Buy or Sell: Reacting to your 2024-25 South Carolina men's basketball hot takes

In just one week, the South Carolina men’s basketball team will take the floor for the first time in the 2024-25 season.

The Gamecocks will open the year with an exhibition game against Lamont Paris’ alma mater, the College of Wooster, at Colonial Life Arena on Oct. 30. The regular season will begin on Monday, Nov. 4 when South Carolina hosts North Florida at 7 p.m.

There’s been plenty to talk about after last year’s squad won 26 games and made it back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017. Throughout this week, GamecockCentral subscribers have been dropping their steaming hot takes for the new season.

I’ll be reacting and sharing whether or not I “buy” or “sell” your takes. So, let’s get into the best takes you have to offer.

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BUY: The media put too many 1’s in South Carolina’s preseason SEC ranking

Agreed. With how loaded the SEC is, I figured South Carolina wouldn’t be ranked super high in this year’s media preseason poll. But to be picked to finish 11th seemed a little off the mark.

We all saw how good the Gamecocks were last year after being picked to finish last in the SEC. Maybe this plays to their advantage with that “disrespect” mentality. Unfortunately, I didn’t have an opportunity to vote in the media preseason poll (let’s change that for next year, please), but if I did have a vote, I would’ve picked South Carolina to finish somewhere between 8th-10th in the conference. I know it’s not much better than where the other media members had this team. But it just speaks to, again, how good most teams will be this season.

BUY: Collin Murray-Boyles is better than a Third Team All-SEC

Without a doubt. How can Murray-Boyles receive as much hype as he does with being a potential NBA Draft pick and be picked to finish on the All-SEC Third Team? I get there are other solid big men on other teams, but Murray-Boyles is right up there with any of them.

At the end of the day, though, it doesn’t really matter how other people voted on him. He obviously doesn’t put too much stock into it, and neither should anyone else. But I do expect him to have a solid season and then head to the draft next summer.

BUY: South Carolina will have FOUR postseason team selections

For context, this is a take about four players being named to an All-SEC or college basketball award team. For this take, Sandlapper 1 has Murray-Boyles making First Team, Cam Scott to the All-Freshman team, and Jamarii Thomas & Zachary Davis on the All-Defensive team.

I can definitely see this happening. CMB has enough talent and great play in him to potentially make the All-SEC First Team. I think he’ll really benefit from playing at the four as a forward instead of at the five like last year.

Paris did say he would “work for free” next year if Scott doesn’t make an All-Freshman team. South Carolina has had freshmen make the team in the first two years under Paris: GG Jackson two years ago and then Murray-Boyles last year. I would imagine Scott starts at one of the guard spots and plays a big role for this team. And I can see him making the cut at the end of the year.

As for Thomas and Davis, I feel like Davis should be a lock for this honor. He was the best defender on last year’s team and should be solid again this season. I’ve liked what I’ve seen from Thomas with the way he plays on both ends of the floor. Only time will tell if it’ll be good enough to earn an honor such as this.

[Win two tickets to the South Carolina-Texas A&M football game]

BUY: Gamecocks will finish in the Top 6 of the SEC for a second straight year, and will make a second straight NCAA Tournament appearance

The second part of this hot take should feel like a guarantee. It would be a surprise to me if South Carolina missed the NCAA Tournament with a very strong roster this season. As for the first part of the take, it’s going to be tough in this conference, but then again, the Gamecocks shocked everyone last year and finished tied for second in the standings. I wouldn’t put it past this team to do it again and finish inside the top-six.

SELL: South Carolina wins the SEC regular season title

I’d love to be wrong on this but until I see South Carolina beat some of the top teams in this league that it struggled to do well against last year, I can’t pick it to win the regular season title. It’s not impossible but there are so many good teams in the SEC, like Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, etc.

BUY: Less wins but better overall. NCAAT or bust

This is an interesting one. How could South Carolina finish with less wins than the 26 it had last year but be a better overall team? I’ve said it before, I think as we sit here right now, this team is more talented than last year’s. They should be much better in the paint with more imposing bigs. And they have a lot of good shooters. So, I don’t see them getting back to winning 26 games before March Madness, but I still see them getting to the tournament, for sure.

SELL: South Carolina earns a 4-seed or better in the NCAA Tournament

I believe the Gamecocks will make the tournament this year but it’s not going to be as smooth sailing as it was last season. Sure, you can argue they went through some bumps in the road in SEC play but got through fine. However, I think it’s going to be a tougher schedule with some good teams in non-conference play now. South Carolina was a 6-seed last year, so I could see somewhere between a 7 to a 10 and then it makes some noise in March.

SELL: Double bye in SEC Tournament and Elite Eight appearance

For the most part, I’m selling on the double bye. I do think this team is going to be good, but again, there are a lot of other great teams in the SEC. An Elite Eight appearance, though? It’s possible. But I see them making it through the first weekend and then we’ll see how it goes from there.

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SELL: South Carolina will win one of the SEC regular season or SEC Tournament title

Like the points I’ve made above, I just think it’s going to be harder to win a title this season. South Carolina came awfully close to doing so in the regular season last year. But never say never.

BUY: Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk will be a solid bench piece this year

Absolutely. Don’t sleep on BBV this year. As I mentioned earlier this week, when I spoke to BBV at the team’s media day, he told me he went from 228 pounds to 260 in the summer. He looks to be in really good shape and should provide a nice presence in the paint this season. He’s not going to be some big-time scorer, at least I don’t think so. But I expect him to come off the bench and collect a lot of rebounds and match up well with other physical bigs.

BUY: South Carolina will be a better three-point percentage team this year with less identified three-point shooters and will finish in the top-five of the SEC

As if they weren’t good enough from the outside last year, I think there’s a good chance the Gamecocks could be better from three-point range this year. They don’t have the recognizable names like Ta’Lon Cooper, Meechie Johnson and BJ Mack anymore. But they should have an overall good group of guards and forwards who can make their shots this year.

BUY: The SEC will be the runaway best basketball conference and ends up with 10-plus teams in March Madness

I don’t know about runaway best basketball conference. I’m sure the other elite conferences in this sport would like to have a word. But I will agree with 10 or more teams making the tournament. It might be a stretch since the SEC had eight teams make it last year and that was tied for the third-most bids from a conference of all-time. If some of these lower teams can make it interesting and play better than expected, it’s not out of the realm of possibility. I’ll buy this take with some caution.

SELL: South Carolina finally beats the A’s: Alabama and Auburn

I’m going to be honest, I don’t see it happening. Now, the Gamecocks do have the benefit of playing both Alabama and Auburn at CLA this year. But we’re talking about the two of the top teams in the SEC. If anything, I could see South Carolina winning one of these matchups and losing the other. Which will it be? I have no idea. But I’d be more confident in the Gamecocks beating Auburn, even after getting smoked last season by 40 points on the road.

SELL: CMB averages a double-double

Maybe but it’s going to be very tough to do so. Do I think he’ll average more than 10 points per game? Yes. But will he be able to average than many rebounds per game? I don’t think so. He should be playing at the four this season with Nick Pringle at the five. I just don’t know if he’s going to haul in that many boards, even though he led South Carolina with an average of 5.7 rebounds as a freshman.

SELL: 28 wins I believe the Gamecocks improved in the areas that they lacked last year

I agree on the fact they seemingly improved in all areas they lacked in last year. But I need to see this team do it again but better if I’m going to buy into them winning 28 games. We’re talking about two more wins than last year, which may not seem like a lot, but I don’t expect them to have 26 by the time we get to tournament play. I’m thinking like low 20s and then going on a run in March.

BUY: We’re looking at a 20 win season… point guard will be a strength not a weakness… And it goes without saying South Carolina is going to be strong underneath and have a big athletic big man presence to compliment CMB

Agreed all across the board. 20 wins feels like a good threshold this team should reach and possibly exceed this season. Point guard play should be good this year, though I’m not sure if it will be good as last year with Cooper and Johnson. And then Pringle and Jordan Butler should fit that big athletic presence in the paint to help out CMB.

SELL: Zachary Davis finds his range. Leads the conference in treys

If you haven’t already, please go check out my story I wrote on Davis working on his shot. But anyway, it’s going to be tough to go from shooting 25 percent from three-point range to leading the SEC in three-pointers made. I think Davis will be much better from beyond the arc. But you’d be asking him to increase his three-point percentage by at least 20 points to get close to being tops in the SEC.

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BUY: First back-to-back NCAA Tournament bids for MBB in a quarter century, but this time South Carolina makes some noise

For sure. It would be a major disappointment if this group didn’t make it back to the tournament. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, but I would be surprised if they didn’t. And yes, I do see them making some noise when they get there, as well.

SELL: CLP will sport no fewer than 5 newly-designed Gamecock quarter-zips

I don’t know about this. I could be wrong, but I feel like Paris usually sticks with his guns on the quarter-zips he wears. But I’d personally love to see some new quarter-zips this season.

BUY: South Carolina’s half court 1-3-1 press will wreak havoc on the opposition and help turn the momentum in tough games. The Gamecocks have a lot of length on the wings and legitimate rim protection

If it’s anything like last season, this should be the case again. South Carolina won a lot of games, especially in SEC play, when it switched to the 1-3-1 in the middle of games. I wonder if it will be just as effective this year. But even if not, I’m sure Paris will have more tricks up his sleeve for his defense.

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