NCAA hopes, post-Kentucky
Devan Downey sounded a bit like a bracketologist on Wednesday when he was asked about South Carolina’s NCAA tournament chances, after the win over No. 1 Kentucky.
“That’s probably the biggest thing I thought about during the Florida game: That would’ve been a huge road victory as far as our resume,” Downey said. “But this one right here (beating Kentucky) will be a bigger one.”
He’s right. While USC’s chances for the Big Dance are still a long shot at this point, they were almost no-shot before Downey and the Gamecocks shocked the world on Tuesday.
Here are the Gamecocks’ vital numbers: 12-8 overall, 3-3 in the SEC, an RPI rank of 68 as of Thursday, and a schedule strength of 29.
The best thing they have going for them now is the win over Kentucky, which is one of two wins over top 50 RPI teams (Richmond is the other, but we’ll see how long the Spiders stay there.)
On the down side, the Gamecocks have little else in the win column. In the loss column, they have Wofford (currently ranked 105 in the RPI), Boston College and Miami (ranked 85 and 90, respectively).
Jerry Palm, who runs CollegeRPI.com and is one of the best out there analyzing the bracket, put it like this for the Gamecocks:
“They need to start stringing wins together. There’s a lot of ball left, so it’s not too late, but they can’t keep going hit-and-miss like they have been. Eventually, they’re going to have to hurt someone on the road too. That Auburn win is pretty lonely.”
Last year USC’s 10-6 record in the league wasn’t good enough because of the weakness of the SEC. Now how about this year?
“Depends on which nine or 10 they are, and of course, what other teams do,” Palm said. “I would say if they get to the end of the year and all they really have is a win over UK, they don’t have much.”
The bottom line for the Gamecocks is they still have a lot of work to do. But thanks to Tuesday night, they now have a chance to get back in the conversation.
8 Comments to “NCAA hopes, post-Kentucky”
Leave a Reply
State newspaper sports writer Seth Emerson blogs on University of South Carolina basketball and baseball.
NCAA tourney dreams are still virtually a no go but wins against GA., Miss State, Florida, Tenn., & Vandy (quite a tall order) as well as a decent run in the SEC tournament will definitley put the Gamecocks in “bubble team” contention. Which is a major improvement considering they currently dwell in “No chance land!”
[...] focus on the rest of its schedule… not the win over UK.13. From an NCAA tourney standpoint, the Cocks don’t have much going for them OTHER than the Kentucky win.14. Bruce Pearl believes the momentum shifted in last night’s [...]
Being SEC East champs last year and not getting invited was pretty insulting to the SEC last year.
USC will need at least 10 regular conference wins. Considering its remaining games – this probably will not happen. But, 10 wins and then two in SEC Tourney would get them in.
Otherwise, 9-7 and an SEC Tourney Runner-up would get USC in.
8-8 will not; except if we win the SEC Tourney and that probably will not happen.
Keep in mind, we lost two of our starting 5 to injury, which gets us no consideration.
1 more thing.
As big as a W v- KY was, its only 1 W and a season it does not make.
Devan Downey will go down in Gamecock history as one of the truly greats to have played at USC. Nothing is known before it plays out, but going to his remaining games to see one of the greats is worth the My Carolina memories, it may be awhile before you see a better player than he is.
best 5 9 to ever play the gamr
While the euphoria of beating Kentucky blinds everyone and inhibits their memories, let me caution all that this is the same team that lost to Wofford.
NO NCAA – NO NIT – NO matter – we have a coach who is in the process of building a strong winning program at USC. I, for one, will remain patient and positive about the progress being made no matter how this season turns out. We did lose two starters at the beginning of the year – we do have some excellent recruits coming in for next season.
Interestingly – the Gamecocks are 12-8. The UNC Tarheels are 13-7 and UNC has a host of 5-star bule chip players on their squad and are coming off a national championship. USC lost two starters early in the season. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the season plays out for both USC and for UNC – USC will most likely NOT be an NCAA team – but – will UNC be? Will UNC be deserving by its end of the season record – or – on reputation alone?