A few weeks ago, the word was that Eric Hyman's budget is tied and that we wouldn't be in the position to pay Darrin Horn's buyout and bring in a new coach with good qualifications. At that point, I would have told you that I thought Horn would get one more year regardless of how bad the season end up. Now, it seems I may have underestimated just how bad the season could get. The 'Cocks now sit at 9-15 overall and 1-9 in the conference. The season has quickly become the worst in recent memory for Carolina, and that's saying something considering our lack of success on the hardwood. There are some good opportunities for wins down the stretch, but it's also very possible that we may only win one or two more games--or worse. To make matters worse, attendance has hit an all-time low. The Kentucky game in Columbia was a disaster, but really, the disaster wasn't so much what happened on the court, although that was certainly bad. What was worst was that the Big Blue Nation turned the Colonial Life Arena into Mini-Rupp. When you can't get the fans to come see a game against the best team in the nation, you've got major problems. And that's likely what's most on Hyman's mind right now: the bottom line. Sure, Horn's buyout and the money tied up in facilities upgrades are financially daunting. Are they as daunting, though, as the prospect of another year with the CLA at minimum capacity? My guess is probably not.

Still, though, there are reasons why it would be in Hyman's best interest to keep Horn. The thing is that Horn is going to have to do his part and figure out a way to get his team to win some games down the stretch and thus to inject some life into this moribund program. The Gamecocks have six regular-season games left: a home-away with UGA, a home with LSU, an away with Vandy, and homes with Tennessee and Mississippi St. Then, of course, they have the SEC Tournament. As said, considering how we've played lately, none of these games are gimmes. Even UGA is playing well lately. However, at the same time, I do think the possibility is there for the Gamecocks to string together a few wins.Truth be told, the first half of our season was much tougher than what we have coming up: two games apiece against UF and UK, road games against some other tough teams, no UGA, etc. The next few games provide some of our most ample opportunities for wins. At Vandy is probably a no-go, but other than that, I don't see any games that we'll be completely overmatched in, at least not until we play (if we do) a really tough team in the SECT. If Carolina wins some of these games, that should help Horn's prospects. And needless to say, a deep run in the SECT would help quite a bit, although I somewhat doubt our ability to get out of the second round or so, considering the unlikelihood of us beating a good team on a neutral court.

The question, though, is whether a winning streak would revitalize a fan base that might already have completely lost faith in Horn. Without some indication that ticket sales will improve next year, Hyman may not have much of a choice with Horn. Therefore, it seems a propos to put the question to you, dear reader: What do you need to see to get back into Carolina men's basketball? Why?

TDF - Like some junkie Cosmonaut.

Gamecock Baseball

Gene Sapakoff: Locating the start of the USC dynasty.

Post & Courier: Glory days for Gamecocks and Two-Minute Drill with South Carolina's Adam Matthews.

Gamecock Central: Scrimmage observations, Vol. 8 and Photos: Scrimmage No. 8.

Gamecock Football

Instant Radio Rivals: For Spurrier And The Gamecocks, 2012 Could Be An Historic Season.

Gamecock Central: Hyman defends new compliance head. Well, Ohio State did get off pretty light. Maybe Chris Rogers can work his magic a second time.

Gamecock Basketball

Gamecock Central: Arkansas beats USC and SEC Tournament Watch. Also - Horn explains call-in absence. Apparently, he missed back-to-back appearances on his "Carolina Calls" show on Columbia's 107.5 FM. Turns out to have been a legitimate scheduling snafu, but the atmospherics are poor when the team is skidding so badly in SEC play.

The Big Spur: Razorbacks drop Gamecocks.

GoUpstate: Young scores 27 as Arkansas tops South Carolina, 76-65. The AP story.

Gamecocksonline: Coach Horn post-game presser.

Lady Gamecock Basketball

GoGamecocks: Humbled team refocuses and WOMEN: GAMECOCKS VS GATORS.

Olympic Sports

Gamecocksonline: Equestrian - Gamecocks Sweep MVP's in 16-3 Rout at UT-Martin; Track - Radiance Basden Wins Triple Jump At Tyson Invitational.

Loose Feed

Sportstalkgolive: Here’s a picture of a billboard in West Virginia taunting Clemson. Priceless.

It was another long afternoon for Coach Horn's Gamecocks, who fell to the Arkansas Razorbacks today, 76-65. The Hogs used a strong close to the first half to build a lead, and they coasted to the victory in the second half. Damontre Harris led Carolina with 12 points to go along with 11 rebounds, while Arkansas's B.J. Young led all scorers with 27.

The story of the game for Carolina was turnovers. The Gamecocks did not take care of the ball, particularly in the first half, and finished with 21 turnovers. The other negative to note was Carolina's extremely poor 3FG shooting. The Gamecocks were 5-25 from long range in this game. Damien Leonard was 2-8. Carolina shot the ball fairly well otherwise, and I was impressed by our play in the paint, although Malik Cooke didn't play very well. One positive to be noted in this regard was that Carolina made it to the charity stripe 21 times, which is a result of focusing on attacking the basket a bit more. However, no amount of strong interior play can offset the turnovers and poor long-range shooting, at least not against a team like Arkansas that plays well in its home environment.

Carolina takes on the Georgia Bulldogs this week in a mid-week game. Last week, I would have said that this game provides a nice opportunity for Carolina to pick up a win, but after seeing Georgia start to turn its season around with consecutive wins over Arkansas and now at Mississippi St. (!!!), I'm not so sure.

Maybe today will be different than the last time. Go 'Cocks!

TDF - Come along and take that ride.

Gamecock Basketball

Post & Courier: Darryl Slater thinks Arkansas poses another roadblock for USC.

Gamecock Central: USC looks to challenge Hogs' perfect home record.

SpursUp Blog: "Inside The Chart" with Andy Demetra (@GamecockRadio) - February 10, 2012.

SportsChatPlace: Arkansas Razorbacks Vs. South Carolina Gamecocks 2/11/12: Mitch’s Free College Basketball Pick Against the Spread.

Helena World: Anderson offers honest appraisal of Hogs, Gamecocks. The view from the Natural State - from little Helena, Arkansas (pop 6,323). Ever heard of Helena? Me either. But it's the only paper I could find running a story on the game! Little Rock and Fayetteville papers are hidden behind a pay wall, and the Jonesboro paper apparently doesn't cover the Hogs! So thank you, Helena!

Gamecocksonline: Gamecocks Travel To Arkansas On Saturday. News, notes, q&a - you know the drill.

Gamecock Football

Bleacher Report: Flounder posts a Depth Chart for Gamecocks After National Signing Day, Alex runs down the 10 Greatest Gamecock Players in NFL History and Mario Cuadros writes that the South Carolina Gamecocks Head into 2012 with One of the Deepest Backfields.

ESPN SEC Blog: Offseason spotlight: South Carolina and SEC postseason position rankings: Special Teams. I know we had our moments on special teams - most famously Melvin's rumble between the hedges - but I don't think Ed and Chris are wrong to assign us such a low overall ranking, which is why I am looking forward to what new Coaches Joe Robinson and Grady Brown will bring to the table, and why I wasn't crushed to see John Butler go back to B1G country.

Cocky Country: Katie weighs in on the front-burner political issue in the Palmetto State - Should Carolina-Clemson Game Be Required By Law?

Post & Courier: Darryl Slater and CU beat writer Travis Sawchik ask - Could conference expansion ever jeopardize USC-Clemson football rivalry?

Life of a Gamecock: Playing the "Waiting Game" for QB recruits and Gamecock Coaches Rewarded With Raises.

GoGamecocks: More on the raises for Coach Spurrier and Coach Tanner. The disparity is staggering. Tanner earns slightly more than Whammy Ward, but a fraction of what Spurrier makes. On the other hand, the revenue disparity is staggering. Note - Tanner makes less than half of what Darrin Horn is paid; is that fair?

Gamecock Central: Price of Success: New Deals Approved. More on the raises by Scoot Hood - but worth your time. Also - we are under-paying G.A. Mangus; the University needs to forgive him for the embarrassment of last summer's arrest in Greenville, and reward him with at least another $100-$150k; otherwise, we're going to lose our best offensive recruiter. He is simply too important to the program to be the lowest paid guy on staff.

Spur of the Moment Blog: A bunch of context to today's contract/money news with USC football and baseball.

Gamecock Baseball

Post & Courier: USC baseball gears up.

GoGamecocks: Mark your calendars - 20 USC baseball games will be televised.

Gamecock Central: Scrimmage Observations, Vol. 7 and Photos from Scrimmage 7.

Loose Feed

CBS Sports: Report: Saban tried to get WVU SEC invitation. I'm sorry it didn't work out for the Mountaineers. Nothing against Mizzou, but the SEC was clearly their second choice to the B1G which has never set well with me. While Missouri's academics are stellar - which clearly wowed the league presidents - West Virginia is more culturally and historically connected with southern football (being a former SoCon school, and a program we used to play all the time during our independent days). It would have made more geographic sense, too. Unfortunately, WVU's academic ranking was not in the same league as Missouri - nor was it's TV market share (despite Morgantown being close to Washington, D.C. and Pittsburgh). And maybe it's a blessing in disguise, because South Carolina remains the closest SEC school to the fertile mid-Atlantic recruiting grounds.

Sporting News: Speaking of the Other TIgers from the Other Columbia - Can Missouri compete in the SEC? Tigers believe it.

AJC: Georgia-Auburn game could be sacrificed in SEC scheduling. The league has to figure out how to save the historic rivalries. Otherwise, what's the point? Also - Vanderbilt coach elaborates on controversial comments … on recruit lost to UGA. Does Franklin have a problem running his mouth? It sure seems that way. Gotta figure it's not going to be long before Slive summons him to Birmingham for a palaver.

In the midst of another losing streak, the Gamecocks are off to Fayetteville this weekend to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks. The Hogs are having struggles of their own, having lost their last two, including a blowout loss in Athens to a questionable Georgia team. This weekend's game is a must-win for Arkansas, whose NCAA Tournament chances are on life support.

The good news for Arkansas is that the Hogs will be back in the friendly confines of their home court, where they've had much more success than they on the road. Away from Pigville, Arkansas has ugly losses to teams like Oklahoma, LSU, and Georgia. At home, the Hogs have beaten Mississippi St., Michigan, Vanderbilt and others. They'll be a tough out on their court.

What can Carolina do to pull off the upset? First of all, as we've discussed, this team needs to get to the free-throw line more often. Arkansas has a significantly higher FT Rate than Carolina, and FT Rate is typically associated with success. However, Carolina actually ranks a slot (7th) above the Hogs (8th) in FT%. The problem, of course, is that Carolina simply doesn't get to the line enough. That seems to be changing somewhat, as Carolina has worked the ball to Damontre Harris and Malik Cooke more aggressively in recent games, leading to more FGA from under the basket, which means more FTA. Of course, Harris and Cooke will have to perform much better than they did against Tennessee for that strategy to work, but it's a start.

The other thing I'd like to see in this game is continued strong play from Damien Leonard. I've been waiting all year for the light to come on for this kid, who we really need to play well if we're going to improve. Over the past two games, Leonard has finally started to shoot the ball well. If he can do that against Arkansas and we can get better play from the post than we got against Tennessee, we might finally have the full package--and a win.

TDF - You can hear happiness staggering on down the street.

Lady Gamecock Basketball

Gamecock Central: Arkansas crushes Gamecocks; David Cloninger explains in his WBB SEC Tournament watch that this loss drops Dawn Staley's club into a three-way tie for third place - with UGA and Arkansas; the Razorbacks now have the seeding advantage due to the head-to-head victory.

Gamecocksonline: Gamecocks Stumble at Arkansas. Dawn Staley's post-game interview - "What happened was that we had a huge let down."

Gamecock Baseball

Gamecock Central: Tanner: Middle relief still a mystery.

The Big Spur: In Photos: Baseball/softball party.

Perfect Game: Kendall Rogers posts his Top 100 countdown: 21-40. Check out the skinny on future opponents Georgia (23), Clemson (27), Mississippi State (31) and College of Charleston (37).

Gamecock Football

Bleacher Report: Mario Cuadros discusses the draft stock of the six Gamecocks going to the NFL Combine.

Post & Courier: Lawmaker wanted to be 'proactive' with rivalry bill. Better luck with your other legislation.

Gamecock Central: Post Signing Day: 2012 Defensive Outlook and Trustees set to OK raises for football coaches.

ESPN SEC Blog: Ed Aschoff runs down the SEC postseason position rankings: LB while Chris Low posts his SEC postseason position rankings: DB. We make respectable showings in both.

Sportstalkgolive: Phil Kornblut's Recruiting Report 2.9.12.

The Link Carnival continues after The Jump with Gamecock Basketball, Olympic Sports and the Loose Feed.

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