Gamecock MBB Still Not Ranked After 17-3 Start

South Carolina's men's basketball team is beginning to earn respect on a national level, but still remain unranked in the two major polls.

After defeating the Missouri Tigers this past Saturday, South Carolina men's basketball coach Lamont Paris went on a brief and impassioned two-minute speech about how his team has earned the right to be called one of the Top 25 teams in the country for what they had done to this point in the season. After defeating No. 6 Kentucky at home, and taking care of business against Missouri two days ago, national pundits still have some questions about the Gamecocks.

Despite getting off to a 17-3 start, and owning three Quad 1 victories (although that's mainly related to the NET Ranking), Carolina still finds themselves unranked in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll, receiving the most points from votes (108) out of unranked teams in the AP Poll and the third-most points from votes (46) out of unranked teams in the coaches poll.

Ta'Lon Cooper celebrating amongst the student body after the Gamecocks upset win over No. 6 Kentucky (23rd Jan., 2024) / Jeff Blake | USA Today Network

With this snub, you have to imagine that South Carolina will be extra motivated ahead of Tuesday night's showdown against the No. 5 Tennessee Volunteers.

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