SEC Basketball: Expectations for each first-year head coach in 2022-23

SEC Basketball: Expectations for each first-year head coach in 2022-23 season

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - MARCH 17: Head coach Todd Golden of the San Francisco Dons calls out instructions in the second half against the Murray State Racers during the first round of the 2022 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on March 17, 2022 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /

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Lamont Paris Lamont Paris Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /

Lamont Paris – South Carolina

When Lamont Paris took over at Chattanooga, he was following up two coaches that had major success with the program. Both coaches before him lasted two years each due to immediate success. Will Wade was the first and after his two-year rebuilding job, he left to take the job at VCU. Matt McCall then took over and in his first season, he picked up right where Wade left off and went 29-6 and make the NCAA Tournament. A year later, McCall left to take the UMass job and that left newly hired Lamont Paris to rebuild the program once again.

Paris’ first two seasons were certainly subpar as the Mocs finished 10-23 and 12-20, but in year three, Paris had the team back to where they were under Wade and McCall. In 2022, Chattanooga broke through. The Mocs won the SoCon regular season and tournament championship and nearly pulled off a major upset against Illinois in the first round. That was enough for Paris to earn the South Carolina job and rebuild yet another program that tasted success.

Paris’ roster is constructed of some transfers from local mid-majors, high major role players and role players for South Carolina last year. Hayden Brown from The Citadel and Ebrima Dibba from Coastal Carolina should be the two most impactful players on this team next season and Brown should be expected to be the leading scorer by far.

Meechie Johnson Jr. and Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk also come in from respective Big Ten schools and should see an increased role. Both players averaged under five points per game last season, but Johnson and Bosmans-Verdonk are both expected to have their minutes increased. Johnson is projected to play 70% of the possible minutes while Bosmans-Verdonk is projected to play around 34% (barttorvik.com).

The best-case scenario for Lamont Paris is Meechie Johnson and Jacobi Wright taking massive leaps and South Carolina finishing around 9th in the conference. Paris has already rebuilt one program, so now we’ll see if he can rebuild one in a much tougher conference.

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