South Carolina is a team we are keeping a close eye on this season. Their coach Lamont Paris did a fantastic job building the Chattanooga basketball program. He took steps forward in each of his 5 seasons. This is Paris’s second season with South Carolina, and his team looks to have taken a massive step forward. The Gamecocks start 4 seniors and a freshman. South Carolina brought in a lot of talent through the transfer portal. Their opponent Notre Dame is a young team, with a new head coach (Micah Shrewsberry from Penn State). Shrewsberry has nowhere near the talent he had last season at Penn State. Notre Dame’s offense ranks 225th in adjusted offensive efficiency, and 211th in effective field goal percentage. South Carolina ranks 32nd in the nation in effective field goal percentage. The Gamecocks are shooting almost 40% from three point range, ranking top 20 in the nation in three point shooting. It’s also worth noting that South Carolina has one of the top 50 home court advantages in the nation. KenPom values their homecourt at nearly +4 points. We like the odds of South Carolina winning this game by north of 8 points. Our stake is a half unit.