The South Carolina Gamecocks men's basketball team represents the University of South Carolina and competes in the Southeastern Conference. The program reached national prominence under head coach Frank McGuire in the 1960's and 70's, but has not attained the same success in recent decades. Since 2002, the team plays its home games at the Colonial Life Arena. Darrin Horn became the head coach in 2008 following the retirement of Dave Odom.
During World War II, the basketball team achieved remarkable success because it was assigned outstanding athletes by the U.S. Navy as part of the V-12 program. However, the Navy leaders kept the teams focus towards the war effort and they declined an invitation to the Southern Conference Tournament in 1944.
The hiring of Frank McGuire in 1964 propelled the USC basketball team to its most successful period to date, culminating with an undefeated conference record in 1970 and an ACC championship in 1971. The success South Carolina achieved on the court brought resentment and anger from fellow ACC schools, especially those on "Tobacco Road," as the conference members of the state of North Carolina were known. The hostility of the road crowds, the unfriendly behavior of the coaches and athletic directors in the conference, and the discrepancies in eligibility standards led Coach McGuire to support South Carolina becoming an independent in 1971. As an independent, the program declined and the University sought entrance into an athletic conference. This proved problematic because most conferences required that each school have a single athletic director and South Carolina had multiple. Frank McGuire served as athletic director for the basketball program and he would not relinquish his position. The University made several attempts to prod McGuire to resign and ultimately were forced to honor his contract through 1980.
In 1983, the University became affiliated with the Metro Conference. The basketball program reached a low point when it was placed on probation by the NCAA in the spring of 1987 for two years because of recruiting violations and the sale of complimentary player tickets. After the University joined the Southeastern Conference in 1991, Eddie Fogler captured the school's first SEC championship in 1997. Dave Odom won back-to-back NIT championships in 2005 and 2006. On April 1, 2008, Darrin Horn was named the new head basketball coach at USC.
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South Carolina Gamecocks
