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Lamont Paris: recruiting 'starts in this great state of South Carolina'

On3 imageby: Collyn Taylor03/26/22collyntaylor
On3 image
Lamont Paris (Photo by Katie Dugan)

In the transfer portal era of college basketball, there is an overabundance of ways to build a roster. New South Carolina head coach Lamont Paris knows that.

He’s spent his time at Chattanooga building through the transfer portal mixed with high school prospects, but as he transitions to Columbia his priority becomes recruiting in-state.

“It starts in this great state of South Carolina. The talent pool is rich and it’s very good. I don’t just mean there are two players ranked in the top 10,” Paris said. “I mean the depth of talent in this state is at a high level. There are some really high-level kids, athletes and students in this state. That will be the first thing.”

The Gamecocks have seen their fair share of local high-level prospects opt to go elsewhere out of high school, not only losing players to North Carolina and Duke but to comparable schools at the time like Ole Miss, Clemson Tennessee, Vanderbilt and others.

Paris understandably said Thursday recruiting is a “big part” of his plan to get South Carolina back to the tournament.

His focus in the high school ranks will be firstly the state of South Carolina with the hopes of building depth for a consistent tournament team.

It won’t just be elite prospects, but Paris wants to know any and every player in South Carolina that can help win games in the SEC.

“People in Texas know those guys. People in California know those guys,” Paris said. “We’re going to know some other guys who can help us win games here people don’t believe can help us win games here. I think that’s how you develop longevity and consistency. That’s how you reproduce a consistent level of performance.”

Paris hasn’t recruited a lot of South Carolina during his stops at Wisconsin and then Chattanooga. He did also mention potentially adding a staff member with ties to the Palmetto State. He did say wherever he’s been able to recruit in the state.

“I don’t get to compete in many things,” Paris said. “One area I do compete in is recruiting. That’s an area I get to compete. That’s me versus them. I won’t lose because of effort. It just won’t happen. I won’t lose because I didn’t turn over a stone or lift up a leaf or get under a bush. I won’t.”

Paris will continue on the road recruiting for South Carolina through the middle of next week before a dead period at the beginning of April.

He—and also whoever he hires as his staff—will be on the road most of April and over the summer scouting high school players as well for the Gamecocks.

“This state is a great place to start,” Paris said. “This state is great for a lot of reasons but particularly because the talent in this state is tremendous. I’m going to be committed to that.”

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