In his second season as head coach, Frank Martin hopes to push South Carolina’s Men’s Basketball team to the top. All Gamecocks know how much our basketball team has struggled in the past years. Here’s hoping for a better season.
Martin and Assistant Coach Perry Clark went out and recruited a fair amount of freshmen. This Gamecock squad has only two seniors in Brenton Williams and Bruce Ellington, who is still playing in the football season. Not only does this team have few seniors, but there are only two juniors as well, including red-shirt junior, Carlton Geathers. That leaves over half the team to underclassmen. Five sophomores, and yes, seven freshmen players. This in an unusually young team. Some might think this is insane, may be shocked, scared, or all of the above.
Martin is excited about all of his freshmen, though. At a pre-season press conference he was asked about the seven newcomers and he said, “They have the courage to make plays and to be good. You can’t make a play unless you try to make it.”
The team is really going to lean on their leaders that will have to step up and be those upperclassmen that they’re missing, such as sophomores Michael Carrera and Mindaugas Kacinas. In their exhibition game against USC Aiken on Sunday, Nov. 3, Carrera lead the team with 14 points. Senior, Brenton Williams had 10 points in the game, as did Laimonas Chatkevicius. Freshman Sindarius Thornwell stepped up to score 12 points on the day. The team showed that they knew how to mesh well, but were barely able to beat USC Aiken, which did cause some worry. However, it was the teams first and only test before the season.
What seems to be the biggest concern for the team and for Frank Martin is selfishness. Martin said in a press conference, “A freshman’s bad day may not affect them, but it affects guys like Brent Williams who only have 31 games left to play. They can’t be selfish. We talk about it all the time and show film of what they can’t do, not even in practice.”
Because this team is made up of so few upperclassmen and so many freshmen, the young guys have little room for mistake. They need to know what is on the line for all the other guys they play with. All of these guys need to be selfless and give their best effort in every game and practice, so the Gamecocks have the opportunity to win every game.
South Carolina has their first game on Saturday, Nov.9 at home against Longwood.