March Madness: South Carolina dancing all the way to first Final Four
South Carolina began this tournament without a Sweet 16 appearance but the Gamecocks are now going to their first ever March Madness Final Four.
South Carolina came into the 2017 NCAA Tournament as a seven seed after losing six of their last nine games, including their SEC Tournament opener against Alabama. They finished in fourth place in what was labeled as a weak SEC league based upon youth and so-so non-conference results.
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No one in their right mind, even Columbia natives, would’ve predicted that the Gamecocks would be heading to their first Final Four in school history two weeks later.
Instead, the Gamecocks did the unthinkable. Frank Martin, Sindarius Thornwell, and company knocked off the Florida Gators, 77-70, in the East Regional Final at Madison Square Garden on Sunday afternoon and are heading to Phoenix, Arizona to face the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the Final Four on Saturday evening.
Thornwell, who won the East Regional’s Most Valuable Player award, led the Gamecocks with 26 points on 8-of-13 shooting, however, as has been the norm in this tournament, the team received valuable contributions from other players. P.J. Dozier dropped 17 points on a highly efficient 7-of-11 shooting while Maik Kotsar had one of the best games of his freshman season, putting up 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Add in Chris Silva’s 13 points and nine rebounds, and South Carolina had more than enough to knock off their SEC counterparts in the Elite Eight.
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The Gamecocks shut down the Gators’ shooting from the perimeter in the second half (they went 0-of-14 after drilling seven threes in the first 20 minutes) and limited KeVaughn Allen (4-of-12 shooting) and Devin Robinson (1-of-5 shooting) to a combined 17 points overall.
But it wasn’t just about what South Carolina did on Sunday. This is about one of the more shocking Final Four runs in NCAA Tournament history. This is right up there with George Mason’s 2006 run under Jim Larranaga or VCU’s 2011 run under Shaka Smart.
Why? The Gamecocks were a team that was inconsistent all season long. They split with Florida during the regular season but they also lost twice to Alabama, were smoked by Memphis (albeit without Thornwell, who was suspended at the time), and lost at both Ole Miss and Arkansas.
They had very little offensive production outside of Thornwell — Dozier seemed to still be adjusting to a secondary role and Notice was not himself for the majority of the year and they relied heavily on their aggressive, physical defense that has turned out to be one of the best in the country. But the thought was that the Gamecocks wouldn’t even have enough offensive production to win a single game in the tournament.
Remember, this was a team that scored just 86 points in a FOUR overtime game against Alabama during conference play.
However, the switch flipped in the Big Dance. The Gamecocks continued to defend out of their minds, flustering Duke and Baylor while completing second half comebacks against Marquette, the Blue Devils, and Florida. However, they also received a monster lift from their offense. Martin’s team scored 82 points per game in four East Regional games, including a 93-point explosion against Marquette and an 88-point outing against Duke.
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Thornwell suddenly had help from Notice, Dozier, Silva and Kotsar, and the Gamecocks’ athleticism and ability to score in the paint was a concern for their opponents.
Some will credit South Carolina’s success to the fact that they played their first two games just 100 miles from their campus in Greenville, SC, but that would be a discredit to one of the most underrated coaches in the nation, Martin.
Martin can be difficult to deal with because of his intensity and his demanding mentality but there’s no denying that he has pushed the right buttons with this team and did fantastic work at his last job at Kansas State. Both programs were “football programs” first and Martin was able to make history at both schools.
South Carolina’s offense consisted of very little flow and rhythm in the regular season but Martin made adjustments on the fly. He’s used Thornwell more often at power forward in the Big Dance, with three guards surrounding his best player. He’s picked up the pace and has given the team free reigns to run on certain possessions.
But most importantly, all his players have continued to buy into his system. And in turn, that has given him the confidence to rely on Thornwell when he had two fouls in the middle of the first half in this Elite Eight showdown. And that’s why this team didn’t panic when they trailed in three of their four tournament games (they knew that their defense and intensity would wear down the opposing team).
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So yes, I never thought I would say, tweet or write this statement but South Carolina is going to the Final Four. They went from a seven-seed that no one was afraid of to a team that could truly win a National Championship.