COLUMBIA, S.C. -- South Carolina coach Frank Martin is excited to watch his Gamecocks try to build on their surprise run to the Final Four, even without many of the headliners who led them to the national semifinals.
Three of the starters from last year's team -- leading scorer Sindarius Thornwell, top defender Duane Notice and lanky playmaker P.J. Dozier -- are gone. Thornwell and Notice were seniors while Dozier, a sophomore, opted to go pro.
"Last year's success creates an unwritten, positive peer pressure within our locker room," Martin said Thursday. "And the ones who were in it last year and the ones who are in it this year, they kind of have that unwritten responsibility on each other.