South Carolina Gamecocks at Colonial Life Arena
Columbia, South Carolina, is home to one of the top basketball programs in the Southeastern Conference. The University of South Carolina Gamecocks play at Colonial Life Arena, which opened in 2002 and seats 18,000. They are coached by Frank Martin, who successfully led the Kansas State Wildcats to four NCAA tournament appearances in five seasons before moving on to South Carolina in 2012, leading the Gamecocks to their first men's Final Four appearance in 2017.
South Carolina Gamecocks Men's Basketball History
The University of South Carolina first fielded a men's basketball team in 1908, and achieved success in the Southern Conference in the 1920s and '30s, before joining six other SoCon teams to form the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1953. The legendary Frank McGuire, who had previously led St. John's and UNC to Final Four appearances, led the Gamecocks from 1964 until his retirement in 1980. During McGuire's reign, South Carolina reached the NCAA Sweet 16 three years in a row, from 1971 to 1973, in addition to winning the ACC regular season and tournament championship once apiece in their final two seasons in the conference.
Eight-time NBA All-Star and Basketball Hall of Famer Alex English starred at South Carolina in the mid '70s, and was arguably the first African-American star athlete in the school's history. South Carolina moved from the Metro Conference to the Southeastern Conference in 1991, with coach Eddie Fogler leading the Gamecocks to an SEC regular season championship in 1997. Former Wake Forest head coach Dave Odom led South Carolina from 2001 to 2008, appearing in three postseason NIT championships, winning in 2005 and 2006 behind the play of tournament MVPs Carlos Powell and Renaldo Balkman. In 2017, the Gamecocks made their first appearance in the Final Four, beating Marquette, Duke, Baylor and Florida before bowing to Gonzaga in the national semifinal. South Carolina became the tenth team to have both their men's and women's teams reach their respective Final Four in the same year, with coach Dawn Staley's women's team winning the 2017 NCAA championship.
