McGuire doesn’t always have the most talented players when he gets to a new town but he changes that quickly.  With his ties to the Big Apple he knows where to go and find them.  And he finds them in bushels.  He likes the guys with the drive to be the best they can be and are willing to do what is best for the team.  McGuire has done this once at SC.  His Gamecocks are a potent group of players that know how to play basketball.  McGuire’s first class at SC was one of the best ever for any team and most of those kids came to the Big Apple.  This has led to much success including a solid year last year in the Metro.  The problem is that South Carolina will now be moving on the SEC which is not the Metro.  Sure, the SEC is known as a football conference except for the Wiley Wildcats at the top but this league gets as much talent coming their way as anyone. Well, at least since they started integrating their campuses.   Even in the metro they competed well they but did not always have the horses to win the games and some injuries down the stretch really hurt their chances of getting into the post season.  But they did compete.  And in the end they were on the verge of a trip to the NIT and with their history there who knows how long these Gamecocks could have lasted?  They did not get the invite they were hoping for and thought they had earned but they do have most of their key players coming back and will be a very experienced team that should battle with the elite in their new world of the SEC. 

Leading the way for the Gamecocks is that superb class of juniors.  Forward Alex English might be the most talented of the bunch and the irony is this hometown kid is the only one of that group that did not come from the greater New York area.  English is a great player who can really score but is also solid at all other parts of the game.  The 6’7 190 pounder led the team in scoring and was second in rebounding and is a good passer as well.  He played some power forward but is best at the small forward which he seems to be made for.  His jump shot from the corner is unstoppable and he can really get to the hoop.  He does not get the publicity he deserves playing in South Carolina but the coaches and opposing players all know how good he is.  If he played at rival North Carolina he would a household name.  And he is as humble as they get. You cannot ask for a better guy to be the symbol of your program. 

Another one of the mainstays from that terrific class has been shooting guard John Roche. Roche is the type of player McGuire loves. He is gritty and tough and leads his teammates with the heart of a bulldog.  Roche has that big city flair and has point guard skills though McGuire played him mostly at the shooting guard because he can flat shoot from about anywhere on the court.  The kid from New York City will fight you with every last ounce of 6’3 170 pound body.  He will not give in or give up.  This cost him some games this year as he got hurt diving over a table for a loose ball in January.  The team went into a tailspin soon after.  He did return for the stretch run and gave the team a boost.  Oh and the kid can shoot.  But all the Gamecocks can shoot.  It is his desire that sets him apart.  As Coach McGuire so aptly put it when referring to Roche “I wouldn’t trade the dirt underneath his fingernails for anyone else’s soul.”  .

Roche’s high school teammate and great friend Tom Owens came to South Carolina with Roche to play for McGuire (a New York boy himself) and this duo knows how to play together.  Owens is a great post up guy who knows how to score when he gets the ball down low.  He has an assortment of shots including a nice little hook.   At 6’10 215 is solid on the boards (he led the team in rebounding rather easily) and is a team player. He plays solid post defense and does block shots and is consistent as they come.   He also seems to have the knack for being in the right place at the right time and making good of it.  Owens may not get the recognition of Roche and English but he is every bit as important to the success of this team because you can’t win without big men.  And sure he might not be as physically dominant as some of the other post players he has been up against (Wes Unseld anyone) but he knows how to play and does produce. 

Tom Riker is yet another Junior who teams with Owens to give the Gamecocks it’s own set of twin towers.  Riker is not as consistent as Owens but has tremendous potential.  He has games where he absolutely takes over the paint.  He scored 29 albeit in a loss to Cincinnati  and might be the most gifted post player on the team.  On the other hand, he was basically a no show for about a month of the season when he could not find the basket and it affected the rest of his game and McGuire had to bench him.  If he becomes as consistent as Owens down low this team could go very far this season. 

Still another pair of juniors split the point guard position.  Well, if you call 70-30 a split.  Kevin Joyce and Mike Dunleavy are a solid combo who bring different things to the table.  Joyce is a tremendous athlete who can leap to the moon and brings a flair for the dramatic. Ask Memphis about that one.  He started most of the year and is a leader and a clutch player on both ends who’s tip to Owens off a jump ball last year to beat the Tigers is one of the most dramatic plays of the season.  Dunleavy is a heady player who knows just about everything about basketball but is not the most gifted athlete.  He is cerebral to the C and is a coach on the floor but could never match Joyce in guarding people.  McGuire would like to have someone a bit faster running the show as good as Joyce is defensively, he gets outquicked at times by some waterbugs.  Joyce was perfect for the Metro with their big point guards but the SEC is a bit different and keeping up with Fast Eddie Johnson and Ralph Beard will be no easy task.  The depth in the back court is nowhere as deep as the front court.  Seniors Scotti Ward and Skip Harlicka are solid players but are nowhere near the athletes they will be facing.  Ward is quick and can dribble all day but is not a great shooter but man do the fans love him at the Carolina center.  Harlicka is a combo guard who can score some but has much bigger interests than basketball and dropped way down the totem pole last year.  He would have been the obvious choice to replace Winters when he went down as he did start here at one point but McGuire went with Frederick. 

McGuire is great at getting complimentary players to back up his starters and sometimes were almost clones of the first teamers. Senior Grady Wallace is perfect behind English in that he can score on the wings.  Wallace started the year at power forward in the starting lineup and led the team in scoring for a minute but it soon became apparent that he was too small for this and went to the wing and had a solid year backing up English.  Wallace has had to adjust as he was the main man here before McGuire arrived but he is nowhere near as athletic as English and you cannot play the four at 6’4.  Junior Brian Winters is virtually the same to Roche even down to the New York swagger.  He can flat shoot as well.  Winters will be backing up English and Roche this year and could be the best bench player in the country.  If he stays healthy.  He did miss a big stretch with Mono but he showed he is a gamer and gutted out the last few weeks.  Sophomore Zam Fredrick stepped up when Winters missed some games and showed he can score as well after not playing for the first 18 games.  He was dominating the JV averaging over 18 a game and gives McGuire some real depth at the shooting guard.  He is a little small for a two guard (6’2) but knows how to play the game and might be a better scorer than either Roche or Winters but is nowhere near the long-range shooter.  Seniors Jim Slaughter, Jim Fox, Art Whisnant and Gary Gregor are the muscle down low.  Slaughter has two at 6’11 and was the starter going into last year.  He fell off considerably as he got muscled down low (he does only weigh 210) in the tough Metro.  Fox barely played early after transferring from a JC but came on strong with Riker’s inconsistent play and Wallace’s lack of size to team with Owens in an effective post duo.  He can stretch the floor for a big man and will mix it up and is solid on the boards.  Gregor is also tough but got hurt some and is a little small (6’7) for the rigors of the SEC post play though he will not back down from anyone.  Gregor is a solid 225 and plays a physical style which this teams needs more of.  Whisnant leads a group of carryover players from pre-McGuire days that have been shuttled towards the end of the bench.  It is not because of anything but size as Whisnant is like Wallace, only 6’4.  He can play a little three and might have a shot but two other long-term Gamecocks, Lee and Ronnie Collins have been told they will not be on the roster this year.  McGuire has already got their replacements with a couple of beasts transferring in.  Junior transfers Cedrick Hordges and Tom Boswell coming to Columbia.  Boswell dominated at South Carolina State and goes 6’9 and 220 and will almost assuredly help as they enter the SEC.  Speaking of the SEC fellow junior Cedrick Hordges is using the transfer portal and coming from Auburn.  Hordges, who is almost as mean down low as Boswell, is almost the exact same size.  Juniors Danny Traylor and Jim Graziano are also in the mix on a deep roster up front.  Both were prep studs but have not transitioned as well primarily due to a lack of playing time.  Traylor goes 7’0 250 and is a terrific shot blocker and rim protector.  He averaged over four blocks a game but on the JV squad but needs to get better offensively.  Graziano had a great first year but dropped off considerably last year and ended up backing up on the JV.  This kid who was recruited by the Chairmen of the Board (no not Elvin Hayes) to go to UNLV.  Seriously, Graziano from Farmingdale New York, got a call from Frank Sinatra to come west but he turned them down to join the McGuire New York railroad south.  Club Owner actually set up a meeting at one of his night clubs with ol’ Blue Eyes and Graziano but Weston loves McGuire from his days in NYC.  When Graziano turned him down, Sinatra stormed out of the bar taking with him a picture of McGuire saying to Weston ‘you can have Graziano, I will take McGuire.’  Sophomore Jimmy Foster dominated on the JV and will push for some time up front as well.  Foster goes 6’8 230 and averaged over 15 a game but did not help his cause after getting into a fight against Southern Mississippi in a later season callup.  McGuire was not happy with his ejection as SC ended up losing that game which might have cost them the chance at the postseason.  He brought in the two transfers, which is not his style, soon after so Foster is definitely in the doghouse in Columbia.  This bench is deep and talented and knows their roles well but could use a bit more athleticism on the wings.  McGuire has recruited about four kids who can run and jump with the best of them but are they ready for SEC ball? 

Coach Frank McGuire has assembled a group of players who love to play the game and can flat out shoot the ball.  There may be no better team in the country at hitting jump shots.  They do however have some issues matching up with athletic teams and quick backcourts.    McGuire has the cupboard almost full going into next season with a great junior class gaining one more year of experience.  This is a whole new world for SC as they jump from the Metro to the mighty SEC.  This one dominant ACC program has taken many back roads to get to this destination, the goal all along, and McGuire and company are excited to show they belong. This is the Gamecocks season to get back into the post season after getting close last season and the fans in Columbia are ready for their heroes to get the attention they deserve.