'We thought we could beat anybody in the country': How South Carolina basketball won the 1997 SEC title
After starting 5-5 the Gamecocks went on to win 19 of their next 22 games and took home a regular season title. Here's how they did it.
'We thought we could beat anybody in the country': How USC won the 1997 SEC title
- Thread starter Brian Shoemaker
- Start date
Everyone except Coppin St. But up until that point, it was a helluva ride.
That was as disappointing and disgraceful a loss as any our athletic program has ever sustained.
That was terrible but we weren't as good as our ranking indicated anyway. We barely got by UPC the next week and got waxed by LSU [EDIT: Oklahoma State] in the bowl. There was no excuse for losing to Coppin State and they even handled us the whole ballgame.
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Wrong. Lost on a 11th hour TD to Oklahoma State who arguably had their best team in school history.
Beat Navy & Tillman….at least go to the Orange Bowl with a chance to win it & claim the whole ball of wax.
3 guard offense and we had 3 very good guards that year. Melvin Watkins was probably my favorite USC PG of all-time. BJ was a McDonalds all-American and Davis was another highly rated player coming out of high school who initially signed with UNC before transferring back to USC. I think he was from out of Denmark.
Right. Had my years mixed up. But Oklahoma State really controlled all but one quarter of that game. Hilger at QB I believe. We weren't national championship caliber.
Yes we should’ve beat Coppin State. No doubt. But that team was also severely under seeded as they came very close to reaching the Sweet 16. They had some players and “Fang” Mitchell was a respected coach. At the time we were only the 2nd 2 seed to lose. Thankfully that has become far more common today so we aren’t reminded of it too often. We never got going that game and it hurt. But we knew what we were capable of…High ceiling and a low floor. We got drilled by UGA in the SEC Tournament in the previous game. Sounds like we reverted back to our old selves that lost to a couple of cupcakes early on.
The loss to Richmond the following year was also embarrassing. I believe we were a 3 seed and we had every reason to come out and make a statement. We couldn’t. I know people weren’t crazy about Fogler, but I do wonder if we just won in the first round each of those, how things might have been different. He could coach. He won the SEC at SC and Vandy…and we were far worse when he took over than we are today. He brought in some good players a couple of years later…but just didn’t have enough around them. Maybe if we didn’t **** our pants in the NCAA two years in a row we could’ve kept some guys around.
It’s a shame that such a wonderful season is so painful to remember.
I won’t dispute that, but Harold Green had butterfingers in Athens & Keith Bing did in Lincoln.
We weren’t the 2nd 2 seed to lose. We were the 3rd.
Couldn't have felt worse if we had been the first. It was a debacle.
It is a repeatable theme. We had a good football team that poops the bed against Navy. Could have won a natty. Final four basketball team whose best leader gets the flu, or else we could have won a natty. We have had some teams that could have brought us national prominence, but for some reason, couldn’t. Chicken curse. I’ll have to say that three year baseball run broke the curse for a minute.
If we ever win it, it will be a National Championship.
the fact not only that we lost to Coppin state but they completely destroyed us by double digits, is as embarrassing a moment for the school as there ever was
While that loss was as embarrassing as Stoney Brook and Wyoming et al, those at least have the somewhat excuse of being early season losses.
We had a 15-1 conference championship season that was clinched at Rupp Arena -- on Senior Day, of all days. To lose to such a nobody team as a 2nd seed when we knew what was on the line was the mother of all gut punches.
I don’t discount your analysis 1 bit but please consider this……
We lost to a hat
Is that worse than losing to a coppin? At least I know what a hat is.
If I recall correctly they were rated. 354 out of 357 rated that year. Coppin was a tournament team after all.
stetson could have been lower than 357 if possible
Fogler could coach, but the man openly abhorred recruiting.