Dozier staying home

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Frank Martin has landed his star, and it comes in the form of local product and Gamecock legacy P.J. Dozier.

The 6-foot-6, 200-pounder announced that he would be playing his college basketball in Columbia on Wednesday afternoon during a ceremony at Spring Valley High School.

"I think it was just the feel; I really felt comfortable on the official visit," Dozier said, asked what the determining factor in his decision was. "I can see myself there next year, and I think that was the main thing."

Dozier, ranked by Rivals.com as the 34th-best prospect in the country regardless of position in the 2015 class, selected the Gamecocks over a large group of suitors that included some of the top basketball programs in the country. He says he finally knew he was going to be a Gamecock a couple of nights ago.

"It was real tough," Dozier said. "But my family supported me through the whole thing and made it so much easier than what it really could have been. It was definitely a process that needed to be drawn out the way it was. ... All the time it spent going to these different schools, it was worth it."

Georgetown, Louisville, Michigan, and North Carolina rounded out Dozier's list of five finalists and those four plus South Carolina all secured official visits late in the process. Following his final trip to Louisville about two weeks ago, Dozier started finalizing his decision with his family.

"[Dozier] projects as a wing that can make plays with his passing and scoring," Rivals.com basketball recruiting analyst said after scouting the Palmetto State native over the summer. "He is patient, mature and has a great game to build on."

Dozier has plenty of family ties to the University of South Carolina. His father, Perry Dozier, played basketball in Columbia in the 1980s. P.J.'s uncle, Terry Dozier, also laced up in the capital city from 1985-1989 and scored 1,445 career points. Gamecock women's basketball guard Asia Dozier is P.J's sister.

"The campus certainly has undergone an amazing transformation since I went there," the senior Dozier told GamecockCentral.com last month following the family's official visit to Columbia. "P.J. enjoyed hearing how he could have an immediate impact. Coach Martin told P.J. he wasn't recruiting him because of his last name; he's recruiting him because of the type of person P.J. is and the type of player he is."

The four-star guard joins New Jersey's Chris Silva in South Carolina's 2015 recruiting class.

"South Carolina wouldn't be in the mix if I didn't feel like they have the coaches or the coaches to (win), so I'm definitely excited to play along with them and get this thing going," Dozier said.

Stay tuned to GamecockCentral.com for more in-depth coverage of Dozier's decision.

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