In reality, this was supposed to be a rebuilding year at Winthrop. The Eagles lost two professional prospects in Torrell Martin and Craig Bradshaw and a glue guy in Phillip Martin. Secondary threats like Taj McCullough and Mantoris Robinson would have to become go-to scorers. For the first time in memory, the Eagles were not the pick to win the Big South regular-season championship.

Some rebuilding year.

Under first-year coach Randy Peele, the Eagles won 22 games, beat two ACC opponents (Miami and Georgia Tech), tied for the conference regular-season title and won their fourth straight Big South tournament championship, knocking off UNC-Asheville at home in the final.

Though Winthrop lost some offensive weapons, the Eagles did return an all-conference backcourt combo in point guard Chris Gaynor and two guard Michael Jenkins. They provided enough offense, and the Eagles stifled opponents with their defense, setting a Big South record by holding foes to 58.2 points per game.

The one problem was consistently finding a source of offense, an issue that manifested itself in the second half of Winthrop's first-round NCAA tournament defeat against Washington State. The Eagles, who were tied 29-all at halftime, managed just 11 points in the second half as Washington State ran away for a 71-40 victory.

Even with the loss, Winthrop's four seniors were part of something special. Gaynor, Jenkins and McCullough won four championships (Antwon Harris, a transfer, won two) and were key players in the Eagles' lone NCAA tournament victory, an upset of Notre Dame in 2007.

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