National basketball writer explains why he didn’t have Gamecocks in his Top 25

Chapel Fowler
·3 min read

Ahead of Monday’s AP Top 25 poll release, one prominent men’s college basketball insider caught heat online for omitting South Carolina from his rankings.

But he promises to make it up to Gamecocks fans next week.

Seth Davis, a college basketball reporter and TV analyst for CBS Sports, posted his ballot for this week early Monday morning on the platform X (formerly Twitter) ahead of the poll’s afternoon release.

USC wasn’t ranked among Davis’ top 25 teams, and that omission came as a surprise to many fans on social media. Over the past two weeks, coach Lamont Paris’ squad has beaten two AP Top 10 teams — Kentucky at home and Tennessee on the road — and won five straight SEC games.

Davis’ original post had hundreds of replies from USC fans.

About seven hours after his initial post, Davis owned up to what he described as a “total turnover” and oversight on his part. He took the criticism in stride, writing in the post: “Awww man. Apologies to @GamecockMBB. Total turnover on my part not to rank them. Mea culpa! Will make it up to you next week I promise.”

Davis’ former employer, a national news website called The Messenger, went out of business last week. In response to a USC fan on X, the longtime college basketball reporter said that distraction played a role in his accidental snub.

USC is currently 19-3 and second in the SEC standings behind Alabama with a 7-2 conference record, a stunning turnaround for a team that was 11-21 (4-14 SEC) last season and picked to finish last out of 14 teams in the preseason media poll.

Last week, South Carolina was just outside the AP Top 25, finishing first among teams receiving votes (essentially No. 26). Out of 63 voters, 39 did not have the Gamecocks (who were 17-3 at that point) ranked in their ballots for Jan. 29.

After missing out on last week’s poll, South Carolina went on to upset No. 5 Tennessee on the road in Knoxville and beat Georgia by 10 points in Athens to move to 19-3.

In response to Davis omitting USC from his Monday ballot, many South Carolina fans pointed to a post on X he made after South Carolina upset Tennessee.

“HUGE win for the Gamecocks!” Davis wrote Jan. 30. “Only question next is where will they be ranked. Not if.”

South Carolina hasn’t appeared in the AP Top 25 in over six years. The Gamecocks’ last appearance came on Feb. 13, 2017, when they were No. 21. USC made a historic run to the Final Four that year as a No. 7 seed under coach Frank Martin before losing to Gonzaga in the national semifinals.

Next four USC basketball games

  • Feb. 6 vs. Ole Miss, 6:30 p.m. (SEC Network)

  • Feb. 10 vs. Vanderbilt, 1 p.m. (SEC Network)

  • Feb. 14 at Auburn, 8:30 p.m. (SEC Network)

  • Feb. 17 vs. LSU, 3:30 p.m. (SEC Network)