Five takeaways: South Carolina basketball media day

South Carolina is weeks away from the season starting and hosted its annual media day Wednesday afternoon. 

Head coach Lamont Paris spoke along with two of his three assistants and every single player. Here’s what we learned from the availability. 

This team is still going to hang its hat on defense

Frank Martin hung his hat on defense during his time at South Carolina, but the Gamecocks still want to be a defensive team that can also play efficient offense. Lamont Paris talked during his press conference about being a defensive guy and the Gamecocks have some stringent rules about what he asks his players to do defensively. 

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Hayden Brown, whose Citadel team was in the same conference as Paris’s UT-Chattanooga team, joked he’s glad he finally gets to play with the team everyone hates to play instead of against it. 

South Carolina wants to be a good offensive team and score a lot of points, but the Gamecocks aren’t going to sacrifice defense for it. 

Hayden Brown is ready to build something at South Carolina

Brown is by far and away the seasoned vet of the group, inching closer to retirement benefits and another college degree. But Brown could have gone to a few different places, including tournament mainstay Loyola Chicago. But he wanted to stay and build something. 

The South Carolina native is still in his home state and the Gamecocks are going to use him a ton. But the important piece for Brown is staying around and hoping to build a legacy that extends further down the road past his time in Columbia. 

This is his last season of eligibility and he’s not worried about his goals. He just wants to look back 10 years from now and feel like he made an impact to a program making the tournament consistently. 

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The Gamecocks are going to use Brown a lot, too, and he’s going to be a big piece of South Carolina’s team this year.  

There are still going to be some growing pains

This is a team and staff full of a ton of new faces. From an assistant-to-player perspective, only two people have either taught or played in Lamont Paris’s system. That would be assistant coaches Tanner Bronson and Eddie Shannon.

No player, including the Gamecocks’ transfer class, have played a minute under Paris yet nor have been through the ups and downs of the season. The focal point of this team, GG Jackson, is still 17-years-old and will have freshmen moments. 

There is potential, but a host of new players and people are destined for some growing pains this season. 

The Gamecocks will have a ton of freedom offensively 

South Carolina wants to play good defense, but the Gamecocks are going to have some free-flowing offensive play with, hopefully, confident players. 

The Gamecocks want to build up confidence in each of their players and allow players to play to their strengths in the offense. While South Carolina wants to be more structured defensively, the Gamecocks want to have guys play free and with confidence offensively. 

Paris said they’re still working to tailor a roster with personnel that fits what the Gamecocks want to be defensively, but the goal is to develop confident players during the next few weeks. 

The freshmen class has a chance to make a major impact

Paris called the trio of freshmen–Zach Davis, Daniel Sanford, GG Jackson–the Three Stooges and the Three Amigos, but all three are going to have a role on this team.

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Jackson is going to start for the Gamecocks but both Davis and Sanford are going to have roles off the bench. Davis has put on 20 pounds since arriving and Paris said Sanford is “one of the strongest, physically advanced freshmen” he’s been around. 

All of that means they have a chance to play at some point this season. Outside of Jackson, Sanford has a chance to make an impact earliest but Davis could have a bigger role as the season progresses. 

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