South Carolina’s roster looks set, and Lamont Paris isn’t sounding like a coach in the market for a last-minute addition.
With the Gamecocks headed to the Bahamas for two exhibition games at 4 p.m. Aug. 8 and 10 in the Baha Mar Hoops Summer League, Paris addressed the possibility of late roster movement Wednesday. The answer, for now, was pretty clear: don’t expect much.
“It is out there, and obviously we have had some meetings about it. But it is not in our immediate plans,” Paris said.
The question around possible additions came after a Denver courtroom ruling on Friday that could ripple through college basketball. U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney issued a temporary injunction against the NCAA that would make all high school class of 2022 athletes who used up their fourth season of college eligibility in the spring eligible for a fifth season for the 2026-27 school year.
That ruling lands just as the NCAA has already moved to allow athletes five years of eligibility over five seasons beginning in 2027. An appeal from the NCAA is expected, leaving the whole situation unsettled for players hoping to gain another year this season.
Paris said South Carolina has discussed the issue, but there’s no real momentum to act on it.
The Gamecocks are already at the NCAA roster limit of 15 players, and Paris said there is still “a loophole that would allow us to take one more guy in theory if we wanted to” if the landscape changes and the staff decides to add someone. Even so, he made it sound like the roster has been built with purpose and isn’t being reworked on the fly.
“We built this team to be this team,” Paris said. “If you had significant holes or real miss (on a player) this would be the time to clean that up.
We brought guys in here that we anticipate them doing so it is hard to bring a guy in right now and then tell a guy you had a role for that they will now have a diminished role. And then if something happens with this injunction then you will have to go back to the guy and say we need you again.
“There will be some opportunities for guys, but that isn’t in our plans.”
South Carolina did its roster work earlier, landing 12 newcomers through the transfer portal. That makes any late move even trickier, especially with roles already mapped out.
One name that could have fit the discussion was Mike Sharavjamts, who played one season at USC last year and could potentially qualify for a fifth season. Paris said the staff has not spoken with him.
The eligibility picture has also created movement elsewhere in the region. Clemson’s Dillon Hunter and RJ Godfrey are among the players affected by the injunction. Godfrey committed to Arizona last week, while a separate Georgia judge granted a group of more than 30 college basketball players, including Hunter, an injunction that allows them to compete in 2026-27.
There was also a note on the injury front for South Carolina freshman guard Marcus Johnson, the program’s lone high school signee in this recruiting class. He was spotted at practice without a jersey, and Paris said Johnson is dealing with a groin injury.
Johnson also has a familiar connection around the program. He is the cousin of former Gamecock guard Meechie Johnson, who was at practice Wednesday after finishing with the Miami Heat summer league team and will report to training camp in the fall.
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