South Carolina basketball must dominate transfer portal this offseason
Lamont Paris is on the hot seat heading into year five in Columbia; with five players gone and the portal open, the next 15 days define his tenure.
The NCAA transfer portal opened at midnight on Tuesday for college basketball, and South Carolina's head coach Lamont Paris doesn't have a second to waste. The Gamecocks' men's basketball program enters this offseason in full rebuilding mode--again. South Carolina finished the 2025-26 season with a 13-19 record, going just 4-14 in SEC play and finishing near the bottom of the conference at No.
14. It was the second straight sub-. 500 season for Paris following the program's 2024 NCAA Tournament appearance .
The roller coaster of emotions over the last few seasons have created an uncomfortable question heading into Year 5 : How much longer does Paris get to find the right answers in Columbia? The University of South Carolina announced in March that Paris would indeed return for another season, a vote of confidence that came with an asterisk. The Gamecocks have mustered only six wins over the last two seasons combined .
Needless to say, the fanbase has become restless . And now with the spring portal window open and the clock ticking, Paris faces arguably the most critical roster-building phase of his tenure. The 15-day window is from April 7 to April 15.