The Gamecocks’ Path to the Big Dance

ShareTweet

By beating Florida on Wednesday, the Gamecocks have put themselves back in position to make a run at the NCAA tournament. For more on the game itself, see Flounder’s post here.

Going into the game, no bracketologist had USC dancing. Had they lost last night, they would have been all but eliminated. Now they are 5-4 in conference and control their destiny. Currently, USC has an RPI of 64 according to realtimerpi.com. That is lower than where it needs to be, but a few wins down the stretch will take care of the RPI.

The way I figure it USC needs 5 more wins. The likeliest way would be to win their 3 remaining home games and 2 of 4 road games, but any combination will work. With 5 wins the Gamecocks will finish 10-6 in conference, the same as last year, but this year’s 10-6 will be against a stronger SEC. Also the overall SOS, currently 25, will help come selection Sunday. How many games the team will need to win in the SEC tournament will depend on who else is on the bubble.

The Gamecocks have complete control of their own destiny, but pulling for some other teams from the schedule would help as well. As it stands now South Carolina is 3-5 against the RPI Top 50 and 5-8 against the RPI Top 100. The only “bad loss” on the resume is Boston College with and RPI of 101. Down the stretch fans need to pull for South Florida to stay in Top 50, and Florida to move back into the Top 50. (After last night they fell to 54.) Boston College moving into the Top 100 would help as well.

There is still plenty of work to be done, but right now we are down to the final stretch of the season, and the Gamecocks are where they need to be: still in the running.

ShareTweet