COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — There will be no madness this March in South Carolina.

For the first time since 1995, none of the state's 12 Division I schools eligible for the men's NCAA tournament will hear their names called on Sunday.

Clemson and South Carolina were the state's last hopes, but each fell in their conference tournament openers — the Tigers to Virginia Tech in the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Gamecocks to Alabama in the Southeastern Conference.

Just two years ago, the state had three NCAA tournament teams in Clemson, Winthrop and Wofford. This year, though, Wofford coach Mike Young says he'll likely find something else to do when invitations to the Big Dance are announced Sunday evening.

"I might find a reason," Young says, "to get off the couch and take my dog for a long walk."

Plenty of basketball coaches, players and fans know the feeling.

South Carolina has made a number of NCAA tournament splashes — not all of them positive — the past two decades. Coach John Kresse and the College of Charleston were the poster children for little-guy success when they went to four NCAA tournaments in six years during the mid-to-late 1990s.

Clemson and coach Rick Barnes made headlines, too, twice advancing to the NCAAs despite going 7-9 during ACC play. More recently, the Tigers set a school record with five straight NCAA tournament bids from 2007-2011, a streak that died this year with Thursday night's 68-63 loss to the Hokies.

"Our seniors, really, are not doing well right now," Brownell said after the loss. "They're used to going to the postseason, going to the big tournament."

Winthrop and Wofford picked up College of Charleston's mantle in recent seasons. The Eagles reached nine NCAA tournaments between 1999-2010 as Big South Conference champions. The Terriers won the Southern Conference in 2010 and 2011, and television cameras were on the campus to show player reactions when their name was placed in the brackets.

Wofford's athletic director and Young's predecessor as coach, Richard Johnson, said college basketball fans around the state should applaud the long streak of success, not worry too much about this year's absences.

"That's a heck of a streak we had going there," Johnson said.

South Carolina ranks 24th nationally among U.S. states with more than 4.6 million people. That's far smaller than states like California, Texas, New York and North Carolina which regularly pack the NCAA tournament with title contenders.

South Carolina colleges have to recruit out of state to find talented players, said former Gamecocks coach Eddie Fogler.

"There's not enough here and many times they don't stay here," said Fogler, who led South Carolina to NCAA tournaments in 1997 and 1998.

Fogler was able to land local standouts like BJ McKie and Rolando Howell, who fueled winning seasons for the Gamecocks. This year's top prep player in South Carolina, Brice Johnson of Edisto High, signed to play with ACC power North Carolina.

Wofford's core group of players who won the school's first two Southern Conference crowns — Noah Dahlman, Cameron Rundles and Jamar Diggs — were all from Minnesota.

The runs of Winthrop and Wofford in recent years have all Palmetto State schools focused on the NCAA and the exposure that comes with it. In the past decade, schools like USC Upstate in Spartanburg and Presbyterian in Clinton have taken their athletic programs to Division I status for the chance to get in the field of 68.

Conferences have grown in size, too. The Southern Conference is a 12-team league while the Big South is also growing to 12 teams with the addition of Longwood next season.

"It's harder for those schools to get to the NCAA," Fogler said.

Not that they won't stop trying. Winthrop fired coach Randy Peele after five seasons and two NCAA tournament appearances, the last coming in 2010.

, "I guess getting the dance 40 percent of the time wasn't good enough. I wasn't expecting this," Peele told The Associated Press in a text message this week.

Wofford's Young says that's the reality of Division I basketball these days. Fan groups everywhere want a taste of the NCAA tournament, especially if they've had it before. A run like Winthrop's nine NCAA trips in 12 years may be a thing of past, Young said. Still, Wofford's inclusion has brought exposure and the interest of prospects who might not have considered the Terriers in the past, he said.

"I hope like crazy we're back in this thing, and sooner rather than later," Young said.