South Carolina Basketball: 2019-20 season preview for the Gamecocks

Starting lineup

Jermaine Couisnard

Point guard is South Carolina’s biggest positional question mark, and Couisnard is the program’s biggest question mark from a player perspective. He redshirted last year due to an academic issue but was the talk of the program during the offseason, as his play on the summer circuit drew significant praise from former high school teammate R.J. Barrett and many former Gamecock players.

Couisnard is more of a scorer than a passer and he may not play the traditional point guard role, but he’s too talented not to have on the court. His shooting ability and range will give the Gamecocks an element they’ve really never had under Frank Martin.

AJ Lawson

South Carolina only experimented with Lawson at point guard in short spurts last season, and we’ll probably see him split time between playing on and off-ball this season. At 6-6, he averaged 13.4 points, 4.3 rebounds, and a team-high 2.9 assists in 30.5 minutes per game last year, showcasing tremendous all-around ability.

Originally ranked in the top 40 of the 2019 recruiting class, Lawson reclassified to 2018 to play for the Gamecocks last season. His lack of physical maturity limited him somewhat and now, with a full offseason in SC’s training program under his belt, Lawson could take a huge step forward as a sophomore.

Justin Minaya

Minaya was one of South Carolina’s best players when he was a freshman in 2017-18 and was expected to have a big role last year, but a knee injury caused him to take a medical redshirt after just five games. He’s a smooth, smart player who can shoot and rebound at an effective clip.

Keyshawn Bryant

Keyshawn Bryant is a lanky 6-5, 200-pound athlete capable of pulling off the spectacular.

That athleticism allowed him to make contributions as a slasher, finisher, and rim protector, but his lack of shooting (20.7 percent) kept him from being a threat of any kind outside of the paint. South Carolina will need everything he brought to the table last year (particularly defensive with Silva gone), but they also need him to improve on his perimeter skills.

Maik Kotsar

Kotsar is the lone holdover from that Final Four team, but the senior hasn’t shown much progression throughout his career. Still a solid defender, Kotsar’s offensive game remains extremely limited to where he can’t be anything more than a role player. That was a problem the past two years, but the Gamecocks have others who can pick up the offensive slack this year, which will allow Kotsar to focus more on the things he does best – defense and rebounding.