On Monday, Frank Martin met with the media for his weekly press conference and in it didn’t hesitate to talk about a golden opportunity his team had in front of it with four games remaining.
So, as he sat down in the same seat after Wednesday’s 94-90 overtime win over Georgia, it made sense to bring the same thing up in his opening statement.
“That’s a real good win. They’re playing with a lot of confidence,” Martin said, taking a sip of water while trying to come down from the win. “I’m happy for our guys.”
Also see: Instant analysis from the win against UGA
After losing two games last week to Mississippi State and LSU and seeing the margin for error shrink to razor-thin proportions, the Gamecocks got the much needed win to keep the heartbeat of the NCAA tournament alive.
Entering Wednesday, the Gamecocks sat teetering in Joe Lunardi’s Bracketology as one of the final eight teams out of the tournament, and while the win at home Wednesday won’t vault them into the Field of 68, it certainly can’t hurt.
This win likely won’t move the needle too much for the Gamecocks’ NET, which is currently at No. 63, but it keeps them at least in the conversation with a host of other teams vying for one of the final spots.
“I don’t know what the bubble is. I really got no idea who’s on the bubble, who is close to the bubble, who’s around the bubble, who’s being drowned by the bubble. I got no idea if the bubble gets deflated or inflated; if it’s got helium or if it’s got my bad breath in it. I got no idea,” Martin said. “What I can tell you is this: whomever they put on the bubble, I’m willing to bet every one of them has a bad loss. That nixes our bad loss, okay? I’m willing to bet we’ve got more quality wins than 99 percent of teams on the whatever bubble. We just have to keep winning. We can’t worry about quality wins. We have quality wins. We’re in the SEC. There's three more quality wins in front of us.”
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The Gamecocks currently have one bad loss (a Quad IV loss to Stetson), a less-than-good loss (Quad III to Boston) but have four Quad I wins and a winning record against Quad II teams (3-2).
“South Carolina’s outstanding,” Georgia head coach Tom Crean said. “They’re well coached and just an outstanding program. They have an outstanding coaching staff and a deep team. They’re tremendous.”
Assuming Georgia stays right around where it was in the NET entering the game against South Carolina (No. 90), it’ll go down as a Quad III win for the Gamecocks.
Using Wednesday’s NET the Gamecocks have an opportunity for a Quad I win (at Alabama) a Quad II win (against Mississippi State) and a Quad III win (at Vanderbilt).
“We have to go to Alabama and play better than what we did today. We have to play with that same desire, the same fervor,” Martin said. “This will be my guess: if we can figure out a way to kick a field goal and beat Alabama by one, then everyone’s going to say, ‘Oh, they’re in.’ If that’s what happens, let’s stop the season. I’ll take it. I’m in.”
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The Gamecocks (17-11, 9-6 SEC) now solidify a winning record and guarantee a non-losing season for the sixth straight year, the longest streak since 15 straight from 1966-81.
There is still a lot to play for going forward needing every win they can get down the stretch.
“I think we’re taking it pretty much the same way and trying to be as aggressive as possible and as disciplined as possible,” Maik Kotsar. “It gets harder a little bit but it’s game by game. Every game’s a new game.”
