#221 R.P.I.  South Carolina vs. #93 R.P.I. Virginia Tech: 

Virginia Tech men’s hoops and Final-IV wimminz hoops must be butter baa-bee!

The Hokies hoopsters she/her, he/him are on a… roll. That Owens Dining Hall satirical attempt that may have chipped a lotta Owens Dining Hall front rim orange paint aside… This is one of the few kinda/sorta *real* teams that we face in the O.O.C. (out of conference) portions of our typically well-stocked with cupcakes pre-A.c.c. docket. South Carolina is at least a P5 swagg. They are South Eastern hung. And that does not hurt one iota (1ι) as name recognition or Selection Committee familiarly goes. Nonetheless, what you wanna know is… who is gonna win and by how much, rights? So, read on… to finds, out!

South Carolina Head Coach: Lamont Paris: age=48, 99–93 (.516) overall, and 12–21 (.364) at U.s.c.
$2,400,000.oo (with $1ooK in incentives).
(A nifty hike from his $25o @Chatty)!

Parris.edu schooled well enuff. A native of Findlay, Ohio, Paris earned a bachelor’s degree in business economics from Wooster in 1996 and a master’s degree in recreation and sports management from Indiana State in 2ooo. Master Paris played four seasons for Wooster and was named the team’s MVP and captain his senior season. Baller Paris played college basketball at The College of Wooster, Ohio, where he was captain for his junior and senior seasons while also being a two-time All-North Coast Athletic Conference selection. That’s good. Checkmarks are hereby awarded.

“Whistling” Parris After beginning his coaching career as an assistant at his alma mater during the 1997-98 season, Paris moved on to assistant coaching stints at DePauw and IUP before landing on Keith Dambrot’s staff at Akron where he stayed for five seasons. Paris then joined Bo Ryan’s staff at Wisconsin in 2o1o and was a part of two Sweet 16 squads and the Badgers’ Final Four and national championship game appearances during the 2o13–14 and 2014-15 seasons. When Ryan stepped down, Paris was elevated to associate head coach under Greg Gard when Gard was given the job permanently.

On April 4, 2o17, Paris was introduced as the 20th head coach in Chattanooga history, replacing Matt McCall who left to become the head coach at Massachusetts. During the 2o21–22 season, Paris led the Mocs to a 27–8 record and the Southern Conference regular season and tournament championships. In the NCAA Tournament, 13th-seeded Chattanooga narrowly dropped one to Illinois 54-53. He did have Chatty ‘on the come’ as they say “over there” in Britain in boxing. They were on-trend and trending up…

On March 22, 2022, Paris was officially announced as head basketball coach at South Carolina, becoming the first African-American to lead the Gamecocks men’s basketball program. He signed a five-year deal with the program.

So, this one has cut his coming-up teeth… lotta lowercase tour-stops, and now the big big P5 bigtime will red-light or green-light what he really is as coaching the verb goes soon enuff. Time=tell?

Not sure on the fam’ life… he is exceptionally tight-lipped here… like, nonpareil.

Refusing any Q&A on the same. Don’t… know???

U.s.c.-East at a glance:

• 5th in 3-point shooting!!!
• 31st in 3-point attempts!
• 33rd in Effective FG percentage!
• 45th in Rebounding Margin!
• 273rd in Turnover Margin.
• 1 injury listed. “help” @Coach God!
• (Although early; these stats are surprisingly better than when/where they ’23 of March left off).

Returning Starters=1 or maybe 1.5 (one part-time guy).

South Carolina Strengths:

• Very experienced roster. That never hurt.
• An ESPN ‘best fresh” never hurt either…
  Best freshman outside the ESPN 100 top 50:Collin Murray-Boyles, PF, South Carolina: Murray-Boyles was a major surprise as a senior at Gray Collegiate. He’s a big-bodied post and a face-up shooter. Murray-Boyles averaged 15 points per game, shot an outstanding 69% overall, and led the NIBC in rebounding with 8.8 rebounds per game. Even his 3-point shot (6-for-13) evolved in a small sample size. This is an interesting prospect— some might have me opine ‘contender’ in pugilistic terms. Either way… this 6′7″, 235 lb. rookie or nugget year kid-o is play right away ready. Be real curious to see where he end of the year is. As his No. 89 in 247Sports ranking would agry. Ditto his: 2022 4A Player of the Year in South Carolina swagg.Or, if he next year… stays???
  Or, if he this plays? See: below. Dang…
• One, #5, Meechie Johnson: MMM-Jay is about the only ’23 refugee baller fo’ the g.Cocks who measure up here. Meechie may or may not have the munchies, though he did at least have a cup of coffee over at ‘the’ Ohio State before making for Columbia, Sc. itself.  6′2″, 180 lb., true-third year baller. The SEC Academic Honor Roll – 2022-23, and Big Ten Academic Honor Roll – 2021-22 looks never suck. .edu props on that. However, his poor knee health and not so much. St.Culbreth help… with any ‘devastating’ left-A.c.l. injury that expensed him his entire Jr. season in scholastic terms. This cooled some recruiting looks for this kinda slashy/penetrating Pt.Guard1 who is kinda a Lead-G playing hoopster Qb. Then his father left this world… Coach God Bless again As I read nothing good here at all. Anywho… from what Eye saw, the kid sure trains/works hard. He even helps warm-up (cheerlead) the wimminz squad on matching nites. So, good on him and the Prayer Beads that he wears. That, and he keeps a N.I.L. with: “NERF”. Kan’t beat that with a shortie dunking on your bedroom door with a stick. Meechie is your returning lead scorer, who improved as ’23 wore on and he at least tried to sniff up at closer to 2o ppg in the last month or so. This is a scoring One, not a pure shooting One. High 30’s from the floor and lower 30’s from 3-land speak to this in career terms. Likewise… he seems to force things as a passer and some preview mags of mine questioned his decision-making to boot. As the 3 apg and the close to 5 rpg are gravy here and you gotta wonder where he is on 2-good wheels.

• B.J. Mack (So.Florida by way of: Worford transfer). This Mack is not a truck. Mo’ like a shag-carpet 70’s van or a modern-era ticked-up soccer-mum hybrid hauler. And he dang sure don’t look his listed 272 lbs. to me. The 6′8″ and yah that could be. 14.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game last year while being named nearly All-Everything for So.Con’. terms counts. As does his bulk. Did I mention his heft, yet? Still, yet, my preview mags call this a: ‘versatile’ F1. He can pass (2.9 apg) and rebound (6 rpg) a bit and he has a legit 3-point range (38% career) on top of all of that. BeeJay is also said to be a Honeycutt of a big-framed banger who gets to the FT line (83%) a lot for all that right mass. Did I mention his sizeiness, yet? This kid is a good get, and as a 5th year baller, he is surely matriculated. He is a 3rd-string or honorable mention all-S.e.c. pick pre-season as well. He keeps a National Title Oak Hill Academy ring and 2 Nattys on the summer touring team circuit back-to-back championship blings as well. So, he knows winning itself. His fam’ (uncles and cousins plural alike) know D-1 or pro’ level hoops. His two balling uncles helped construct the safe rooms at The White House. wow! St.Joseph and St.Donald bless, twice.
• Stephen Clark (The Citadel transfer), is a 6′8″, 2o8 lb. kinda/sorta Euro-Forward with a little spryness in his step. 17 ppg and 6 rpg last year when biting down for the Bulldogs does not suck. His range is limited (22% career 3’s) tho he does shot-swat (1.7 bpg) and that might just attract some overseas attention. Mechanical Engineer grad’-student are most Norris Hall impressive. As were his state (N.c.) rankings from T&F in: the long jump, triple jump, and hurdles. As this white-bread kid is mo’ kinetically bred than you’d 1st-glance think. Only his FT’s (6o% career) need just a bit of a lift. The coaching/camping sewing circles all say this kid ‘gets it’ and plays with a: “knack” for the game. You do not always yesteryear see that, today.

South Carolina Weaknesses:

• Picked last in the So.East, yikes!
• GG Jackson F, kicked-rocks and now this gee.unit kicks it while racking a Grizzly N.b.a. pay-check to boot. Good on him. Tho’ this is a major frontcourt hole to fill.
• ****, VHT, chip, Collin Murray-Boyles: is listed as: “OUT INDEFINITELY” per an undisclosed: ‘illness’. Whispers around the coaching sewing circle say: “mononucleosis”. Like bad… may St.Blaise bless!

Gamecock Bench: (depth=4 almost 5, good depth here)

A slew of lowercase to mediumcase to ‘tweener caliber G’s -and two spot-minute legit F’s- put in work here.

Jacobi Wright has as much Right Stuff (get it?) as anyone else does pining away for the ‘cocks. Legacy Early College… I’ve never résumé read before. However, the 9 ppg with 3 rpg and 2 apg is not the worst substitute backcourt work from a 6′2″ final-year guy at 182 lbs. of combo-G work.

Ta’Lon Cooper is a part-time starter… by way of ‘Sota Gopher fame. At 6′4″ and 200 lbs. of Moorehouse as a 4-year starter for them before that. cv19 love is heax or 6th year available. Reliable guy, steady; right at 9-n-change ppg for his career basically every single year. First Team All-Ohio Valley (2022) a year ago. Kinda a ‘tweener, almost a shooter (37% career 3’s) tho’ just not quite a pure spot-up 2-Guard. The 5 apg and 4 rpg do help round his roundball game, out. Though the 41% from the floor for a career tells you how far-out he camps/shoots. Although the 2 S.c. H.S. State Championships do help. Is said to be a bonus coach on the floor and models himself after Magic’s all-around game. +32 fo’ dat!

Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk, combo-F, (6′8″, 238 lbs.) gives you your Lommel, Belgium imported size in relief down-low. He also gives up 4 ppg and nearly 3 rpg as a Sr. season Illinois transfer frontcourter. Tho’ at least he is match-up big and that helps on some nites.

Illation, conclusion(s) and OPT digits:

Number of 'cocks who could stroke it @Tech=4, 5?

the takeaway:
The takeaway here is…

…nobody is taken with So.Eastern hoops club; not at all.

Although they look improved to me. ’24 beats ’23 here— I reckon so.

Nevertheless, they are in a multi-year reclamation project that projects to check back on Coach Lamont Paris’ towering rebuild.

---

 

---

As this team almost assuredly beats last year’s 11-win team.

They may even have a mid to long shot at some version of a lesser caliber off-season bid to some lowercase Tourney.

Meaning… upsetting big-bad a year ago Defending A.c.c. Champion VeeTee is a big ole dub-a-you for them. They will be up for us.

We need to be on point accordingly here.
We will be taking their A-game puch.

And it is a well-season highly experienced punch that is prolly mis-Q free.

 ***

Our handy-dandy friend the so-called Forum Guide of Graham Houston fame is calling for an intra-league rejoinder once the December time comes.

The annualized year-to-date vitals say that… in shooting percentage margin, in 3-point percentage margin, and in rebounding margin.

The most recent 5-game metrics say that… in shooting percentage margin, in 3-point percentage margin, and in rebounding margin… well, they say Eye should ask game no.6 and that you should, too.

Armchair Pt.Guard’s:

V.P.I. is up +13% at the charity stripe for the year.
Nobody is anything as Swiss or Neutral, yet.
Nobody is up anything in R&R.

The Call…

No.225 Net Ranking  South Carolina vs. no.86 Net Ranking Vah.Tech:

Well, if you EARLY season and only one, that’s (1) whole entire data point ask me?

—and you did via reading these very words… there are those who think this ’24 VeeTee men’s hoops team is deeper than ’23 before. Even sans the Rice-o-Roni; our 5th highest all-time recruit, mind yah. They even seem to think this year’s squadron could be defensively better than before.

Me?

I wanna see mo’ data points… although I was offensively and defensively and reboudnigly encouraged. We did what you are supposed to do to the little man and we did not fight small. We punched downhill in the 1-hole and yet now we face at least thrice the team in game #2.

The VerdicT:

Tough to not take Tech here.

As I do feel like So.Carolina is beneath us a bit… although I’m bit more reserved on where to R.A.T.T. peg us just yet?

Post-season good?
Prolly.

Which post-season though?

Though me and Morpheus are sure… “…the answers are coming Neo.“

-oOo-

As we’ve got a spate of ‘name’-opponents O.O.C. coming up. Several interesting and/or alluring ones both recently and in historic terms. As frankly, to mix my coaching metaphor… this is a kinda, sorta, semi; nameier, or maybe even a bit tougher O.O.C. docket than I had expected. Not as many walk-out and walk-off and basically walk-over and walk-away easily enuff lowercases lurk here.

Though there I go again… always putting the cart before the horse.

In the meantime, I do expect a Tech Triumph in the: 2o23-24 MBB Hall of Fame Series down in Photo-Fu’s backyard of: Charlotte North Carolina Friday nite at ~9:30 PM on the AccNet.

Then another lay-up game… and then it starts to get a bit mo’ O.O.C., real.

Time=tell on that increased medicine.

💯🏀💯

 

(77% confidence interval)
Virginia Tech=75, South Carolina=61

please support the VT F.C.A.!

“LETS GO!”

“Hokies!”

 bourbonstreet**