The long drought: Will USC’s NCAA tournament winless streak end this year?

South Carolina appears to be in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2004. Naturally, as soon as the bid is announced, Gamecock fans will begin wondering if this is the year the streak will end.

USC hasn’t won a regular NCAA Tournament game since March 10, 1973. The Gamecocks went 2-1 in that tournament, beating Texas Tech before losing to a Memphis State team that made it to the national championship game. They then beat Southwestern Louisiana in a consolation game, which puts another illustration on the streak – USC last won when the tournament had consolation games (abolished in 1982).

The Gamecocks have gone 0-5 since, losing to Furman in 1974, NC State in 1989, infamous Coppin State in 1997, Richmond in 1998 and Memphis in 2004.

Where does USC’s history rank among the 351 teams in Division I? Well, four teams are transitioning to D-I and have thus never been eligible for the tournament (Abilene Christian, Grand Canyon, Incarnate Word, Massachusetts-Lowell). Another 39 have never gone to the NCAA Tournament, including four of the original teams when the NCAA was formed before the 1948-49 season (Army, The Citadel, St. Francis (N.Y.), William and Mary). Northwestern is one of the originals but should make its first tournament this year, while Northern Kentucky made it in its first year of being eligible and Jacksonville State, UC Davis and North Dakota are making their first appearances.

Among eligible Division I teams, 201 have won an NCAA Tournament game since South Carolina last did. The list:

Alabama

Albany

Alcorn State (Only lost by five to Patrick Ewing and Georgetown)

Arizona

Arizona State

Arkansas-Little Rock

Arkansas-Pine Bluff (Only win came at the expense of Rock Hill’s own Winthrop)

Arkansas

Auburn

Austin Peay

Ball State (Nearly pulled off a shocker over eventual champ UNLV in ’90)

Baylor

Boston College (Dethroned defending champ North Carolina in ’94)

Bradley (Knocked off Kansas and Pitt in 2006)

Bucknell (Kansas vs. “B” teams – Bison beat the Jayhawks in ’05)

Butler (Back-to-back national runners-up)

BYU

Cal Poly (Mustangs beat Texas Southern to be 1.000 all-time in NCAAs)

Cal State Fullerton (Two wins without Kevin Costner’s influence)

California

Cal Santa Barbara (Not the Anteaters or Banana Slugs. Gauchos.)

Central Michigan

Charlotte (1977 Final Four)

Chattanooga

Cincinnati

Clemson (Tigers credited with ’97 Elite Eight after Minnesota was busted?)

Cleveland State (Beat Hoosiers in “A Season on the Brink”)

College of Charleston (John Kresse and Company knocked off Maryland)

Colorado

Colorado State

Connecticut

Coppin State (Lone win was over … hold on …)

Cornell

Creighton

Davidson (After Lefty left, Wildcats were winless until Steph Curry’s coronation)

Dayton

DePaul

Detroit (First win in ’77 was coached by a bald guy named Vitale)

Drexel

Duke

Eastern Michigan

East Tennessee State

Evansville (Purple. Aces.)

Florida Gulf Coast (Dunk City)

Florida

Florida A&M

Florida State

Fresno State

Furman (Like Coppin, Paladins have one win, guess the opponent)

George Mason (11th anniversary of a sizzling run to the Final Four)

George Washington

Georgetown

Georgia

Georgia State (Ron Hunter falling out of his seat)

Georgia Tech

Gonzaga

Green Bay

Hampton

Harvard (Crimson won two games after Lin-sanity passed)

Hawaii

Holy Cross

Houston

Idaho (A team named the Vandals deserved to win)

Idaho State (Beat UCLA)

Illinois

Illinois State

Indiana

Indiana State (Larry Bird and the Sycamores)

Iona

Iowa

Iowa State

James Madison

Kansas

Kansas State (Frank Martin won six tournament games there)

Kent State

Kentucky

LaSalle (ex-Gamecock Ramon Galloway)

Louisiana-Lafayette

Lamar

Lehigh (Never be a Duke fan watching this game in a Kentucky pressbox)

Long Beach State (Last win came same day as USC’s last win)

Louisiana Tech

Louisville

Loyola-Chicago

Loyola Marymount (In memory of Hank Gathers)

LSU

Manhattan

Marquette (Holy mackerel!)

Maryland

Massachusetts (Yes, some wins are still in place despite the vacated Final Four)

Memphis (See above)

Mercer (At least I wasn’t in a Kentucky pressbox)

Miami

Miami (Ohio) (Wally World)

Michigan

Michigan State

Middle Tennessee

Milwaukee (Algonquin for “The Good Land”)

Minnesota

Mississippi State

Missouri

Missouri State (Formerly Southwest Missouri State, Bears ran to the 16 in ’99)

Montana

Morehead State

Mount St. Mary’s

Murray State (USC fans still shudder over the name Steve Newton)

North Carolina A&T

Navy (The Admiral)

Nevada

New Mexico

New Mexico State

New Orleans (Privateers)

Niagara

Norfolk State (Beat a 30-win Missouri team in its only appearance)

North Carolina

North Carolina-Asheville

North Carolina-Wilmington

NC State (Survive and Advance)

North Dakota State

Northeastern

Northern Iowa (Not just Kurt Warner’s school)

Northwestern State

Notre Dame

Oakland

Ohio

Ohio State

Oklahoma

Oklahoma State

Old Dominion

Ole Miss (“Valpo” is still a dirty word in Oxford)

Oral Roberts

Oregon

Oregon State

Pacific

Penn (1979 Final Four)

Penn State

Pepperdine

Pitt

Princeton (Loss to Georgetown created NCAA Tournament as we know it)

Providence (Point guard Billy Donovan, coach Rick Pitino, 1987 Final Four)

Purdue

Rhode Island

Richmond

Robert Morris

Rutgers

St. Joseph’s (Jameer Nelson)

St. Louis

San Diego

San Diego State

San Francisco (Bill Russell and the Dons)

Santa Clara (The Canadian Coif. And Kurt Rambis!)

Seton Hall

Siena

SMU

South Alabama

South Florida

Southern Cal

Southern Illinois (Salukis)

Southern

St. John’s

St. Mary’s

Stanford

Stephen F. Austin (Brad Underwood and Mike Boynton)

Syracuse

TCU

Temple

Tennessee (Cuonzo doesn’t look so bad now, does he?)

Texas

Texas A&M

Texas-San Antonio

Texas Tech (The last team South Carolina beat, in a non-consolation)

Toledo

Tulane

Tulsa

UAB

UCLA (Whole lot of banners)

UNLV

Utah

Utah State

UTEP

Valparaiso (Bryce Drew, now appearing at school below)

Vanderbilt

VCU (Havoc)

Vermont

Villanova (Columbia native Kris Jenkins hit the final shot of last year)

Virginia (Ralph Sampson to Tony Bennett)

Virginia Tech

VMI

Wake Forest (Davey O)

Washington

Washington State

Weber State (Harold “The Show” Arceneaux)

West Virginia

Western Kentucky (A Sweet 16 run got Darrin Horn to USC)

Western Michigan

Wichita State (From X-Man to Marshall, S.C. natives have done well there)

Winthrop (Greggggggggggggggggggggggggggg)

Wisconsin

Wyoming (Fennis Dembo)

Xavier

Yale

This story was originally published March 11, 2017 at 10:26 PM with the headline "The long drought: Will USC’s NCAA tournament winless streak end this year?."