The Feed Pail: The day after South Carolina’s loss and UConn’s 100th win

Sometimes your best just isn’t good enough. While #6 South Carolina hung with #1 UConn for a while, the Huskies’ experience and skill, coupled with many empty trips by the Gamecocks, flipped the tables as they rode to a 100th straight win. I tweeted this last night but I’ll say it here: I wonder if the result’s a little different if (and that’s a big if) these two teams meet in the NCAA Tournament, which could turn out to be a Women’s Final Four date. Make no mistake: there’s a lot to work on for Dawn Staley and her crew despite being in the driver’s seat for yet another SEC title - and that’s to even come close to what Geno Auriemma’s built up north.

UConn’s 66-55 win over South Carolina was hard fought from both sides, but in the end — as it’s been for the past two seasons — UConn was simply better. So long as Geno Auriemma is at the helm, UConn will always be better — than anyone...

For South Carolina fans, watching Dawn Staley build up the program has truly been a pleasure to watch...Yet even as far as Staley has come to build the program up, it’s night’s like tonight that remind you how far UConn is ahead of everyone else.

Recaps: GamecocksOnline, SEC Country, The State, Hartford Courant, ESPN, NCAA.com, USA Today

Men’s basketball

—Frank Martin’s pretty confident that Sindarius Thornwell will be the SEC player of the year.

—The Gamecocks gave up a lot of threes last week against Bama and Mississippi State...to guys you wouldn’t expect, no less.

—Bracketology’s starting to even up as the season goes on and the team’s still in good shape.

—ICYMI, check out Frank with former sitcom star Mark Curry for no other reason than to appreciate the 90’s.

Football

—South Carolina’s projected to be #32 in ESPN’s FPI, but our old friend and former GABA head honcho Connor Tapp advises us to pump the breaks just a tad.

—Darius English is gone, and he’ll have some big shoes to fill.

—The Gamecocks had the country’s 10th best turnaround in defensive S&P, which, under Will Muschamp, is to be expected.

—GridironNow looks at the biggest needs going into the 2018 recruiting cycle.

Baseball

—Kaci broke open our annual preview with a look at where the polls have slated the team, ICYMI. Up next: a look at pitching, which projects to be very, very good this year.

—Speaking of, here’s a look at Adam Hill, who could be your Friday starter in 2018.

—Wil Crowe sat down to write this nice GamecocksOnline piece about his Tommy John surgery and his subsequent recovery.

—Chris Cullen and T.J. Hopkins figure to be part of the team’s success this year, and they made sure to hit the gym to get themselves bulked up for 2017.

—Looking for a house? Chad Holbrook’s selling!

And more!

—The GABACast crew dug into a great deal of topics, including hoops, baseball, and more. Click here to listen to the latest episode, or download it from iTunes.

—Here’s a cool story about a member of the South Carolina swim team from Germany who found her way to Columbia thanks to...Facebook?

—By the way, S&D’s headed to the SEC Championships in Knoxville today. Akram Mahmoud will be looking to repeat as 1650-yard freestyle champion.