Lamont Paris reveals takeaway from first year in SEC

Lamont Paris finished his first season as an SEC head coach Wednesday afternoon at the SEC Tournament. Tossing South Carolina‘s record to the side, Paris summed up his first impression on the SEC with four words that we’ve all heard before.

“Our slogan is: It just means more — and it does. It just means more. I’ve been around. It just means more. It’s very apropos. But it’s a really good league with good coaches, good facilities, good crowds and good home crowds,” Paris said. “I think that’s really good for the sport of basketball.

“A variety of styles of play. Athleticism is at a high, high level in this conference. So it’s good. You want to be challenged. I’m looking forward to the challenge. It’s fun to go through the year and see how the officials, how this league is called. … This is a different type of league. The athleticism stands out. It’s fun to be in this conference with really good coaches, really good student bodies everywhere we go, and a lot of support.”

Paris was an assistant for Wisconsin before becoming head coach of Chattanooga in 2017. He called the Big 10 more physical, but is nothing compared to what he’s seen in the SEC this season. He believes the Southeastern Conference is the best league in the country with the best players, but you can argue he didn’t prepare his guys well enough for the lofty task of conference play after analyzing their litany of year one woes.

South Carolina had an 11-21 overall record this season and went 4-14 in SEC play. After beating Kentucky in Rupp Arena — the Gamecocks’ crowning achievement this season — South Carolina lost its next eight games. They weren’t able to string more than one win together throughout all of SEC play before being bounced from the SEC Tournament on night one — something Paris won’t want to relive next season.