Why Mark Kingston doesn't mind distraction of MLB draft in midst of NCAA tournament

Mark Kingston has made it to his first NCAA tournament Super Regional, just two wins away from a trip to the College World Series, wildly exceeding expectations in his first season with South Carolina baseball.

But this past week, a number of his best players haven't been solely focused on college baseball and pushing the Gamecocks to Omaha for the first time since 2012 — a school-record 10 current USC players were selected by pro teams.

Because Major League Baseball is the only major sports league in the country to hold its annual amateur draft in-season, things can get awkward as players learn they've been drafted in the midst of NCAA tournament play — sometimes literally.

"The game we were watching the other night, I think the Ole Miss pitcher found out during the game that he had been drafted, a Florida player the same way," USC coach Mark Kingston said. "I think Major League Baseball has tried to improve it some, and I think this past weekend we had some rain, and there were some really late games going on at about the same time."

Yet despite that, Kingston said it is important for him and his coaching staff to support the players being drafted instead of insisting they focus on the team's upcoming Super Regional.

"I don't think you can show these guys that all you care about is South Carolina baseball and winning games," Kingston said Wednesday in a news conference, just a few minutes from junior LT Tolbert getting picked by the Arizona Diamondbacks. "You need to, as a coach and as a program, understand that that's part of the process. That's one of the reasons why they come to play for staffs and programs is to help get to that point one day. We're not going to minimize the importance of the draft, it's very important to these kids, and we're going to support them."

Ask the players being drafted, however, and they say that focusing too much on the draft isn't particularly helpful, while trying to win more games, potentially their last ones with Carolina, is better.

"I think I've done a really good job this year of just not paying attention to the draft and trying to focus on helping my team win. And I think that's why I had a pretty good year, just because when you focus on winning and trying to help your team do some things, it takes away the pressure from yourself," Tolbert said. "Until today, it was the first time I thought about it, when I was getting called because I was getting picked."

And unlike some other sports, where draft picks will assemble dozens of friends and family to await the good news, the draft has been far more low-key for most of the Gamecocks.

"Me and my girlfriend were sitting at home," sophomore pitcher Cody Morris said of the moment he was picked by the Cleveland Indians in the seventh round. "I was on the phone with my parents and my adviser and, obviously, the Indians. I got a call a few minutes before and then I watched it on my phone."

Kingston made it clear that while he's happy for those players drafted and he'll support them no matter what, they're still at South Carolina for the next weekend at least, and when the time comes, they'll be ready to get back to work.

"Once the draft is over and the dust has settled, then we can kind of take a step back and all refocus on playing our best baseball as a team this weekend," he said.

Super Regional details

The South Carolina baseball team's Super Regional road trip to Arkansas will be a Saturday-Sunday-Monday series. Game times and TV networks are:

▪ Saturday: 6:30 p.m. — ESPN2

▪ Sunday: 3 p.m. — ESPN

▪ Monday: 7 p.m. — ESPN (if necessary)

This story was originally published June 7, 2018 at 3:31 PM with the headline "Why Mark Kingston doesn't mind distraction of MLB draft in midst of NCAA tournament."