South Carolina basketball starts the 2020-21 season this week.
Frank Martin and the South Carolina basketball team will be in action three times this week, at the start of the 2020-21 season. Gamecocks have a home show with Coker on Wednesday before taking part in the Hall of Fame Classic this weekend.
The confrontation with Coker will not count towards the Gamecocks’ final record, but it does offer an opportunity to adjust for the team before traveling to Kansas City to begin the regular season game.
The team was originally set to lead Northwestern in the Hall of Fame Classic tournament, but Gamecocks learned last week that Liberty would be replacing the Wildcats in the season’s opening match. Depending on the results of this dispute, South Carolina will play Tulsa or TCU in a run-off meeting.
Gamecocks hope to take advantage of last year’s 18-13 regular season, where they defeated players like Clemson, Virginia and Kentucky, before having their postseason interrupted amid the Coronavirus pandemic.
South Carolina returns almost all of its production from a year ago, with Maik Kotsar and Jair Bolden being the only departures. Kotsar graduated, while Bolden announced his intention to transfer to Butler.
Scorer AJ Lawson is back, after flirting with the idea of a professional career, as well as Jermaine Couisnard, Keyshawn Bryant and Justin Minaya. The team adds depth to the backcourt with the addition of the North Carolina Seventh Woods transfer, and many believe this to be an NCAA tournament team when all is said and done.
Gamecocks were recently chosen to finish eighth in the SEC by the national media, and they fell in 36th place in the top 45 of Jon Rothstein’s preseason.
Wednesday’s showdown with Coker will be broadcast on the SEC Network, while the Hall of Fame Classic will be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks.