Rush The Court

The SEC microsite will preview each of the league teams over the next few weeks, continuing today with the South Carolina Gamecocks.

Strengths. The league’s best backcourt may reside in Columbia, South Carolina. If that’s too much for you to process [Ed. Note: The one in Lexington might be pretty good too], then maybe the backcourt with the most upside in the SEC resides in the Palmetto State. Sophomores Sindarius Thornwell and Duane Notice assumed more responsibility last season than Frank Martin probably would have given them in an ideal world, but that experience should pay dividends this time around as Thornwell in particular flashed all-conference potential at times. The Gamecocks lost Brenton Williams, but will get Tyrone Johnson back from a fractured foot that ended his season in January. They also add four-star point guard and Columbia native Marcus Stroman to the mix. These four guys give Martin a nice mix of shooting, slashing and play-making ability that he could ride to his best season yet at South Carolina.

Weaknesses. Depth. Not even a minute has ticked off the clock this season and the Gamecocks have already lost 75 percent of their freshmen class, as neither of James Thompson and Shamiek Sheppard will be taking the floor in 2014-15. Thompson was arrested in June and never enrolled in school while Sheppard tore an ACL over the summer. This was followed by freshman guard TeMarcus Blanton injuring his hip last week in practice, putting him also out for the season. This subjects the Gamecocks to potentially dicey situations since they had a penchant for foul trouble last season, with six players collecting more than 72 fouls during the campaign.

Starters

• PG Tyrone Johnson (6’2’’)
• SG Duane Notice (6’2’’)
• SG Sindarius Thornwell (6’5’’)
• PF Michael Carrera (6’5’’)
• C Laimonas Chatkevicius (6’11’’)

Thornwell has the athleticism, size and outside shooting (37.0% 3FG) to develop into a pro, and he should also flourish with Johnson and Stroman in the rotation this season. Notice quietly had a very nice freshman season but, like Thornwell, will need to take better care of the ball this time around. Carrera is a great defensive rebounder (20.8% defensive rebounding percentage) who brings a tenacity to the court — if there ever was a player built for Frank Martin, it is him. Chatkevicius is an efficient offensive player and beast on the defensive glass (27% DRB%), but the big Lithuanian was only used in short spurts last season (12.9 MPG).

Bench

• PG Marcus Stroman (6’1’’)
• SG Justin McKie (6’4’’)
• SF Brian Steele (6’5’’)
• PF Mindaugas Kacinas (6’7’’)
• PF Demetrius Henry (6’9’’)

Martin has frontcourt options off the bench. Steele, Kacinas and Henry will help soften the effect of South Carolina’s decimated freshmen class. One of these players, however, will need to take a step forward since Chatkevicius isn’t a high-minute player. Stroman has already gained the reputation of being a heady, hard-working point guard, and he will likely shoulder a big load in his freshman season.

Toughest Non-Conference Test. Martin must miss the Big 12, or maybe the Big 12 misses him. The Gamecocks will have home games against Baylor, Oklahoma State and Iowa State in the non-conference slate. Scott Drew needs to replace Isaiah Austin and Cory Jefferson from his lineup, but the Bears travel to Columbia on November 18 which makes that a tough game right off the bat.

Toughest Conference Stretch. How about January 24 to February 3? In this brief period the Gamecocks play Kentucky at home, travel to LSU, get Georgia back at Colonial Life Arena, and then travel to Bud Walton Arena to face Arkansas. All four of those opponents have a good chance to be NCAA Tournament teams, and the stretch includes the always tricky visit to Fayetteville. The bright side for South Carolina? At this least this happens in late January when Martin should have his team playing up to its potential.

If Everything Goes Right… Martin’s third team in Columbia is the one that finally breaks out and gets Colonial Life Arena rocking like the Octagon of Doom used to rock for him in Manhattan. Now, “break out” could mean a lot of things, and if we are being realistic it probably means finishing fifth or sixth in the SEC with a .500 or slightly better record in league play. The talent is there for this to happen. Thornwell, Notice and Johnson all shot better than 37 percent from deep last season, and each got to the line seven or more times per game as well. That kind of diverse offensive attack would pair well with the multitude of frontcourt options Martin has at his disposal. A big key for South Carolina’s success will be how it handles turnovers. In true Martin style, the Gamecocks did a good job forcing mistakes last season (13.2 forced per game), but the problem was that they gave a lot of those opportunities back, averaging 13.9 turnovers per game themselves. When the Gamecocks turned it over fewer times than their opponents, they went 9-6 last season. A full season of Johnson and a quick adjustment from Stroman could help make that more of a regular occurrence in 2014-15.

If Nothing Goes Right… Outside of Carrera the Gamecocks lack a proven frontcourt player who can be counted on to log heavy minutes. There are plenty of bodies up front, but that will be meaningless if no one else steps up and develops into a consistent contributor. The losses of Blanton, Sheppard and Thompson already cut into some of the projected depth, and the season hasn’t even started yet. That’s a problem because so much of the offense will rely on Thornwell, Notice and Johnson. The turnover problem can’t be ignored either. If Thornwell (106 turnovers, fourth most in the SEC) and Notice (89 turnovers, ninth most in the SEC) don’t improve in that area, it could negate a solid Gamecocks defense. If all of this happens, South Carolina will find itself in the SEC cellar for the third straight year under Martin.

Extra Point. Music icon and South Carolina superfan Darius Rucker has faith in Frank Martin. That’s worth something… at least to this writer (you’ll have to ignore the Hootie and the Blowfish poster hanging on the wall behind me).