Without Sindarius Thornwell and others, who will start at guard for South Carolina?
Right now, the backcourt for South Carolina men’s basketball team is a question mark, coach Frank Martin says. But that doesn’t mean the team doesn’t have options.
With the departure of star guards Sindarius Thornwell, Duane Notice and P.J. Dozier, Martin has to replace three starters from last year’s Final Four squad. In their place, he has five or six different players competing for playing time.
The only possible replacement who played for the Gamecocks last year is redshirt junior Hassani Gravett, who averaged 3.2 points and 1.4 assists across 35 games. According to Martin, Gravett, who joined South Carolina after transferring from a junior college, is poised for a big improvement this season.
“Hassani Gravett needs to be better, and if you follow my career, players their second year get a lot better than they were the first year. That’s pretty consistent throughout my career with players. So he’s in a much better place right now as a player,” Martin said Thursday.
Gravett’s fellow redshirt junior, Kory Holden, missed the 2016-2017 season after transferring from Delaware, but Martin said he was able to practice with the Gamecocks and become familiar with the program.
“Having him around last year allowed me to understand him, and I think it allowed him to understand me. He and I are in a real good place as people,” Martin said.
However, Holden has also dealt with two knee injuries while at South Carolina, and he is about a week removed from returning to full capacity, Martin said.
“He does a lot of stuff in practice right now but he went through a major knee situation. Now he’s gotta get back on the floor and do what he loves to do, which is play, and he’s pretty good at it. Kory can really play.”
In addition to Holden, two other transfers, both graduate students, are on Martin’s radar.
Frank Booker previously played for Florida Atlantic and Oklahoma as an undergraduate. With the Owls, Booker averaged 5.7 points per game and shot over 67 percent from the field.
“Don’t underestimate the experiences of Frank Booker,” Martin said. “When we read his resume, we see that he came from Florida Atlantic, and that creates a certain perception for people who are not paying attention. He was the leading scorer off the bench in the NCAA tournament for a Sweet 16 team in Oklahoma. Frank is pretty good.”
The other graduate transfer, Wesley Myers, comes to USC from Maine and Niagara. With Maine, Myers averaged almost 17 points per game.
“We’ve known him from his high school days in New York. Typical New York City kid, very confident,” Martin said of Myers.
Martin also said freshman David Beatty could compete for court time, comparing his style of play as a point guard to NBA MVP Russell Westbrook.
“David Beatty is as competitive a kid as I’ve probably been around. I mean, he is wired to go all the time,” Martin said. “If I had to be 19 again, I would not want to fight him.”
Overall, Martin praised his guards for their ability to be coached and adjust accordingly.
“Like when you’re in the middle of the practice and you pull one to the side and say ‘hey, you went left, you should have gone right,’ when they go back out there, they’re able to take what you said and incorporate it into the natural repetition,” Martin said.
This story was originally published October 5, 2017 at 4:44 PM.