SOUTH CAROLINA DISSED BY NCAA SELECTION COMMITTEE
The University of South Carolina men’s basketball team had its best season yet under fourth-year head coach Frank Martin – but it still wasn’t enough to earn them a trip to the NCAA tournament.
The Gamecocks (24-8, 11-7 SEC ) missed out on “Selection Sunday” – falling victim to a weak non-conference slate and losses in three of their last four games (including a pair of heartbreaking defeats at the hands of SEC rival Georgia).
As a result, South Carolina has now gone twelve years without making the “Big Dance” – and an astonishing 43 years without winning a game in the tournament.
Unreal …
While the Gamecocks’ postseason hopes went “pop,” several teams viewed to be beneath them on the proverbial NCAA tourney “bubble” managed to sneak in. Among them? Michigan, Syracuse, Tulsa and Vanderbilt.
Is that fair? No … and yes.
It’s easy to argue South Carolina was better than some of the teams that received invitations – in fact Martin’s team beat fellow bubble squads Tulsa and Vanderbilt. But the Gamecocks’ non-conference schedule ranked in the bottom quartile of the NCAA’s 351 Division I-A programs, and they recorded just one win against a top fifty team. Combine that with the team’s atrocious finish and it’s easy to see why they got dissed.
While the snub certainly stings, Martin clearly has the program moving in the right direction. After a dismal first two seasons in which South Carolina posted a 28-38 mark (and a 9-27 conference record), Martin’s squad posted its first winning record last season and took an even bigger step toward respectability this year.
That steady improvement is unlikely to make long-suffering Gamecock fans feel any better about the selection committee’s decision to exclude them, but hopefully next year’s squad will be even better. Martin built a consistent winner and perennial NCAA contender at Kansas State – and all indications are that he’s building the same sort of program at South Carolina.
One thing is clear, though: Whoever determines the Gamecocks’ non-conference schedule clearly needs to think about pairing them up against some tougher opponents – and rethink scheduling games against the likes of Francis Marion University.
37 comments
The Shamecocks. Potentially mediocre at best. Typically forgettable. Keep fucking that chicken.
I have a solution for our sports programs. If Men’s and Women’s Basketball had Fraternities/Sororities for the athletes to house and socialize in, our recruiting would be off the charts. Still time, Coach Martin/AD Tanner. Get a frat house for the BBallers and get Seventh Woods from UNC. Ditto for Baseball and Football
????????????????????????????????????????????
????????????????????????????????????????????
????????????????????????????????????????????
????????????????????????????????????????????
????????????????????????????????????????????
????????????????????????????????????????????
?????????????????
?????????????????.,.
They’re called dorms.
There’s always the Not Invited Tournament.
Maybe Tanner needs to strengthen up that non-conference schedule and stop playing junior college and intramural teams. The selection committee saw right through that and decided 24 wins over cupcake teams wasn’t all that impressive.
we should go back to playing Clempson twice that way by beating a really bad program like Clemson twice u get credit for one solid victory in the blind committees view.
When did USCe and Clemson become basketball schools?
“South Carolina has now gone twelve years
without making the “Big Dance” – and an astonishing 43 years without
winning a game in the tournament.”
Chicken Curse Lives
USC probably should have made it. Syracuse has no business being in the tournament.
darin horn’s available. will work for nice suits
and hair gel.
Lipscomb, Francis Marion, Norfolk State, Hofstra, Oral Roberts. . . . whoever is scheduling these cupcakes needs to be reassigned. Can’t really blame the selection committee with opponents of this meager caliber.
That would be Chad Holbrook’s boss.
oral roberts… clempson
AD tries to plan their way to a bid. I am glad to see the selection committee pt an end to that crap.
The drunk old ball coach released the chicken curse when he retired!
much like this POS website changes it views with the blowing wind so does the NCAA. Is it Top 50 wins? Non-Conference? Strength of Schedule, Eye Test, WTH is it NCAA? Please put basketball folks on the selection committee and not some AD from OK who job is marketing and ticket sales. Same for the football committee!!!!!
Sounds like it is time for Folks to have a come to Jesus meeting with Martin like he did with Spurrier. It jacked up Spurrier so maybe it will scare Martin also.
They still had a good year and there’s higher hopes for next year so I will give them that.
Pretty surprising decision to leave them out. I would be pretty upset if I was a chicken fan. Seems like Martin has you guys headed in the right direction, though.
Maaann! Clemson couldn’t even get in to the N.I.T. Too many regular season champs lost their tournaments, who did not get at large NCAA bids got automatic N.I.T. bids. That knocked Clemson out in addition to their sucky playing.
This Clemson fan is glad they didn’t make it. Not sure I could’ve suffered through another basketball game this season. That being said, kudos to Bloss for an amazing year.
Ha! We WERE invited, but to the National INVITATIONAL Tournament. While I share the disappointment of missing the NCAA tourney yet again I believe the NIT provides a better opportunity to extend the season and continue to build on our success.
I got to admit with the hacking of the site, and the lack of sports stories on USC here for him to troll about as of late, I was starting to wonder if something happened to Squishy’s punkass. But a story about USC basketball (which even he wasn’t good enough to play for huh D2) comes out and look at all his replies already. What a pathetic life he must have. Poor Squishy he has to troll USC since he couldn’t play for them, has to hate on Blacks cause some did his mom in the pooper, and has to be a dick because he has a tiny one, but hey its a story about USC so troll away Squishy, troll away, so you have something to finally look forward to today.
Says the guy who said he played baseball for the Dirtpeckers back in their glory days… the 1980’s. You know back when they were lucky to beat teams like Allen University and Midlands Tech.
Back when I was playing D2 basketball, nobody had even heard of USCe. Because they couldn’t even make the NIT back then.
Aww nice try little tiny troll. Bless your little heart!!
By the way yes I played in the 80’s and we went to the NCAA tournament each year I was there, won 2 regionals and went to Omaha twice, so you have no clue what you are even talking about do you. No our basketball team did not go to the tournament then however, but we all know you knew of it, and that you are full of shit there.
I may have heard of Frank McGuier but couldn’t tell you who the coach was at the time because USCe at the time was likely a bottom of the conference team.
Yeah, I heard you were the best batboy the team has ever had, you even beat the coaches 8 year old kid out your senior year.
You must have been an awesome player (I’m sure even diehard USCe fans would say “who” when your name was mentioned), D1 player who didn’t even get drafted out of the hundreds of farm team selections.
Actually I did get drafted in a late round, but keep trying to act like playing D2 means anything.
It does mean something………. douchebag in the second degree.
Yeah whatever Bob Ueker, your grandpa offering to take you to the batting cages doesn’t qualify as getting drafted.
looks like he’s gotten to you
again nice try under the alias name Squishy
Why would I change my name, I’m not some former lame-assed baseball player who didn’t even go through school on a full ride. Until a few years ago USCe baseball was on par with golf and tennis.
It’s not how you arrive, It’s how you finish.
And, USC nor Clemson Finished Well.
Tanner’s padding the records with a bunch of patsies caught up with him. Let this hbe a lesson Drad and Ray, those days are over with.