South Carolina Gamecocks

Chris Webber’s job was done as an analyst on TBS’ telecast of the Gonzaga-Xavier game. He quickly resumed just being a college basketball fan.

Zach Collins was his usual productive self Saturday but he wasn’t on the floor long.

Gonzaga accomplished one huge goal Saturday and moved ever closer to its ultimate one.

Gonzaga and South Carolina will tip off at 3:09 p.m. on Saturday in the first of two national semifinals at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.

Fourth-seeded Florida and seventh-seeded South Carolina, two Southeastern Conference foes, will meet Sunday at Madison Square Garden with the winner advancing to the Final Four.

NEW YORK – Apparently South Carolina is getting the hang of winning NCAA Tournament games. The Gamecocks, who hadn’t won a tournament game since 1973, got their third this year. One more and it’s on to the Final Four.

South Carolina is making its first appearance in the regional semifinals since the bracket expanded after an 88-81 victory Sunday night over No. 2 seed Duke in the East Regional.

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney understands what it means to win against rival South Carolina, after all, it probably earned him his job in 2008. Swinney believes it did. He said beating South Carolina as the Tigers interim coach then helped him secure the fulltime job a day later. Now, the fourth-ranked Tigers are looking to stay on track for the College Football Playoff.