The Daily Gamecock

Foundation of trust hardly a fairytale in Gamecocks' Cinderella run

Just like he's always dreamed, Frank Martin cut down the net at Madison Square Garden Sunday with Frank Sinatra booming through the arena. Five years after coming to South Carolina, Martin and the Gamecocks have climbed the mountain, reaching the Final Four for the first time ever.

"To be up on that ladder cutting that net — a life-long dream — and hear 'New York, New York' at a place that's special to me, special to my family, it's pretty powerful," Martin said.

Flash back five years, six months, or even two weeks, and seeing Martin on that ladder was treated like a fairytale.

“All we asked for was a chance to make it,” Sindarius Thornwell said after the Sunday's win. “All we wanted was a bid in the tournament, to see our name on the board.”

Stung by last year's omission, the Gamecocks were thrilled to be in the tournament in the first place. But once they were in, they wanted more. Now that they're here, Martin and Co. took a moment to look back.

Martin spoke Sunday about the lessons he learned from his mother, who raised him and his sister by herself, never making excuses despite receiving no financial help from Martin's father, who ran out on them.

"Watching her cry tears of joy because of all her sacrifices have allowed me and my sister to move forward in life — those are the tears that are important to me," Martin said. "That's extending her life."

What Martin learned at a young age has been reflected in his team during this Final Four run: toughness, accountability, trust. It's no secret the Gamecocks don't have the most talented players on the court every game. But even against the loaded rosters of Duke and Florida, South Carolina had the best team.

"I would say the main thing that Frank has taught us is to — or throughout the season, is to put trust into one another, to trust Frank, to trust our teammates," Maik Kotsar said.

And where was that trust more evident than Kotsar's jumper to give the Gamecocks a late four-point lead against the Gators? Thornwell, the SEC Player of the Year, drove the length of the court before passing it back to Kotsar, a freshman who averaged three points over the last three games, for a jumper.

"I knew Maik was ready to play when the second possession of the game he posted up and he called my name and yelled my name, like, 'Sin, give me the ball,'" Thornwell said Sunday. "And that's when I knew Maik was ready to play and he was locked in and he made plays for us all night.

"He was prepared for the moment."

Written off by everyone upon reaching the tournament — some referred to South Carolina as the worst seven-seed ever — the Gamecocks haven't felt the pressure. No one expected them to be here, but all they can think is, "Why not us?"

And why not them? The Gamecocks are two wins away from doing the unthinkable, if they haven't already.

"Why not? Why not us, why not go win it all? And that's our mindset. We feel like we can compete with anybody right now in the country," Thornwell said. 

Think back two weeks and ask yourself: "Why not them?"

It was an easy answer. The offense was struggling, the bigs couldn't stay on the court, and they had no experience.

Now? Not so much.

The Gamecocks are playing as well as anyone in the country, and it's all because of how they've bought into Martin, who thanked his high school coach for taking a chance on "a guy that wasn't worth a crap as a player" among others for helping him into this position.

"When we got our name in, ]Martin] said we've been listening to him all season and don't stop now because we got our name on the board," Thornwell said. "So when he said that, we all locked in and didn't listen to any outsiders, didn't listen to anybody else but coach. We trusted in him in everything."

Trusting one another — as Thornwell trusted Kotsar late against Florida — made South Carolina dangerous. Trusting Martin, well, that made South Carolina a Final Four team.


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