South Carolina men’s basketball head coach Frank Martin Jon Rothstein joined the CBS Sports basketball member on his College Hoops Today podcast earlier this week.
Gamecocks head coach, in ninth year, returns 13 of the 16 players from a season ago, highlighting junior guard AJ Lawson, second-year guard Jermaine Couisnard – consecutive selections from the SEC freshman team – and other multi-year starters, like wings Keyshawn Bryant and Justin Minaya. Martin also adds Seventh woods on the backcourt after serving his year on the bench due to the transfer from North Carolina.
“We have some really good players who are being underestimated,” said Martin. “That’s ok. This is Frank Martin’s way. Nobody ever gives credit to his team, but somehow we found a way to win.”
Rothstein asked Martin about the composition of this team and the head coach compared this group to the one who made the transition from Michael Carrera2015-16 senior season for Sindarius Thornwell2016-17 senior season.
“It is the first time since 2016 that we have an experienced team,” said Martin. “In 2016, we set a school record for victories. In 2017, we returned our guards, but we lost our frontline to Carrera, Mindaugas Kacinas and Laimonas Chatkevicius. We returned our guards and we had great young people in Chris silva and Maik Kotsar. As the year went on, these guys got better and, as we had those guards, we won early and those big guys helped us finish who we became as a team and won in the tournament.
“There were three times in my career when I had that kind of experience and depth in a team at this time of year. In 2010 at K-State we set the school record with 29 wins. we set the school record with 25 wins and again in 2017 with 26 wins and went to the Final Four. Does that mean that is what is in our future? I have no idea. I know what we have and I am excited because we have grown children and experience. “
Rothstein has officially declared that he believes this may be an NCAA tournament team.
“I want the album to show on October 5th that I said that,” said Rothstein. “It’s not the same team as 2017, but there are some similarities when I look at your list. You have veteran guards and long, active attackers and have a chance to be a great defensive team. You have a chance, in my opinion, to come back. “
Below are more ideas from Martin on the key pieces on his list. He plays in the backcourt and the frontcourt. At the bottom are Rothstein’s SEC power ratings and nominations for the SEC’s first preseason team. If you are accessing this story on the message board of TheBigSpur.com Proving Grounds Plan, please click on the link below to read the full article.