South Carolina head coach Frank Martin has never been concerned with outside noise.
His Gamecocks were picked to finish seventh in the SEC prior to the 2015-16 season.
The result? They tied a school record for wins in a season with 25.
So, when asked at SEC Media Day last October about his team being picked eighth in the preseason this year, Martin’s response was about what you’d expect.
“We’ve been picked 57th the last few years, so that’s progress.”
Little did we know just how much progress Martin and South Carolina would make this season.
The Gamecocks went 20-5 in their first 25 games, and despite losing five of their final seven games prior to the NCAA tournament, are now one win away from the Final Four.
The accomplishments along the way? First NCAA tournament win since 1973, first SEC Player of the Year (Sindarius Thornwell) in school history, and first-ever appearances in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight.
That sounds like progress to me.
Just a few short years ago, South Carolina was coming off back-to-back 14-win seasons in Martin’s first two years in Columbia. That was progress in and of itself considering that the Gamecocks only won 10 in Darrin Horn’s final season as the team’s head coach in 2012.
But then Martin led the program to 17 wins during the 2014-15 season. Then came the 25-win season a year ago.
And now, a program that has undergone a complete makeover since Martin’s arrival, will meet a familiar foe – fellow SEC counterpart Florida – for the right to advance to college basketball’s biggest stage in Phoenix next weekend.
Having split the regular season series, these two teams already know what’s coming. Both play a physical style of defense that has been the driving force in making it to this game. If the first meeting between these two back in January is any sign of what’s to come (55 total fouls called and 62 free throws shot), Madison Square Garden will be in for a slugfest on Sunday afternoon.
And in a role that it has played to perfection over the past couple of years, South Carolina will be the underdog.
Go figure.
But anyone that has watched this season play the entire season can tell you that the Gamecocks are no underdog. They aren’t David, the Little Engine That Could, or even Cinderella.
Not anymore. Not since Martin has worked his magic and injected the program with a toughness that has never left, even during the late-season struggles.
Third-seeded Baylor’s season-low 50 points will tell you that South Carolina basketball has reached a new level. So will a 65-point second half performance against Duke, which is the most points a Mike Krzyzewski-coached team has ever given up in a single half.
Underdogs don’t do things like that. Great teams do.
Building a great basketball program takes time. Martin understood that, and so do other coaches in the SEC – a league that is ranked as the least experienced in the entire country – who are going through rebuilds of their own.
But make no mistake about it, Martin and South Carolina are no longer rebuilding. They are well beyond that, and are finally getting the recognition they deserve for overcoming the ups and downs of a rocky journey.
That is, until next season when the Gamecocks get picked to finish 15th in a league that only fields 14 teams.
After this magical run, something tells me Martin will be just fine with that.