Basketball Purgatory
posted by David Cloninger, 3/13/2009 10:02:00 PM
The waiting is the hardest part.”
----------------- TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS
While Maryland and Baylor and Temple spilled apples all over the country on Friday, South Carolina crept to its locker room and wondered.
For the first time all year, the Gamecocks couldn’t go to their reliable phrase, “Next game.” Because for the first time all year, they don’t know when the next game will be.
They probably know. They know it’ll probably be sometime next week.
But they don’t know who, they don’t know where and worst of all, they don’t know for what.
“I mean, everybody’s got their opinion,” murmured Dominique Archie as he leaned his folding chair into his locker. “We think we’ve done enough.”
That’s the problem. The Gamecocks are not a Duke or a UCLA or a (for the previous 17 years, anyway), Kentucky. They are not one of those teams that plays so well and has 20-plus wins and must be in the NCAA tournament every year because that’s just what happens in March.
They are USC, holder of eight NCAA berths in history. Which will probably be unchanged at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday.
This is where it’s the worst time to be a college basketball player. You’ve got a good resume for the tournament committee but you don’t know how good. You know the longer you keep playing up until Sunday, the better you’re going to look.
In years past, the Gamecocks either knew they were in or knew they were out. There wasn’t any middle ground like this year.
A 21-8 record, 10-6 in a power conference, would be in during most years, in nine of 10 years.
This is that odd one.
The SEC beat itself up so thoroughly that there were no four obvious tournament teams, as in most years. There was LSU and then there were the other guys.
USC was an other guy. The Gamecocks won some big games that became less big as the season went on. Their division championship was one-half of a division championship. Their season was good, but probably not good enough.
Two losses in the final three games while the rest of the country’s bubble teams woke up hurt but didn’t eliminate them. As Auburn and Florida attempted to challenge USC for the SEC’s postseason supremacy, the Gamecocks won their regular-season finale and prepared for the SEC tournament.
They needed to win. They did not win.
And now comes the worst part.
For Saturday and most of Sunday, the Gamecocks will replay every loss in their minds. Every missed 3-pointer, blown assignment and turnover will be churned through every mind.
In that cemetery of a locker room on Friday, some of them seemed to be getting a head start. Sam Muldrow and Mitchell Carter kept their heads covered by their warmup jackets. Devan Downey gazed blankly at the floor.
It was like a bomb specifically designed to smother every last piece of noise went off. Reporters trying for a last quote were whispering their questions as if at a library.
Think about it. They’ll go home and do what? The rest of the campus is on spring break. They probably won’t practice because they don’t know when they’re playing. Some of them said they won’t watch TV because they don’t want to see these other teams taking those dwindling precious at-large spots.
Just wait. And wonder. And hope it was enough.
This has been a fine, fine season. This team overachieved and overproduced and overthrilled and deserves to be playing in the NCAA tournament.
Clint Eastwood put it best.
“Deserve’s got nothing to do with it.”
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“You take it on faith, you take it to the heart,
The waiting is the hardest part.”
----------------- TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS
While Maryland and Baylor and Temple spilled apples all over the country on Friday, South Carolina crept to its locker room and wondered.
For the first time all year, the Gamecocks couldn’t go to their reliable phrase, “Next game.” Because for the first time all year, they don’t know when the next game will be.
They probably know. They know it’ll probably be sometime next week.
But they don’t know who, they don’t know where and worst of all, they don’t know for what.
“I mean, everybody’s got their opinion,” murmured Dominique Archie as he leaned his folding chair into his locker. “We think we’ve done enough.”
That’s the problem. The Gamecocks are not a Duke or a UCLA or a (for the previous 17 years, anyway), Kentucky. They are not one of those teams that plays so well and has 20-plus wins and must be in the NCAA tournament every year because that’s just what happens in March.
They are USC, holder of eight NCAA berths in history. Which will probably be unchanged at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday.
This is where it’s the worst time to be a college basketball player. You’ve got a good resume for the tournament committee but you don’t know how good. You know the longer you keep playing up until Sunday, the better you’re going to look.
In years past, the Gamecocks either knew they were in or knew they were out. There wasn’t any middle ground like this year.
A 21-8 record, 10-6 in a power conference, would be in during most years, in nine of 10 years.
This is that odd one.
The SEC beat itself up so thoroughly that there were no four obvious tournament teams, as in most years. There was LSU and then there were the other guys.
USC was an other guy. The Gamecocks won some big games that became less big as the season went on. Their division championship was one-half of a division championship. Their season was good, but probably not good enough.
Two losses in the final three games while the rest of the country’s bubble teams woke up hurt but didn’t eliminate them. As Auburn and Florida attempted to challenge USC for the SEC’s postseason supremacy, the Gamecocks won their regular-season finale and prepared for the SEC tournament.
They needed to win. They did not win.
And now comes the worst part.
For Saturday and most of Sunday, the Gamecocks will replay every loss in their minds. Every missed 3-pointer, blown assignment and turnover will be churned through every mind.
In that cemetery of a locker room on Friday, some of them seemed to be getting a head start. Sam Muldrow and Mitchell Carter kept their heads covered by their warmup jackets. Devan Downey gazed blankly at the floor.
It was like a bomb specifically designed to smother every last piece of noise went off. Reporters trying for a last quote were whispering their questions as if at a library.
Think about it. They’ll go home and do what? The rest of the campus is on spring break. They probably won’t practice because they don’t know when they’re playing. Some of them said they won’t watch TV because they don’t want to see these other teams taking those dwindling precious at-large spots.
Just wait. And wonder. And hope it was enough.
This has been a fine, fine season. This team overachieved and overproduced and overthrilled and deserves to be playing in the NCAA tournament.
Clint Eastwood put it best.
“Deserve’s got nothing to do with it.”
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
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David Cloninger. David is a full-time staff writer for GamecockCentral, and covers Gamecock football, men's basketball, baseball and recruiting. He may be reached by email at david(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.