They’re in! Gamecocks make NCAA Tournament

There was no hard-luck pat on the back, no “Wait ’til next year” and especially no congratulatory text message that was hastily reversed.

South Carolina is going to the NCAA Tournament.

The Gamecocks snapped a 13-year streak of missing the game’s signature event on Sunday when their names were called as one of the 68 participants for this year’s national championship. USC (22-10) earned a No. 7 seed and will play No. 10 seed Marquette (19-12) on Friday in Greenville. The tip time and TV network are to be announced.

It’s the first tournament berth since 2004 and just the ninth in school history. Stung by his team’s exclusion last year after winning 24 games, coach Frank Martin significantly strengthened his schedule this year, and the move paid off when USC beat Vermont, Michigan, Syracuse and Monmouth before starting SEC play.

The Gamecocks finished 12-6 in the league, their second-highest win total in history, and claimed fourth place while Sindarius Thornwell had one of the best individual seasons USC’s ever seen. The SEC’s coaches rewarded him by naming him SEC Player of the Year, and the senior now gets a chance to erase the last month of the Gamecocks’ struggling play by leading them to a tournament win.

USC has not won an NCAA tournament game since March 10, 1973, a 44-year streak where 201 of 307 eligible teams have won at least one game. The Gamecocks lost their only tournament games five times since – 1974, 1989, 1997, 1998 and 2004.

This story was originally published March 12, 2017 at 6:38 PM with the headline "They’re in! Gamecocks make NCAA Tournament."