Five observations about Frank Martin’s Gamecocks as hoops season nears

The Columbia sun was setting just beyond Main Street — Gamecocks fans gathered around a makeshift basketball court in the middle of downtown — when Frank Martin made a promise.

“At the end of the day, so that everyone knows, we’re back,” the South Carolina men’s head basketball coach said last Friday night at USC’s preseason “Madness on Main” event. “We’re back.”

Coming off an arduous, pandemic-shortened season in which USC finished 6-15, Martin has talked up his new-look Gamecocks all summer, describing his excitement for a team that features nine new faces and a different collective personality than the rosters of the last two seasons.

After six straight non-losing seasons, the longest such streak for the Gamecocks men’s program since the Frank McGuire years in the 1970s, Martin insists last year was his “one bad year” as head coach and forecasts a sunnier 2021-22 season.

With so much roster turnover, the Gamecocks’ identity might not be apparent right away. It could take a few weeks into the season before the lineup is settled, rotations are perfected and playmakers are established.

But through early practices, a few key storylines have emerged as the Gamecocks await a season-opening home exhibition against Benedict on Nov. 4.

1. The transfers are ready to lead

It might sound unusual, but some of the loudest voices on this year’s Gamecocks team are players who just arrived in Columbia this summer.

In particular, Martin and has staff have praised transfers Erik Stevenson, James Reese and A.J. Wilson for injecting energy and accountability into the program. Martin said no players come to his office more often than those three.

“Those three guys have have brought a competitive spirit to everything we do in the weight room, running individual workouts in the summer, learning,” Martin said. “Those guys understand the simplicities of what we do offensively and defensively better than some guys I’ve coached four or five years.

“It makes those young guys, the acceleration to learn, the sense of urgency to learn, greater. That’s what those three guys have brought.”

The three players bring a sense of veteran moxie and toughness that the Gamecocks couldn’t quite find a year ago.

Reese helped lead his North Texas squad to the NCAA tournament last season, and the former AC Flora High standout said he wanted to do the same for the Gamecocks in his hometown Columbia. Stevenson has been on USC’s radar since playing against the Gamecocks while with Wichita State in 2019 — and if he doesn’t start in the backcourt, he figures to play significant minutes off the bench as a much-needed sharpshooter. He’s seen time at both shooting guard and point guard during practice. Wilson, meanwhile, brings advanced rebounding and defensive skills to the frontcourt.

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2. The Gamecocks are bigger

There was a look of excitement in Martin’s eyes as he described just how big his frontcourt is this season.

Last year, with Maik Kotsar off playing in Estonia and Alanzo Frink ruled out due to medical issues just three games into the season, the Gamecocks were razor-thin in the frontcourt and struggled to both score inside and stop inside scoring.

Returners Wildens Leveque and Tre-Vaughn Minott are listed at 6-foot-10 and 6-foot-9, respectively, and both showed flashes of potential in 2020-21. Leveque gained 30 pounds of good weight, and Minott slimmed down in an effort to improve his conditioning.

Those two will battle with LSU transfer Josh Gray, who looks every bit of the 7-foot height he’s listed as on the official roster, the transfer Wilson, sophomore Ja’Von Benson and freshman Ta’Quan Woodley for playing time in the post. Martin praised Benson for his progress this summer after barely seeing the court as a freshman, while also indicating that Woodley has work to do on his conditioning after COVID-19 shut down much of his senior season in high school.

“The bigs, we stay together” Leveque said. “Every single day we try to challenge each other to get better, try to outwork each other, try to get as many defensive rebounds as we can every single day at practice.”

3. At least one freshman should make an early impact

One of the more intriguing X-factors on USC’s roster is 6-foot-3 freshman wing Devin Carter from Miami. The son of 13-year NBA player Anthony Carter, the younger Carter opened eyes in Columbia this summer with an explosive performance in the S.C. Pro-Am, leading the three-day event in scoring.

“He’s special,” veteran guard Jermaine Couisnard said. “I see it every day. I see the work he puts in, the time he puts in. ... I know with the work he’s putting in; he’s going to be special.”

A physical, aggressive slasher who uses a quick first step to cut toward the basket, Carter can also shoot from deep and could be a key offensive playmaker for the Gamecocks. Martin said if Carter can adjust to the college game, he’ll be “an elite scorer.”

Don’t sleep on fellow freshman guard Jacobi Wright, either, who looks to be USC’s point guard of the future. He has competition at the position in the form of Couisnard, transfer Chico Carter Jr. and Stevenson but should eventually work his way onto the court.

4. Couisnard could be primed for a bounce-back year

After establishing himself as a starting point guard in a breakout redshirt freshman season, Couisnard struggled to shoot the ball last season, finishing with a 30.2% field-goal percentage as his confidence wavered in a trying season. Off-the-court adversity within Couisnard’s family and friend group didn’t help.

Through early practices, Couisnard looks to be back to the player he was two years ago, with Martin saying the junior guard has turned in his best practices since he’s stepped on campus. In last week’s practice open to media, Couisnard drained 3-pointers from all over the floor, and his voice rang loud and clear as a veteran leader on the court. After much of the joy was sucked out of last year, Cousinard said he’s looking forward to “feeling the love” from USC fans at Colonial Life Arena in a more normal setting.

5. This team fits Martin’s personality

Throughout the course of last season, Martin lamented that his players lacked the fire and blue-collar competitiveness for which Martin’s teams have been known over the years. Martin changed the way he coached last year, in response to COVID-19 and in response to his personnel, shifting his trademark aggressive defense to a more zone-based “Cuban pack-line” defense.

Though Martin has been careful not to criticize the players from the past two years, he’s also been open about the fact that those teams lacked physicality, and he’s seen an entirely different, more Martin-like attitude out of this year’s group, particularly out of players like Stevenson, Wilson, Reese and Carter.

“We’re really physical,” Martin said. “I’m having to call the dogs off sometimes (in practice) because of the physicality, and that gives me peace because that’s when my teams are good. We got that.”