South Carolina basketball suffered a decommitment from their 2024 recruiting class earlier this week when sharpshooting wing Trent Noah asked to be released from his NLI to the University of South Carolina. Gamecock head coach Lamont Paris obliged, and many in the college basketball world had a good idea of what Noah's next steps would be.
The state of Kentucky is where Noah calls home, and though Noah didn't fit into the plans of former Kentucky Wildcat coach John Calipari, when UK hired Mark Pope, the Harlan County native seemed like a great fit for Big Blue Nation.
It didn't take long after Noah's release from his NLI for news to break that he was the newest commitment to Mark Pope and his Kentucky Wildcats. According to a report from CBS Sports' Matt Norlander, Noah has signed his paperwork with the University of Kentucky and officially is a 'Cat.
The Gamecocks had seven scholarship returners from last year's roster (forwards Collin Murray-Boyles and Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk, guards Jacobi Wright and Morris Ugusuk, and wings Zach Davis, Myles Stute, and Arden Conyers). They also have brought in two freshmen in 4-star wing Cam Scott and 4-star forward Okku Federiko and three transfer portal players in point guard Jamarii Thomas and bigs Nick Pringle and Jordan Butler.
The roster had been full before Noah's decision to play for his home state team. He is a substantial loss for the Gamecocks, especially when considering the future, but Lamont Paris has already been hard at work looking to fill his final roster spot.
Because of the roster construction in Columbia, Paris has flexibility with what type of player he targets. Carolina has multiple players who can play each position, and there is at least one upperclassman and at least one underclassman at each spot.
With how things have gone for Paris in the transfer portal, South Carolina basketball fans should expect their head coach to make a move sooner rather than later.