3 minute read
Column
No. 1 Gamecocks deserved to play for national championship By Josh Hyber | Staff writer T he greyhounds had been held in the starting gate for about a month, and to say they had pent-up energy would be a vast understatement.
On March 23, ESPN’s Basketball Power Index released a projection for how it thought a 2020 women’s NCAA Tournament would have played out. The victor was a team that, without question, had a great season. It beat Connecticut, Washington State in the Virgin Islands and Georgia by 30-plus points.
Advertisement
It’s national champion? Baylor. Yikes.
Hopefully you didn’t rip up this magazine upon reading that, because we put a lot of work into producing it. But how did the projection not result in South Carolina, the nation’s No. 1 team in all the final polls, taking home the ultimate hardware? “Every team, every fan base, can say they’re the very best,” South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley told The Undefeated in early March. “Every team can’t say they’re the number one team in the country. “Crown us the national champion.”
And those greyhounds — South Carolina players and their diehard FAMS — did not hold back on their feelings toward that ESPN projection and to a tweet from Oregon guard Minyon Moore.
“The only way to stop us this year from winning the national championship was a global pandemic happening,” the Ducks senior tweeted, referring to the COVID-19 coronavirus that led to the cancellation of the tournament.
Replied South Carolina senior Ty Harris, “Ohhh @MinyonMoore, that made me laugh a little. You are right about one thing, it is obvious...... Go Cocks.”
“Or us,” Brea Beal responded, adding a physically disturbed and confused emoji face.
Mikiah Herbert Harrigan simply responded with four crying laughing face emojis.
Let’s make one thing clear: ESPN put out a projection to generate discussion and attract web traffic. No Nostradamus could predict with absolute certainty who would be playing, and winning, the national championship in New Orleans.
Anything can happen in March. The entire tournament was canceled. Who would have ever projected that?
But the fact ESPN gave South Carolina a 19.1 percent chance to win — however that specific number was calculated — is downright silly. Oregon was given a 29.4 percent chance, while “champion” Baylor was given 19.3, Maryland 7.9 and UConn 7.7.
When South Carolina was ranked No. 5 in the country on Nov. 30, it beat then-No. 2 Baylor 74-59 in the Virgin Islands. Yes, the Bears were shorthanded, playing without star Lauren Cox, but a 15-point victory is no accident.
But that was only the ninth game of South Carolina’s season. The young Gamecocks — five freshmen in a nine-player rotation — were still maturing. The win over Baylor, two days after a loss to Indiana, proved it could bounce back from defeat.
Personally, I think the country wanted a South Carolina-Oregon national championship game.
Harris vs. AP Player of the Year Sabrina Ionescu, a lock to be the No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft. Beal vs. likely No. 2 pick Satou Sabally. Herbert Harrigan vs. likely first-rounder Ruthy Hebard.
A party on Bourbon Street.
But let’s not, for a second, question the historical season the Gamecocks had regardless of how it ended.
Not even something called a Basketball Power Index can discredit that.
GAMECOCK MARKETPLACE
Advertise your buisness here!
803-446-4022
Mon-Fri 7am-6pm • Sat 7am-4pm • Closed Sunday 7235 St. Andrews Road, Columbia, SC 29212 phone 803.781.4002 • fax 803.781.4220
MathiasSandwich.com “ThebestPimento Burgerin town!
Itmeltsin yourmouth!” –Ed G S&F
SENIOR RATES/STUDENT/MILITARY $23 MON.-FRI. $28 SAT.-SUN.-HOLIDAYS GUEST $34 MON.-FRI. $38 SAT.-SUN.-HOLIDAYS TWILIGHT SPECIALS EVERYDAY!
StudentTwilight: $18 after 11AM Mon.-Fri. $18 after 12PM Sat. Sun. Holidays. 803.755.2000
WWW.CHARWOOD.COM
Mac Senn
Financial Advisor
101 Westpark Blvd. Suite D Columbia, SC 29210 Bus. 803-772-2221 mac.senn@edwardjones.com
