South Carolina Basketball: Former players, fans react to new uniforms, including a championship throwback

South Carolina basketball coach Lamont Paris will be putting a new-look squad on the court this season as the Gamecocks have welcomed to the roster three scholarship freshmen, two more walk-ons, and four transfer portal additions.

After tying a program record for losses in the 2022-2023 season with 21 defeats, USC is expected to be better in year 2 of the Lamont Paris era, but exactly how much better remains to be seen. The Gamecocks have the chance to be competitive in the SEC if things go well for them, but the amount of roster turnover could also lead to some growing pains for the CourtCocks.

The roster isn’t the only thing that looks different around South Carolina basketball this season, however, as the team will be rocking some new jerseys when they take the floor for the first time on November 6th against USC-Upstate.

On Monday, less than a week after Dawn Staley’s women’s squad revealed their new threads, the official Gamecock Men’s Basketball Twitter (uhh…x?…) account released a video of the players seeing their new uniforms for the first time.

Some minor improvements were made on some pretty good jerseys from last season, but the look that is drawing the most attention from fans is a throwback to a championship Gamecock squad. In the video, new transfer Myles Stute is wearing the throwback (#10 in white). There will also be a garnet version of the retro look available.

In the 2005-2006 season, the Gamecocks won their second of back-to-back NITs. It was not a major accomplishment, but for a team with just one NCAA Tournament appearance in the last twenty years (a magical run to the Final Four in the 2016-2017 season), those NIT championship teams hold a special place in the hearts of Gamecock fans.

The throwback uniforms honor those NIT squads, something that is very much appreciated by the men who played on those teams.

Fans also seem to like the throwback jerseys.

As a whole, fans have had positive things to say about all the uniforms.

The Gamecocks routinely alternate between black and garnet on the road, so it is unclear how often they might wear their standard black, standard garnet, or throwback garnet looks. However, with just two white options for home games, the home throwbacks seem poised for heavy use in the 2023-2024 season.