South Carolina’s men’s basketball team is set to begin SEC tournament play March 14 as the No. 5 seed after a season that defied even the most optimistic expectations. 

The Gamecocks finished the regular season with 25 wins, setting a new program record. The team finished 25-6 in the regular season, the best win percentage amongst conference peers. Against SEC schools, the Gamecocks finished 13-5, one game behind first-place Tennessee. 

“They told me this was the most regular-season wins in school history,” head coach Lamont Paris said. “We finished tied for second place and there is a lot of pride in this group.” 

Despite having the second-best conference record, the Gamecocks tied with four other schools for second place, and due to the SEC’s tie-breaker rules, South Carolina was given the fifth seed. That means the team misses out on the helpful double-bye. 

Despite the unfortunate seeding scenario, the Gamecocks will enter the SEC tournament with a season’s worth of momentum. The team may not be starting on the day they’d like, but they’re still starting a day after everyone else thought. 

Entering the 2023-24 campaign, South Carolina was projected to finish dead last out of the 14 SEC teams. There were no preseason All-SEC players and no expectations they would compete. 

Even a 12-1 start to the season was overlooked because of the weakness of their out-of-conference schedule. 

“Super proud of this group,” Paris said. “I’ve been trying to stand on the top of any mountain I can climb up to and sing their praises. It’s a special group and they continue to achieve.”

When the Gamecocks beat No. 6 Kentucky and No. 5 Tennessee just a week apart, people started to pay attention. The team earned its ranking and extended its record to 21-3 overall and 9-2 in the conference before stumbling a bit. 

South Carolina dropped consecutive games for the first, and so far only, time this season in mid-February to Auburn and LSU. 

The Auburn game was a low point where the almost perfect Gamecock defensive scheme began to fail, and the Tigers ran off to a 101-61 win. This was the first time a team exploded for this many points against South Carolina. Before that game, the season high was 74 for an opponent, both losses. 

What should’ve been a bounce-back game, turned into another loss when the team blew a lead to LSU. 

South Carolina ended the season on a high note, going 4-1 down the stretch. The lone loss came to Tennessee, splitting the season series after each team won on the road. 

The Gamecocks won all three of its games on the road during that stretch, beating Ole Miss 72-59, Texas A&M 70-68 and Mississippi State 93-89 in overtime. The team also added a home win against Florida. 

Those contests added serious wins to the Gamecocks’ postseason resume, with the road wins over Mississippi State and Texas A&M qualifying as quad-one wins. 

“We played with a chip on our shoulders all season and one day they are going to say these guys are good,” Paris said. “I am just so proud of these guys.”

The Gamecocks begin the SEC tournament on Thursday against  Arkansas. These tournament games provide the team with another opportunity to strengthen their resume. 

A win in their first game would likely add a quad-three or four win to South Carolina’s resume. But if the team can make a run from there, it’s likely to add more quad-one wins. 

Tournament resumes are not all the conference competitions are about. If the Gamecocks manage to go all the way to the title game, it would be their first appearance since 2006. A win would be their first-ever SEC tournament title. 

Getting past the first game is never guaranteed. South Carolina beat Arkansas once this season, but history doesn’t always repeat, which just might be fortunate for the Gamecocks.

Should South Carolina win on Thursday, the team would have to face a possible gauntlet of teams that beat them. The winner on Thursday is set to face No. 4-seeded Auburn in the next round. After that is a possible rubber match against Tennessee in the semifinal if they advance. Then it all ends with the possibility of facing Alabama in the championship game. 

A run like that at the end of the season would be madness. But it is March.