Sindarius Thornwell is on our Mount Rushmore of best Gamecocks. See who else made it
Much like creating a Mount Rushmore for the South Carolina women’s basketball program last week, building one for the Gamecock men’s basketball program was not an easy task.
It’s hard to pick just four players from a program that has been around for 117 years and produced countless talented players. It’s even harder to find a balance between honoring the stars of yesteryear while also acknowledging modern-day heroes.
There are several combinations of players you could argue belong on the Mount Rushmore, and even more who were left out of our Top 14 (the likes of PJ Dozier, Chris Silva, Gary Gregory, Skip Harlicka and Brian Winters to name a few).
Here’s who we decided makes the Mount Rushmore, along with picks from someone close to the program, a former player, the fans and even ChatGPT.
Casey Manning makes his picks
If there’s anyone who knows South Carolina men’s basketball, it’s Casey Manning. A Dillon native, Manning was the first Black scholarship recipient to play basketball at South Carolina. He played three years for coach Frank McGuire and the Gamecocks. Manning earned his law degree from USC and served as a circuit court judge from 1994 to 2022. He also is a longtime member of the USC basketball radio broadcast team.
Here are the players on Manning’s Mount Rushmore:
- Grady Wallace
- John Roche
- Alex English
- Sindarius Thornwell
- Bonus picks: Kevin Joyce and Brian Winters
And here are his thoughts: “Mount Rushmore was created in 1927 and included Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Washington and Jefferson but truly now should include Dwight Eisenhower who saved the world during WWII. So my Mount Rushmore of SC is a little larger. ... Kevin Joyce 2nd team All American, Olympian (silver medal that should have been a gold). Brian Winters made a mark in both the NBA and the ABA.”
Picks from the voice of the Gamecocks
Derek Scott has been the radio play-by-play announcer for South Carolina men’s basketball and baseball since 2016. Scott has also done TV and radio for other Gamecock sports teams since 2007.
Here is who he put on his Mount Rushmore:
- John Roche
- Sindarius Thornwell
- BJ McKie
- Alex English
And here’s his thought process: “My list may look simple considering it’s the four all-time leading scorers at South Carolina, but that was something I only realized after finalizing the list. I used team success as a significant factor in trying to make decisions and all of these guys represent eras of success, along with personal achievements.”
How the fans voted
The State asked you, the fans, to help determine who should make the Mount Rushmore of South Carolina men’s basketball.
Fans were given a poll with 14 players and could vote for up to four as many times as they wanted. Those 14 players were: Devan Downey, Mike Dunleavy, Alex English, Jimmy Foster, Zam Fredrick Sr., Kevin Joyce, BJ McKie, Tom Owens, Tim Riker, John Roche, Sindarius Thornwell, Grady Wallace, Melvin Watson and Art Whisnant.
With more than 1,000 individual ballots cast, here’s what the fans said:
- John Roche
- Alex English
- Kevin Joyce
- BJ McKie
Roche received the most votes from fans, followed by English, Joyce and McKie.
Thornwell finished fifth and Owens was sixth.
The State’s picks
Here are The State’s choices for the Mount Rushmore of South Carolina men’s basketball:
Alex English
BJ McKie
Sindarius Thornwell
John Roche
English is arguably the best player to ever put on a Gamecock jersey. There’s a reason his No. 22 jersey was retired and has been hanging in the rafters of Colonial Life Arena since 1976.
He started all 111 games of his career and was an All-American during his time at South Carolina. English scored 1,972 total points in his career, the second-most of any other Gamecock in program history. To this day you’ll see his name peppered throughout the program record book. He was inducted into the South Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1997 after an impressive NBA career.
McKie, a Columbia native, finished his career with the Gamecocks as the program’s all-time leading scorer with 2,119 points. He was a member of the SEC All-Freshman team, a three-time All-SEC player and an All-American during his time at South Carolina. His No. 5 jersey is retired and he’s a member of the South Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame. McKie helped South Carolina win its only SEC regular-season championship in 1997.
Thornwell is the face of probably the best team in the South Carolina men’s basketball modern era, and his career is arguably the highlight of the program’s last decade. The Lancaster product became the first, and still only, player in program history to win SEC Player of the Year when he did so in 2017. He also earned All-SEC First Team honors that season as well as his second All-SEC Defensive Team nod. Thornwell guided South Carolina to the Final Four in 2017 and is No. 3 on the program’s all-time scoring list with 1,941 points.
A nod to the 1960s, Roche’s No. 11 jersey was retired after an extremely successful three seasons with the Gamecocks. He was named the ACC Player of the Year in 1969 and 1970, was a three-time All-ACC First Team selection and two-time consensus All-American. Roche is No. 4 in total career points (1910), No. 3 in career points per game (22.5) and holds the program record for points in a game (56). He is a member of the South Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame.
Honorable mentions
Grady Wallace
Kevin Joyce
Devan Downey
South Carolina men’s basketball has retired just five jerseys in program history: John Roche, Alex English, BJ McKie, Kevin Joyce and Grady Wallace.
That gives us a good starting point when creating the Mount Rushmore, but unfortunately not every face can fit, leaving Wallace and Joyce as honorable mentions.
Wallace was a two-time All-ACC player, a consensus All-American and was inducted into the South Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame in 1968. Joyce was an All-American who played on the US Olympic team in 1972 and helped South Carolina win an ACC Tournament title in 1971. He was inducted into the South Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998.
Downey was one of the more exciting players in the last 20 years to wear a Gamecock jersey. He was a three-time All-SEC player, two-time All-SEC Defensive Team member and two-time AP All-American honorable mention. Downey is No. 5 in the program record book for career points scored and was inducted into the South Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame in 2015.
Bonus picks from AI
The State asked ChatGPT for its own Mount Rushmore. Here’s what the AI tool came up with:
Alex English
John Roche
BJ McKie
Sindarius Thornwell
Honorable mentions: Kevin Joyce, Larry Davis, Mike Dunleavy, Tom Owens and PJ Dozier
