SEC Basketball: 2024 offseason grades for each team

South Carolina Gamecocks - Grade: D

After winning a surprising 26 games this past season and finishing second in the SEC standings, Lamont Paris seemed content to run things back for another year. Only this time without three of his top scorers from last year's team. BJ Mack and Ta’Lon Cooper ran out of eligibility, and Meechie Johnson opted to enter the transfer portal, returning to Ohio State to finish out his collegiate career.  

To fill the offensive hole Paris turned to the transfer portal and added Jamarii Thomas. Thomas spent last season at Norfolk State, leading the team in scoring and earning the MEAC Player of the Year. He averaged 16.9 points per game for the Spartans. If his game translates well in the SEC then South Carolina should be fine offensively, if it doesn’t then the Gamecocks might struggle to score the ball, which would be disastrous since the team only averaged 72 points per game last season. 

Paris did add some much-needed post depth. He added Nick Pringle and Jordan Butler from the portal and signed Okku Federiko, a 6’10 freshman from Finland. Pringle, who spent last season at Alabama, should fit right in with South Carolinas strong defense. And Butler showed flashes in his lone year at Missouri, but never really put together a string of games to showcase his upside. 

South Carolina had a ton of momentum to build upon after last season, but with the little that was added this offseason in the ways of talent, it's hard to not feel like Lamont Paris wasted a crucial offseason for the Gamecocks. He got way more of the team last year than anyone thought was possible, but as most people know, lightning doesn’t always strike twice. The current roster makeup for South Carolina doesn’t instill much hope for the Gamecocks this offseason.