Carolina beats UK by 1 pt

Downey is the man. Another closing seconds win for South Carolina as they beat UK 78-77. Go ahead basket came with a fade away with 3.2 seconds to go. UK attempted a half court shot that came up short........

GO COCKS!

Great win and 1st since '97 at UK! This is the best win of the season and a great victory for Horn being in his backyard. This could be the win that elevates SC in the SEC basketball hunt for years to come?

Attention - Gamecock basketball is not for the faint hearted....they love to make you stress over wins.

Horn's boys to take on UK today

Men's pregame: USC at Kentucky

USC (15-4, 4-2 SEC) travels to face No. 24 Kentucky (16-5, 5-1 SEC) with game time at 3pm. Kentucky leads the all-time series between the two schools, 41-7, including a 21-1 advantage in Lexington. The Wildcats have won four straight in the series.

Whom to watch -
South Carolina has four players (Downey, 19.6; Fredrick, 15.6; Archie, 11.5; Holmes, 11.0) who average double figures entering Saturday's game at Kentucky. These 4 have to play big today and USC has to continue to play as a team.

For UK you got Meeks, Patterson and Stevenson. USC has to slow Meeks down and not let the big Stevenson hurt them. Size has given USC fits in past games (i.e LSU) so Carolina must play their game and control tempo today to escape Rupp Arena with a W.

GO COCKS!

USC recruiting update

As of early Saturday, USC has 26 commitments and is ranked No. 11 overall by Rivals.com, No. 12 by ESPN.com and No. 15 by Scout.com.

Rivals ranks the team No. 3 overall for defensive ends and athletes; No. 4 for linebackers; and No. 7 for running backs.

The Gamecocks still have their sights set on -

Timberland offensive lineman Quinton Washington; Greenwood defensive end Sam Montgomery; and Calhoun County wide receiver Alshon Jeffery.

The Gamecocks are hosting this weekend committed wide receiver Lamar Scruggs of Jacksonville, wide receiver Alshon Jeffery of Calhoun County and quarterback Andrew Clifford of Tampa.

HERE is a nice article on recruiting for your saturday boredom till the SC UK tip off.

question --- Does the commitment of Scruggs hurt our chances to land Jeffery?

Week 4 - SEC Power Poll for Basketball

The SEC Power Basketball Poll results for Week Four are up at The Garnet and Black Attack - HERE.

This was my ballot---

1. UK
2. LSU
3. USC
4. UF
5. MSU
6. Tenn
7. Aub
8. Vandy
9. Ole Miss
10. 'Bama
11. Ark
12. UGa

The Cow Whisper says "find the boobie"

Clemson will do anything to sell tickets!

Could Alabama hate UT any more

Finebaum blisters UT and Kiffin in this article from the AL.com.   Kiffin has pretty much gone after every SEC coach and thinks that with what he has at Tennessee he is going to compete next year in the SEC.  I have a feeling a lot of the veteran coaches are going to be gunning for him this upcoming football season.  It also means SEC media day should have some drama brewing.  

Garnet Army Saves the Day, Kicks Vandy to the curb.

There needs to be more Garnet Army tube tops out there.  

USC break a five-game losing streak to Vandy

Gamecocks Defeat Vanderbilt, 86-76

Gamecocks now are on a 3 game winning streak following home victories over Florida, Mississippi and now Vandy. They had me scared when Vandy opened up the 2nd half on a 16-3 run to bring the game close but USC stuck to their guns and walked away with a 10 pt win.

Gamecocks are now 15-4, 4-2 Southeastern Conference.

USC vs. Vandy tonight

USC is going for a third straight SEC victory in a row for the first time since 2007. Free throw shooting is still a problem but that hasn’t stop the spread from growing from 5 to 8 points. Hopefully the gamecocks can keep the streak going and pull out a victory tonight here in Columbia.

Per The State Newspaper sophomore All SEC center A.J. Ogilvy did make the trip as he has been battling a respiratory virus and foot problems. Mike Holmes and Sam Muldrow will have their hands full if he can go.

The recent surprise of Sam Muldrow gives me how that USC can play with a big man and I do think a line up that includes Archie, Holmes and Muldrow could make a run at making the NCAA tournament and maybe even winning a game. CollegeRPI.com has the gamecocks as a 12 seed while ESPN bracketology has the gamecocks in the last 4 out. Leaving the SEC with only 3 teams in the tournament. Well it is too early to worry about that, but it does give me hope that this team could be playing in middle to late march.

STARTING LINEUPS

GAMECOCKS
POS HGT NAME PPG
F 6-7 Dominique Archie 11.2
F 6-7 Mike Holmes 11.1
C 6-9 Sam Muldrow 4.4
G 5-9 Devon Downey 19.7
G 6-0 Zam Fredrick 15.8

Commodores
POS HGT NAME PPG
F 6-7 Jeff Taylor 12.1
F 6-8 Steve Tchiengang 11.2
C 6-11 A.J. Ogilvy 15.1
G 6-3 Jermaine Beal 11.9
G 6-3 Brad Tinsley 10.1

USC's assistant coaches

Well hopefully hiring Jeep Hunter will be the last move on the coaching staff for a while. It has already been a crazy off season, and signing day is still a week away.

Assignments for coach Steve Spurrier's assistants-

G.A. Mangus ---- Quarterbacks
Jay Graham ---- Running backs
Steve Spurrier Jr. ---- Wide receivers
Eric Wolford ---- Offensive line
Jeep Hunter ---- Tight ends
Ellis Johnson ---- Assistant head coach and linebackers
Lorenzo Ward ---- Defensive coordinator and safeties
Shane Beamer ---- Cornerbacks, recruiting coordinator, special teams

Gamecock News - Ray Out; Jeep In; Scruggs to sign

Well it seems the rumor was true and Ray has jumped ship to the Colts....can not blame him though just hate to see him go.....Rychleski moving on; Hunter moves in ...this lead to -

"Spurrier wasted little time making his sixth hire of the offseason, introducing former Georgia Tech and Memphis assistant Jeep Hunter as the Gamecocks’ new tight ends coach at a team meeting Tuesday morning."

Seems the 26th commitment came today with USC landing Jacksonville WR commitment ,Scruggs picked USC over Ole Miss and Illinois.

and in Clemson news - Virginia QB picks the Tigers - Boyd was ranked the No. 4 quarterback by scout.com and No. 5 by ESPN.com

Is the SEC basketball league that weak?

Anyone else find it a bit hard to believe that the lone SEC school in either poll is Kentucky.
The Wildcats are No. 24 in the AP.

Is the SEC that weak in basketball? Could there be a real chance that the SEC only sends 3 teams to NCAA March Maddnes b/c of the weak conference?

Monday Gamecock Reading

Alright kids... sorry but work got the best of me here lately. I will try to update what has been going in Gamecock Nation...

As we all know the USC Men's basketball team had great wins recently vs. UF and Ole Miss. Mike Holmes is going to compete for USC QB in Spring of '09?

• Postgame: Horn not worried about free-throw woes....Horn correct that please as free throws can kill a team down the stretch so make sure to correct that tone.
• Garnet and Black has a video of the closing play vs. UF ---HERE---this play ranks up there with Tarence Kinsey's 3-pointer that won the NIT game vs St. Joe's in March 2005

Football Chatter

• USC, Ole Miss battle for WR Scruggs
• King recovering from heart surgery
• Coaching turnover not big effect on USC commitments
• No. 83? ESPN football rankings unkind to USC....BULLSH*T
• Recruiting: Where USC stands, projections, more
• Scout.com has USC as having the number 15 best recruiting class in the nation thus far....very nice. Problem is other SEC schools are just as high...other recruiting notes HERE.
• Got time to kill check out this video - HERE

Week 3 - SEC Power Poll for Basketball

A little late getting this up but make sure to view the SEC Power Basketball Poll results for Week Three as they are up at the Ole Miss blog The Ghost of Chucky.

Here was my ballot -

1. UK
2. LSU
3. Tenn
4. USC
5. UF
6. MSU
7. Vandy
8. Aub
9. Bama
10. Ark
11. Ole Miss
12. UGA