BREAKING: At Long Last, The Gamecocks Are Ranked!

Basketball pundits and analysts could no longer ignore what South Carolina's men's basketball team is doing, as evidenced by the two major polls.

Almost everyone in Columbia thought South Carolina's men's basketball team would been ranked last week after the Gamecocks thoroughly dismantled the No. 6 Kentucky Wildcats and grinded out a win over a pesky Missouri Tigers squad. However, the voters of the Associated Press Top 25 and USA Today Coaches Polls were still, albeit by slim margins, not convinced that Lamont Paris' team was one of the best teams in men's college basketball.

So, the Gamecocks proceeded to do what Michael Jordan did in the NBA throughout the 90s' with the Chicago Bulls and 'took it personally.' South Carolina took out their internal frustration and anger on the No. 5 Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville and then got some payback on the team who, to this point, is the last team that has handed the Gamecocks a loss: the Georgia Bulldogs.

After winning back-to-back road games this past week, the pollsters finally reached a point where they could no longer question Carolina, as on Monday afternoon, Paris' team came in at No. 15 and No. 20 in the AP Top 25 and USA Today Coaches polls, respectively. It's the first time since April 4th, 2017, 2,498 days to be exact, that the Gamecocks have appeared in one of the two major polls.

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