Ten months after Final Four-clincher, a different South Carolina team faces Florida
Frank Martin, wearing a gray quarter-zip pullover on a January morning in Columbia, tried painting a picture of his future self. On an island. In tropical attire.
“I’ll have the Tommy Bahama shorts, Tony Soprano shirt, a pair of flip-flops,” he said. “And I’m gonna be staring into the ocean about 10 hours a day and doing nothing but reflecting.”
That’s when, the South Carolina coach said, he’ll fully relive what happened March 26, 2017, in Madison Square Garden.
The Gamecocks (12-7, 3-4 SEC) and the 20th-ranked Florida Gators (14-5, 6-1) meet again Wednesday evening in Gainesville’s O’Connell Center. It’s the first matchup between league rivals since they squared off 10 months ago in New York with the Final Four on the line.
A banner in Colonial Life Arena confirms South Carolina’s 77-70 win that afternoon. USC was in the national semifinals for the first time in program history.
Martin represents one of the few main faces still with the Gamecocks from the ride. The likes of Sindarius Thornwell, P.J. Dozier and Duane Notice have moved on, giving a different feel to Wednesday’s rematch.
“I’m not ready to retire yet, so I don’t reflect a lot,” Martin said. “I’m always so concerned about doing my job today for tomorrow.”
In 2017-18, that job’s been challenging.
Martin since October has been trying to blend eight new players with a couple main returnees. Chris Silva and Maik Kotsar started against Florida last season, but Frank Booker, Wes Myers, Justin Minaya and company weren’t even on the roster.
“This year’s team, we’re kind of real young and even the older guys are around our stuff for the first time,” Martin said, nodding to Booker and Myers, a couple graduate transfer seniors. “It’s hard to get that consistency or that growth because of the fact that we don’t have enough guys that have been through it.
“So there’s moments that we don’t play (well). … That’s why it takes time. That’s why you hear coaches say ‘patience’ in today’s microwave society age that we’re in. … I don’t want peaks and valleys. I want consistency. We’ve gotten a lot better at that. Part of the reason it’s taken a little time is because of our youth.
“But I like our team. I really do. I told you guys that from day one and my opinion has not changed.”
After dropping three of four games to fall to 9-5 on Jan. 3, the Gamecocks won three of four, including a 76-68 upset of Kentucky last Tuesday.
A chance for back-to-back wins over Top 25 opponents came up short Saturday when USC missed 10 of its final 11 shots in a 70-63 loss to Tennessee.
“Still disappointed we kind of let one get away Saturday,” Martin said Monday. “That emotion hasn’t left me. But at the same time very encouraged of the progress our team has made.”
Martin referred to a conversation he had with Clemson coach Brad Brownell early Monday morning. Brownell’s Tigers beat the Gamecocks by 16 points on Dec. 19 in Littlejohn Coliseum.
“Brad said, ‘Wow, man, you guys are playing a lot better,’ ” Martin said. “And that’s kind of my take on the whole thing. … We’ve made tremendous strides over the last two weeks. We just need to keep worrying about that, stay the course and when we get to the finish line, we’ll let everything fall where it may.”
Booker was three weeks removed from wrapping his career at Florida Atlantic when USC beat Florida in MSG last season. He said he watched bits and pieces of the game.
Gator film from this season features some of the same players. Point guard Chris Chiozza still leads UF in assists, KeVaughn Allen is still near the lead in points and Kevarrius Hayes is still one of the team’s best rebounders.
“It’s a huge opportunity,” Booker said. “Florida’s a really good team.”
Florida is a program that’s made the NCAA Tournament 15 times since 1999 and was crowned national championships in 2006 and ‘07.
But tradition didn’t matter last March as a Miami native gave himself a life highlight.
“That was a mixed bag of emotions for me at the time,” Martin said. “We got a chance to play and go to the Final Four and we’re playing against a school that as a young kid was the only school I knew existed. … That’s a moment that any time I’m in thought – which the older I get, the more I do – that always gets in my mind. It gives me a piece of mind that I’m very lucky to do what I do.”
This story was originally published January 23, 2018 at 3:40 PM.