Storylines to watch as South Carolina hoops season begins
Hoops season is here.
South Carolina kicks off its men's basketball season today at 4 p.m. against Liberty (ESPN News), starting a season with expectations of a NCAA Tournament bid building.
Before things tip off, here are a few things to watch against the Flames today.
What does the guard rotation look like?
South Carolina returns its two starters in the backcourt with Jermaine Couisnard and AJ Lawson, but have a bevy of other guards who are more than capable of playing. Seventh Woods has looked good in preseason practice, according to Frank and Chuck Martin, and they also have Trae Hannibal and TJ Moss on the roster as well, two guys who saw good minutes last year.
The first few games will answer a lot of those questions, but South Carolina has some options at the guard spot.
Can this team avoid some early season speed bumps?
It's been the issue the last few years with the Gamecocks dropping winnable non-conference games, including one to Stetson at home last season. Those can significantly impact a NCAA Tournament resume, and the Gamecocks will need to avoid some of those setbacks this year.
They have a lot of quality non-conference opponents—Liberty, TCU or Tulsa, Houston all away from home—but need to win their home games to avoid some of the black marks on their resume.
Defense, defense and defense
Frank Martin has raved about the Gamecocks offensively this preseason, but it's a double edged sword since that means he doesn't have a clear cut idea of what to expect defensively.
The Gamecocks are predicated on defense under Martin but won't know anything concretely until going against a good Liberty team. If the Gamecocks can be as good as they were defensively last year (top 50 nationally) then it should be a good team.
Who will be the team's leading rebounder?
After losing Maik Kotsar last season, the biggest question now is who replaces him and how the Gamecocks make up for some of his production on the defensive end. Kotsar wasn't the team's best rebounder, but there is a void there and the Gamecocks need someone to step up.
Justin Minaya is a good rebounder, especially for someone his size, and the Gamecocks will have to rely on him, Wildens Leveque, Alanzo Frink and Jalyn McCreary.
If the Gamecocks can be solid on both glasses, then it could be a good year for them.
Avoiding foul trouble
The biggest chink in the armor, especially towards the end of last season, were the amount of fouls South Carolina committed.
The Gamecocks were dead last in Division I lats year in free throw rate (FTA/FGA) at 53.1, and that will have to improve this season. It's going to be hard to win games if opponents are getting to the line as consistently as they were near the end of last season.