Lamont Paris assesses the challenge of continuing success at South Carolina

Lamont Paris led South Carolina to the most victories in a single season but an early exit at the NCAA Tournament raised questions about continuing the success.

Winning 28 games is not easy, so good luck trying to do that again. The goal for next year? Get back to the NCAA Tournament and see if there’s a run for the Gamecocks.

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Rosters will change, new players will be in and some will be gone, and South Carolina would have to have a similar level of success in 2025.

“Well, I mean, to replicate the most wins in school history, that’ll be difficult,” Paris said. “We could be significantly better next year and have a worse record. That’s the reality of it. So that’s why you’re always trying to identify the means by which you will gauge success, and it’s not just what the record is. Certainly, ultimately, we’d like to be playing back in this tournament again and put ourselves in position to do that. 

“I think that’s the real challenge. I mean it’s a real challenge. If you look, I think — I don’t think I’m making anything up, but I think we had nine NCAA Tournament appearances in school history before this. So doing it with a level of consistency has been a challenge, and that will be a challenge for us, too.”

For now, it’s totally fine for Paris to be optimistic moving forward based on what he put on the floor this past winter.

“But I’ll tell you, from a foundation standpoint on paper, this is 2024,” Paris said. “So, you know, we’ll see what happens at the end of the season. But on paper, I mean, I like — really like what our foundation looks like, and I think more importantly than what those individuals are as basketball players, the culture that we have developed, the way in which we work, the way in which we interact, the way in which we respond to coaching, all that stuff. That stuff could not be in a better place, and so I’m extremely optimistic.”

A season like 2024 was exactly what gave Paris juice in the coaching profession.

“That’s why I decided to come back,” Paris said. “I love it at South Carolina. I love our guys. I love the people I’m around, I love the other coaches. I love who I work with, and there was a lot of speculation about a lot of other things that were out there. And so it’s no accident that I ended up right back where I am, and hopefully it displays the level of belief that I have in not only what we’re doing as a staff, but just in who we’re around every day and what I believe that looks like moving forward.”