South Carolina Basketball: Gamecock freshman receiving national preseason hype
By Kevin Miller
South Carolina basketball true freshman Collin Murray-Boyles has the potential to be a special player for the Gamecocks. The 6’7″, 200-pound Columbia native played his senior season at Wasatch Academy in Utah and completely reshaped both his body and his recruitment.
Heading into his senior season, Murray-Boyles was heavier and less athletic. He focused on trimming up his physique, and, without losing his strength, CMB lost weight and got faster and more explosive.
His game reflected the positive changes, and Murray-Boyles shot up the recruiting rankings to the point that he was eventually rated as a consensus 4-star prospect and was ranked as highly as the 64th-best prospect in the nation in the class of 2023 by ESPN.
After arriving on campus earlier this summer, Murray-Boyles has had a good offseason in which he has improved his confidence and shown that he is ready to contribute as a true freshman in the 2023-2024 season.
During the Gamecocks’ trip to the Bahamas this summer, CMB had a very impressive showing against professional squads from Lithuania and Argentina, including a more confident-looking jumper. Already in possession of strong hands, nice strength and athleticism, and a decent post game, if Murray-Boyles can take and make the 3-ball, his offensive game could be special.
The hype is building for Collin Murray-Boyles, and national outlets are starting to join in the growing chorus of voices singing his praises.
On Wednesday, On3’s Jamie Shaw released an article on freshmen who could outperform their high school recruiting rankings. The Gamecock freshman made Shaw’s list.
Despite already being considered a highly-rated prospect by the recruiting industry, Shaw believes CMB will produce in a big-time way for Lamont Paris’ South Carolina basketball squad this year.
With a significant amount of roster turnover from a year ago, Murray-Boyles will have plenty of opportunities to play. This is especially true when one considers how often the Gamecocks played three forwards last season. With GG Jackson in the NBA and Hayden Brown graduated, two of the starting jobs are up for grabs.
Murray-Boyles will compete with graduate transfer seniors BJ Mack (Wofford), Stephen Clark (The Citadel), and Myles Stute (Vanderbilt) and with returner Josh Gray for minutes this season.
Adding to his opportunity is the fact that Murray-Boyles is the only one of the group who could play all three forward spots in the right lineups (small forward, power forward, and center), though the power forward position is his most natural.
With his long arms and athleticism, he can play next to the more grounded game of Mack, he has enough size to play next to the more perimeter-oriented Stute, and he has enough game away from the basket to play next to more traditional bigs like Clark and Gray.
Because of the presence of the veterans, it seems unlikely that Murray-Boyles will play massive minute totals like previous Gamecock freshman standouts GG Jackson, PJ Dozier, and Sindarius Thornwell. However, he is simply too good to expect him not to find his way onto the floor, and it won’t take long before every South Carolina basketball fan will see it.
The Gamecocks will open their season with a home matchup with USC-Upstate on November 6th.