Breathe, hoopsters, breathe
posted by David Cloninger, 2/01/2009 07:51:00 PM
--------------- FULL FORCE
As much as it pains me, a veteran sportswriter who at long last seems to have an exciting, winning team to cover, I must address Gamecock Nation.
Calm down.
I know how hard that will be. Boy, do I know. While I was, ahem, enjoying the nuptials of a close friend in the metropolis of Cheraw over the weekend, I was keeping tabs on the South Carolina-Kentucky game. I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t.
The Gamecocks had a chance to win. Watching these scenarios for the past 10 years, I knew what was going to happen – USC would find some way to lose.
So when Devan Downey hit and Jodie Meeks missed, I believe my exact words were, “Well, I’ll be double-damned!”
Before I could stop and think about what it really meant, visions of SEC titles and NCAA tournament bids were dancing through my head.
I took a deep breath. And then decided I should recommend that all of you should do the same.
Because it’s not time – yet – to begin discussing championship plans.
Look, beating Kentucky at Rupp Arena, ghost of the Baron of the Bluegrass staring down between the retired jerseys of Jack Givens and Dan Issel, was a huge accomplishment. Strike that, a HUGE accomplishment.
But this journey’s nowhere close to being over.
The Gamecocks are one game from hitting the halfway point of the SEC season. There’s nine games left. At 5-2, there’s plenty that can go wrong – or right – from here on.
They’ll get some votes, if not a position, in the Top 25 this week. They’re tied for first in the SEC East and a half-game out of first place in the overall league. There is a level of excitement around this program that has been dormant since BJ McKie was a sophomore.
The Gamecocks have had to follow that awful cliché of “one game at a time” all season. With only 11 players and never having all of them available at one time, they’ve had no choice.
They can’t look ahead to the next stretch or putting themselves into position or they have to do this to get there. Their approach is very simple – got a game on Tuesday. Win it.
So far, they’re doing a fantastic job. They’re pulling off victories, they’re sitting pretty on top of the East, they’re creeping into the NCAA tournament picture.
Naturally, these wins to the success-starved denizens of World Garnet and Black are more exciting than seeing Scarlett Johansson shopping at Victoria’s Secret. That’s fine. I caught myself checking out NCAA Regional sites and putting asterisks next to the places I haven’t been.
It is impressive, both how the team is playing and how intense coach Darrin Horn is. It spoke volumes to me how he calmly sought out Billy Gillispie after the game to shake his hand, no trace of emotion or happiness on his face. The only time he broke out of that was when someone either did or said something in passing and Horn turned around and, from the TV replay, seemed to call the guy a word that starts with “J” and ends with “Ackass.”
But we’ve all got to try and keep the expectations in check, using cautious optimism. Mostly because I seriously doubt the team’s going to begin treating itself like the flavor of the month – all of these guys were around last year when they were being told they couldn’t win a Biddy Basketball championship, much less an SEC title.
Put it this way.
You can’t possibly be disappointed if you never expected greatness. If it still happens, it’s twice as nice.
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“Ain’t my type of hype.”
--------------- FULL FORCE
As much as it pains me, a veteran sportswriter who at long last seems to have an exciting, winning team to cover, I must address Gamecock Nation.
Calm down.
I know how hard that will be. Boy, do I know. While I was, ahem, enjoying the nuptials of a close friend in the metropolis of Cheraw over the weekend, I was keeping tabs on the South Carolina-Kentucky game. I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t.
The Gamecocks had a chance to win. Watching these scenarios for the past 10 years, I knew what was going to happen – USC would find some way to lose.
So when Devan Downey hit and Jodie Meeks missed, I believe my exact words were, “Well, I’ll be double-damned!”
Before I could stop and think about what it really meant, visions of SEC titles and NCAA tournament bids were dancing through my head.
I took a deep breath. And then decided I should recommend that all of you should do the same.
Because it’s not time – yet – to begin discussing championship plans.
Look, beating Kentucky at Rupp Arena, ghost of the Baron of the Bluegrass staring down between the retired jerseys of Jack Givens and Dan Issel, was a huge accomplishment. Strike that, a HUGE accomplishment.
But this journey’s nowhere close to being over.
The Gamecocks are one game from hitting the halfway point of the SEC season. There’s nine games left. At 5-2, there’s plenty that can go wrong – or right – from here on.
They’ll get some votes, if not a position, in the Top 25 this week. They’re tied for first in the SEC East and a half-game out of first place in the overall league. There is a level of excitement around this program that has been dormant since BJ McKie was a sophomore.
The Gamecocks have had to follow that awful cliché of “one game at a time” all season. With only 11 players and never having all of them available at one time, they’ve had no choice.
They can’t look ahead to the next stretch or putting themselves into position or they have to do this to get there. Their approach is very simple – got a game on Tuesday. Win it.
So far, they’re doing a fantastic job. They’re pulling off victories, they’re sitting pretty on top of the East, they’re creeping into the NCAA tournament picture.
Naturally, these wins to the success-starved denizens of World Garnet and Black are more exciting than seeing Scarlett Johansson shopping at Victoria’s Secret. That’s fine. I caught myself checking out NCAA Regional sites and putting asterisks next to the places I haven’t been.
It is impressive, both how the team is playing and how intense coach Darrin Horn is. It spoke volumes to me how he calmly sought out Billy Gillispie after the game to shake his hand, no trace of emotion or happiness on his face. The only time he broke out of that was when someone either did or said something in passing and Horn turned around and, from the TV replay, seemed to call the guy a word that starts with “J” and ends with “Ackass.”
But we’ve all got to try and keep the expectations in check, using cautious optimism. Mostly because I seriously doubt the team’s going to begin treating itself like the flavor of the month – all of these guys were around last year when they were being told they couldn’t win a Biddy Basketball championship, much less an SEC title.
Put it this way.
You can’t possibly be disappointed if you never expected greatness. If it still happens, it’s twice as nice.
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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 @.