For Frank Martin, last year’s men's basketball team was one of the most successful in Gamecock history. They were able to finish in a tie for third in the SEC and tying the school record with 25 wins on the season, as well as win big games over teams like Vanderbilt and Texas A&M, both of which made the NCAA tournament. Yet all the success they achieved was overshadowed by the questions that emerged at the end of the season, questions that raised much confusion as to the future of the program and have just recently been answered.
For those of you who don’t know what happened, here’s a quick rundown: Just an hour and a half before their first NIT game, the news broke that Martin had suspended five players. None of the players were consistent starters, but all were young talents who were expected to do big things for the Gamecocks in the future, and had already shown flashes of the ability to do so.
The team finished the season without all of these players, and went into the summer with uncertainty as to whether any of them would return. Finally, when the dust settled and the decisions had been made regarding the punishment of each of those players, things did not look good for the Gamecocks. But they could have been much worse.
Marcus Stroman, the lightning-quick point guard who provided depth off the bench and a guy who provided Coach Martin valuable minutes off the bench all season, was transferring. Jamall Gregory and Eric Cobb, both extremely raw freshman who played sparingly but had the physical and athletic gifts to be key players in the future, were dismissed from the team. Only TeMarcus Blanton and Chris Silva are returning from the suspended five.
While everything was being settled with those five players, then-freshman Raymond Doby was also dismissed from the team.
On top of losing those four players, South Carolina also graduated three seniors. All three were starters from the year prior and had been instrumental in the team's success. In Michael Carrera, the Gamecocks lost their leading scorer, top defender and the heart and soul of their team. In Laimonas Chatkevicius and Mindaugas Kacinas they lost their size and versatility to stretch the floor. All three had been there with Martin from the minute he started building the program, he had counted on them for the past four years.
And now, in one futile summer, the Gamecocks have lost many of their experienced veterans and also many of their exciting, new young guns. But what remains is still a strong core of talented players, with a strong recruiting class coming in.
This season, Martin will rely heavily on seniors Sindarius Thornwell and Duane Notice to provide veteran leadership as well as much of the scoring on the offensive end. Notice will likely start this year after receiving SEC Sixth Man of the Year honors last season, and he provides an ability to stretch the floor and knock down threes. Thornwell will be the star of the team and should be the leading scorer in most games.
PJ Dozier, who was a five-star recruit out of high school, hopes to improve upon a freshman year that saw flashes of brilliance but was largely burdened by his knack for turning the ball over. Much of the Gamecocks' success will depend on how much he is able to improve before the start of the season, and if he will be able to be the star point guard that many expected him to be when he arrived.
Along with the freakish athleticism offered by Silva, and a strong recruiting class featuring four-star recruit Sedee Keita, Frank Martin’s team should be able to recover from all the departures from last year’s team. Look for this South Carolina team to once again compete in the race for the SEC championship, and to hopefully build upon the success of last season.