14 of the 16 men’s basketball teams in the SEC made the 2025 NCAA Tournament. The two that missed out were LSU and South Carolina. After a disappointing 12-20 season in the third year under head coach Lamont Paris, the Gamecocks are continuing to spiral in the offseason.
Paris started off the transfer portal cycle hot with a commitment from North Dakota transfer Treysen Eaglestaff, a 6-foot-6 junior guard who averaged 18.9 points for the Fighting Hawks last season. Eaglestaff projected to be the centerpiece of a program losing star forward Collin Murray-Bowles to the NBA, but in a surprising move, the Bismark, North Dakota native has de-committed from South Carolina and is back in the transfer portal.
Lamont Paris has to scramble after Treysen Eaglestaff de-commitment
A high-volume three-level scorer who dropped 51 points in a Summit League Tournament Semifinal win over South Dakota State in March, Eaglestaff drew attention from Kentucky, Kansas, and Gonzaga among other elite college basketball programs before deciding to join Paris in Columbia. Now, those schools will likely be back in the mix as South Carolina scrambles to assemble a competitive SEC roster.
Paris appeared to be the perfect coach for the Gamecocks when he led the team to 26 wins and an NCAA Tournament appearance in Year 2, just the program’s third trip to The Big Dance since the turn of the century and 10th overall. However, even with Murray-Bowles returning for his sophomore year after impressing as a freshman, South Carolina fell apart and tumbled back to the basement of the sport’s most difficult conference.
The Eaglestaff de-commitment comes on the heels of starting forward Nick Pringle committing to Arkansas out of the transfer portal after averaging 9.5 points and 6.3 rebounds in the frontcourt for the Gamecocks. Eight members of Paris’s 2024-25 roster are currently in the transfer portal with four players heading to Columbia out of the portal, including former Gamecock Meechie Johnson who spent last season at Ohio State.
Losing Eaglestaff quells any optimism surrounding the South Carolina program heading into next season and could ultimately land Paris on the hot seat if his team struggles again in 2025-26.