The South Carolina Gamecocks. A proud member of the Southeastern Conference, a successful football program for many years. Regarding basketball, well, a proper word to describe their program might be irrelevancy. Coming into this season, the Gamecocks had only made the NCAA Tournament 4 times since 1974 and had not won a NCAA Tournament game since 1973. Never getting farther than the Sweet Sixteen in any season, South Carolina simply has never had high levels of success when it comes to men’s basketball. That’s why what they are doing now, absolutely nobody could have ever seen it coming.
With a 26-10 record on the season, the Gamecocks snuck their way into March Madness as a seven seed; the program’s first tournament appearance since 2004. Most brackets had them out in the first round against, Marquette. Some had enough faith to pick the Gamecocks despite them not winning a tournament game in 44 years. However, there was no way they were beating Duke. Right?
All of a sudden they beat the heavily favored Blue Devils, then obliterate a 3-seeded Baylor team by 20, then against all the odds go in and beat their in-conference rival Florida Gators to make their way to the 2017 Final Four, one of the most unprecedented Cinderella runs of all time. The Gamecocks have made their way from bottom-dwelling to current college basketball history. For a few, the question remains: Just who are these South Carolina Gamecocks?
For the most part, South Carolina has a human car engine that quite literally runs this team; his name is Sindarius Thornwell. For those who aren’t aware of who Thornwell is, well, the guy is good. The SEC Player of the Year this season, Thornwell is averaging 21.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 2.8 assists and has been leading the Gamecocks from the very beginning. The team goes as he goes, and if Thornwell’s 25.7 points per game in the tournament is evident of anything, he has been going.
Obviously, the Gamecocks have players other than Thornwell, one of them happens to be a potential first-round pick. Sophomore small forward PJ Dozier has played in the shadows of Thornwell for the most part but is vital to this team. He is South Carolina’s second-leading scorer at 13.8 points per game and has nine 20 point games this year including 21 in their tournament opener against Marquette.
Carolina’s other main contributions come from guard Duane Notice and big man Chris Silva who are both at 10.2 points per game. The team isn’t as deep as others in the Final Four and don’t offer much offensively aside from Thornwell and Dozier. However where the Gamecocks have gotten it done, especially in the tournament, has been on the defensive end.
The Gamecocks play a swarming defense in the half court and have simply been a nightmare for opposing teams to play against. For the season South Carolina has held their opponents to under 40% field goal shooting and under 30% on three-point field goals which is top ten in the country. The Gamecocks have also forced the 2nd most turnovers out of any team in division one, attributing to what has been a stifling defense.
When it comes to beating Gonzaga, South Carolina’s defense is the key to getting it done. The way they defend on the perimeter and in the half court is good enough to rattle the Bulldogs. Chris Silva containing Gonzaga’s bigs down low is a primary key, as he has fouled out of a whopping ten games this year, and stopping Nigel Williams-Goss is never easy.
Simply put, however, it would be difficult to count out the Gamecocks just yet. This Cinderella story feels like one that is meant to go onward through the 2017 Final Four. Carrying an entire state on their backs, this Carolina team is purely resilient and has the manpower to bring home the national championship to Colombia.
