NCAA Tournament: Rival Clemson left out of NCAA Tournament, and it’s the Gamecocks’ fault
By Kevin Miller
South Carolina basketball had a tough year as 21 losses tied the school record for single-season defeats. The NCAA Tournament was out of reach early into the campaign. The Lamont Paris era in Columbia didn’t start amazingly well as the Gamecocks took until the back half of the SEC conference schedule to play consistently competitive basketball. That sliver of a silver lining gives Gamecock fans hope moving forward.
For now, after Selection Sunday, the South Carolina faithful have something else to celebrate. Despite finishing 3rd in a pretty good ACC, the Clemson Tigers were left out of the 68-team field of the NCAA Tournament by the Tournament Selection Committee. (A full view of the bracket can be found here). Clemson finished 23-10 and 14-6 in the ACC. In the modern era of 64 and 68-team fields, there has never been an ACC team left out of the Tournament with those numbers. Until Clemson.
The rivalry in the Palmetto State between South Carolina and Clemson is intense, and the majority of Gamecock Nation would celebrate Clemson’s dubious historic feat. However, the bad news for the Upstate rivals is made worse by the fact that South Carolina is probably a huge contributing factor in Clemson’s snubbing.
Despite the subpar season, the Gamecocks managed to beat Clemson early in the year on a Chico Carter buzzer-beater.
The loss was one of four in Quad 3 or Quad 4 matchups. Those four losses are more than any other team that was close to the bubble line. Several teams had three Quad 3 and Quad 4, but without either team realizing it, the Gamecocks popped Clemson’s Tournament bubble in just the second game of the year.
Ultimately, Clemson fans have every right to be upset with their team’s exclusion from the Big Dance, just as South Carolina fans have every right to rejoice in their rival’s misery. Clemson was the better team during the 2022-2023 season, but the Gamecocks got the best of the Tigers twice, once in the season’s opening week, and once again as the season came to a close.