Clemson to host regional; South Carolina will not

  • Travis Haney
  • Posted: Monday, May 25, 2009 12:01 a.m.
    UPDATED: Thursday, March 22, 2012 8:06 p.m.
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Clemson Tigers
/Clemson Tigers

COLUMBIA — Despite South Carolina's torrid play down the stretch, the Palmetto State will have just one regional site when the NCAA Tournament gets started later this week.

Clemson stubbed its toe with losses to Virginia and Duke in the ACC Tournament, but the Tigers rallied to beat North Carolina on Saturday and did enough during the course of the season to grab a host bid for Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

Clemson (40-19) had been in the top 10 in the RPI most of the season, thanks mostly to the difficulty of the ACC.

Assured of a spot, USC (38-21) will learn its regional destination at 12:30 p.m. today when the entire 64-team field is revealed on ESPN.

The College of Charleston and The Citadel will also see if their tournament hopes, albeit slim, are realized.

The likeliest spot for the Gamecocks would seem to be Greenville, N.C., where East Carolina received the bid that many believed was going to go to USC.

The Gamecocks won 10 of their final 11 regular season games, including sweeps of two teams (Vanderbilt and Georgia) likely to be in the NCAA field.

As the SEC East's No. 2 team, USC rallied past Alabama, another NCAA-bound club, in the SEC Tournament's opening round.

But then the Gamecocks tripped up, failing to score late in comeback attempts against Vanderbilt and LSU.

East Carolina's overall record, 42-17, is what carried the Pirates to the bid. But ECU had only five victories (5-6) against the top 50 in the RPI. In contrast, USC went 18-14 against the top 50 — a sign of the team's overall strength of schedule as well.

And you know USC officials wanted a chance to show off new Carolina Stadium to an NCAA audience. But that'll have to wait.

Another venue that's been mentioned for the Gamecocks is Atlanta, where Georgia Tech (35-17-1) would await.

Coastal Carolina, despite a gaudy 46-14 record, could be among the teams headed to Clemson. The Chanticleers lost 5-3 at Clemson on April 21.

Reach Travis Haney at thaney@postandcourier.com and check out the South Carolina blog at postandcourier.com/blogs/gamecocks.