Analyzing South Carolina bringing in 2023 guard Austin Herro
South Carolina added another piece to its 2023-24 roster Sunday afternoon, picking up a high school commitment from Austin Herro.
Herro has strong basketball bloodlines, the brother of former Kentucky Wildcat and top 50 prospect Tyler Herro. Tyler has been a key piece for the Miami Heat the last few seasons, including an all-rookie year in 2020 and Sixth Man of the Year in 2021-22.
With South Carolina full on scholarships at the moment, Herro will begin his Gamecocks career as a non-scholarship player and a PWO.
There is a strong family connection between the Herros and South Carolina head coach Lamont Paris.
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Paris was on staff at Wisconsin and was one of the lead recruiters for him. Herro committed to the Badgers over Marquette and DePaul before ultimately flipping to Kentucky.
Paris and the Gamecocks had a strong relationship with the family. He built that again with Herro during the recruitment process.
He came up and took a visit recently and visited with the South Carolina staff, committing soon after.
Herro was getting interest from Cal Poly and other mid-majors as a scholarship player. But he chose instead to head to the SEC as a non-scholarship player. He’s a Division I level player who the Gamecocks added this offseason.
In terms of what he could bring to the table, it’s hard for those PWOs to earn significant playing time and the Gamecocks have veteran guards like Ta’Lon Cooper, Meechie Johnson and Jacobi Wright already on the roster.
Those guys, if healthy, will shoulder most of the load in the backcourt this season. But Herro’s shooting can give him an edge to play some minutes this season.
According to Wissports.NET, Herro averaged 14.8 points and 6.4 rebounds per game as a senior while shooting 35.8 percent from three this season.
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Free throw percentages are usually indicators of a good shooter. And Herro went 59-for-77 (76.6 percent) from the stripe as a senior.
Paris values shooting at a very high level; he’s said as much and shown it in recruiting. Herro does it at a good clip as a high school senior and can add that for the Gamecocks.
At worst, having someone like that helping in practice can help get other guards ready to play as well.
He’ll join a freshman class that includes forward Collin Murray-Boyles, wing Arden Conyers and guard Morris Ugusuk.
Murray-Boyles is the highest-rated player in the class, checking in at No. 113 in the On3 rankings and No. 104 in the Industry Rankings.
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