South Carolina basketball’s Frank Martin shoots Coach K.
Frank Martin gave his weekly press conference at Zoom last Tuesday, giving an insight into the difficulties of Gamecocks in the regular season, the preparations for the upcoming SEC tournament and their status in the future with the Carolina basketball team. southern.
While discussing his career so far with the Gamecocks, Martin tried to hit the college basketball legend and current Duke coach, Mike Krzyzewski.
“This is the first time that we have had six seasons without a loss since the 1970s. In the past five years, we have had the third highest number of SEC wins – the third largest – at the SEC. Everyone says a postseason in nine years. Yes, you can say that. That is what is on the paper when you write it. But when I got here nine years ago, you could have hired Coach K, Pat Riley and Phil Jackson as a team. If they cheat, they would solve the problem much faster. “
Intentional? Inadvertent? Is Martin referring to a particular situation?
One can point to the recruitment of some players in recent seasons, most notably, Zion Williamson.
Many remember the scandal surrounding Williamson’s recruitment, which ended in a lawsuit that claimed he and his family received money from promoters at Duke, shoe companies and marketing agencies before his engagement with the Blue Devils.
He also notes that the booster and Nike payments were used specifically to influence his decision to join the Coach K list in 2018.
The Palmetto State native ended up choosing the Blue Devils instead of South Carolina, which ended as runner-up in the five-star player’s services, before being a first-round selection in the 2019 NBA Draft.
Martin’s comments can be directly linked to the dirty game that Duke’s basketball program is accused of using, especially when considering that one of Martin’s biggest criticisms has been his inability to get top players in the state on the trail. recruitment.
Or maybe it was just a slip of the tongue.
What we do know is that Williamson was a program change player who could have kept South Carolina’s momentum alive after his 2017 Final Four race, a race that included a defeat in Coach K’s second round of Blue Devils. In addition, Gamecocks have taken a step back and are still working to bring the program back into the postseason.
Martin still looks annoyed at the way things went, and that last comment may be his way of nudging Krzyzewski and the other blue-blooded programs that are beginning to be exposed by the NCAA.