South Carolina basketball can clinch a top-four seed for the SEC in a crowded year
Four games left. That’s all that separates No. 20 South Carolina men’s basketball and a trip to Nashville, Tennessee.
The conference tournament bracket will start taking shape over the next two weeks. It’s going to be a tight race to the finish, with the top four teams all within two games of the regular-season crown.
The Gamecocks have secured themselves a place within the top 10 of the SEC standings, and mathematically can’t finish lower than eighth place — but that first-place title is still open. Their win over Ole Miss on Saturday afternoon ended a two-game skid and gave some confidence back to the players before they head to College Station, Texas for another bout with Texas A&M.
“I think confidence has always been very important in the minds of anyone in general, but certainly of any college-aged person that’s competing in a sport,” head coach Lamont Paris said following the 72-59 win in Oxford. “You can say all you want and pretend that there’s no shaking your confidence. There’s a crack in your confidence if you’re a 19-, 20-, 21-year-old college athlete, and so I thought it was really important to be able to come in here against a good team.”
Following the remaining SEC games on Saturday afternoon, these are the top four teams.
- Tennessee (21-6, 11-3 SEC)
- Alabama (19-8, 11-3 SEC)
- South Carolina (22-5, 10-4 SEC)
- Auburn (21-6, 10-4 SEC)
The top four teams all receive an automatic two-game bye in the conference tournament and head straight to the quarterfinals.
The Crimson Tide’s loss to Kentucky on Saturday dropped them out of the top spot for the first time this season. While Auburn has the head-to-head win over USC, the Gamecocks’ extra win keeps them in third place for the time being.
The Tigers have an opportunity to slide into first place in these final four games, having already beaten USC and Alabama earlier this year. Auburn and Tennessee face off in Knoxville, giving the surging Tigers a chance to make a big jump in the final four games.
South Carolina plays just one of the other top four seeds this year, Tennessee, which it already beat in Knoxville on Jan. 30. The Gamecocks host the Volunteers on March 6 to close out their home schedule.
Florida, Kentucky and Mississippi State are sitting in fifth, sixth and seventh in the standings, respectively, and are all one win away from a 20-win season. All three programs play the current top four teams, either on the road or at home, over the next two weeks.
The Gamecocks will host Florida on March 2 and visit Mississippi State on March 9.
The remaining seven programs in the conference are at least two games back from cracking the top six, but could all make decent opponents USC could face in the tournament. The only team in that grouping South Carolina hasn’t played yet is Texas A&M, the Gamecocks’ opponent Wednesday night.
How likely is USC’s shot at the No. 1 seed? It’s feasible, but it’d require other programs to drop a game or two in the process — specifically Tennessee and Auburn. Tennessee plays Auburn and Alabama in its next two games, making the Vols’ schedule the hardest of the top four over the next week. Tennessee losing one or both of those games would help USC’s chances at a No. 1 seed, and it’d make it even easier if the Gamecocks swept the series against the Rocky Top fanatics.
The Tigers have the easiest schedule of the current top four for these final games, playing Tennessee, Mississippi State, Missouri and Georgia to close out their season. If the Bulldogs and Vols both force an Auburn loss, that also opens the door for the Gamecocks to steal the crown.
But let’s not get too ahead of ourselves here.
South Carolina’s first steps are beating the Aggies and Gators. After that, it’s a more exact route to a double bye. The Gamecocks’ win against the Rebels on Saturday was step one of the checklist.
Even if USC doesn’t end up with the regular-season crown, its chances of a top-four seed are decent. Winning three of the last four games is by far the easiest route to a Friday, March 15 start date in the conference tournament, instead of opening in the second round the day before.
Getting that double-bye in the single-elimination tournament sets up the Gamecocks for a strong, and shorter, run in Nashville. And it puts South Carolina in an even stronger position come Selection Sunday for the program March 17.
Just 20 more days until then, and still quite a bit of basketball to play, too.
South Carolina’s schedule
- Wednesday at Texas A&M, 8:30 p.m. (SEC Network)
- Saturday vs. Florida, noon (ESPN)
- March 6 vs. Tennessee, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
- March 9 at Mississippi State, 2:30 p.m. (SEC Network)
This story was originally published February 26, 2024 at 7:00 AM.
