March Madness 2017: South Carolina shocks Duke

The Kentucky Wildcats’ 19-2 run through the SEC looks a lot more impressive after the first weekend of NCAAS Tournament play.

The Wildcats claimed the regular-season and SEC Tournament championship, but weren’t given much credit for doing so due to the league being ‘down’ compared to other conferences, especially the ACC.

But after that mighty league got a whopping nine teams into the big dance, only one is left entering the Sweet 16, and Duke isn’t one of them. They fell to 7th-seeded South Carolina in the Round of 32 after the Gamecocks dominated the second half en route to an 88-81 win.

Yes, the same Gamecocks that looked dead in the water over the final weeks of the regular season took down the mighty ACC Tournament champs, not to mention one of the NCAA title favorites.

This was what South Carolina did over their final nine games heading into the Big Dance:

But that team just took out Duke to give the SEC three teams in the Sweet 16. The Gamecocks also just prevented Duke from getting one of the easier paths to the Final Four imaginable.

And with this coming in the East Region, it’s possible Florida, if they beat Wisconsin, could face South Carolina in the Elite Eight if the Gamecocks beat Baylor.