Gamecocks learn NIT fate
SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS BASKETBALL
For the second season since making it to the Final Four, the Gamecocks were left out of any postseason competition.
South Carolina, despite finishing fourth in the SEC, was left out of the NCAA Tournament and did not receive a bid to the NIT this season.
Unless the Gamecocks (16-16, 11-7 SEC) decide to play in a pay-for-play tournament like the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) Tournament they'll be watching the postseason from home.
Despite winning 11 games in the SEC and picking up three Quadrant I wins, the Gamecocks lost too much in the early part of the year to put them into either the field of 64 or the NIT.
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They lost eight of their 13 non-conference games, including one on the road to a Wyoming team that finished No. 321 in the new NET rankings and a home loss to NET No. 156 Stony Brook.
“You have to win at the end of the day to get into the NCAA Tournament. We didn’t win enough to get into the NCAA Tournament. Are we an NCAA Tournament team today?" head coach Frank Martin said after the SEC Tournament. "I say yes, but the bottom line is we didn’t win enough to get into the NCAA Tournament. Me saying we are doesn’t mean we belong. We just didn’t win enough early enough in the year to put us in that situation. I think we have a good team. I think you ask anybody in our league that’s competed against us the last two months, they’d tell you we’re worthy of a postseason opportunity.”
The Gamecocks had a chance to vault themselves into the NCAA Tournament bubble talk and solidify their case for the NIT with a strong showing in the conference tournament but lost in their quarterfinal matchup to eventual SEC Tournament champ Auburn.
Martin said after the tournament the Gamecocks would have accepted a bid to the NIT if the tournament had come calling, saying he thought his team deserved a chance to compete deep into March.
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"We’re the fourth place team in this league. you mean to tell me there’s that big a differential with who we are as a team and those guys that are national championship good?" Martin said. "We just played one of the top 15 teams in the country without our leading scoring guard. The guard that leads us in scoring played limited, and we’re right there. We just didn’t score enough. If they call, I’d love the opportunity to run another ball practice.”
While the NIT changed to rule that a team had to be above .500, only one team—then-defending national champion North Carolina—has been selected to the NIT with a sub-.500 record.
The Gamecocks finished 16-16, one of those wins was against D-II North Greenville, so in the eyes of the selection committee the Gamecocks had just 15 wins compared to 16 losses.