Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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"7 PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK Forward Kerbrell Brown goes up hard in USC’s loss to Kentucky in the SEC Tournament semifinals on Saturday. | 'em PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK Forward Carlos Powell lays the ball up against Arkansas. USC draws Memphis in East Region, set to play in Kansas City Friday BY JONATHAN HILL YARD THK (iVMKCOCK The Gamecocks of USC are dancing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in six years following the selection com mittee’s announcement on Sunday. lOth-seeded USC will battle the seventh-seeded Memphis Tigers on Friday in Kansas City, Mo. “Finally. That’s the best word I can use to describe this,” senior guard and team leader Michael Boynton said on Sunday. “This is something that I have dreamed about since I first started playing basketball when I was seven years old. The hard work that we put in during the off-season has finally paid off. When our name came up, I exhaled, stood up and started clapping. I’m very thankful for this and I look forward to this op portunity.” The selection marked the eighth tournament selection for USC. The last time the Gamecocks narticinated in the tournament was in the 1998 season, when third seeded Carolina lost to 14 seed Richmond in the first round, 62-61. That loss marked the second year in a row in which USC bowed out in the first round of the tournament. USC has not won an NCAA Tournament game since 1973 and boasts an overall tournament record of 5-7. No current USC play Cl IldSCVCI pidycu 111 L11C 1 UUI lldlllCIlL. “I got a feeling like I’d never had before,” senior forward Kerbrell Brown said. “We want to show the university that we’re proud to be Gamecocks.” This year’s Gamecocks hope to reverse the NCAA trend against the Tigers, who they last faced in the finals of the 2002 National Invitation Tournament. UM has dominated the series, leading the Gamecocks 17 5 in previous meetings, including a 1-0 mark in the NCAA Tournament. Memphis tied with four other teams for the regular season Conference USA championship, a conference that, like the SEC, will send six teams to the tournament. The Tigers are coached by John Calipari, who has previously coached a Final Four team at the University of Massachusetts. “Memphis is playing extremely well right now, I can tell you that much,” USC head coach Dave Odom said. “I’ve known John Calipari since he was this tall. He may be the finest offensive coach in the game. This is quite a challenge we have ahead of us, but it’s a challenge that we look forward to taking on.” Memphis is lead by senior guard Antonio Burks, who was the first Tiger ever to be named Conference USA Player of the Year. Burks led the conference in steals and ranked second in the league in assists, while continuing to average 16.5 points per game. Players also averaging in double figures for UM include Sean Banks with 18 points per game and Rodney Carney with 12.7 points per game. The Tigers have struggled as of late, losing three of their last four contests. “We’re worried about playing winning basketball,” Calipari said on Sunday. “We want to get back that edge we had and play winning bas ketball. That may not be good enough against South Carolina. We need to be the best we can be, and that’s the most important thing.” USC is entering the tournament with a little bit of added confidence after losing seven of their last 10 regular season games. Two wins in the SEC Tournament last weekend and a solid effort in the loss to even tual champion Kentucky have the Gamecocks completely refocused and excited to be back in the NCAA Tournament. “The challenge is now with ourselves,” a serious Odom continued. “No player on this team has ever been to the NCAA Tournament. I told them that if you go to the tournament to be seen or just to see, the time there will pass you by like the blink of an eye. They won’t even know you were there. We must put everything we possibly can into the first game against Memphis.” Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu “Finally. That’s the best word I can use to describe this.” MICHAEL BOYNTON GUARD PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK Forward Carlos Powell gets excited in a SEC Tournament game. SEC puts best teams forward in postseason play BY WES WOLFE THE (i'AMECOCK The SEC, considered by the RPI rankings to be the second-best conference in the nation behind the ACC, is sending five teams, along with USC, to the NCAA Tournament this year. The ACC also received six invites to the NCAA Tournament, however, with Duke taking a No. 1 seed. The SEC looks good going into the tour ney, though, placing teams in each of the four regions while putting two teams each in the West Region and East Region. ALABAMA The Crimson Tide are similar to USC in that the young squad over-performed this year arid will be earn ing what had been an unexpected trip to tire Big Dance. Bama performed well this season, earning several qual ity wins but were knocked out of the SEC Tournament quarterfinals by a last-second shot by Florida in overtime. The Tide come into the NCAA Tournament seeded eighth and playing iri tile West Region, tak ing on ninth-seeded Southern Illinois in the first round. The game, to be played in Seattle, Wash., will take place on Thursday. FLORIDA The Gators almost got lucky in the SEC Tournament — drawing Vanderbilt instead of Mississippi State in the semifinals — but fell victim to the Kentucky blue crush in the championship game. Florida impressed enough people to earn a five seed and placed opposite of 12-seed Manhattan in the East Region. The Gators will play in Raleigh, N.C., at the RBC Center qn Thursday. KENTUCKY The SEC Tournament Champions were awarded with a No. 1 seed by thd NCAA Tournament Selection Committee, landing in the Midwest Region. The Wildcats will play the winner of today’s play-in game between Patriot League Champion Lehigh and MEAC Champion Florida A&M. The game between UK and Lehigh or Florida A&M will be in Columbus, Ohio, at the Nationwide Arena Friday. MISSISSIPPI STATE The Bulldogs, who only lost two games in the regular season, were considered an odds-on favorite to win the SEC Tournament, but were upset by Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals. The loss took Mississippi State out of contention for a No. 1 seed in any of the regions, but the squad from Starkville still ended up highly seed ed in the NCAA Tournament, placed at the No. 2 spot in the South Region. MSU will play No. 15 seed Monmouth in the first round at the TD Waterhouse Arena in Orlando, Fla. VANDERBILT me L/Ommoaores aian t last very long aner upsetting Mississippi state in tpe. i our Dement, railing to Florida by 22 in the semifinals. Vandy will take advantage of its unexpected nil Kawhiii III |jiseed in the West Region, playing 11-seed Western Michigan in the first round. The Dores will % ill Orlando at the same time as Mississippi State but will instead play on Friday in a different region. , I. »„?