Lamont Paris talks recruiting, filling out roster
For the first time a few weeks ago, Lamont Paris could finally breathe after taking the South Carolina job.
The Gamecocks have just two more scholarships to fill on this year’s team. With that comes more of a sense of normalcy.
That means Paris and his staff can devote that much more attention to recruiting high school prospects, and they have the last few weeks.
“It’s been an interesting thing. You go straight from you’re behind on a couple really highly touted local prospects. You’re digging like crazy to make up some ground. Decisions have been made on some of those guys,” Paris told the media at a recent Welcome Home event.
“While you’re doing that, you’re in the transfer portal trying to put together this roster while touching base with guys who are down the road guys. Now you’re finally at a point where you can give the due attention to some of the younger guys.”
The Gamecocks have been busy in that regard, hosting a wealth of talented prospects over the last 10 days.
Jordan Butler came in for an unofficial visit last Sunday. The Gamecocks hosted both Collin Murray-Boyles and Coen Carr on Monday.
South Carolina native and 2024 guard Cam Scott told GamecockCentral he planned on taking an unofficial visit to the Gamecocks Wednesday.
Murray-Boyles picked up an offer Monday. Butler, Carr and Scott are all top 50 prospects in their respective classes.
“We’ve had some guys on campus and there have been some promising visits we’ve had. There have been some really good people and families we’ve had around here,” Paris said. “We’re really looking forward to the evaluation periods and continue to build the relationships with these younger guys.”
The big question as the Gamecocks enter the summer stretch is how the roster will ultimately fill out.
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South Carolina has two scholarships available in the class, and the staff is still actively mining the portal to finish things out.
For Paris, he’s not going to panic and bring in someone to just fill out the roster. Fit will be incredibly important.
“Just best available in terms of having a good fit also. A couple of times in my career we’ve gotten our best player in July and one time in August,” he said. “Rather than just taking someone to just take someone I’d rather it make sense and make sure it’s a good fit and it’s a need for us.”
It would make sense for the Gamecocks to target a guard or wing player to pair with a big man to fill out the roster.
Paris didn’t have a timeline for it. But didn’t rule out having one scholarship available entering the season to potentially bring someone in midyear.
“There’s a lot of value in having a scholarship in our back pocket even as we hit the semester with how fluid and how many guys end up being on the move. I’m not certain that will change,” he said.
“I may end up having one so at the semester we will have availability. Instead of recruiting against 365 teams, if you find yourself in that situation you’re recruiting against 30 teams at times. That can be a positive.”
