South Carolina is dominating college basketball in both mens and womens college hoops.
South Carolina’s mens and womens basketball team is a combined 41-3. The women are #1 team in the country and the men's team is #15 in the country and just beat Ole Miss at home on Tuesday night.
The head coach for Gamecocks women's basketball is Dawn Staley she is a 2x National Champion and her team is 21-0. Most of the games have not even been close, winning by an average of 34.8 points per game according to the NCAA. Staley is having an incredible season but I think the more surprising story is that 2nd year head coach of Gamecocks men's basketball Lamont Paris has his team 20-3 with top 10 wins over Kentucky at home and on the road at Tennessee.
Coach Paris has turned around this program very quickly and do you want to know why? It is because he has used the transfer portal, this is the new age of college athletics. The Gamecocks men's team is ranked for the first time since the 2016-2017 season. What happened that season? The Gamecocks men's team went to their first Final Fourin program history.
Will history repeat itself? Time will only tell but for going 11-21 last season to 20-3 so far this season I would say is not a bad start to the Lamont Paris era in Columbia. Coach Paris and Coach Staley should be the national coaches of the year for their respected sport. Coach Paris success no one expected and Coach Staley has not lost one game the whole season.
One of the unique things about the South Carolina athletics program is how supportive the head coaches have been for each other. Coach Staley has been all over X supporting coach Paris and the Gamecocks men's team. She has always been a person to tell everyone what she thinks. Head Football Coach Shane Beamer also has shown love to the mens and womens basketball team by going to games and also posting on X. This goes to show how much of a family Gamecocks sports is and I am sure recruits love that the coaches are creating a family feel environment.
Some of the Gamecocks football staff went down to Mobile Alabama to support former Gamecock QB Spencer Rattler. After showing the coaching staff showing their support for Spencer his dad Michael says “This is what you call family”. South Carolina fans are hoping that this family environment can continue into wins for both basketball teams and also the Gamecocks football team.
Only time will tell but it is pretty obvious that the Gamecocks have two great basketball coaches and both of them will be looking for a deep run in the NCAA tournament.