Frank Martin was speaking on Monday about one of the many little things he misses when trying to stay healthy.
“I love the ocean,” said the South Carolina basketball coach. “It gives me peace. Hearing this. Smelling. Seeing that. It makes me feel good. “
Before COVID, Martin and his wife Anya enjoyed an occasional day trip to Charleston for a quick visit to the beach and a nice dinner.
If only this were the main February issue of Martin. He has lost several close friends in the past few months, including longtime Miami friend Pedro Gomez, the ESPN reporter who died on Sunday at age 58.
And one of these scenarios could happen right after the end of the 2021 men’s basketball season in South Carolina:
• Martin’s Gamecocks lose the NCAA Tournament for the eighth time in nine years. But the owner of four of the six NCAA tournament wins in South Carolina (not counting the consolation games) is welcome back after a crazy year at COVID where Duke, North Carolina and Kentucky also lost The Big Dance.
• The coach who shocked the world of Bracketology by leading South Carolina in the 2017 Final Four is fired. It doesn’t matter if Gamecocks have had three COVID breaks (so far) or that Martin has had COVID twice.
South Carolina fans – those who complain on social media, those who don’t show up at games – are understandably frustrated. A competent team is 5 to 7 overall and 3 to 5 in the SEC, going to the SEC’s home game on Tuesday night against 11th Alabama.
But a hot seat in 2021 college basketball needs a touch of cool, relatively adjusted logic.
In this case, the second scenario is potentially indelible even in a school whose history of the sport is full of obscure passages.
Martin, only 54, but it doesn’t look so good.
Having lost my hair during the illness this spring.
Forced to leave campus with another two-year contract.
Hope not.
COVID and the best parts of the Gamecock inconsistency in 2021 should mean that South Carolina administrators will officially support Martin in 2022.
Will they?
Too early to say.
A second half of the SEC’s schedule remains, including four of the last seven regular season home games.
‘Asterisk’ vs. ‘real data’
Athletic director Ray Tanner deftly sent mixed signals last week in a radio interview for Columbia’s 107.5 The Game, the flagship station of the Gamecock radio network.
“An asterisk-like situation,” Tanner labeled it.
Tanner talked about all the games and games lost.
“I’m not making excuses,” he said, “and (Martin) wouldn’t want me to make excuses. But it has been a challenge to try to put everyone on the same page when you can’t even get everyone to practice at the same time ”.
Working skillfully on both sides of the Gamecock Nation room, Tanner also mentioned the only NCAA tournament in nine years.
“And those are the real data,” said Tanner.
February is such a big month. Along with stretching hardwood, the NCAA may also announce its discovery in South Carolina as part of an investigation initiated by a national FBI investigation into recruiting basketball.
Lamont Evans, a former assistant coach for Martin, is accused of taking bribes to direct former Gamecocks owner PJ Dozier to a sports agency.
Martin claims to be unaware of Evans’ activities. Dozier is not accused of accepting money. South Carolina is not accused of a lack of institutional control.
But punishment is possible, perhaps something like a one-year postseason ban and the loss of three scholarships handed over to the State of Oklahoma in June on charges involving Evans.
I do not like soccer
This is not to say that Martin transformed South Carolina into a “basketball school”.
Gamecocks are unlikely to project themselves as a team in the 2022 NCAA tournament.
Recruitment never had the Final Four coaches and fans they expected.
But somehow South Carolina won a road game in Florida last week, ranked 22nd at the time.
Only to return home on Saturday and not only lose to the state of Mississippi, 75-59, but be pushed. That was hard to watch for a trainer known for the relentless defense brand learned from his Miami high school coach Shakey Rodriguez, who died in November.
But defense requires more practice and continuity than attack. These three COVID breaks continue to bother a South Carolina team led by AJ Lawson, Jermaine Couisnard and Justin Minaya.
Keyshawn Bryant has to stay healthy. Transferring Seventh Woods and younger players like Wildens Leveque are still falling into place in extended minutes.
It is not so late. The 2021 Gamecocks can catch fire, command the table, maybe win a SEC tournament to win.
More probable?
More inconsistency.
“We are trying to play a normal basketball season under abnormal conditions in the world,” said Martin on Monday. “It is a square pin in a round hole. You often go home and ask yourself, ‘Why are we doing this?’ “
South Carolina fired Will Muschamp a few months ago. But the 2020 football season was not marked by missed breaks and games.
Martin’s contract – two years remaining at $ 3.2 million for 2022 and $ 3.3 million for 2023 – is suitable for school, even with a one-year extension.
Except for unforeseen circumstances that go beyond the results of the COVID season, it is better to offer a Final Four coach a chance to fight in the coolness of 2022 than to send him away after the 2021 ordeal.
Follow Gene Sapakoff on Twitter @sapakoff