Can Gamecocks, SEC ride the wave of Florida, Kentucky hoops success?

Mar 14, 2014; Atlanta, GA, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Frank Martin reacts during a timeout against the Tennessee Volunteers during the second half in the quarterfinals of the SEC college basketball tournament at Georgia Dome. Tennessee defeated South Carolina 59-44. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Since stepping on the campus of the University of South Carolina, Frank Martin hasn’t been able to quite replicate the success he had over at Kansas State.

That, in case you need a referesher, included three NCAA Tournament appearances and an appearance in the Elite Eight.

So far, not so good in Columbia: 28-38 with a 9-27 record in SEC play.

Granted, the program languished under predecessor Darrin Horn, a mere “flavor of the week” hire that was never able to recapture the magic of the Western Kentucky Sweet 16 run in 2008 and failed to lead the Gamecocks to the tournament.

Now travel southward to the Sunshine State, where, of course, there’s Billy Donovan in Florida, who’s got the Gators back to the Final Four and competing year in and year out. John Calipari? All he did with the Kentucky Wildcats this year was lead them to the Final Four as well after a “disappointing” (for them) ten-loss season. Cuonzo Martin has moved out of the shadow of Bruce Pearl and has put his mark on the Tennessee Volunteers.

And even a few SEC teams that didn’t make it to the Big Dance this time around look like they’re trending upward.

Mark Fox has the Georgia Bulldogs headed in the right direction, leading them to a winning season after back-to-back losing campaigns. Mike Anderson looks like he is steadily improving Arkansas. Auburn nabbed Bruce Pearl as they look to make it back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2003.

Maybe, just maybe things are looking up. But the conference, outside of Florida and Kentucky, continues to languish in relative mediocrity, with the powerful teams remaining powerful and the bad teams going from just OK to really bad. Vanderbilt and Kevin Stallings, looking as if they were bound for bigger things, have dropped off. Billy Kennedy’s tenure at Texas A&M has been plain average. Andy Kennedy saw great success at Ole Miss in 2012-13, but failed to make the postseason this year.

So where does that leave the Gamecocks, who are now at eleven seasons and counting without a Big Dance appearance? Martin has no big wins to his credit since taking the job–that’s aside from a win over Kentucky this season. But the team couldn’t build on it, laying an egg against a much more talented Florida team days later. They did win three of their next four after that, including a pair in the SEC Tournament, but overall, couldn’t ride the wave of momentum.

The SEC still has a long way to go before it’s even close to the level of the better college basketball conferences in the nation. Time will tell whether or not the Gamecocks will fully figure into that, and if Martin will be the man to get them there.