some of the things that we had seen, was that in two years,” Paris said, “anybody who’s following SEC basketball will be saying his name a lot. And he hasn’t disappointed. And he’s on a very good trajectory right now.”