NASHVILLE, Tenn. – It’s over, a rotten end to a rotten season.
Whether this will be the only final involving South Carolina basketball is the question that arises.
The Gamecocks season ended with a 76-59 SEC tournament loss to Ole Miss on March 11 and really lit the embers of the program’s future under coach Frank Martin. The ninth-year coach has done things at USC that no coach has ever done, including his greatest moment in advancing to the 2017 Final Four, but progress since then has been limited.
And now the swirling smoke has been attributed to a flame. It is not certain that Martin will return for a 10º station.
“In the first three years we didn’t have a chance to be a post-season team,” said Martin earlier this week. “In the next two years, we gave the school record winning seasons and I don’t need to explain a Final Four. Before this crazy year, the previous six years are the first time that we have had six consecutive seasons without defeats since the 1970s. In the last five years (before 2020-21), we had the third highest number of SEC wins (in the league) . “
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a severe effect on Gamecocks this year, keeping them in six practices over seven weeks from November to December, and Martin has dealt with the disease twice. He admitted that if he had not felt responsibility towards his players and the program, he probably would have taken a leave of absence after the last positive, but he overcame it.
But the Gamecocks (6-15) never got into the rhythm, and a veteran team playing so badly couldn’t be blamed for COVID. With only two years left on their contract and no extension in sight, athletics director Ray Tanner and Martin will have a lot to discuss when they sit down in this off-season.
Tanner said that the postseason game is what all programs should be judged on, and the Gamecocks held an NCAA tournament (and an NIT) in nine years under Martin. Tanner agreed that some of those years should be discounted due to the inheritance of a mess or the selection committee ignoring a team of 24 wins during Martin’s fourth season. In the first year since 2002, a Power-5 team with that winning total was left out of the NCAAs, but it also felt that some of Martin’s teams were good enough for the postseason if they hadn’t missed a few games that they probably didn’t. should.
“When I first came here nine years ago, you could have hired (Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski), Pat Riley and Phil Jackson as a team. If they cheated, they would have solved the problem much faster, ”said Martin. “We don’t cheat. When you build things without cheating, it takes time. “
Martin was referring to the tainted world of college basketball recruiting, where the FBI had to step in and start a possible cleanup. USC was caught up in the confusion due to the actions of former technical assistant Lamont Evans, but escaped any serious punishment when he successfully argued that Evans was a dishonest agent conducting his business without the knowledge of anyone at USC.
Only at the SEC, LSU coach Will Wade was caught wiretapping discussing payments to recruits and Auburn coach Bruce Pearl voluntarily pulled his team out of this year’s postseason over the FBI scandal. Each remains employed and each has earned a lot since he arrived.
Martin’s recruitment has often been criticized because few Top 100 players consider USC and most of the state’s best prep players leave for other schools, many at the SEC. However, he developed some players from average recruiting rankings on strong players, such as Chris Silva, Michael Carrera, Maik Kotsar and Duane Notice.
An experienced and veteran team this year, however, never got on the right track, which led to questions about Martin’s future. Against Ole Miss on March 11, it was the same story: bad defense and bad shot.
Playing without three starters (Seventh Woods, who has a groin injury; Jermaine Couisnard and Keyshawn Bryant, undisclosed, but Martin saying that all three had physical injuries), the Gamecocks almost finished before they started.
The lead of 25-22 Ole Miss increased to 41-26 at halftime, Gamecocks again unable to stop an opponent in a race. The rebels finished in a 16-4 period and were shooting 50 percent for the game; USC was at just 29 percent.
Gamecocks were dominated in painting, as all of their powder players committed two fouls and had to retreat, and although they contained Irmo Devontae Shuler, who led them to a career record of 31 points the last time they played , in the first half, Ole Miss had many other options. Jarkel Joiner started USC with 18 points, while Romello White had 17.
Second-year striker Jalyn McCreary led the USC with 15 points. AJ Lawson, in his likely last game at the USC, scored 12 out of 3-12 shots.
Follow David Cloninger on Twitter @DCPandC.