Lamont Paris' guarantee gives South Carolina basketball fans optimism on star freshman

The 2024-2025 version of the South Carolina basketball team will have new faces in big roles. Returners Collin Murray-Boyles, Zach Davis, Jacobi Wright, Myles Stute, Arden Conyers, Austin Herro, Morris Ugusuk, and Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk are joined on the roster by transfers Nick Pringle, Jamarii Thomas, and Jordan Butler and freshmen Cam Scott, Lance Piper, Weston Coggenshall, and (maybe) Okku Federiko.

With so many potential new contributors, some in the national college basketball media have ignored the Gamecocks this offseason. However, there is still reason for optimism in Columbia as Lamont Paris has seen first-year players have great success.

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This is especially true of freshmen. In each of his first two seasons at the helm, Paris has had a Freshman All-SEC player playing big minutes. GG Jackson made the All-Freshman squad after the 2022-2023 season, and Collin Murray-Boyles followed suit last year.

According to Paris, Cam Scott is next.

While filling in on “Carolina Calls” for football coach Shane Beamer (his team was on their bye week), Paris made a guarantee that Scott would find himself on award lists at the end of his first year as a Gamecock. Speaking with Derek Scott (no relation), the Carolina headman spoke of his expectations for the former top-50 national recruit:

“I joke around about it, I say that if Cam Scott’s not on the All-Freshman team, I’ll work for free next year. I think he’s going to be on the All-Freshman team if you couldn’t figure that out.”

Paris cited his track record and Scott’s abilities as reasons why he has so much confidence in the Lexington native. He brought up Jackson’s and Murray-Boyles’ first-year success as primary starters who used size and athleticism to carve out roles. Scott, although at a different position, has that in common with Jackson and Murray-Boyles. Long (listed at 6’6″) and bouncy as a guard, he could play multiple perimeter spots for the Gamecocks this year.

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When asked by a fan named Ken about the team’s new guards, Paris shared his plans for Scott’s role: “Cam hasn’t played on the ball at the point guard spot a lot…if he can grow into a true point guard, his prospects at the next level—the NBA level—are really, really high. He would have superior length, size, and athleticism for a point guard…it will be a process, but that’s part of what we are trying to do with him.”

Based on those comments, it seems Scott will be a wing (as expected) but could handle on-ball duties at times. Long-term, he will make a transition to point guard. Though it will be a new role, Lexington native has the tools to do well running point. As an elite athlete, he has the quickness on defense to keep up with smaller guards. On offense, he sees the game, his teammates, and potential ball movement better than most young players. If those traits continue growing during his career, his size could make him a matchup nightmare for smaller players.

Anyone who has watched Scott play knows he has dynamic scoring ability. Posting a decent points-per-game number will be important in helping fulfill his head coach’s guarantee.

However, for the South Carolina basketball team to be successful as a unit, Scott must score and defend efficiently.

The youngster likely will be asked to bear a heavy load as a scorer, but he and the other Gamecocks cannot shoot themselves out of games. The 2022-2023 Gamecocks (who lost 21 games) shot 40% from the field. The 2023-2024 version of the team (who won 26 games) made nearly 44% of their shots.

On the other end, the Gamecocks have to prevent other teams from putting the ball in the basket. The ’22-’23 team gave up 46.5% shooting numbers to opponents. Last year’s group allowed only 43% shooting. Expected to be one of the team’s top guards, Scott will be instrumental in defending opposing ballhandlers and the 3-point line.

When comparing the differences in shooting and defense, the improvement in the win-loss numbers is not a coincidence. The net improvement of more than 7 percentage points was a huge reason for the turnaround in the win column.

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Even as a true freshman, Scott will play a large role in USC’s pursuit of improving those numbers even more.

Last year, the Gamecocks tied an all-time South Carolina basketball record for wins with 26 victories. USC finished tied for second in the SEC’s final standings and earned a 6-seed in the NCAA Tournament. If Lamont Paris’ team can make their way back to the Big Dance, it will be the South Carolina basketball program’s first back-to-back inclusions in March Madness since the 1990s.

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