On the basketball front the school that should have a lot of dignity is the University of South Carolina. Their school is playing well and is setting women’s college athletics ablaze having the No. 1 ranked team in the country and being undefeated. The last three games that the Lady Gamecocks played in they outscored their opponents 245-170.
They get into gymnasiums, they show out, and then they go home after a common killing. Then they wake up and repeat process over again.
Nonetheless for as good as the women’s basketball team has been for South Carolina, the men have a lot of work to do if they want to make their first NCAA Tournament appearance of the decade.
The last time the men’s basketball team made it to the big dance was in 2004.
Thankfully they have started to play like a team that wants to change that streak of bad luck. Is it a bit premature, or is South Carolina ready to develop into a tournament team? How much have they matured since their 14-20 season last year?
Because at 10-5 if they can manage to keep playing defense they way they’ve started the season then they will most likely have a chance to play in the 2015 NCAA Tournament.
Defense
The reason why South Carolina is having so much success this season is because of the way that they play defense.
On the year South Carolina’s defense is only allowing their opponents to score 60.0 points per game which is good enough for the No. 40 ranking in college basketball. In addition while causing their opponents to have a difficult time scoring, they are doing an even better job making sure their competition doesn’t get second shot opportunities at the rim.
On the year South Carolina is averaging 39.1 rebounds per game, which is good enough for a top 50 ranking in the country.
The defensive turnaround has to get credited to head coach Frank Martin. It might have taken three years for this aggressive defense to arrive in Columbia, South Carolina, but now that it’s arrived, it’s here to stay and it’s really good.
South Carolina plays right into the style of their aggressive coach, who puts a five man group of tough players on the basketball court that play man-to-man defense. They will harass and frustrate their opponents as soon as the tip-off starts, and stop as soon as the buzzer sounds.
Iowa State got a taste of South Carolina’s defense when they played against each other inside of the mecca of basketball, New York City, New York. Inside of the Barclay’s Center crowd in Brooklyn, Iowa State was given all they could handle playing against that aggressive South Carolina defense.
The defense is the reason why South Carolina held a 63-57 lead with 50 seconds remaining to give Iowa State a large gap to come back from. Even when Iowa State cut the lead down later in the game, it was too late, and South Carolina ended the game with getting a quality win on their 2015 NCAA tournament resume.
After his No. 9 Iowa State team got upset by South Carolina, Iowa State head coach Fred Hoiberg said this:
“A team like South Carolina, who is so physical … his teams tough basketball, and we talked about going out and throwing the first punch and we didn’t.”
Growing Pains
Even though the season is getting ready to start entering into the second quarter of the year, South Carolina has a lot to give thanks for.
On the season they have captured a seven game winning streak, they defeated a top ten team in the above aforementioned Iowa State and they have one of the best defenses in the SEC, which gives them the best chance to defeat anyone within the conference.
Even though they have a lot to look back on and get proud, they also have a lot forward to keep their eyes focused on.
In essence, they still have a lot of work to do.
For as many great accomplishments as they have on the year, they have two or more equally terrible losses. Some of these losses include losing to an Akron team 68-63. That same Akron team went on in the season to get killed 79-51 to Miami. They lost to a Charlotte team 65-63, who now has a 7-8 record after picking up a big 77-72 win against Marshall.
They also let one of their biggest chances to get a quality win early in the season when they lost to a Baylor team that was struggling. Baylor’s senior guard Kenny Chery had one of his worst games of the year and it ultimately didn’t matter as South Carolina lost in the last minute of the game 69-65.
After the game in the press conference South Carolina head coach Frank Martin said this:
We’ll be better because of this game. A shame we let a great opportunity for our program kind of escape.”
Martin was right, and his team after that loss started buckling down defensively. However, South Carolina still can’t afford to let teams get away with close victories in games they have no business having a chance in.
In addition when South Carolina had 16 points in the last AP Top 25 poll they let their chance to get nationally ranked squander away after losing two games in a row. These games included a loss to a struggling Florida Gators team, and the other which was a respectable loss to a scrappy Ole Miss Rebels team.
Saving Grace
Even though South Carolina isn’t ranked, they still have the ingredients to get ranked later in the season. In the SEC there are a number of quality teams to play against so they don’t have the luxury of time to get discouraged. Soon enough South Carolina will play a dangerous Tennessee team, a lethal Kentucky team, and a LSU team whose one of the sleeper teams in the SEC.
Yes, South Carolina has flaws like all teams in college basketball but they can get better. Offensively they aren’t playing competent enough to win games soundly. It’s hard to rely on a defense for 48 minutes and expect perfection, at some point teams have to put the basketball in the hole.
Yes, Demetrius Henry should get the ball more, and yes Sindarius Thornwell needs to start shooting the basketball better, but all in all this team is really good.
Can the South Carolina men’s team be as good as the women’s team? They can’t, there’s no No. 1 ranking for this team this year. What someone can say is that the men’s basketball team was able to defeat Alabama (12-4), as the their female counterparts were.
If they pick up more quality wins within the conference they could become one of the teams to keep an eye out for. In the end we will see.
It’s time to stop getting bad losses.