South Carolina Basketball: Gamecocks overlooked despite major recruiting moves

Southbound and Down covers the SEC for the FanSided Network and does a great job providing SEC news and updates for college sports fans, and one of their big articles is their monthly recruiting winners. This week, Southbound and Down released their September basketball recruiting winners in the SEC, and surprisingly, South Carolina basketball was not mentioned.

Instead, Alabama and Missouri were named the biggest winners for the month, while LSU, Arkansas, and Tennessee received some praise, as well.

Each of those five programs brought in one blue chip prospect in September. ‘Bama and Mizzou make sense as the biggest winners as the ‘Tide and Tigers each secured commitments from a 5-star prospect in the class of 2024. However, the Gamecocks brought in a 4-star recruit just like LSU, Arkansas, and Tennessee, yet USC was not mentioned.

They should have been.

Perhaps Carolina’s exclusion comes because their September commitment comes from the class of 2025. Big-time forward Hayden Assemian pledged his services to Lamont Paris and the South Carolina basketball program, marking the Gamecocks’ first commitment in the class.

However, landing Assemian’s commitment wasn’t the only positive recruiting news for the Gamecocks in September. Top-150 2024 wing Trent Noah and 4-star 2025 guard Eli Ellis both visited campus, and those close to the program believe those visits went extremely well for Carolina.

The speculation surrounding Noah was proven correct in the first week of October as the Kentucky sharpshooter announced his commitment to the Gamecocks. Could the same be coming from Ellis?

Lamont Paris’ program also put themselves in the conversation for other elite prospects. 5-star Sadiq “AJ” White and Darryn Peterson have recently included the Gamecocks in early lists of their top schools. White, a Charlotte native and high school teammate of new Tennessee commit Bishop Boswell, has said he will be visiting Columbia this fall.

Even the 2026 high school class made some noise in September as in-state prospect Tre Raymon, an intriguing and versatile player, visited the program and had a “great” experience in Columbia.