SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS BASKETBALL

By the end of the day Thursday, South Carolina will officially welcome in the two newest pieces of the 2020 class.

Patrick Iriel signed yesterday while Ja’Von Benson is set to put pen to paper later Thursday afternoon, putting the first pieces into place of a class Frank Martin thinks brings steadiness to the Gamecocks’ roster.

"I think our roster is in a place where there’s stability. I’m happy with the class breakdown. I’m happy with the number of point guards and the way we play,” he said. “The way we play, we have to have multiple players at the bigs, multiple players at the point guard spot and interchangeable wings. I think we got that again.”

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Martin couldn't give his thoughts on either when he talked Wednesday with neither NLI in yet, but with the two additions of Iriel and Benson, both big men, it addresses the most pressing needs in this class with the Gamecocks set to lose front court presences in Maik Kotsar and Micaiah Henry.

Outside of any potential transfers, the Gamecocks won’t have any other players leaving to graduation, but AJ Lawson opt to go pro after this season with his name popping up on NBA mock drafts galore.

Martin compares where the program is right now to the years they won 25 games and went to the Final Four, saying the Gamecocks are keeping the core of talent together while adding in pieces around them.

“I think our roster’s in a place now where it’s got stability. I’ve been able to have stability in our roster twice in our years here,” he said. “That’s our roster going into the 17-win third year into the 25-win fourth year. Then we had the situation at the end of the year where I have some turnover but the good thing we had was the core of guys who played were back. That allowed us to have some roster stability for the year we went to the Final Four.”

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If Lawson does opt to go pro, they have Seventh Woods ready to come in next year after transferring in this offseason.

Next year the Gamecocks will have an experienced team returning. If Lawson does leave, then they’ll have five scholarship guards—Jermaine Couisnard, Jair Bolden, Trae Hannibal, TJ Moss and Woods—three wings in Justin Minaya, Keyshawn Bryant and Trey Anderson with three big men in Jalyn McCreary, Alanzo Frink and Wildens Leveque to add to this year’s two signees.

It’s that stability Martin’s talking about and hopes sticks around. After the Final Four year, they had some turnover and didn’t have the stability they needed to compete consistently, having to rely on grad transfers and freshmen the last two years.

He said he really likes where this team and next years’ are and hopes guys want to stay in Columbia when they have end of season meetings.

“I hope they all say there’s staying because I enjoy coaching these guys,” he said.

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With Iriel and Benson, both were relatively easy recruitments in terms of length. Both didn’t wait too long to pull the trigger after receiving a scholarship offer.

“When you offer and who you offer is very, very important. It’s awesome you read all this stuff about, “They offered, oh, oh and he’s got 37 offers.’ That’s awesome. But you know what, if you’re one of those 37 schools what are you having to do? You’re probably having to manage that other guy you’re recruiting why you didn’t offer him,” Martin said. “Who we offer and when we offer continues to be the most difficult decisions head coaches have to make. It’s not what we run out of a timeout. They have to fit, not just for next year but they have to fit long term to sustain winning so we’re not sitting here depending on freshmen year after year.”