South Carolina Enters SEC Tournament with Nothing to Lose
COLUMBIA — South Carolina’s men’s basketball team knows the odds. They aren’t ignoring the reality of their situation or printing “Shock the World” T-shirts.
The Gamecocks head into the SEC Tournament as the 16th seed, well aware that their season will likely end soon—perhaps after their opening-round matchup against Arkansas on Wednesday or the second round on Thursday. But as long as they’re still in the tournament, there’s a chance, however slim, to make an improbable run to the NCAA Tournament.
“It’s like another reset,” said Nick Pringle. “We’ve played all the other teams in the SEC now, we know what it’s about. We know we can compete with them.”
A Season of Close Calls
Compete? Yes. Win? That’s been the struggle. The Gamecocks finished 2-16 in SEC play, but six of those losses came by three points or fewer. If they had managed to flip just four of those tight games into wins, they’d be 6-12 and on the NCAA Tournament bubble. Instead, they enter the postseason as the lowest seed in a brutally competitive SEC field.
There is one glimmer of hope—their first opponent is Arkansas, one of the two teams they beat this season.
“The odds are against us,” admitted Jacobi Wright. “Being a low seed, you got to win more games than teams that get a bye. But we can beat anybody—we feel like that’s the mentality we have to have.”
History Isn’t on Their Side
Winning five games in five days is an enormous challenge, and history suggests it’s nearly impossible.
In the early days of the SEC Tournament (1933-52), teams frequently had to win multiple games in consecutive days. Kentucky and Vanderbilt pulled off four-game championship runs. But since the tournament’s revival in 1979, only four teams have won four games in four days:
- Auburn (1985)
- Arkansas (2000)
- Georgia (2008)
- Mississippi State (2009)
Georgia’s run in 2008 was particularly wild—the team had to play two games in one day after a tornado forced the tournament to move from the Georgia Dome to Georgia Tech.
But no team has ever won five games in five days since the league expanded to 14 teams in 2012—and with Texas and Oklahoma joining the mix, the challenge has only grown.
For South Carolina, the struggle has been even more pronounced. The Gamecocks are the only SEC program never to win the tournament. They reached the championship game twice (1998 and 2006), but both times fell just short.
Is a Miracle Run Possible?
While SEC history suggests a deep run is unlikely, other conferences have seen it happen.
In 2011, Connecticut pulled off a five-game run in the Big East Tournament, then carried that momentum all the way to a national championship. Just last season, NC State did the same in the ACC Tournament, reaching the Final Four.
“It’s just about making the right plays, being in the right moments, and making it happen,” Pringle said. “We can compete with any team in this league. It’s hard to tell by our record, but we’re continuing to get better.”
Gamecocks Earn SEC Honors
Despite the tough season, South Carolina did pick up some individual recognition in the SEC awards.
- Collin Murray-Boyles was named Second-Team All-SEC, the only Gamecock honored.
- Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk was recognized as the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Already in his third year of law school, he has a job lined up in Chicago after the season.
Bosmans-Verdonk is the first USC player to win an SEC superlative award since Hassani Gravett was named SEC Sixth Man of the Year in 2019.
The Gamecocks know the road ahead is steep. But in the win-or-go-home reality of March basketball, all it takes is one victory to keep the dream alive.
