Back to the Final Four? Sizing up South Carolina’s NCAA Tournament region, path forward

We’ve known for a while now that the South Carolina men’s basketball team was going to make the NCAA Tournament. Finally, we know their path forward. Toward the weekend. Toward the Sweet 16. Towards the Final Four.

When South Carolina got to the Final Four in 2017 under coach Frank Martin, they did so with wins over 10-seed Marquette, No. 2 Duke, No. 3 Baylor and 4-seed Florida.

March is about predicting, about dreaming. So let’s get looking ahead and take a deeper look at South Carolina’s quadrant of the bracket — the Midwest Region. Who could the Gamecocks play over the next few weeks?

NCAA Midwest Region seeds

1. Purdue Boilermakers (29-4)

2. Tennessee Volunteers (24-8)

3. Creighton Bluejays (23-9)

4. Kansas Jayhawks (22-10)

5. Gonzaga Bulldogs (25-7)

6. South Carolina Gamecocks (26-7)

7. Texas Longhorns (20-12)

8. Utah State Aggies (27-6)

9. TCU Horned Frogs (20-12)

10. Colorado State Rams (24-10)/Virginia Cavaliers (23-10)

11. Oregon Ducks (23-11)

12. McNeese Cowboys (30-3)

13. Samford Bulldogs (29-5)

14. Akron Zips (24-10)

15. Saint Peter’s Peacocks (19-13)

16. Grambling Tigers (20-14)/Montana State Bobcats (17-17)

First round: Oregon

Six-seed South Carolina will begin play in March Madness at 4 p.m. Thursday against 11-seed Oregon in Pittsburgh.

What to know: The Ducks, playing under longtime head coach Dana Altman, won the Pac-12 Tournament to lock up their spot in the NCAAs.

Top scorers: C N’Faly Dante (16.2 ppg), G Jermaine Couisnard (15. ppg), Jackson Shelstad (13.1 ppg)

Impressive wins: vs. Alabama (neutral), Arizona (home, away and neutral), Colorado (away and neutral)

Ugly losses: at Cal

Vegas spread: South Carolina by -1.5

History of the 6-11 matchup: In the NCAA Tournament, 11-seeds have upset 6-seeds 38% of the time. But in the past three years, 11-seeds are 6-12 in the first round.

Second round: Creighton a likely foe

The winner of South Carolina-Oregon will play the champ of the early game in Pittsburgh: 3-seed Creighton vs. 14-seed Akron.

The Bluejays, 14-6 in the Big East, notched huge wins this season at home over Alabama, Marquette and top-overall seed UConn.

One of the top offenses in the country, they have three guys — G Baylor Scheierman (18.4 ppg), G Trey Alexander (17.6 ppg) and C Ryan Kalkbrenner (17.1 ppg) scoring over 15 points a game.

Akron, winner of the Mid-American Conference Tournament Championship after a bizarre foul by Kent State with seconds left in the final, is dancing for the sixth time in school history (which includes in 2009, when coach Lamont Paris was an assistant for the Zips).

Akron is led by two lethal scorers: 6-foot-7 senior forward Enrique Freeman (18.6 ppg) and guard Ali Ali (15.6 ppg).

At the moment, Creighton is favored by 12.5 points. Since 2016, only once has a 14-seed defeated a No. 3 team (Abilene Christian over Texas in 2021).

Sweet 16: Tennessee again?

If South Carolina makes the Sweet 16, it’s most likely to run into 2-seed Tennessee or 7-seed Texas.

The Longhorns, coming off an Elite Eight run last season, have to wait to learn who they’ll play. Two 10-seeds — Virginia and Colorado State — will battle on Tuesday in the First Four for the right to play Texas.

Texas, which finished eighth in its conference, went 5-9 in Quad-1 games and fell to Kansas State in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament.

Tennessee will have the best odds to make the Sweet 16. The SEC regular-season champs had wins over Alabama, Auburn, Kentucky and South Carolina, though they lost to the Gamecocks at home.

Led by one of the best scorers in the country, guard Dalton Knecht (21.1 ppg), the Volunteers can look unstoppable or lay an egg, as they did losing in their first game of the SEC Tournament.

Elite Eight: Hello, Purdue?

Let’s say South Carolina makes the Elite Eight for just the second time ever. It would likely face 1-seed Purdue, which famously lost to 16-seed Fairleigh Dickenson last year.

The Boilermakers brought back who many assume will be the back-to-back national player of the year, center Zach Edey (24.4 ppg, 11.7 rpg), and they score over 83 points a game.

The other contenders to make the Elite Eight from the top half of the Midwest Region are 4-seed Kansas and 5-seed Gonzaga, though 8-seed Utah State (the Mountain West regular-season champions) could be a surprise upset pick.