Lamont Paris Praises Team's Makeup

Head coach Lamont Paris said there are multiple things he views as promising when asked how he feels about this year's South Carolina Gamecocks.

One of the toughest challenges for any first-year head coach is to secure a certain amount of buy-in from a roster full of players that, for the most part, signed up to play for another coach coming out of high school. 

This challenge can be compounded by having a roster full of guys that vary in age, with veterans knowing how to handle their business. At the same time, younger players try to adjust to the life of a collegiate student-athlete.

Head coach Lamont Paris has already seen progression based on the team's collective response when the players have to do something completely different than what they're used to.

“You think about being in that situation, you’re asking me to do something, it’s uncomfortable for me, I’m not even good at it, I don’t wanna do it and I probably don’t even think it’s gonna help us win, but you’re asking me to do it, and then I willingly do that, and I’m criticized when I don’t have successes doing that," Paris explained. "It’s a hard situation for anyone to be in, let alone guys that are 17 to 24 years old. In that window, it’s hard to be in those circumstances and then still come everyday and want to work."

Implementing a new system with a young group is even more challenging. Coaches must lean on their elders to help bring inexperienced players along, but the Gamecocks have a strong core intact. Paris believes he has the veterans he needs to support the underclassmen while they get acclimated.

“It’s been fun, honestly it’s a challenge, but it’s been fun, and I’ll say this our older guys are really mature not just in their age, but in how they handle things emotionally. Hayden Brown is our oldest player, he’s got a masters in leadership, so we have the right older guys. That makes it a little easier for me. We do have the right older guys that are gonna influence these [younger] guys so it doesn’t matter how you slice it, who’s better, who’s worse, they’re older and they’ve been around the block and they’re gonna influence your younger guys. [It] presents it’s challenges when we’re on the court because I think as you get older and more mature in a basketball sense, you know when listening really needs to occur and young guys still haven’t figured that out all the time."

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