I have a few questions for our Gamecock Boneyard brothers and sisters.
To set the table, I went to the NCAA regional in Greenville two years ago and to last year's FF in Tampa, and watched the Gamecocks throughout their pregame warm-up rituals for all four games. In each instance when the pregame drills were winding down, the Gamecock players slowly exited the court in small groups of 2-3 players, spaced out in about 15-20 second intervals. This seemingly was done on purpose, giving the players the opportunity to wave to their fans and for the fans to cheer and applaud back at them as they strolled off the court. Every South Carolina participated in this.
South Carolina was the only team to act in this manner. The other seven teams in Greenville, and the three in Tampa, all exited the court together each time, jogging off the court as a single squad.
My first question is: do the Gamecocks do this for every home game or just games played at neutral sites? It must be pretty amazing for a SC recruit and their families to watch 18,000 fans cheer for the players over the course of several minutes, and no doubt could be a selling point to some. I can imagine a Gamecock coach or recruiting coordinator telling a SC prospect: you will not get this kind of adulation anywhere else on the planet.
My second question is similar to the first: do the Gamecocks do this for away games? I don't recall South Carolina doing this when visiting UConn in 2017 and 2019 (the last time I saw them in-person in Connecticut). And even though the Gamecock Nation travels very well, I imagine the players would face a more tepid response in a hostile environment - say at LSU or at Tennessee.
Is there a back story behind this ritual? Any insight would be appreciated!