Ready for roundball
posted by David Cloninger, 10/09/2008 12:52:00 AM
----------------- CHEECH AND CHONG
Don't read anything into that ... a former employer of mine who I greatly admire used to sing it all the time.
I know it's the middle of football season and even though the hoops team plays almost three times as many games, it'll never take the place of those gridiron warriors. That's all fine.
But I was raised on basketball, can watch it no matter who's playing, and despite me being absolutely no good whatsoever at playing it (ask the other writers), I can dive into it quicker than Michael Phelps into a stack of chocolate chip pancakes.
I'm anxious to see how Darrin Horn's first team will handle the 2008-09 season. Facts tell me that the Gamecocks have only 11 players on the team, just seven of which have had a lot of playing time. Playing a typical SEC schedule with that is akin to diving into a shark-infested swimming pool while wearing a pork chop waistcoat.
But Horn carefully cultivated a non-conference schedule that should prepare the less experienced players for what they're going to have to do this year -- namely, get in there and get the rust out. A seven-man team can simply not win enough games in a power conference to get into the NCAA tournament.
USC has one terrific advantage, though -- point guard Devan Downey. The first time I ever saw him play was at some holiday tournament in Florence. He scored over 30 points in four games, still just a sophomore, and won the MVP award.
He's shown no signs of letting up, averaging over 18 points per game last year and becoming a consensus first-team All-SEC player. When he's one of those seven players, and four of the others are Zam Fredrick, Brandis Raley-Ross, Mike Holmes and Dominique Archie, that's a solid base to build around.
The Gamecocks have a lot of games in which to warm up before the SEC slate, and should win the great majority of them. It won't do much in the eyes of strength of schedule, but it'll do a hell of a lot in getting them to that 20-win plateau.
What I want to see is how they react against the SEC. Horn's style of speed and defense should limit many games to low-scoring, ball-control affairs, great for oldschool fans of the game. I wouldn't mind seeing a few 50-45 results ... saves paper, you know, for when we're forced to burn that to keep our cars running because of our brilliant politicians.
I promise, Horn's name will eventually drop the "first-year coach" tag as we all get to know him and he ventures into the gig. This year may be a little rough playing the hand he was dealt, but he's already hitting the recruiting trail hard and has lined up some players for the future.
Games won't start for another month and change. That's a while to wait for a college hoops junkie such as myself, one who can still name the entire roster of the 1991 Duke Blue Devils.
I've seen a lot of not-great teams win championships -- N.C. State in 1983 and Villanova in 1985 come to mind. Not saying the Gamecocks will be one of those, but not many thought those two would be worth much of anything either.
Now if we can only get this pesky football thing out of the way ...
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"Basketball Jones, I got a Basketball Jones."
----------------- CHEECH AND CHONG
Don't read anything into that ... a former employer of mine who I greatly admire used to sing it all the time.
I know it's the middle of football season and even though the hoops team plays almost three times as many games, it'll never take the place of those gridiron warriors. That's all fine.
But I was raised on basketball, can watch it no matter who's playing, and despite me being absolutely no good whatsoever at playing it (ask the other writers), I can dive into it quicker than Michael Phelps into a stack of chocolate chip pancakes.
I'm anxious to see how Darrin Horn's first team will handle the 2008-09 season. Facts tell me that the Gamecocks have only 11 players on the team, just seven of which have had a lot of playing time. Playing a typical SEC schedule with that is akin to diving into a shark-infested swimming pool while wearing a pork chop waistcoat.
But Horn carefully cultivated a non-conference schedule that should prepare the less experienced players for what they're going to have to do this year -- namely, get in there and get the rust out. A seven-man team can simply not win enough games in a power conference to get into the NCAA tournament.
USC has one terrific advantage, though -- point guard Devan Downey. The first time I ever saw him play was at some holiday tournament in Florence. He scored over 30 points in four games, still just a sophomore, and won the MVP award.
He's shown no signs of letting up, averaging over 18 points per game last year and becoming a consensus first-team All-SEC player. When he's one of those seven players, and four of the others are Zam Fredrick, Brandis Raley-Ross, Mike Holmes and Dominique Archie, that's a solid base to build around.
The Gamecocks have a lot of games in which to warm up before the SEC slate, and should win the great majority of them. It won't do much in the eyes of strength of schedule, but it'll do a hell of a lot in getting them to that 20-win plateau.
What I want to see is how they react against the SEC. Horn's style of speed and defense should limit many games to low-scoring, ball-control affairs, great for oldschool fans of the game. I wouldn't mind seeing a few 50-45 results ... saves paper, you know, for when we're forced to burn that to keep our cars running because of our brilliant politicians.
I promise, Horn's name will eventually drop the "first-year coach" tag as we all get to know him and he ventures into the gig. This year may be a little rough playing the hand he was dealt, but he's already hitting the recruiting trail hard and has lined up some players for the future.
Games won't start for another month and change. That's a while to wait for a college hoops junkie such as myself, one who can still name the entire roster of the 1991 Duke Blue Devils.
I've seen a lot of not-great teams win championships -- N.C. State in 1983 and Villanova in 1985 come to mind. Not saying the Gamecocks will be one of those, but not many thought those two would be worth much of anything either.
Now if we can only get this pesky football thing out of the way ...
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David Cloninger. David is a full-time staff writer for GamecockCentral, and covers Gamecock football, men's basketball, baseball and recruiting. He may be reached by email at david(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.