South Carolina MBB loaded early schedule with ‘winnable games.’ Is that a good thing?
One could not make out the logo on Notre Dame coach Micah Shrewsberry’s chest. Presumably, it was the Fighting Irish logo, but it was darn near impossible to tell. Every time Shrewsberry or one of his identically dressed assistants turned their chest, the light would catch the reflective gold and shine in your eyes.
That is the power of Notre Dame. Even when it hurts, you keep looking because, for centuries, humans have not been able to avert our eyes from shiny gold.
But Notre Dame (3-3), in its first season under Shrewsberry, is not good. The Irish lost to Auburn by 24 and fell to Western Carolina by double-digits. On Tuesday night, behind 29 points by guard Meechie Johnson, South Carolina cruised to a 65-53 victory over the Irish.
Marketing Tuesday’s game was easy for South Carolina. First off, it created a deal selling $5 tickets. Second, as part of the ACC/SEC Challenge, the opponent was Notre Dame, and people always care about Notre Dame. And third, the Gamecocks were undefeated. Scratch that, are undefeated — now 6-0 for the 10th time in program history.
More than 15,000 people crammed into Colonial Life Arena on a Tuesday night. Better than that: A large majority of the students stayed until the very end. A few weeks ago at the season-opener against USC-Upstate, students packed into the gym to scan in and boost their priority for football seating — then mostly filed out at halftime.
“Credit to their crowd,” Shrewsberry said. “I was out there during warmups and I saw the students pour in and I was like, ‘Oh sh—. Here they come.’”
One could make the argument that was because Notre Dame was sitting on the opposing bench. Or that the game went back and forth for the first 27 minutes. Or that Meechie Johnson was at the heat-check point where folks were mad when he passed the ball. Or that B.J. Mack (17 points, 4 rebounds) was bullying a young Irish team in the paint.
But, more likely, the reason 15,000 people crowded into Colonial Life Arena to watch a basketball team not coached by Dawn Staley was because of the record. People pay attention when you’re undefeated. People care when you’re undefeated. People show up when you’re undefeated.
Why the Gamecocks are undefeated comes down, largely, to a revamped team that has multiple scoring options and have been spectacular shooting from deep. It also has to do with the schedule South Carolina is playing.
Coach Lamont Paris calls them “winnable games.” Some outsiders would call them cupcakes — and South Carolina loaded its non-conference slate with a lot of them. Aside from next week’s game at Clemson (which is an annual game), South Carolina likely will not play a single Quadrant-1 contest until SEC play begins.
Here is how the KenPom metrics rank every non-conference opponent South Carolina is facing this season (numbers as of Tuesday night):
vs. USC Upstate — 296
neutral site vs. Virginia Tech — 66
vs. VMI — 328
neutral site vs. DePaul — 192
neutral site vs. GCU — 75
vs. Notre Dame — 176
vs. George Washington — 140
at Clemson — 35
at East Carolina — 219
vs. Charleston Southern — 351
vs. Wintrop — 155
vs. Elon — 294
vs. Florida A&M — 335
“Personally,” Paris said. “I like to have three to four games that are good, tough games that, if you win those games, there’s gonna some credit to reap towards the end of the season. Those are very important games. You also wanna schedule some games that are, like I said, winnable games.”
This is not crazy. It is merely a philosophy and an outlook that is breeding confidence in South Carolina. The Gamecocks did not go play in a stacked multi-team event. Instead, they played VMI, then traveled to Arizona to play DePaul (in front of about 100 people at midnight Eastern time) and Grand Canyon.
South Carolina won all three games, flew home with a trophy and a sense of belief. The Gamecocks were able to play some decent teams (Virginia Tech and Grand Canyon) while also figuring themselves out. Distinguishing lineups and carving out roles … and still winning.
Some schools use the non-conference to challenge themselves, to bolster their NCAA Tournament resume and ensure they’re battle-tested come March. Others use the early-season games as a means to work out the kinks, to slowly grow and mesh to prepare for a tough conference schedule.
Right now, the latter has South Carolina looking the best it has since the 2016-17 Final Four season.
“It gives us a lot of confidence,” Mack said, “to be able to see we can stack up wins through the work (we put in) at practice.”
Added Paris: “It’s hard. You’re in Year Two. You’re developing. And you have a lot of new faces. You don’t know what’s gonna be what, specifically. I’d love to have a big-name school and a big-name program like Notre Dame come in here; or doing a home-and-home with schools like that.”
By this time last season, the Gamecocks had lost three games and were days away from an embarrassing 24-point loss at George Washington. Paris’ Year One growing pains were painful, especially early.
After Tuesday night, Shrewsberry looked like a man facing the same problem. In his first season since leaving Penn State for Notre Dame, he has already lost three times and plays No. 8 Miami on Saturday and No. 3 Marquette a week later.
“Some of these were inherited,” Shrewsberry said. “It wasn’t like I was choosing to go and play Marquette. I didn’t ask to go on the road here.”
Partly by choice and partly not, the Fighting Irish’s schedule is hellacious in Shrewsberry’s first season. By season’s end, few teams will have faced a tougher slate than Notre Dame.
Perhaps it’ll result in an unflattering record. Shrewsberry is hoping it’s a net-positive, breeding a tougher, stronger team in March and for years to come.
“I’m not scared to go play anybody,” the Notre Dame coach said. “And it’s only helping these guys. It’s only making them better. We’re gonna keep getting better as the season goes on. … You don’t wanna see us in March. You don’t wanna see us in late February. We’re only gonna get better. These trips are only gonna help us”
Paris will save the turbulence. Perhaps it will bite him when the big SEC teams start showing up. For now, though, he and 15,000 friends are enjoying the wins.
