SEC Hoops Power Poll Ballot: February 7-13
by Gamecock Man on Feb 8, 2010 1:20 PM EST
in Basketball
0 comments
Playing extremely well since losing to South Carolina.
The Commodores have struggled a bit as of late but still appear to be the conference's second best team.
The Vols dominated in their tilt against South Carolina.
The Gators seem to finally be coming around to playing good ball.
Playing decent ball right now, but the gap between best in the West and fourth in the East seems pretty wide right now.
Also struggling to play well against Eastern Division teams.
The conference's biggest surprise is now the Hogs, who are making a late push to the Western Division title and a berth in the NCAA tournament.
The Gamecocks blew a good chance to get on the bubble when they were clobbered by the Vols.
The Tide aren't a terrible team, but there's simply not enough there to mount a tournament run.
10. Georgia Bulldogs
The Dawgs pulled off an improbable blowout victory over Vanderbilt. They appear to be much better at home than away.
11. Auburn Tigers
The Tigers don't appear to be about to pull off another job-saving run for embattled coach Jeff Lebo, who will probably be gone at the end of the year.
12. LSU Tigers
Just terrible right now.
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Valerie Nainima scored 21 points to lead South Carolina to a 52-42 win over No. 14 Georgia on Sunday.
It may have been a tough week for Gamecock fans, but at least we ended it on a solid note. UGA is no joke, and I'm glad Coach Staley's hard work is paying off!
South Carolina at Tennessee: A Quick Recap
by Gamecock Man on Feb 7, 2010 4:30 PM EST
in Basketball
2 comments
Well, that sucked. In a golden opportunity to get on the right side of the bubble, the Gamecocks whiffed big time, losing 79-53 to the Vols in a game that wasn't close for most of the night. Devan Downey led the Gamecocks with 26 points, but with that coming on 5-20 shooting on the rest of the team only scoring 27, it wasn't enough. UT's Wayne Chism led all scorers with 30 in a spectacular performance.
A few thoughts on the game:
- While our performance last night was deplorable, it's worth noting that the Vols are simply a bad matchup for us. We don't have the horses right now to combat their athleticism. That doesn't mean we can't win games against them--see what we did against Kentucky--but it does mean that it will always be a tough haul until Darrin Horn gets some better athletes in Columbia, particularly in the post.
- The Vols limited Downey's effectiveness with man-to-man double teams and smart help defense down low when Downey got into the lane. Credit goes to Vols coach Bruce Pearl for devising an effective gameplan with which to slow Downey down. However, this often left shooters open, but we shot the ball very poorly, which is what cost us a chance to stay in the game. Brandis Raley-Ross, Stephen Spinella, Ramon Galloway, and Evaldas Baniulus have to make more of those open shots if we're going to have a chance to win ball games against teams as good as Tennessee.
That's a wrap on this one. I'm off to watch the Saints win the Super Bowl and would prefer just to forget about last night's abomination. If you're interested, check out SB Nation.com's Super Bowl open thread.
2 comments | 0 recs |
South Carolina at Tennessee Preview Capsule and Gameday Open Thread
by Gamecock Man on Feb 5, 2010 6:13 PM EST
in Basketball
16 comments
Tennessee Volunteers Preview Capsule
SB Nation Community: Rocky Top Talk
Record: 17-4 (5-2)
Season Thus Far: Tennessee started strong, streaking through the non-con with only two losses. Then, disaster struck when four players--including now-dismissed star Tyler Smith--were suspended after legal struggles. The Vols, though, seemingly improved for a few weeks after that incident, even managing to upset the top-ranked Kansas Jayhawks in their final non-con game. Lately, though, UT has come back down to earth. Although each of the suspended players other than Smith are now back, UT has struggled in its last four games. It has gone 2-2, with a blowout to UGA--the Dawgs only SEC win--and Vandy and narrow victories over seemingly inferior Florida and LSU teams.
Team Strengths: Scoring Offense, Scoring Defense, FG%, FG% Defense, 3FG Defense, Turnover Margin
Team Weaknesses: 3FG%, FT%
What to Expect: The Vols have very respectable statistical metrics, as the above suggests. However, the question with this team is which UT shows up. Do we get the team that took out Kansas, or do we get the team that almost lost to hapless LSU? If the former, we can expect the Vols to do all sorts of things to give us trouble. Even without Smith, UT is still a fairly balanced team. Wayne Chism is a big man that can beat you in a variety of ways, and Scotty Hopson is quickly becoming one the league's better wing men. Both will present matchup problems for us, particularly Hopson, who has a unique combination of size, accuracy, and penetration ability that will make it difficult for us to contain him. Lakeem Jackson will likely get the unenviable task of guarding Hopson, and it will be a gut-check assignment for the freshman Gamecock. Defensively, UT is, even during the recent slide, very good, disciplined, and a tough matchup for us.
Of course, we could also see the recent version of UT, which has struggled to maintain its offensive identity, as 59- and 61-point games against questionable Florida and LSU defenses suggest. I think the key to prompting a reappearance of that UT will be to get Hopson off his game. Barring another block party, Chism will get his points against our typically soft interior defense. If Hopson also gets plenty of open shots and is able to drive into the lane a lot, it could open everything up for UT, at which point they'll leave us in the dust.
Prediction: As the above suggests, this one is tough to call. I think you are going to see Tennessee continue to struggle a bit; they won't be bad, but you get the impression at this point in the year that the victory over Kansas was a flash in the pan from an inspired team. However, they're still going to be tough on the road. We really need someone in addition to Devan Downey to step up in this game, and against a stiff UT defense in Knoxville, I'm not sure how confident I am in that happening. I'm going with a 2-4 point Vols victory.
What It Means: I don't think this is a must-win game. The Vols visit to Columbia probably is, but we can afford to lose a couple of road games to teams of Tennessee's caliber. That said, a win here would be huge and would put us firmly on the bubble, perhaps on the right side even.
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SEC Hoops Power Poll Roundtable
by Gamecock Man on Feb 4, 2010 10:11 PM EST
in Basketball
1 comment
We, your esteemed voters on the SEC Hoops Power Poll, have elected to conduct a roundtable. Here are the rules: I post questions and answers, and you answer in the comments section. Other blogs that participate in the poll will post their answers at their sites and link in the comments. I'll compile a roundup in a week or two.
1. The SEC was very weak last year. Most predicted that it would rebound this year. Has that happened? Why or why not?
Yes and no. The conference is definitely stronger than last year. We got some notable out-of-conference victories and project to place more teams in the NCAAs. At the same time, the conference still seems to be a little bit down, particularly the Western Division, where the Auburn Tigers, the LSU Tigers, and, to a lesser degree, the Alabama Crimson Tide are all struggling quite mightily. The Georgia Bulldogs are also having a lot of trouble this year; competitive or not, they're losing a lot of games. Moreover, outside of the Kentucky Wildcats, the conference doesn't appear to have any teams that exactly inspire confidence in a deep tournament run. All in all, the conference is better than last year, but still far from the Big East.
2. The national buzz on the conference is definitely focused on Kentucky, who have lived up to their preseason billing as the conference's best team and a national contender. Do the 'Cats have what it takes to win a national title? Why or why not?
I think so. The 'Cats certainly have as much talent as any team in the country. Their only enemy, as many have noted, is themselves. They've played lackadaisically at times, and perhaps more worrisome, they wilted down the stretch when challenged by the South Carolina Gamecocks. The team seems to lack the mental toughness to match its incredible talent. However, the 'Cats are seemingly unbeatable when playing their best, and if they can transcend whatever it is that has held them back at time, they can make a very deep tournament run. They've got time to learn the lessons they need to learn, and I think you'll see a very good team come tourney time.
3. In addition to Kentucky, which other teams will make the NCAAs? Will we see any surprises here, i. e., will anyone--barring an SECT surprise--other than Kentucky, the Tennessee Volunteers, the Vanderbilt Commodores, the Florida Gators, the Mississippi Rebels, and the Mississippi St. Bulldogs make it?
In addition to Kentucky, I think the Vols and Commodores are definitely going to make it. I also think the two Mississippi teams will probably make it, although there's a bit more uncertainty there, especially with both teams dropping a game to the Arkansas Razorbacks. Late-season struggles could keep either of those two out. The Gators are even more of a wildcard to me; they just don't seem to be playing at the level you would expect from such a talented team, and with a tough SEC East schedule to wade through, they're probably still facing several losses. I think the Gators will be right on the bubble on selection Sunday and can see it going either way. The only other team I think has a chance is South Carolina, and that's an unqualified longshot. The Gamecocks have played well lately, but they didn't do much in the non-con and you have to wonder how many more big games Devan Downey can manage to win for the 'Cocks. Arkansas has also heated up lately, but they were awful in the non-con and probably aren't good enough to pick up many wins outside the West.
4. What is the biggest surprise so far this season? Why?
You could make an argument for South Carolina's competitiveness, but I would probably go with Arkansas's play over the past couple of weeks. This is a team that struggled in the non-con and was compltely dismantled by Kentucky. The Hogs have bounced back, though, and are in position to win the West if they continue to play well down the stretch. That was almost unthinkable at one point in the season, when Arky looked like the conference's worst team by far.
5. Who is the player of the year so far? Why?
I may sound like a homer here, but my vote goes to Devan Downey. Although it's a bit of a longshot, Downey oftentimes scores around or more than half of his team's points. He leads the league in scoring and is in the nation's top five. He has done all this while being the clear focus of opponent's defensive strategies. That makes him at the very least the league's most valuable player. If South Carolina makes the NCAA tournament, which, while a longshot, is possible now, I think Downey absolutely deserves SEC Player of the Year and serious consideration for All-American teams.
1 comment | 0 recs |
South Carolina National Signing Day Wrapup
by Gamecock Man on Feb 3, 2010 7:25 PM EST
in Football
4 comments
Follow national signing day news at SB Nation.com.
Signing Day is over the Gamecocks. We're ranked 25th at Rivals.com, 34th at Scout.com, and 18th at ESPN. We landed our first five-star recruit since 2007. We filled some key needs on the offensive and defensive lines. We lost out on some guys that we thought we had a good shot at, particularly Eric Mack, John Fulton, Justin Parker, and Sean Tapley. At the end of the day, Steve Spurrier and Shane Beamer seem pleased with their work.
So, how did we do?
As usual, it's difficult to rate a recruiting class until you've seen the guys on the field. Plenty of three-star talent--which we picked up quite a bit of this year--turns out to be better than four-star talent. Eric Norwood and Sidney Rice are witnesses to this fact. Moreover, the services are notoriously unreliable, often jacking up the rankings of unsigned players to build hype and tending to award higher rankings to the players that are signed with name-brand schools.
At the same time, outside a few programs that seem to be perennially good despite not recruiting many blue-chippers, there's a pretty strong correlation between having great recruiting classes every year and competing for titles. The teams that have won SEC titles this decade are the Alabama Crimson Tide, the Auburn Tigers, the Florida Gators, the Georgia Bulldogs, and the LSU Tigers. The latter three--each of which has multiple titles--are in the top 10 in recruiting every year, and the former two had been when they won their titles. The Arkansas Razorbacks are the only team that has played in the title game lately who don't always recruit extremely well, and even they had a slate of mega-talents when they went. All this suggests that you have to do well very consistently on signing day to get to the highest peaks of the college football world.
With that in mind, I'm a little ambivalent about this class. I like the players we got and share Spurrier and Beamer's optimism. However, if our goal is to win SEC titles, we didn't reel in the kind of class that you need to make it happen. Sure, we got plenty of great players, many of whom could have played anywhere they wanted to. We didn't get as many of them, though, as the Gators, Tigers (both LSU and Auburn), Tide, Dawgs, and Vols did. That's not good. It doesn't matter if we continued to widen the gap between outselves and Vandy and UK. We're past the point of needing to establish our superiority to those programs and at the point of needing to place ourselves more consistently with the heavyweights. I'm not sure we did that this time around.
If you look at our recruiting rankings over the years, an obvious pattern begins to reveal itself. Let's go back to 2007. According to Rivals.com, we raked in the sixth best class in the country that year. Then, in 2008, we fell off a bit, finishing 22nd. In 2009, we turned in a very nice class, finishing 12th. Then, this year we finish 25th. See what's happening? We're not stacking monster classes, but rather getting them every other year. That's not the case for the conference's powers, and we shouldn't be too surprised when we see the results on the field, particularly late in the season when depth becomes an issue.
What are we to do? Well, Spurrier seemed to have the idea in his press conference when he pointed out that we need to finish better. To get the big recruits, you have to prove that when they come here, they're going to be winners. Now, I think it's a little unreasonable at this point to expect our team to dominate the conference. We need to get the right players in here to do that. However, the Florida and Alabama games haven't been the only losses over the last few years. We've had inexcusable perfromances against teams like Vandy, Arkansas, UConn, and, yes, Clemson that we should have won. Win more of those, and we finish ranked the last three years. That would perhaps give us the argument we need to bring in the players in that we need to get to the very top.
If it sounds like I'm a little unhappy with this class, I should say that I'm not. We got some great players, filled some needs, and should be in position to compete over the next few years. We're not, though, quite where we want to be yet.
4 comments | 0 recs |
Inside the Box Weighs in on the "SC" Debate
by The Feathered Warrior on Feb 3, 2010 4:46 PM EST
7 comments
Marlowe Leverette, creator of The Daily Gamecock cartoon, Inside the Box
This pretty much sums up my feelings on the situation entirely. See more of Inside the Box here.
7 comments | 0 recs |
South Carolina National Signing Day Open Thread
by Gamecock Man on Feb 3, 2010 8:50 AM EST
in Football
21 comments
This is an open thread to discuss national signing day. A few things to keep in mind:
- Sean Tapley is possibly going to decommit and sign with the North Carolina Tarheels. I hope we can keep the speedy Tapley, but we probably should have seen this coming after we picked up Ace Sanders's commitment. Other than Tapley, it sounds like we're probably going to keep this class together.
- Justin Parker is set to announce later today. Most signs seem to indicate Clemson at this point, but it's never over till it's over.
- The rumor that we're going to get a surprise commit is still going strong. These rumors happen yearly, so take it with a grain of salt. This one seems to have picked up a good bit of steam, though, so it's worth keeping your hopes up for. Word is that it's a committed player from another SEC school who fills a need but is not a national name.
21 comments | 0 recs |
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Gamecocks Football Schedule
@
N.C. State
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Thu 09/03 | W 7 - 3 |
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@
Georgia
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Sat 09/12 | L 37 - 41 |
| Florida Atlantic | Sat 09/19 | W 38 - 16 |
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Mississippi
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Thu 09/24 | W 16 - 10 |
| S. Carolina St. | Sat 10/03 | W 38 - 14 |
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Kentucky
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Sat 10/10 | W 28 - 26 |
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@
Alabama
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Sat 10/17 | L 6 - 20 |
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Vanderbilt
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Sat 10/24 | W 14 - 10 |
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@
Tennessee
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Sat 10/31 | L 13 - 31 |
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@
Arkansas
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Sat 11/07 | L 16 - 33 |
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Florida
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Sat 11/14 | L 14 - 24 |
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Clemson
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Sat 11/28 | W 34 - 17 |
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@
Connecticut
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Sat 01/02 | L 7 - 20 |
Southeastern Conference Standings
(updated 1.8.2010 at 2:57 AM EST)
| East | Conf | Overall | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | W | L | |
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Florida Gators
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8 | 0 | 13 | 1 |
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Georgia Bulldogs
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4 | 4 | 8 | 5 |
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Tennessee Volunteers
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4 | 4 | 7 | 6 |
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Kentucky Wildcats
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3 | 5 | 7 | 6 |
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South Carolina Gamecocks
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3 | 5 | 7 | 6 |
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Vanderbilt Commodores
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0 | 8 | 2 | 10 |
| West | Conf | Overall | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | W | L | |
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Alabama Crimson Tide
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8 | 0 | 14 | 0 |
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LSU Tigers
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5 | 3 | 9 | 4 |
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Mississippi Rebels
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4 | 4 | 9 | 4 |
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Arkansas Razorbacks
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3 | 5 | 8 | 5 |
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Auburn Tigers
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3 | 5 | 8 | 5 |
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Mississippi St. Bulldogs
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3 | 5 | 5 | 7 |
Gamecocks Basketball Schedule
Next 5 Games
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Florida
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Wed 02/10 | 8:00 PM EST |
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@
Georgia
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Sat 02/13 | 4:00 PM EST |
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@
Arkansas
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Wed 02/17 | 9:00 PM EST |
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Tennessee
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Sat 02/20 | 1:30 PM EST |
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@
Kentucky
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Thu 02/25 | 9:00 PM EST |
Last 5 Games
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@
Tennessee
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Sat 02/06 | L 53 - 79 |
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Georgia
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Sat 01/30 | W 78 - 77 |
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Kentucky
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Tue 01/26 | W 68 - 62 |
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@
Florida
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Sat 01/23 | L 56 - 58 |
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Mississippi
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Wed 01/20 | L 57 - 66 |
Southeastern Conference Standings
(updated 2.7.2010 at 2:21 AM EST)
| East | Conf | Overall | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | W | L | |
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Kentucky Wildcats
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7 | 1 | 22 | 1 |
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Tennessee Volunteers
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6 | 2 | 18 | 4 |
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Vanderbilt Commodores
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6 | 2 | 17 | 5 |
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Florida Gators
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6 | 3 | 17 | 6 |
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South Carolina Gamecocks
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4 | 4 | 13 | 9 |
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Georgia Bulldogs
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2 | 6 | 10 | 11 |
| West | Conf | Overall | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | W | L | |
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Arkansas Razorbacks
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5 | 3 | 12 | 11 |
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Mississippi Rebels
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5 | 4 | 17 | 6 |
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Mississippi St. Bulldogs
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4 | 4 | 16 | 7 |
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Alabama Crimson Tide
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3 | 6 | 13 | 10 |
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Auburn Tigers
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2 | 6 | 11 | 12 |
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LSU Tigers
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0 | 9 | 9 | 14 |
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