From the perspective of a television basketball analyst, few in the industry know the SEC male basketball landscape better than ESPN and SEC Network color analyst Jimmy Dykes. With the regular college basketball season less than a month from the start, Dykes joined basketball reporter, analyst and host Andy Katz March Madness 365 Podcast to discuss the status of the SEC.
When asked about South Carolina’s prospects for the season, Dykes agreed with Katz that the Gamecocks are in the second tier of the league and their success depends on the first year of the combo guard. AJ Lawson.
“AJ Lawson must be a guy on the All-SEC team based on his skill, size and number of minutes and starts he has had,” said Dykes. “He has to take a leap. We cannot continue to expect him to be an All-SEC player on the first team if you are a Gamecock fan. He has to do this this year. … If Lawson is an All player -SEC of the first team. SEC guy, South Carolina is an NCAA tournament team
Lawson chose to go back to school for his third season in Columbia, instead of staying in the NBA Draft process, something he did in the summer of 2019, after a season of SEC freshmen in 2018-19. He started all 31 games for the Gamecocks in their 18-13 season in 2019-20. He led the team in scoring with 13.4 points per game, the same average score he had as a freshman in 2018-19.
Lawson started 59 of 60 games played over two seasons in South Carolina. To keep up with his 13.4 ppg, he averages 29.8 minutes, 4.0 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. He hit 41 percent of the ground, 35 percent of the three-point line and 70 percent of the free-throw line.
Dykes didn’t stop there talking about Gamecocks.
“I like the fact that they are tough and old. They know who they are and there is a lot of value in that,” said Dykes. “I really believe in (Jermaine) Couisnard, who won the position of point guard last year, especially in a team coached by Frank Martin. He sums up what South Carolina basketball is. He is a junk dog. They have some big, strong guys inside. “
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At the beginning of the podcast, Katz added Lawson to his Preseason All-SEC team and placed Gamecocks in a group of five schools at level two of their SEC rankings.
Andy Katz All-SEC Team
Keyontae Johnson, Florida
John Petty Jr., Alabama
AJ Lawson, South Carolina
Trendon Watford, LSU
BJ Boston OR Terrance Clark, Kentucky
Katz ‘SEC Tiers
Level one: Kentucky, Tennessee, Florida and Alabama
Layer two: LSU, Auburn, South Carolina, Arkansas and Missouri
Layer three: Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Georgia and Vanderbilt
Stay tuned on TheBigSpur.com for more Gamecocks basketball content from Katz, Dykes and Martin.