Bracketology 2024: South Carolina, Butler, and Nebraska among week's biggest winners

South Carolina

There’s a lot of hope right now in Columbia, as Lamont Paris’s second season running this program is certainly producing results. South Carolina won their first seven games and have kept winning since SEC play has begun. There weren’t exactly a ton of opportunities for the Gamecocks prior to conference play, and a 27-point loss at Alabama last month was disheartening, but it’s fair to say they’ve taken advantage of recent opportunities.

Just one week after a 17-point win against Kentucky, the Gamecocks pulled one of the SEC’s biggest shockers of the season, winning at Tennessee on Tuesday in a brilliant defensive struggle. So as to not spoil the week, the Gamecocks took care of business this weekend on the road against Georgia and have now won four straight road games in SEC play.

That win in Knoxville was massive for the resume, as South Carolina’s NET sits at 38 with their third Quad 1 victory. Their home loss to Georgia from two and a half weeks ago is still a Quad 3 loss, but the Gamecocks are now on a 5-game winning streak and were underdogs in most of those contests. They’re playing inspired basketball at the right time of year; we’ll see how that transpires further into February, especially now situated on the right side of the bubble.