South Carolina Basketball: 5-star local talent announces commitment
By Kevin Miller
South Carolina basketball has just one commitment so far in the class of 2024. Finnish forward Okku Federiko (former teammate of current Gamecock guard Morris Ugusuk) committed in April.
On Friday, the Gamecocks’ commitment count remained at one as 5-star Lexington High School product Cam Scott announced his college commitment to a program other than the South Carolina basketball program.
Scott chose the Texas Longhorns over the rest of a top-6 that also included his hometown South Carolina Gamecocks, Oregon Ducks, Ole Miss Rebels, Alabama Crimson Tide, and Auburn Tigers.
One of the top offensive players in the entire high school class of 2024, Scott’s decision to choose Texas does not come as a huge surprise, though the Gamecocks appeared to be pretty firmly in the mix for his services.
Scott had been interested in Texas for a long time, and his relationship with former Longhorn coach Chris Beard is believed to be why Ole Miss made Scott’s top-6 list (Beard is the new coach at Ole Miss). In the end, new Texas coach Rodney Terry (who was on the Longhorn’s staff as an assistant at earlier points of Scott’s recruitment) secured his commitment.
Scott, a 6’5” wing player has been on the national scene since the 8th grade as he became a starter for Lexington High School’s varsity basketball program while still in middle school.
Coach Lamont Paris and his staff are still in the mix for a number of other high school prospects in the class (4-star Bishop Boswell, 4-star KJ Greene, 4-star Austin Swartz, 3-star Trent Noah, etc.), but based on coach Paris’ usage of the transfer portal in his first year and half on the job in Columbia, the Gamecocks may look to the portal once again to fill the gaps left by a large senior class, many of whom were transfers themselves.