Keeping It Heel
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NCAA Tournament: Ranking the Final Four coaches

By Brandon Griffin

Mar 26, 2017; Memphis, TN, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Roy Williams reacts in the second half against the Kentucky Wildcats during the finals of the South Regional of the 2017 NCAA Tournament at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 26, 2017; Memphis, TN, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Roy Williams reacts in the second half against the Kentucky Wildcats during the finals of the South Regional of the 2017 NCAA Tournament at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports /
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Mar 26, 2017; New York, NY, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Frank Martin reacts during the second half against the Florida Gators in the finals of the East Regional of the 2017 NCAA Tournament at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 26, 2017; New York, NY, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Frank Martin reacts during the second half against the Florida Gators in the finals of the East Regional of the 2017 NCAA Tournament at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports /

The Cinderfella Story

Born: March 23rd, 1966 in Miami, Florida

College: Graduated from Florida International in 1993 with a degree in Physical Education

Coaching Record: 213-125 in 10 seasons.

Coaching Career: Martin started coaching as an assistant head coach at Miami High School in 1985. In 1993 he became the head coach at North Miami High School. Two years later, he because the head coach at Miami High School.

In 1999 he took over as the head coach at Booker T Washington High School in Miami, Florida. He coached there for one season before moving to the college ranks.

Martin then spent four seasons as an assistant head coach at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. After that, he joined on with Bob Huggins at Cincinnati in 2004. He then followed Huggins to Kansas State in 2006.

Huggins only stayed with the Wildcats for one season and instead of leaving with Huggins, Martin took over as head coach at Kansas State. He coached there for five years before taking the South Carolina job in 2012, and he has been there ever since.

Coaching Honors: In his 10 seasons as a college head coach, Martin has had seven 20-win seasons and made the NCAA tournament five times. He has been named Conference Coach of the Year and District Coach of the Year and won an NCAA Regional Championship.

Strength: Defensive Scoring. In the past five seasons, South Carolina has ranked 115th in points allowed nationally. That number is really weighed down by his first season when the team ranked 224th overall.

In the past three seasons, they rank 65th in points allowed and this season they are 27th. In the four NCAA Tournament games, they have allowed 68 points per game (of the remaining teams, only Gonzaga has allowed fewer). They are the most dangerous defensive team left in the tournament.

Weakness: Offensive Scoring. The Gamecocks have needed strong defenses as their offenses have not been nearly as good. In the past five seasons, South Carolina has averaged 198th in points scored.

They have never broken the top 100 teams in those five seasons and three times have not broken the top 200. The good news for them is that they seem to have found it in the tournament, where they are averaging nearly nine more points per game than in the regular season.

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