On Tuesday night, the South Carolina basketball team received the fiery Razorbacks in what could have been one of Frank Martin’s last games as a Gamecocks coach.
Martin, who took South Carolina to his only participation in the Final Four in 2017, had a difficult season. After suffering a bombardment of 28 points for the Hogs, Gamecocks are between 6 and 13 in total and have lost six of the last seven SEC games. Whatever momentum they had built up after a big victory against Georgia last weekend, it disappeared in the 101-73 loss to Arkansas.
Still, South Carolina basketball seems to be in trouble in Martin’s ninth season there.
He was recently dragged into an investigation into improper payments to a former assistant. In addition, Martin recently said something at a news conference that could trigger memories of John Pelphrey’s famous line about simply lying down to “have a good bleed”.
Frank Martin said he received emails about being a “disappointing season”, but added: “There is nothing disappointing about this season”.
As he reiterated throughout the season, Martin said that winning and losing is secondary to ensuring that his players are “at peace” during the pandemic.
New basketball coach from South Carolina?
Given the slowdown in Gamecocks, it should come as no surprise that there is a considerable boom in support of Martin’s resignation.
A fan started a firestorm by proposing an idea out of the box: go after Mike Neighbors, the head coach of the Arkansas women’s program.
Neighbors, who are turning Lady Razorbacks into a national powerhouse with a philosophy similar to Alabama coach Nate Oats’ heavy three-point drive-and-kick system, have yet to run for a great Power 5 coach working on the side of the men.
For South Carolina fan Summerof66, it makes a lot of sense, though.
By hiring neighbors, South Carolina basketball would obtain “an offensive system that would be recruited.” Instead of going after a big name, you must find someone who is tactically brilliant and can build a winning culture with a high IQ and EQ.
“I am in favor of the offensive system used by Mike Neighbors in Arkansas (Rick Pitino ran the same 4-out, 1-in system with Jamal Mashburn while in the UK in the 90s),” wrote Summerof66 on the 247 Sports message board. from South Carolina.
“I can tell the kids that it’s an NBA system that will make you look and join the league. This system would space the floor to allow drives and kicks for players in the corners to shoot the 3 ”.
“The ‘pull’ for recruiting is not so much the coach’s personality and sales ability, but it is the fact that South Carolina plays this professional system that will take me to the NBA or the professional ball abroad.”
This fan also knows that Neighbors is a native of Greenwood, Arkansas, and loves to train Razorbacks. He issues the warning: “Now, let me confess that he [likely] don’t leave Arkansas WBB in my opinion [as] it’s your dream job. “
I agree that the neighbors probably would not move on to another position as a head coach for the SEC, male or female, anytime soon. However, why wouldn’t he at least listen? His current salary is $ 600,000 a year, while Martin’s is almost $ 3 million.
In response to the idea of pursuing Neighbors, the opinions of South Carolina basketball fans spanned the entire range.
Some loved it.
“Mike Neighbors is a very good coach and he looks like a very stylish guy too,” wrote cockygal20.
Another said that there was no way for a female university technician to make the transition: “There is a difference between MBB and WBB. The schemes that apply and work in the WBB do not exactly line up with the MBB. There are many other options out there. “
Another simply dropped this GIF:
And one more fan was a difficult pass for the neighbors. “Give me Mike Anderson all day,” wrote Neverknown89.
This created this fun back and forth:
It is true that Mike Anderson never managed to have the Razorbacks play as well as the male Razorbacks team is now playing under Eric Musselman.
The Arkansas basketball team is currently 12th in the country, which the program has not achieved since 1998. It has also won 10 consecutive SEC games, which has not happened since 1994.
Frank Martin won his last two games against Arkansas before breaking out on Tuesday. Gamecocks are still looking for the win of the season, as they head to Kentucky on Saturday.
In most years, a win at the Rupp Arena would be an obvious advantage to buy Martin another year. This year, however, nothing but a Cinderella run at the SEC tournament will likely guarantee that he will continue to be here.
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To learn more about Mike Neighbors’ background, including his experience as a high school men’s coach in Arkansas, listen to this in-depth interview:
Arkansas x South Carolina
Three Razorbacks scored more than 20 points – led by a 28-point high by Moses Moody – to give Arkansas # 12/13 a 101-73 victory over South Carolina on Tuesday night at the Colonial Life Arena.
Arkansas (20-5, 12-4 SEC) takes second place in next week’s tournament.
The win was the 10th consecutive SEC Razorback contest, tying the program record for most of the SEC’s consecutive wins. (1993-94 won 10 consecutive SEC games to close the regular season.) Arkansas also won four consecutive SEC games for the first time since 1995. In addition, the 28-point victory is the 11th largest margin of victory in a Game SEC.
For coach Eric Musselman, he won his 20th game of the season, an achievement he achieved in each of his six years. He is the only Razorback coach to win at least 20 games in each of the first two years.
Moody, who set Arkansas’s first-year free-throw record now with 120, tied his career record with 28 points, adding seven rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Justin Smith finished with 22 points, drawing the best of his career with six free throws made, and grabbed eight rebounds. JD Notae added 21 points with five rebounds, five assists, his maximum in a SEC game, and five steals to tie a career record.
Desi Sills returned to form with 15 points and drew the best of his career with five points made.
Next, Arkansas closes the regular season with a home game against Texas A&M on Saturday (March 6). The tipoff is scheduled for 4 pm (CT) and the game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
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Undoubtedly, the incredible story below plays a role in minimizing Frank Martin’s importance of winning and losing: