South Carolina’s men’s basketball roster spending jumped into surprising territory this offseason, with a CBS Sports report labeling the Gamecocks a “shocking big spender.”
CBS’ Matt Norlander and Isaac Trotter placed South Carolina in Tier 3 nationally, with projected roster spending in the $15.1 million to $17.45 million range. If that figure is accurate, it would represent a massive rise from last season’s numbers.
By comparison, Patrick O’Rourke, a Washington, D.C.-based CPA who runs nil-ncaa.com, estimated the Gamecocks’ total 2025-26 roster budget - including revenue share and third-party NIL - at about $4.5 million, likely near the bottom of the SEC.
CBS’ estimate would put South Carolina in the same neighborhood as programs such as Arizona, Michigan State, Gonzaga and Houston, along with SEC teams like LSU, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Auburn and Vanderbilt.
That list stands out even more because all of those SEC programs were picked ahead of South Carolina in a preseason league poll released last week. The Gamecocks were selected last in the 16-team SEC for the second year in a row. They went 13-19 overall and 4-14 in conference play last season.
“South Carolina is the major stunner here. The Gamecocks were dreadful last year and were picked to finish dead-last in the SEC this season, but they are still in the same financial zip code of Final Four hopefuls like Michigan State and Arizona?
It’s hard to believe,” Norlander and Isaac wrote. “Either pundits (hand up) have pegged this roster way, way wrong, or South Carolina had to overpay.”
They added: “South Carolina did not land a single top-50 transfer and features a ton of unproven players at the high-major ranks. Lamont Paris enters 2026-27 on the hot seat, so this sneaky-good frontcourt of Juan Fernandez and Aleksas Bieliauskas better be way, way better than ‘sneaky-good.’”
CBS Sports said it contacted more than 100 sources to determine how much each power-conference men’s basketball program invested this season. In its breakdown, Duke, Kentucky, Texas, Michigan, UNC, Arkansas and Tennessee were among the teams in Tier 1 at $20 million or more.
The report also said the SEC led all conferences with a median average spending figure of $17.3 million per team.
Paris had already pointed to a sharper financial push when he spoke in May, saying the roster budget represented “a significant, significant improvement in terms of where we were.”
He echoed that message again at SEC Media Days, crediting the USC administration for helping raise the spending level and giving the staff more room to compete for transfer-portal targets than in previous years.
South Carolina added 12 new players to this year’s roster, including transfers Fernandez, Jakub Necas, Davion Hannah and Cam Heide, along with freshman Marcus Johnson, a top-100 national prospect and Mr. Basketball from Ohio.
“I can’t say it enough times. They (the administration) provided the support that we needed to be able to act on those identifications of players and then recruiting the players that we had identified by and large as a group,” Paris said. “So we’re really excited about the team that we’ve put together.”
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What makes the picture even murkier is the ACCs new tiebreaker setup for 2026, which leans more heavily on head-to-head results and overall body of work. Even so, the final call in tie situations could still come down to subjective judgment from league officials, which adds another layer of uncertainty if Clemson finishes in a crowded field. For South Carolina fans keeping an eye on the Tigers, the bigger takeaway is simple: this race may not be decided cleanly on the field alone. [Read more 🡒]
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South Carolina Opens The Season With A Target Fans Will Love
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There is still plenty to sort out before anyone gets near March, especially with UCLA opening its title defense at No. 11. But for South Carolina, the headline is simple enough: the Gamecocks start the season on top, and everyone else starts by trying to catch them. The ranking only sets the stage, of course, but it also reinforces how high the bar remains for a team that has spent years living under the brightest spotlight. [Read more 🡒]