National outlet has ridiculously low view of South Carolina basketball

South Carolina basketball coach Lamont Paris has his Gamecocks in a good position to make the NCAA Tournament this season for the first time in almost a decade. Most outlets have had the Gamecocks in the March Madness field for a while, and a win over Kentucky on Tuesday only improved those favorable opinions.

Again, most outlets have the Gamecocks going dancing.

One that does not seem to have much faith in the Gamecocks is TeamRankings.com. According to the folks at TeamRankings, South Carolina basketball only has a 13.8% chance of making this season's NCAA Tournament and is the 71st-best team in college basketball.

Frankly, TeamRankings'...uhh...rankings?...don't make a whole lot of sense. A 13-6 Florida Gators squad without a signature win (34th in rankings; 55.5% chance to make NCAAT), an 11-8 Iowa Hawkeye team with a 3-5 record in the Big 10 (40th in rankings; 25.3% chance to make NCAAT), and a 10-9 Xavier Musketeers group with a .500 record in the Atlantic-10 (36th in rankings; 55.5% chance to make NCAAT) are a few of the head-scratching teams ahead of the Gamecocks in the rankings and NCAA Tournament percentages.

Mississippi State (who South Carolina already beat) is another odd inclusion over USC, and the horrible Michigan Wolverines are only 3 spots lower on TeamRankings' list than Lamont Paris' Gamecocks.

Somehow the Georgia Bulldogs are ranked lower than Carolina but have a higher percent chance to make the March Madness field (22%) despite the two teams playing in the same conference and the outlet projecting South Carolina with 3 more regular season victories than the 'Dawgs.

The good news for South Carolina basketball fans is that pundit rankings (whether they are stupid ones like the ones at TeamRankings. com or Gamecock-favorable ones like many that have been seen from Jon Rothstein or Joe Lunardi) don't matter at all.

Carolina is 51st in the Net rankings (the one that matters), and they are poised for improvements in that ranking soon.

The Gamecocks will play the Missouri Tigers at home in Colonial Life Arena on Saturday at 1:00. The game will be broadcast on the SECNetwork and ESPN app.