Might've been USA Today Coaches Poll and others polls who run through the NCAA T Finals. IOW, all the polls (one or more) that go through the tournament had them in the top ten, due to their run to the FF - in which they very nearly beat Gonzaga in the semis...in what was clearly the best played game of that FF.
You're right. Number 6 in the post-season USA Today Coaches Poll. Last AP Poll was March 13, after selection Sunday.
South Carolina ended up 24th in Kenpom, 25th in T-Rank, and 24th in RPI in 2017.
In 1997, the year SC finished 6th in the final AP poll, they lost their first round game, as mentioned above, to Coppin St. and ended up ranked 14th in the post-season coaches poll. The next year they lost as a 3 seed to 14 seed Richmond. To bring it all back, Richmond was coached by Beilein.
Richmond had been a notorious giant slayer under Dick Tarrant, beating 5 seed Auburn in '84 as a 12 seed, 4 seed Indiana in '88 as a 13 seed, and 2 seed Syracuse in '91 as a 15.
Evidently they don't do an after the NCAA Tournament coaches poll now. The last one this year was March 18, at least on the sports reference CBB site. Auburn was ranked 18th, and Texas Tech 10th.
Fogler overall wasn't the most distinguished South Carolina coach since McGuire, by the record:
Winning % at SC:
McGuire .666
Felton .584
Odom .553
Martin .549
Foster .538
Fogler .513
Horn .488
Newton .364
He inherited a down program only a few years after it joined SEC, and he got them to 2 NCAAs. Felton, Martin and Odom once each.
Overall I'd say he had an OK career, didn't finish well. And apparently does well now as a consultant. I appreciate the point about consultants sometimes. I'm wondering who advised Pitt on the Stalling hire. I thought he was on the hot seat at Vanderbilt as it was.
Last edited by wobatus; 07-24-2019 at 10:52 AM.