USC basketball is back
COLUMBIA – Frank Martin probably did not understand the depth of the rebuilding job on his hands as South Carolina’s Men’s Basketball coach.
During his first game there was an actual crowd of about 4,000 in the Colonial Life Arena, a building with a capacity of 18,000.
Through hard work and dedication the Gamecocks have come a long way.
While the team is not where Martin hopes to take it, USC owns a 23-6 record and is 10-6 in the Southeastern Conference. The Gamecocks are in a three-way tie for third with Vanderbilt and LSU. They hold the tied breaker over both schools. USC is one game behind league co-leaders Kentucky and Texas A&M.
The Gamecocks now play in front of sold out, or near sold out home crowds with rowdy students making it difficult for opposing teams.
Although not ranked in either the USA Today/Coaches or Associate Press top 25 polls, the Gamecocks appear solidly in the mix to be invited to participate in the NCAA Tournament.
Bracketologist Joe Lunardi has the Gamecocks ranked as a seventh seed, while USA Today also has Carolina ranked a 7th seed.
With an RPI of 32, third best in the SEC, cbssports.com has USC rated a sixth seed.
Postseason awaits USC men and women
That is more what Martin had in mind when he took over the team – at least for now.
“Basketball at USC has not been relevant for a long time,” said Martin. “But I’m convinced having a successful program is important to the fans here.”
If Martin needed encouragement during the tough times he did not have to look far.
In the office next door was USC women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley.
Successful during every turn of her basketball life, Staley quickly found out she may have met her match with the Gamecocks when taking over the program in 2008.
“It was drastically different than what I anticipated because when I first got into coaching at Temple in 2000, all the players, we just hit the ground running,” said Staley. “They just believed everything our coaches said.
“They believed that, because I played in the WNBA, I was living their dream. They thought, by me being their coach, their dreams could come true.”
The culture was a bit different when Staley arrived in Columbia. The team did not hit the court with the same intensity she was accustomed.
That left her wondering how to get her Gamecock team’s attention and turn things around.
For someone as impatient as Staley, that wasn’t easy.
USC finished Staley’s initial season with a 10-18 mark and was 2-12 in the Southeastern Conference.
Things were much the same for Frank Martin when he left a Kansas State program that was a fixture in the NCAA Tournament to transform the Carolina men’s basketball program into a winner.
His initial squad (2012-13) was 10-18 overall and 4-14 in SEC play.
Like Staley, Martin was somewhat stunned with the state of the program.
By that time Staley had her program on the move. It finished 25-8 overall and 11-5 in league play that season.
Getting the Gamecocks on the right track did not come easy, however.
“I used to talk a lot to (former USC Athletics Director) Eric Hyman,” said Staley. “He was like ‘be patient. It is going to take at least three years for you to kind of’ – I was like ‘three years. I’m not patient enough to lose for three years and then everything will be alright.’
“Going through it you do think ‘I made the wrong decision. What have I gotten myself into’ because the players really couldn’t do what we were asking them to do.
“No matter how small the task. No matter how simple we made it, they just were unable to complete it.”
With USC not the preferred destination for most top high school prospects, Martin went to work.
While unknown at the time, his first recruiting class set the tone for what is happening this season.
He brought in Lithuanian duo Laimonas Chatkevicius and Mindaugas Kacinas.
Martin later added 6-5 athlete Michael Carrera, a native of Anzoategul, Venezuela who was playing at Montrose Christian School.
The Gamecocks picked up their first “name” recruit a year later when Lancaster native Sindarius Thornwell, rated the country’s 39th best high school senior by ESPN, jumped on board.
Thornwell was paired with guard Duane Notice, who was rated the fourth best prep player in Canada.
Martin did not have to look far from home for his next big signing as Spring Valley guard P.J. Dozier, a McDonald’s All-American who was rated the 19th best senior in the country, jumped on board.
Athletic 6-9 forward Chris Silva, a native of Libreville, Gabon, rated the 80th best senior in the country, joined Dozier.
After assessing the situation in Columbia, Staley refined her coaching approach to match the players she inherited. She did the same with her recruiting style.
Then, just when she thought the Gamecocks were turning the corner, Staley hit another speed bump.
Kelsey Bone, the nation’s second best high school prospect during her senior high school season, was Staley’s first big get on the recruiting trail.
But, after spending only one season with the Gamecocks, Bone shocked everyone by transferring to Texas A&M.
“You lose the second best player in the country and you’re at South Carolina where this wasn’t a popular place to land,” said Staley. “It was like a black cloud over us saying ‘why did this happen’ because there are always two sides to a story. Where there’s smoke there’s fire.
“We kind of had to get past that. I don’t think it was anything but Kelsey being homesick and Kelsey wanting to be a little bit closer to her family, to her friends and Kelsey wanted to play in an NCAA Tournament. That had a lot to do with it.”
When Martin arrived, he had to deal with the defection of USC’s top two players as 6-8, 230-pound forward Anthony Gill transferred to Virginia. The team’s top inside force, Damontre Harris, transferred to Florida leaving the roster bare.
“You have to understand,” said Kentucky coach John Calipari. “It can’t be done in a year. To transform the South Carolina basketball program it takes four to five years. Frank has done a great job putting it on solid ground.”
The state of their individual programs when arriving in Columbia allowed Staley and Martin to immediately connect.
During the lean years Martin would often receive texts from Staley after games lending encouragement for him to stay the course.
Staley has transformed her program into one of the nation’s elite. After advancing to the Final Four for the first time in school history since the sport has been affiliated with the NCAA, the Gamecocks chances of returning appear good. Ranked second in the USA Today/Coaches poll and third in the Associated Press poll, the Gamecocks own a 27-1 record.
Already the Southeastern Conference regular season champion for the third straight year, the team hopes to finish undefeated in league play for the first time as it takes a 15-0 record into Sunday’s regular season finale against LSU.
Thanks to the their recent run, the Gamecocks appear to have grabbed the from Tennessee the mantle as the SEC’s most dominant women’s basketball program.
While neither program has achieved its ultimate dream, they are at least in sight. The teams own a combined 50-7 record, the best of any NCAA Division One school
“It’s really been something special,” said Kacinas,. “We’ve tried to build the program for the past three years and now, seeing the fans come over and cheer for us is great.”
Despite the improvement of the men’s program, the season began with the USC women the most popular among Gamecock fans.
“We all kind of lived off Tennessee for about 20 years,” said veteran Texas A&M coach Gary Blair. “We’re not living off Tennessee any more. South Carolina has sent the blueprint with what they’re doing.”
With Staley at wheel, Gamecocks power into national spotlight
Martin is pleased with the direction of his program and the way it is beginning to be embraced by fans.
(Men’s) basketball hasn’t been relevant here in a long time,” said Martin. “I’m convinced fans want and will support good basketball. They’ve proven that.
Staley believes that, no matter how upsetting it was at the time, the Gamecocks began to improve following Bone’s departure.
“I thought we got better after that,” said Staley. “We gained by losing.
“It’s noting against Kelsey, but the team came together as a unit. We had better practices. We had better interaction with each other. We had better communication.
“We got better as a program because we put things in place so that won’t ever happen again.”
Thanks to strong leadership in the senior and junior classes, Martin is confident his squad will give its best effort down the stretch.
“All we talked about the first time I ever met with my team after coming here was the work ethic we were going to create to win a SEC title,” said Martin. “That’s what we talked about every day and we continue to challenge ourselves every day to make that a reality.
“The thing I like about them is they all seem to play their roles very willingly and they are playing very close to their capabilities,” said long time Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings. “Those kids were not all terrific players when they were freshmen. They’re really good players right now. That’s a credit to those kids and that staff.”
Near the top of the women’s college basketball landscape, Staley is encountering a different challenge.
“That’s the hard part, sustaining it,” said Staley. “It really is, just kind of fighting through and breaking through. But to stay there is real difficult.
“When we didn’t have players, it was hard to get them to commit. Now that we do have some players it’s ‘you won’t play there. They have too many great players.’”
Martin and company isn’t there yet, but continue to work tirelessly to help the program grow.
He is pleased with what he has seen this season.
“They’ve been awesome, I’m telling you,” Martin said after a come-from-behind win over Vanderbilt. “They’ve got me on a ride right now that is unreal.
“They come in every day. They care, they pay attention, they study film and they go out in a game like this and their confidence. Their courage is never rattled.”