South Carolina was picked at the bottom of the league, as voted on by the media.

The SEC released its preseason poll Tuesday morning with the media predicting the Gamecocks to finish 11th in the league ahead of Texas A&M, Vanderbilt and Georgia.

No Gamecock was on either first or second-team preseason All-SEC.

The good news for Gamecock fans is South Carolina has outperformed its preseason rank by an average of 1.8 spots during Frank Martin's tenure in Columbia and, before last year, finished no worse than its preseason projection six straight years.

In five of those years it outperformed its preseason projection by at least four spots, once by seven spots in 2018-19.

Last season South Carolina was picked eighth in the preseason and finished 12th after a COVID-ravaged 2020-21 season.

South Carolina kicks off its season with a Nov. 4 exhibition before beginning the season in earnest Nov. 9 at home against USC Upstate.