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I would say that since South Carolina has a 17 pt win over Kentucky at home, and just beat Tennessee in Knoxville last week, they're pretty damn good.

South Carolina is one of those teams where their record is much better than the analytical numbers say it should be. They are 19-3. Yet they are only ranked 38 in NET and 44th on KenPom. And those numbers have their two big wins over Kentucky and Tennessee baked in.

To put the numbers in a bit of perspective, they are only ranked one spot ahead of Florida and three spots ahead of Wade Forest in NET. In KenPom they are ranked behind Mississippi St, and well behind teams like Florida and Wake Forest.

Their non-conf. schedule was pretty bad, and they lost to the only top 40 team they played (@ Clemson). In the SEC they've had a relatively favorable schedule. They've played two games against last place Missouri. Their road games have been @ Missouri, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia. Alabama blasted them by nearly 30.

Give them credit though, they have won on the road and the win @ Tennessee is maybe the best win in the SEC of the season to date (only home loss this year for Tennessee). They thumped an up and down Kentucky team. The somewhat favorable schedule continues this week as they get Ole Miss and Vandy at home. After that, it gets tougher

If the Tournament stated today they would probably be a 7 or 8 seed. LSU will be an underdog there. Probably a 8, 9, 10 point dog. But USC (right now) is one of those teams that feels a little like fool's gold. You can't ignore the record. But the predictive data suggest the record is a bit of a misnomer