South Carolina Basketball: Gamecocks left out of recent top-45 ranking

The transfer portal has closed in college basketball, so no more players can leave their programs while remaining eligible to play next season. Players who had already entered the portal before the transfer window closed can still join new teams. With the ability still to add players, South Carolina basketball coach Lamont Paris still has one spot left on his roster he'd like to fill with a point guard.

Even though college basketball teams are still adding players and the delay of paperwork could cause a few more names to sneak into the transfer pool before all is said and done, because the transfer portal officially has closed, college basketball fans and media have started to develop opinions on rosters and how they think teams will perform in the 2024-2025 season.

One national writer, CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein, is not too high on the Gamecocks. In his Rothstein 45 rankings, the Gamecocks were left off completely.

It seems a bit shortsighted for Rothstein to omit South Carolina from the top-45 unless he thinks Coach Paris and his staff will be unable to bring in a point guard. With plenty of lead guards still available in the portal and Paris' success as a transfer portal recruiter, that type of concern for the Gamecocks is unfounded.

With a roster expected to consist of Jacobi Wright, Morris Ugusuk, and a transfer portal guard (point guards), Cam Scott, Zach Davis, Trent Noah, Myles Stute, and Arden Conyers (wings), and Collin Murray-Boyles, Nick Pringle, Jordan Butler, Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk, and Okku Federiko (posts), the Gamecocks should have a good enough team to compete in the SEC and for an NCAA Tournament berth once again.

If the Gamecocks get the expected jumps from Davis and Murray-Boyles (going from sophomore to junior and freshman to sophomore), and the transfer additions can be solid rotation pieces, South Carolina basketball fans can expect to find themselves inside Jon Rothstein's rankings by the time the season gets going.