South Carolina's Frank Martin: 'Schedule’s done,' save for one holdup
When faced with a question about his team’s schedule for the coming season, Frank Martin answered with his trademark directness.
“Schedule’s done,” Martin said.
“It’s been, actually, done for probably three weeks or so. Three weeks or a month”
So what’s the holdup? A bit of a snag with one last buy game.
“We agreed on a date,” Martin said. “They’re asking us to move it to a different date. The date they want doesn’t work for us. So we’re just waiting for them to say, ‘OK, let’s go.’
“We’re not moving off the date we’ve got.”
The known schedule includes Clemson (home), Virginia (home), Coastal Carolina (home), Michigan (away) and Wyoming (away). That officially got the addition of home games with Stony Brook (Nov. 9) and Norfolk State (Nov. 13), plus a trip to the Hall of Fame Tip-Off tournament to face Providence.
Should they win, they’ll get the winner of Michigan-George Washington. That means a potential double-dip with the NCAA Tournament runner-up Wolverines.
Martin thinks it offers a certain kind of benefit.
“It won’t be a bad thing,” Martin said. “We’re going to have some young guys on our team. So it’s going to be a good experience, because whenever you play a team twice, there’s always some changes that go on game to game. It will be good for our guys to have to adjust and learn how to do that, which will prepare us for conference play.”
USC played the same team twice last season, and it was from the same state in Western Michigan (USC went 2-0).
The Wolverines went 33-8 last season under John Beilein and lost to Villanova in the season’s final game.
Martin lamented the state of college basketball scheduling, saying although his team has it wrapped up, he’s got coaching friends with eight open spots.
The reason?
“Everybody wants to play at home,” Martin said. “I get it. I want to play at home, but it’s part of the deal. You’ve got to travel. I think we’ve proven we’ll get up and leave the building that we love to play in.”
This story was originally published May 16, 2018 at 7:27 PM with the headline "South Carolina's Frank Martin: 'Schedule’s done,' save for one holdup."