“I don’t have answers.”

Frank Martin said it often on Tuesday.

Who’s available? How do you practice? How does the team look? How is this player? What does the schedule look like?

“I don’t have answers.”

After being shutdown for almost a month, the Gamecocks, at least some of them, resumed practice this weekend. By rule, they had to ease back into things, beginning with a 30 minute weight session and 30 minute practice. That increased to 45 minutes, and then 90 minutes Tuesday. Because of HIPAA laws Martin couldn’t get into specifics, but he said that “some” of the positive cases were asymptomatic, while “some” had symptoms.

The team is divided into groups of four, and the groups of four don’t practice together so that if there is another positive test, the entire team won’t be quarantined again. Furthermore, while team activities were shut down, players weren’t allowed to work out. That means for nearly a month they’ve been sitting around, doing nothing.

“They were gasping for air yesterday after 30 minutes,” Martin said.

Everyone was happy to be back at practice, eager to be on the court, but Martin described a cloud hanging over the team.

“I’m struggling with how to manage it. I’m struggling with how to get excited to compete when the day before a game they shut you down,” he said.

“When it comes to COVID it’s hard to find anything to say to players because it’s out of our control.”

You can’t blame Martin for being skeptical South Carolina will even play Florida A&M on Saturday. And even if they can play, Martin didn’t seem convinced that they should. If they play, South Carolina will be doing so with just three full practices in the last month. Martin guessed he will have nine available players, including transfer Ford Cooper, who has yet to have an actual practice as an available player. Will he even know what to do? None of them will be in game shape physically, and with uncertainty over who will be available there won’t be much time to prepare a game plan.

What Martin knew a month ago doesn’t mean much now. He singled out Wildens Leveque, who he thought had a good game against Houston. But after a month of inactivity what kind of player will Leveque be the next time he takes the court? The same could be said for every member of the team.

At one point, Martin was asked who he has reached out to for support. He listed a number of different people. But they are all in the same position as Martin.

“I don’t have answers.”