BIRMINGHAM — The South Carolina Gamecocks are headed to yet another Final Four, and when they get there, you can be sure of two things. One is that they will have problems to fix. The other is that they will immediately try to fix them. This is a dominant program but not a dominant team, and once you accept that, you can appreciate what they just accomplished.
We cannot say South Carolina’s Elite Eight win over the Duke Blue Devils was harder than it looked, because it looked pretty damn hard. But it was harder than the typical South Carolina pre–Final Four tournament game. South Carolina trailed Duke by four points after three quarters Sunday and won, 54–50. The Gamecocks traveled and charged and missed some shots they should have made, but they still beat the No. 2 seed Blue Devils, just as they had some ugly moments and still beat the Maryland Terrapins in the Sweet 16, and got caught in a mudfight and still beat the Indiana Hoosiers in the second round.
