College Basketball / Robyn Norwood : It Has Been Awhile, but Gamecocks Back

George Felton brought the Bronx accent back to South Carolina basketball when he became the Gamecock coach in 1986.

Now, with upsets of Tennessee and Ohio State in the last week, he has brought South Carolina back to the top 20, a place it hasn’t been since 1975, when Frank McGuire was the coach and Felton was a Gamecock bench warmer.

South Carolina fought back from a 14-point deficit to beat Tennessee, then ranked 16th, in overtime, 83-81, at Knoxville Saturday. Monday, the unbeaten Gamecocks were rewarded with a No. 18 ranking in the Associated Press poll. Tuesday, they made a case for an even higher rating, defeating No. 12 Ohio State, 74-68.

In South Carolina, it has brought to mind the days of the late 1960s and early 70s, when McGuire kept the Gamecocks near the top of the polls with players he brought South from New York. The underground railroad in reverse, they called it, and it brought such players as John Roche and Tom Owens to South Carolina, then a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

“That’s what people remember,” Felton said Thursday, sitting in his office, which has a portrait on the wall of McGuire, who recruited him from All Hallows Institute in the Bronx. “All the compliments this week have been, ‘It’s back to the way it was.’ . . . I guess people have a fondness for the Bronx, and a feeling that I’m one of Coach McGuire’s boys. There’s a special feeling about that.”

The Gamecocks went 21-7 in 1968-69 but lost in the semifinals of the ACC tournament, which in those days determined the sole representative to the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament. In 1969-70, they were 25-3. This time they lost in the ACC final, to a North Carolina State team that slowed the ball down and won, 35-32, in double overtime.

Only somewhat coincidentally, South Carolina withdrew from the ACC in 1971, a blunder of such magnitude that some South Carolinians still call it the state’s biggest mistake since seceding from the Union in 1860.

South Carolina had a few more good teams under McGuire as an independent, but after 1974 he never won 20 games again. McGuire, the coach who had built the North Carolina program before moving to South Carolina, was pushed out after a 16-11 season in 1980. Bill Foster took over and had moderate success. He was fired after a 12-16 season and a player ticket-selling scandal.

Felton, then a 33-year-old assistant at Georgia Tech under another former Gamecock, Bobby Cremins, was hired.

His first team was 15-14. His second was 19-10 but ineligible for postseason play because of NCAA sanctions over the ticket scandal and other violations under Foster.

Now there’s this season’s team, led by sophomore guard Brent Price, the brother of Cleveland Cavaliers guard Mark Price, whom Felton coached at Georgia Tech. Among the other leaders are senior forwards Terry Dozier and John Hudson, and sophomore guard Barry Manning.

Felton’s Gamecocks will be tested again, by LaSalle in next week’s Cotton States tournament.

By season’s end, they should be in position to make their first appearance in the NCAA tournament since 1974. Their chances will be enhanced by the situation with the Metro Conference tournament. Not only are the Gamecocks the host school, but only five teams will participate. Virginia Tech and Cincinnati have been banned from the tournament by the 7-team league because they are on NCAA probation.

In the meantime, Felton has brought success to an athletic program that has repeatedly been involved in scandals in the last 10 years, most recently concerning steroid use among football players. One measure of the level of turmoil at the school is that King Dixon is the fourth athletic director in the last 9 months.

“It’s been unfortunate,” Felton said. “But we’ve had our share of troubles in the basketball program too. We certainly did when I came in, and we were put on probation. But we have to keep working, and good things will happen. My whole life has been like that, working hard. I never really had anything that was given to me.”

Recruiting is one thing at which he is working hard, and he will have to. His program is in ACC territory, and the best players won’t come easily.

But for now, at least, he has South Carolina back in the top 20, recalling the days of McGuire and one of his greatest players, Alex English.

McGuire, who for a time was something of a pariah, even though the basketball court is named for him, is again involved in the program. He comes to practices and was at the Tennessee game.

And Felton, his old bench warmer, keeps working, a Bronx accent among the drawls.

The Wolverine tour of Michigan is over, with predictable results. Among No. 2 Michigan’s games against Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan and Northern Michigan, none was closer than 23 points, the score of the Wolverines’ victory over Eastern Michigan.

The largest margin of victory was 50 points, 125-75 over Northern Michigan.

There was an uncomfortable reunion between Georgetown Coach John Thompson and Olympic team member Bimbo Coles Tuesday.

Coles’ Virginia Tech team played Georgetown at the Capital Centre at Landover, Md., Tuesday night.

But Coles appeared on the court in street clothes after having missed curfew the night before. It made for an awkward moment with Thompson, the Olympic coach and renowned disciplinarian.

When they met on the court, Coles extended his hand to Thompson, who hesitated, took it, and patted Coles on the back.

After the game, they walked off the court together, Thompson presumably offering fatherly advice.

Thompson was asked later what he told Coles.

“Thanks for the Christmas present,” Thompson said.

Georgetown had won, 87-57.