DESTIN, Fla. — When South Carolina men's basketball coach Frank Martin walked into a Southeastern Conference meeting room earlier this week, his colleagues gave him a standing ovation.
Well-deserved recognition for leading the Gamecocks to the Final Four.
His counterpart in Columbia, women's coach Dawn Staley, was presented a cake for winning the program's first national championship.
The league probably should have had balloons, streamers and confetti, too. The SEC celebrated its recent hoops accomplishments at the league's annual spring meetings. And rightfully so. After all, it was a banner year — literally — for the mostly football-first league.