One-on-one with South Carolina head coach Lamont Paris (part 3): GG Jackson
A fifty-foot heave, hoisted from the hands of David Jean-Baptiste, went in as the final buzzer expired. The shot from beyond half-court gave UT-Chattanooga the win and sole possession of the Southern Conference title. This shot sent the Mocs to the NCAA Tournament, giving head coach Lamont Paris his first tournament birth as a head coach.
However, the NCAA tournament is nothing new for Paris; in fact, it is an expectation. In 17 years as a D-I coach, this was his team’s ninth NCAA Tournament appearance. In six of the nine appearances, Paris’ teams have advanced twice, making it, at least, to the Sweet 16, with two Final Fours under his belt.
Under Keith Dambrot, LeBron James’ high school coach, at Akron and then Bo Ryan at Wisconsin, Paris cut his teeth in cultures of winning. He was able to take what made sense from each of them and then mold that into his own delivery.
In March, Lamont Paris became the new head coach at the University of South Carolina. He took over a program that finished tied for fifth in the SEC last season and for a coach, Frank Martin, that was the school’s third all-time winningest coach with 171 wins over his ten-year period.
Last week, I traveled down I-95 to Columbia, South Carolina, and sat with Paris in his office for close to an hour. We talked through his first few months on the job, his philosophies and visions as a coach, expectations, and, of course, we talked about GG Jackson.
With the length of our conversation, I broke it up into multiple parts. Here is part one of my exclusive one-on-one with South Carolina head men’s basketball coach Lamont Paris.
Read One-on-one with South Carolina head coach Lamont Paris (part 1)
Read One-on-one with South Carolina head coach lamont Paris (part 2): Recruiting
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So, I gotta talk, GG. We all saw how it played out from the outside looking in, and it took a lot of people by surprise, even though there was talk about it happening. How did you see that situation playing out? The process of it?
We came here, and I obviously prioritized him from the second I got here, trying to get to know him and his family and get involved in the recruiting process. That was a priority, the priority immediately. And, at that point, you just do what you can do. You handle your business to the best of your abilities. And you hope that you make a genuine connection.
And then he makes a commitment.
I didn’t begrudge the decision. I reached out to them the second that they did and told them congratulations, the entire family, on their decision and wished them luck.
There wasn’t anything behind-the-scenes, doing this or doing that. Then we start to hear some grumblings about what may or may not be out there. We had moved on to trying to fill our roster; we had to do that. And then you hear certain things, and you just hang in there. And then, once it reopened, we started recruiting him hard again.
I think they were probably evaluating me and what I was doing, and how I was going about my business during this time too. And you see some things that maybe you like. And you start to consider whether it makes sense to stay right here, especially if I can get everything I need to right here.
So, anyway, it was touch and go. I just wasn’t putting all my eggs in the basket, that’s for sure. But also, once he decommitted, I wasn’t going back down from recruiting him hard, either. So we continued to do that, and it worked out.
I think there was probably some part of him that wanted to be here from the get-go, right? So, I’m happy to see that it has worked out the way that it has and the opportunity that he’s gonna have here, and the quality of people he’s gonna be around.
I think it’s a great chance for him to grow.
He’s the number one player in the country coming in. The first ever decommitment from North Carolina, which is a bonafide blue blood. What does being able to land that guy say about the program or the opportunities here at the University of South Carolina?
It’s great for us that it happened, and it sends some messages to recruits that this is a really good landing spot; it’s a good place for someone who has the upside and the dreams, and the visions of a GG there’s more than just a handful or five schools that you can go to and all of a sudden your stock skyrockets to the number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, whatever, top 10 player in the country.
This is a viable option. It’s a great place to grow and learn some things about the game of basketball and have an incredible opportunity. That’s the thing that that’s gonna be great for GG; he’s gonna have an incredible opportunity, but at the same time, he’ll have as much responsibility as he’s ready to handle.
Guys mature differently; some guys are ready for more. So you have a staff here that constantly says, ‘Okay, he’s ready for a little more.’ And he has responded to that the right way. Let’s push more in, or this has been something that’s been more of a struggle, so let’s pull back a little bit.
I think it just validates South Carolina as a place where no matter how good a basketball prospect you are, you can make it happen from here.
In high school, he had the ball in his hand as a ton. He’s only gonna be 17 when the season starts; what type of role do you see him having for this team?
A big one, I’ll tell you that.
Here’s my evaluation of him so far. Let’s imagine this is five years from now, and we have a national championship quality team, and GG Jackson is coming out as this same player as he is right now in that year. There’s a role for him. There’s no question there’s a role for him, and it’s a good role.
He knows how to move the ball and when to cut and when not to cut. He knows the game of basketball; he’s smart in the game of basketball.
GG also has a skill set. Just as a catch-and-shoot guy, for example, he’d be pretty good at that; even if he was a 6-foot-3 or 6-foot-4, he’d have a pretty good role on that caliber of team as a catch-and-shoot guy.
I think we’re gonna need him to do a lot more than that at some point, for sure. How soon he gets those responsibilities will be up to how he responds to things once he gets out there, but he knows how to play, and he’s going to have a really, really big impact.
For us to be the best team we can be this year, I think we’re looking back and saying, ‘Wow, look at how much GG grew, and look what he’s accomplishing out on the basketball court.’ I think that’s a certainty.
What do you think fair expectations should be for him this season?
It’s hard for me to talk about expectations for such a young person. A person that hasn’t played one game of college basketball game. He hasn’t had to come in from a road trip at two in the morning, then gets up and go to class at eight and then have a full day, and then practice.
It’s hard to have an expectation, like, what that should look like.
Here’s an expectation; I think that would be realistic for someone on the outside looking in that he can make some physical plays. I think that’s the most reproducible thing for a guy like him who has instincts. He’ll be able to get in a mix on some rebounds. He’ll be able to catch lobs at the rim. He’ll be able to operate in transition. There’ll be a lot of things. I think those would be the things that the person should be able to say.
To say he’s got an average of 18 points, or 14 points, or whatever that looks like, that’s a really hard one to put on a young man at any college level, particularly at this level.
n3.com for tomorrow’s fourth and final part of the One-on-one with South Carolina head coach Lamont Paris series.