Over the 32 days leading up to college basketball season, we’re profiling 32 different teams who could be in the NIT mix, aided in this effort by those who know them best (or the closest we could get). Today, Brian Rauf responds by email to our questions about South Carolina.
Brian Rauf is a senior national writer for Heat Check CBB and hosts the podcast The Heat Check Hangout. He also writes for The Almanac, which we believe is the most comprehensive written college basketball preview on The Internet™. Brian can be found on Twitter/X at @brauf33.
Here’s the full list of 32 for 32’s published so far, with links:
- Auburn, with the Sickos CBB Committee
- BYU, with Mitch Harper
- Cincinnati, with Zach Fries
- Dayton, with Tyler Cronin
- Duquesne, with Tristan Freeman
- Indiana, with Matt Cox
- Iona, with Sam Federman
- Iowa State, with Joe Stunardi
- James Madison, with Bennett Conlin
- Loyola, with Ky McKeon
- Michigan, with the Sickos CBB Committee
- Missouri, with Jim Root
- North Texas, with Harry Miers
- Northwestern, with John Templon
- Notre Dame, with Stuart McGrath
- Ohio State, with Mark Titus
- Oregon State, with Andy Dieckhoff
- Penn State, with DJ Bauer
- South Carolina, with Brian Rauf
- St. Bonaventure, with SBUnfurled
- St. John’s, with the Sickos CBB Committee
- Syracuse, with the Marshall Street Podcast
- Texas, with NIT Stu
- Utah, with Andrew Crowley
- Virginia Tech, with Ken Pomeroy
- Washington State, with Dave Andersen
- Wisconsin, with Cole Amundson
The Barking Crow: I hope this isn’t rude, but South Carolina was one of the worst power conference teams last season, nowhere close to Louisville, but somewhere around Georgetown. This year, they’ve been picked to finish last in the SEC in both The Almanac and the SEC’s own preseason poll. KenPom, though, has them tying for 11th, and in a league as deep as the SEC that might be enough to make the NIT. What’s the case for and against the Gamecocks?
Definitely not rude! The case for the Gamecocks is that things are more cohesive in Lamont Paris’ second season and the guard play improves. Meechie Johnson emerged late in the season and the hope is that continues. And GG Jackson was incredibly talented but inconsistent and South Carolina adjusted a lot of what they wanted to do for him. The case against the Gamecocks is simple – they’re the least talented team in the SEC with perhaps the most unproven coach in the league.
TBC: South Carolina is most famous, to us, as the only school to win back-to-back NIT’s since the 1940s, something Dave Odom’s teams accomplished in 2005 and 2006. That’s a very specific level of combined heartbreak and triumph to repeat over a two-year period. How are the Odom teams remembered in Columbia? Where do those titles rank among the program’s all-time accomplishments?
I think it’s important to note that, for the general Gamecock fan that lives in South Carolina, basketball is a two-month bridge between football and the start of baseball season. Part of that is because of the lack of consistent success the men’s program has had, but baseball is also big in Columbia. They are two of the few teams that have accomplished anything of note in recent memory, so they’re held in relatively high regard and are brought up whenever the conversation moves past SC’s Final Four run in 2017.
TBC: Dawn Staley is a basketball icon for what she’s done with South Carolina’s women’s program. We know that women’s basketball and men’s basketball require different routes to success, but what do you think the men’s program at South Carolina can emulate of what Staley does?
South Carolina is a women’s basketball school and we’re proud of that. I do think the men’s team can be successful, but not to the level of the women’s team as consistently. The Lady Gamecocks benefited greatly from the timing of the Dawn Staley hire. The sport wasn’t as popular in 2008 as it is now, and she got a lot of early recruiting wins simply because of her name alone. She bolstered the program’s profile and she capitalized on it, but only a handful of women’s coaches were household names at the time and she became one of them. I don’t know if that rise could be repeated now as quickly as it happened in the early 2010’s. The men’s team certainly has the resources and the state has a rich talent base, but there has to be some sustained success before any of the other steps can be taken.
TBC: Between Sindarius Thornwell, Renaldo Balkman, and Carlos Powell (among many others), South Carolina is strong in the “remember that guy?” department. Tre Kelley is a personal favorite of ours. Who would you say is the best player in the history of South Carolina men’s basketball, and who is the biggest cult hero?
Sindarius Thornwell is probably the answer to both. What he did during that Final Four run capped a stellar career and made him the most decorated player in program history. I will say Devan Downey is another strong contender in the cult hero category.
TBC: I didn’t realize this before looking for pre-2000 NIT history, but South Carolina has only been a member of the SEC for a little more than thirty years. By now, that’s a long time, but does South Carolina ever get the “you don’t belong here” treatment from the rest of the Southeastern Conference?
It may have originally but I never heard any of that once Steve Spurrier was hired on the football side of things. Missouri is the school that gets it constantly.
TBC: Who’s South Carolina’s dream NIT opponent? Who would South Carolina least like to play in the NIT?
Dream NIT opponent is definitely Clemson. Having stakes in a rivalry with that much animosity is always a good thing. NC State could be in that mix, too, or North Carolina if the Heels were to accept an invite to the NIT. I think South Carolina would least like to face a school like Furman or any of the in-state mid-major programs. A potential loss there further puts the Gamecocks down the state’s basketball pecking order, which is detrimental to what we discussed earlier with building the program back up.
TBC: Dare we dream of a South Carolina NIT title?
I would not dream of an NIT title. I think an NIT bid would be a step in the right direction for this program under Paris and show a good deal of progression.
