South Carolina might be ready to contend again in 2018-19

How Did We Get Here?

South Carolina didn’t win an NCAA Tournament game between 1973 and 2017, and didn’t even make the tournament between 2004 and 2017. And then, the Gamecocks won four games in the 2017 tournament. A team that got snubbed in spite of a 24-8 record in 2016 got in as a 7-seed beat Marquette, Duke, Baylor, and Florida en route to the first Final Four in school history.

Predictably, the team took a step back with the losses of Sindarius Thornwell, P.J. Dozier, and Duane Notice — but just how big of a step back might have been a bit jarring. Chris Silva, a role player on the Final Four team, turned in an All-SEC type of performance, averaging 14.3 ppg and 8.0 rpg, but the parts…