South Carolina moved up in NET despite 0-2 week
South Carolina basketball faced a tough draw last week. The Gamecocks had to play a pair of top-5 teams at Colonial Life Arena. Making matters worse, Christmas break was still in effect, and University of South Carolina students were not all back on campus for the games. Lamont Paris’ team performed better than they did in their SEC-opening loss to Mississippi State but playing against No. 5 Alabama and No. 2 Auburn while shorthanded (starting wing Myles Stute missed both games, and starting guard Jamarii Thomas missed the latter contest) resulted in two defeats.
The Gamecocks’ place in the NET rankings mirrored their improvement rather than their record. As of Monday evening, USC is No. 91 in the NET. Last week, Carolina was 93rd but dipped a little lower before the Auburn contest.
The NET, for those unfamiliar, is the most important ranking metric used by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee. It factors in Team Value Index (essentially a team’s on-court results, location of games, and strength of schedule) and adjusted net efficient ratings (how well a team plays in those games, adjusted for the quality of opponent and location of games).
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Because of the strength of the 2024-2025 version of the SEC, South Carolina’s NET ranking won’t dip much with losses and will improve with wins. In fact, the Gamecocks own the toughest 2025 portion of that schedule in the entire country.
As things stand, the Gamecocks are last among SEC teams in the NET rankings. However, every team is inside the top 100, making it the only conference that can make that claim. Upward mobility is possible if South Carolina can win its share of SEC contests. Even before considering the SEC Tournament, if Coach Paris’ team can pull off eight or nine wins in league play, they will be in the NCAA Tournament conversation.
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To get there, though, the Gamecocks will have to play winning basketball the rest of the way. The road won’t be easy, but it will be full of opportunity.
[Win tickets: South Carolina-Florida MBB]
South Carolina has two road Quad 1 opportunities upcoming this week. However, both of USC’s next two opponents are coming off of 0-2 records last week just like the Gamecocks.
First, Carolina will head to Nashville for a Wednesday matchup against Vanderbilt. The 6:00 p.m. contest will air on SEC Network and stream on the ESPN app.
Then, USC will take a road trip to Norman to play the Oklahoma Sooners. ESPNU will broadcast the 4:00 p.m. contest, while the ESPN app makes it available for streaming. This will be the first conference game between the Gamecocks and new-to-the-SEC Sooners.
