Oh, that's gonna hurt
posted by David Cloninger, 11/15/2008 12:50:00 AM
The only thing that’s real.”
------------------- JOHNNY CASH
Man, I hate being right all the time.
I really wish I wasn’t on this go-round.
I said it too many times before -- “Depth is the biggest concern for South Carolina’s basketball team this year.”
Not that I’m a genius (just read some of the replies to my stuff on our site). It’s plain common sense – with only 11 players, if one of them goes down, USC was going to be facing an Everest of a climb to respectability, and it was plenty high enough already.
Everyone knew it. Coach Darrin Horn, his players, the fans, Sarah Palin’s supporters (all three of them), everyone.
But it was one of those, I guess, unspoken problems, for lack of a better word. Everyone knew what COULD happen, but if it never DID happen, what’s the big deal?
The Gamecocks were healthy in the preseason and had had a full offseason of Horn’s new conditioning program. If they could just avoid the major injuries and stay that way for the majority of the season, perhaps that uphill climb would be a lot shorter – say, a Kings Mountain instead of an Alp.
Even though nothing’s official yet, when Brandis Raley-Ross went crashing to the floor in the first half of USC’s 89-76 win over Jacksonville State on Friday, I could see those unspoken problems becoming a State of the Union address. A sprain or a tweak or a minor injury became less and less likely when a), Raley-Ross couldn’t put any weight on his left leg, b), He had to sit in a wheelchair to get to the locker room, c), I realized it was the same knee he hurt last year, d), My main man Scott Hood saw him outside afterward on crutches with a wrap around his entire leg and e), Raley-Ross never returned to the game, not even to sit on the bench.
Horn said he didn’t know what Raley-Ross’ status was and Devan Downey and Zam Fredrick said the same. The junior’s going to be re-evaluated on Saturday, but I think it’s safe to say that Raley-Ross will at least be out for Sunday’s game hosting Winthrop.
And that, if you’re counting, leaves USC with 10 players, nine if Sam Muldrow still isn’t clear of his academic hurdles.
I hope I’m as bad at math as I used to be, seventh-grade algebra causing me to get my first grade below an ‘A.’ But 11 minus 2 equals 9, no matter how I try to work the quadratic formula into it.
Fredrick put a brave face on it.
“I’m going to be out here doing what I do, and I know Devan’s going to be bringing what he brings to the table, and everyone will have to step their game up so Ross will be on the sideline happy with us getting the win,” he said.
I hope that’s as easy as it sounds.
Without Raley-Ross and mounting foul trouble on the other two starting guards, USC still looked good against Jacksonville State. Mike Holmes played a fantastic game and Austin Steed, I believe, is going to be a very solid player (I’m reminded of the sixth-man qualities of William “The Cyclone” Gallman on the 1996-97 SEC championship team).
Still, that unspoken fear of not getting hurt has to be spoken now. Not only did it happen, but it happened in the first half of the first game of a 29-game regular season.
And next up on the schedule is Winthrop, NCAA tournament participant in eight of the last 10 years and from the same league as VMI, which shocked Kentucky on Friday (Note to the Wildcats: Maybe you can make losing a season-opener to a mid-major another tradition in the vein of Big Blue Madness, Ashley Judd looking smoking hot and getting put on probation).
I’m hoping Raley-Ross is all right. I hate to see any kid get hurt, especially one that went down last year when he was one of the best 3-point shooters in the country.
Any of you guys ever see “Lonesome Dove?” Great frigging miniseries.
There’s this scene where Captain Woodrow F. Call asks Deets if he’s positive the tracks found by a gang of murderers belong to the horse of their close friend and former partner in the Texas Rangers, Jake Spoon. Deets answers in the affirmative.
“Well, hope you’re wrong, Deets,” Call says.
“Yes sir,” Deets answers. “But I ain’t.”
Considering Spoon ended up hanging from a tree limb about four scenes later, I thought it appropriate.
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“I focus on the pain,
The only thing that’s real.”
------------------- JOHNNY CASH
Man, I hate being right all the time.
I really wish I wasn’t on this go-round.
I said it too many times before -- “Depth is the biggest concern for South Carolina’s basketball team this year.”
Not that I’m a genius (just read some of the replies to my stuff on our site). It’s plain common sense – with only 11 players, if one of them goes down, USC was going to be facing an Everest of a climb to respectability, and it was plenty high enough already.
Everyone knew it. Coach Darrin Horn, his players, the fans, Sarah Palin’s supporters (all three of them), everyone.
But it was one of those, I guess, unspoken problems, for lack of a better word. Everyone knew what COULD happen, but if it never DID happen, what’s the big deal?
The Gamecocks were healthy in the preseason and had had a full offseason of Horn’s new conditioning program. If they could just avoid the major injuries and stay that way for the majority of the season, perhaps that uphill climb would be a lot shorter – say, a Kings Mountain instead of an Alp.
Even though nothing’s official yet, when Brandis Raley-Ross went crashing to the floor in the first half of USC’s 89-76 win over Jacksonville State on Friday, I could see those unspoken problems becoming a State of the Union address. A sprain or a tweak or a minor injury became less and less likely when a), Raley-Ross couldn’t put any weight on his left leg, b), He had to sit in a wheelchair to get to the locker room, c), I realized it was the same knee he hurt last year, d), My main man Scott Hood saw him outside afterward on crutches with a wrap around his entire leg and e), Raley-Ross never returned to the game, not even to sit on the bench.
Horn said he didn’t know what Raley-Ross’ status was and Devan Downey and Zam Fredrick said the same. The junior’s going to be re-evaluated on Saturday, but I think it’s safe to say that Raley-Ross will at least be out for Sunday’s game hosting Winthrop.
And that, if you’re counting, leaves USC with 10 players, nine if Sam Muldrow still isn’t clear of his academic hurdles.
I hope I’m as bad at math as I used to be, seventh-grade algebra causing me to get my first grade below an ‘A.’ But 11 minus 2 equals 9, no matter how I try to work the quadratic formula into it.
Fredrick put a brave face on it.
“I’m going to be out here doing what I do, and I know Devan’s going to be bringing what he brings to the table, and everyone will have to step their game up so Ross will be on the sideline happy with us getting the win,” he said.
I hope that’s as easy as it sounds.
Without Raley-Ross and mounting foul trouble on the other two starting guards, USC still looked good against Jacksonville State. Mike Holmes played a fantastic game and Austin Steed, I believe, is going to be a very solid player (I’m reminded of the sixth-man qualities of William “The Cyclone” Gallman on the 1996-97 SEC championship team).
Still, that unspoken fear of not getting hurt has to be spoken now. Not only did it happen, but it happened in the first half of the first game of a 29-game regular season.
And next up on the schedule is Winthrop, NCAA tournament participant in eight of the last 10 years and from the same league as VMI, which shocked Kentucky on Friday (Note to the Wildcats: Maybe you can make losing a season-opener to a mid-major another tradition in the vein of Big Blue Madness, Ashley Judd looking smoking hot and getting put on probation).
I’m hoping Raley-Ross is all right. I hate to see any kid get hurt, especially one that went down last year when he was one of the best 3-point shooters in the country.
Any of you guys ever see “Lonesome Dove?” Great frigging miniseries.
There’s this scene where Captain Woodrow F. Call asks Deets if he’s positive the tracks found by a gang of murderers belong to the horse of their close friend and former partner in the Texas Rangers, Jake Spoon. Deets answers in the affirmative.
“Well, hope you’re wrong, Deets,” Call says.
“Yes sir,” Deets answers. “But I ain’t.”
Considering Spoon ended up hanging from a tree limb about four scenes later, I thought it appropriate.
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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 @.