SEC Basketball: Ranking of 25 best players from last decade (2013-23)

7. Sindarius Thornwell

Every Cinderella story seems to have a hero and Thornwell played that role well, even at a power conference school. Considered a Top 40 recruit from 2013, he’d land at South Carolina, becoming the major addition of Frank Martin’s first recruiting class with the Gamecocks. A 6’5 guard from Lancaster, South Carolina, Thornwell was a fantastic player for South Carolina throughout his four-year career but there’s no doubt that senior year took the cake.

In his first three seasons, Thornwell was a double-digit scorer who helped to build success back in Columbia. In his junior season, South Carolina finished 3rd in the SEC and won 25 games, but the following year would blow that out of the water. Thornwell averaged 21.4 points and 7.1 rebounds per game, shooting 39% from outside the arc in a fantastic season. Most importantly, he led South Carolina not only to their first NCAA Tournament in a decade, but took the 7-seed Gamecocks to the Final Four, scoring at least 24 points in all four of their wins.

He was named co-SEC Player of the Year in that senior year, but clearly, his work in the postseason was the highlight. All-Defense in both upperclassman seasons, Thornwell emerged as one of the SEC’s leaders in points and steals and had perhaps the best March that any player in this conference had in the last decade. What Thornwell did in taking South Carolina to the Final Four was a legendary effort, especially since the program has yet to return to the Big Dance. It also earned him selection late in the 2017 NBA Draft.