GoGamecocks.com

Gamecocks' hopes rest on SEC tourney

Written by SETH EMERSON

semerson@thestate.com
Posted on 03.10.09
email print reprint or license
Comments (0)

survey:

Will USC need to win games in the SEC tournament to make the NCAAs?
uscauburn

Erik Campos/ecampos@thestate.com/

Darrin Horn

SEC TOURNAMENT

WHEN: Thursday-Sunday

WHERE: St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa, Fla.

TICKETS: (803) 777-4724, (800) 745-3000

USC OPENER: Gamecocks vs. Mississippi St., 3:15 p.m. Friday

CHAMPIONSHIP: 1 p.m. Sunday, CBS

When he took the job at South Carolina last year, Darrin Horn figured the last thing he would be doing if his team won 10 league games and a share of the division title would be arguing for his team’s inclusion in the NCAA tournament.

But with college basketball analysts putting USC on the bubble, Horn made the case for his team on Monday.

“To me, that’s kind of uncharted territory,” Horn said. “One of the reasons you take a job like this is if you’re 10-6 in this league, history would tell you you’re in the tournament.”

USC’s record — in the SEC and overall (21-8) — is its best case. But thanks to a weak nonconference schedule and the perception that the strength of the SEC is down, USC has work to do.

Two bracket projections released Monday, by ESPN.com and SI.com, had USC in the field — barely. Another, by CBSsports.com, had the Gamecocks out — barely.

Much will depend on how USC fares in the SEC tournament, as well as how other bubble teams do. Still, Horn touted one of his team’s feats — sharing the SEC East Division championship — as something that should be close to a clincher.

“You’d be hard-pressed for me to figure out how you don’t put a divisional champion in the NCAA tournament from a BCS league,” Horn said.

It has happened once before in the SEC. Two years ago, Mississippi and Mississippi State tied for the West Division crown with 8-8 records and were left out of the NCAAs; third-place Arkansas received a bid. Horn defended his team’s resume on another front.

The NCAA selection committee looks at a team’s record against opponents ranked in the top 50 of the RPI. Though USC is 1-5 in that category, Horn said that record could be “extremely misleading.”

“You go back and look at who we beat and where they were (in the RPI) when we beat them, we have some of those wins, without question,” Horn said.

When Baylor, Florida and Kentucky lost to USC, each was ranked in the AP top 25. The victories against Baylor and Kentucky were on the road.

But each of those teams long since dropped from the rankings. Baylor is fighting for an NIT spot, Kentucky might need to win the SEC tournament to get to the NCAAs, and Florida is on the bubble with USC.

Horn also returned to an argument he made last week, that his team has no bad losses.

“We haven’t lost to the nonconference team at home, like some teams in our league. We haven’t lost a game at home in conference to a team lesser than us in terms of overall record,” Horn said. “Those are things that can be argued either way. But again, we can’t control any of that.”

The Gamecocks could remove all doubt by winning the SEC tournament or, perhaps, by reaching Sunday’s title game. Otherwise, they, along with several other SEC teams, seem destined for an anxious wait leading up to the announcement of the tournament field.

“I think we could be challenged in our numbers this year,” said Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl, whose team appears to be a lock to receive a bid. “The teams that would be four or five or six (in the SEC) still have work to do. And I think we can get four or five teams in depending on how the SEC tournament plays out. ... But we’re probably in the range of three to five teams.”

Reach Emerson at (803) 771-8676.

  • Search
  • GoGamecocks.com
  • Web Search powered by YAHOO! SEARCH

Recent Video

Latest Forum posts