Where South Carolina men's basketball sits in preseason projections
It’s that time of year when all of the advanced metrics websites are beginning to roll out preseason metrics, and it’s a good way to see how the numbers see South Carolina’s season going.
There are three main websites most college basketball coaches, fans and media use to discern certain aspects of a team: KenPom, EvanMiya and Barrtorvik. All of them have the Gamecocks near the bottom of the SEC but only one has South Carolina finishing last.
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KenPom, the most recognized metric used currently, has South Carolina finishing 14-15 overall but 6-12 in the SEC. The Gamecocks debuted in KenPom’s initial rankings as the No. 78 team in the country ahead of Georgia (No. 93).
In the projected SEC standings, KenPom also has South Carolina finishing tied for 12th in the league with Vanderbilt.
EvanMiya is the lone preseason algorithm that has the Gamecocks finishing last in the SEC.
It has the Gamecocks as the No. 134 team in the country while Georgia is the next closest at No. 125. No other SEC team is below No. 83 in EvanMiya’s preseason rankings.
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Barttorvik is a little bit more in line with KenPom’s rankings, projecting South Carolina to go 13-16 overall and finish with six league wins. The Gamecocks sit at No. 103 in that site’s preseason rankings, ahead of No. 129 Georgia.
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Barttorvik helps project a player’s production during the season and he has five-star freshman GG Jackson leading the way for South Carolina averaging 15.5 points and 7.6 rebounds per game this season.
Hayden Brown is behind him at 13.9 points and 6.8 rebounds.
The league’s media, not a computer metric, projected the Gamecocks to finish last in the SEC this season.
“We’ll have a chip on our shoulders. That doesn’t mean we’re going to win all 32 regular season games because we have a chip on our shoulders. Where you’re picked and where you finish are oftentimes two different things. I hope to put a product out there where people are scratching their heads,” Lamont Paris said.
“And saying, ‘How did that work? I see who they’re playing. This guy didn’t play much at this school. This guy’s never played at this level or this guy’s never played that role at all. The former staff didn’t think he could play much for them. This coach, we don’t know that much about him. How is this happening?’ I aspire to have people scratching their heads at some point wondering how we did what we did.”
South Carolina begins its season Nov. 8 at home against South Carolina State.
