Not many experts were predicting that the South Carolina Gamecocks would make a deep SEC Tournament run this year after struggling late in the season. However, head coach Mark Kingston and the Gamecocks were able to turn things around and made it to the semifinal.
The semifinal is where things came to an end for South Carolina, losing to LSU in extra innings. After the game, Kingston looked back fondly on the Gamecocks’ SEC Tournament run.
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“Yeah, we loved it,” Mark Kingston said. “Again, it’s the greatest conference in America. It’s the greatest players in America. It’s the greatest coaches in America. I’ll say it’s the greatest umpires in America. It’s the best of everything. It’s the best — like this stadium and what this town does for this week is incredible. I haven’t had anything that reminds me of the Omaha experiences that I’ve had anything more than what is put on this week. It’s everything that everybody that’s in baseball wants to be a part of. It’s tremendous. It was tremendous for me to watch our team.”
South Carolina ran into issues late during the regular season, losing six straight conference games and limping into the SEC Tournament. With that, the Gamecocks needed a deep push to try and guarantee their spot in the NCAA Tournament and that’s just what they got.
For Mark Kingston, it was great to see his team grow during this time.
“It’s hard to think that you can have significant growth on a team this late in the season, but we did. We did, because there were so many different challenging situations that our kids will be able to learn from,” Kingston said. “We were able to put so many young guys in situations. Through thick and thin, through good and bad, they’re going to be better because of it. It’s the biggest stage they’ll play on until they get to the Big Leagues.”
In his latest Field of 64 projections, On3’s Jonathan Wagner has South Carolina in the NCAA Tournament as a two-seed and playing in the Tallahassee Regional. That would be the start of an attempt to march to Omaha and the College World Series.
“This is a very similar feel to Omaha, especially when you’re the team playing LSU. That was hostile territory out there, and our kids will learn from it. Our kids aren’t perfect. Nobody’s team is perfect. These are 18 to 22, 23 year olds. They’re going to make mistakes. It’s our job to help them get them through it, learn the lesson, and be better because of it,” Kingston said.
“It’s a tremendous week. Hard to think it can get better until you get to Omaha.”
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