The Gamecocks, now a solid 54 in Pomeroy's RPI, wrapped up the OOC slate at 11-2 with a 78-61 victory over Wofford (4-6) in Colonial Life Arena. Wofford deserves credit for a hard-fought game. The contest was close throughout the early part of the first half and Wofford looked ready to chip into USC's lead early in the second. However, Carolina responded to each of Wofford's pushes and eventually won the game by a comfortable margin. Devan Downey continued his assault on SEC Player of the Year with a 17-point performance on 8-16 shooting.

Your judgment about this game depends on whether you think it's good that the Gamecocks were able to respond to a Wofford team that was effectively able to force us into a half-court game or whether it's bad that we weren't able to force the Terriers into a run-and-shoot game. Many SEC teams will try to do what Wofford did to us last night, and, on the one hand, we proved that we can have success against such a strategy. On the other hand, how successful will we be against an SEC team with better athletes that tries to do the same thing?

We'll find out Saturday, when the Gamecocks take on Auburn as they begin SEC play. The Tigers are a slow-it-down team that will try to push us out of our game. Auburn isn't a great team,  but they have a smart coach in Jeff Lebo and are better than most teams we've played this year. Proving that we can either impose our will or respond to their success will go a long way towards proving we can hang with even better SEC teams.

Oh, and by the way, Go Court Cocks!

A conference pecking order has definitely begun to develop as we prepare to enter conference play. Tennessee and Florida appear to be unquestionably the conference's best teams. Arkansas, Kentucky, LSU, and South Carolina all appear to be fairly solid teams that will compete for spots in the Big Dance. Vanderbilt, Alabama, and maybe Auburn and Mississippi State might compete for the NIT. UGA and Ole Miss (the Rebels due to injuries) appear to be just plain bad.

1. Tennessee

The Vols' win over Georgetown earlier in the season remains one of the most impressive OOC victory by any SEC squad, probably second only to Arkansas's recent win over Oklahoma. The Vols have also beaten good Marquette and Belmont teams. However, the Vols have been shaky at times, losing to Gonzaga, at Temple, and most recently at rebuilding Kansas. The Vols, though, have played a brutal OOC schedule and have probably done as well as could be expected considering the level of the competition. This is still the club to beat in the SEC and that will show when conference play begins.

2. Florida

The Gators solidified their hold on the second spot after scoring a hard fought victory over a decent NC State team. Nick Calathes has taken his game to the next level and is a solid leader for this young but extremely talented team.

3. Arkansas

All that talk about Arkansas being in rebuilding mode this year? Now that the Hogs have taken down top-five and formerly unbeaten Oklahoma en route to racing to an 11-1 record, we can forget about that. Rating the Hogs third in the conference might be giving them a little too much credit; this is still a young team that lost a game to Missouri State and won nail-biters against a couple of other lowly opponents. However, what I see is a team that's quickly coming together and effectively playing John Pelphrey's up-tempo brand of basketball. This is a definitely a team to watch as the season progresses. And who would have thought Marcus Monk could play basketball so well?

4. South Carolina

Placing the Gamecocks above Kentucky may be something of a homer pick on my part, but you have to admit that (1) the Gamecocks are playing better than advertised and (2) the Cats are clearly underperforming after losing four games in OOC play, although you do have to give them credit for playing a tough slate.

5. Kentucky

As I write this, the Cats have just dropped a heart-breaker to rival Louisville. Jodie Meeks played another great game and made a couple of free throws to tie the game late, but the Cardinals hit a late shot of their own to take the lead and the game. The Cats could have used this victory for their resume, as they now go into conference play with four losses and without a marquee OOC win. That may come back to haunt them come Selection Sunday. However, this is still a solid team that will make a run for the NCAAs during conference play. Meeks and Patrick Patterson are two of the conference's best players.

6. LSU

The Tigers have amassed a nice record and appear to have a solid team. However, their best victory came over a rebuilding Washington State team, so we've yet to really see what these Tigers are capable of.

7. Vanderbilt

The Commodores appear to be a decent team, but like others, they really haven't notched any distinguishing victories.

8. Alabama

The Tide picked up a win over a bad Georgia Tech team. I'm still amazed that a team with Alonzo Gee and Ronald Steele in its backcourt can't produce more than these guys, but it seems to be the case that this just isn't a very good team.

9. Auburn

Don't look now, but what appeared to be the conference's worst team at one point now has a little winning streak going on. Granted, the wins have come against cupcakes and an ACC also-ran, but wins are wins for this Auburn team. Jeff Lebo appears to be doing a good job of getting the most out of a thin roster. He does it by getting them to force opponents to play play their game, which is a more methodical half-court style than what you see with most teams these days. While Auburn is clearly not a very good team this year, they are a team that could play spoiler to others, as their ability to force their will upon opponents on their good days could disrupt some better teams.

10. Mississippi State

The rebuilding Bulldogs lost in OT to San Diego this past week but also picked up a convincing win against a decent Houston team. Not a good team, but not terrible, either.

11. Ole Miss

Lowly Southern Miss smacked the depleted Rebels this past week and all indications are that this team will struggle mightily to win more than half their games.

12. UGA

The Dawgs played a decent Mizzou team tough in a losing effort this past week, but this is still a team that lost to Texas A&M Corpus-Christi.

Yesterday, I said this team is good enough to win a game against an elite opponent at some point in the year. "At some point" ended up being last night, when Zam Fredrick hit a go-ahead shot with five seconds left to give the Gamecocks the lead and victory over Baylor. Fredrick scored 19 and Devan Downey scored a game-leading 23. Bears guards Curtis Jerrels lead Baylor with 22. The Bears deserve credit for a hard-fought game. On a day when South Carolina shot 57% from beyond the arc, Baylor almost beat us despite shooting below 50% from the field, indicating that they are likely the better team. However, it wasn't their night; the Gamecocks were hot and weren't going to let this one get away from them.

Make no mistake, this was a huge win for USC. In terms of indicating what this team is capable of, we now know that we can win a game against a top-flight opponent, something we were incapable of accomplishing a year ago. In a down year in the SEC, Baylor might well be one of the, if the not the, best teams we'll play all year. We just beat the Bears on the road, indicating that we're capable of beating anyone we play. As it did last night, big wins will likely require us to shoot extremely well, but we're capable of doing that regularly. Another important point about this game: If we manage to win around 10-12 games in SEC play, which I honestly think is possible if the ball rolls our way, this quality OOC win will go a long way towards securing us an at-large NCAAs bid.

As I said yesterday, Darrin Horn's team is going to please a lot of sad Gamecocks this year. It's time to put the disappointment of the football season behind us and get behind this team. They're everything the football team isn't: they have fire, they've found an identity, and they're maximizing their potential. Last night was our first indication of what they're capable of.

I'm a little late reviewing this game because I was traveling on the 30th, settling back in at home and partying on the 31st, and watching the Outback Bowl yesterday. Although Devan Downey turned in an epic 37 point performance for the Gamecocks, Clemson (AP #20, ESPN/USAT #16) defeated the Gamecocks in Colonial Life Arena by a score of 98-87. The Gamecocks built an early double-digit lead, but Clemson's hot shooting allowed the Tigers to build a solid lead by halftime that they would not relinquish. We did manage to cut the lead a few times in the second half, but to no avail. Clemson's Terrence Oglesby led the Tigers with 25 point. While I hate to say it, we should give the Tigers and Oliver Purnell credit; they've got a great hoops team up there in the Upstate. Duke and UNC need to watch their backs.

Two things seem clear to me after this game. First of all, we're a good bit better than last year and are good enough to play with ranked teams like Clemson when we're at the top of our game, but we're not good enough to outlast them if they bring their A-game. The Tigers did that Tuesday, shooting 55% from the field, 45% from beyond the arc, and 80% from the line. Luckily for us, Tennessee, Florida, and Kentucky might not always shoot that well. Moreover, Clemson might very well be better than any team in the SEC, and if that's the case, what we saw Tuesday was a team that's very capable of winning lots of games in the SEC. The second thing I take away from this game is that, as expected, depth and size in the post will be a problem for this team. Dominique Archie only played 19 minutes due to foul trouble, and his absence was noticeable. This will continue to be a problem for us this year.

The Gamecocks will get another chance to beat a ranked opponent tonight when they travel to Waco to take on the Baylor Bears. While I'm keeping my fingers crossed, this will likely be another brutally difficult game for us. Unlike last year, however, Coach Horn and his team have me believing that we will win a couple of these big games this year. We may not make the NCAAs, but this program is headed in the right direction and will assuage the pain we're all feeling due to the football team's performance.

First of all, congrats to the Iowa Hawkeyes, who played a hell of a game. While I hated seeing them run it on us, the Hawkeyes' offense was truly a thing of beauty. They perfectly balanced their running and passing game, eating up large chunks on Shonn Greene's legs and throwing in occasional play-action passes to mix things up. The yardage Greene gets after the catch is unreal and Ricky Stanzi certainly knows how to execute a play fake and then hit an open receiver ten yards down field. Although we certainly didn't make them work too hard for it in the first half with all the turnovers and penalties, the Iowa defense also lived up to its great reputation. While it will come as a small consolation to Gamecocks fans, I came away from this game feeling that Iowa is probably good enough to be an 11-1 or 10-2 team but lost a couple of heart breakers to end up with their actual record. Suffice it to say that we didn't get a good match-up in this game--we weren't really a New Year's Day bowl team this year, and the Hawkeyes could have been a BCS bowl team with a little luck.

That said, there are plenty of good reasons to be upset about this game. With a month to prepare,  Stephen Garcia looked worse than ever. Amazingly, his accuracy dipped far below Chris Smelley levels. Smelley and Garcia now share the dubious honor of managing to throw a number of passes over Jared Cook's reach, quite a feat considering that Cook is 6'5 and has really long arms. It's hard to know what to make of Garcia's troubles. In earlier games, he appeared to be a very accurate passer that  just needed to learn how to read a defense better. Today, though, he looked just as mistake-prone as Smelley and Blake Mitchell, a scary thought if Garcia is this team's best hope for the future. Garcia had obviously been working on a few aspects of his game. His pocket presence was improved; he seemed to have a better idea about when to tuck it and run and when to check down his receivers. There's good reason to believe that he'll be much better with after getting a Spring training under his belt. His performance today, though, makes me wonder if his ceiling is truly as high as we think it is or if he's going to be just as inconsistent as Chris and Blake.

As for Chris, I'll give him credit for coming in and playing pretty well. If anything, his performance reminded me that he's capable of playing at a high level from time to time, even if it's usually in garbage time when he comes off the bench. It should also be clear to the crowd that has blindly championed Garcia that Spurrier's choice between Garcia and Smelley has not been as clear cut as they would like to think; despite Garcia's promise, he's just not obviously better than Chris. Period. Needless to say, Smelley's chances of leading this team did not die with his horrible game against Clemson. The QB battle between these two will continue into Spring training. I hope that Garcia takes the position, as that would mean that he markedly improves his game. We know what we're getting with Chris, and that's a sometimes decent but oftentimes horrible QB. While I'd love to see Chris improve, the fact is that he's a red-shirt sophomore and in most cases QBs with as much experience as he has don't magically get better overnight.

While it would be easy to lay all of the blame on Garcia, other players deserve their share as well. Captain Munnerlyn's performance, which was littered with poor decisions in coverage and a couple of cheap penalties, was a joke. Why NFL scouts think this guy will be a first-day pick after the season he's had is beyond me.
Jared Cook also turned in a below par performance. Cook did catch a touchdown pass and in his defense we probably didn't go to him enough, but he also dropped a couple of passes. I came away from this game thinking that Munnerlyn and Cook are set on leaving for the NFL and didn't care very much about helping the Gamecocks win this game. If this is true, it's sad that these two great athletes don't have more pride in their team's performance.

Cook and Munnerlyn would do well to take a look at how Eric Norwood and Kenny McKinley, two guys that are also headed to the NFL (probably, in Norwood's case), performed. McKinley left it all out on the field and reminded us one last time that he's a great player that loves the Gamecocks. Norwood, despite the fact that there's a pretty good chance that he will opt out of his senior season and head for the pros, also put forth a lot of effort. Whatever decision Norwood makes, I'll always remember his time here fondly. He seems like a stand-up guy and is certainly a great player.

As for my thoughts on Spurrier and the direction of this program, I think I'm going to sleep on this game for a few days before making any rash comments. My general impression is that I would have liked to see Garcia distance himself a bit from Smelley. However, I'll also acknowledge that this was a bowl game against a great team, so we should probably take the outcome with a grain of salt. Spurrier and Garcia's true chance to prove themselves will have to wait until next year.

As America wakes up at 11:00 AM with a splitting headache and an aversion to the odor of alcohol, the Gamecocks will take the field against the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Outback Bowl. While a win won't redeem what has been a disappointing season in Columbia, it would go a long way towards sending this team into 2009 on a positive note. Gamecocks fans will pay special attention to the performance of Stephen Garcia, as Garcia needs to show us that he is capable of leading this team next year. The stakes are similar for the Hawkeyes, who could finish this year ranked and go into next season as dark horse contenders for the Big 10 championship if they can win convincingly in Tampa.

Below are my three keys to a win for the Gamecocks. Check out Leftover Hot Dog for some good previews from the crew over there.

A Tough, Smart Performance from the Defense

Shonn Greene gets most of the attention when folks talk about the Hawkeyes' offense, and USC's defensive effort will undoubtedly focus on slowing him down. However, despite their propensity to run, Iowa is not a one-dimensional team. If Greene has trouble getting good yardage early in the game, the Hawkeyes will try to get us to back off the run by putting the ball in the air. If they burn us, things will open up for Greene and all hell will break loose. Our coaches and players need to be ready for the play-action and whatever else Iowa throws at us to loosen us up. Against an efficient offense like Iowa's, mental mistakes will be costly.

Sustain Drives

Iowa's bruising, chain-moving running game is designed to wear down defenders by the second half. If Stephen Garcia and our offense can't pick up first downs each time we get the ball, we not only will not put up enough points to win. Our defense will tire as they did in the LSU game and Iowa will score a couple of TDs late. This is especially true considering that we are low on depth due to the Emanuel Cook situation and the injury to Akeem Auguste.

To do well on offense, we need a number of things to happen. Our offensive line needs to contain Iowa's defensive line, especially Mitch King. Although it seems unlikely considering how good Iowa is against the run, it would be nice to establish some kind of run game. I'd really like to see Mike Davis go out well. Although he's been disappointing this year, he's always been one of my favorite players and is undoubtedly a Gamecock through and through. Most of all, though, Garcia needs to show that he's progressed in terms of offensive knowledge since the Florida game. We need a smart, striking performance from the Tampa native, not only to win this game but also to prove that we can win big games next year.

Special Teams Play

I'm a huge believer in the importance of special teams. A good punter and coverage unit can help a team control field position. Good returns can set up easy scores. A close game is often decided by field goals.

Our special teams play has improved this year, but it left a little to be desired at points in the season. We've had success returning the ball at times, but Captain Munnerlyn's tendency to muff punts might cost us a turnover. Ryan Succop is a good kicker, but he's struggled at times. We need all of these things to come together to win what will likely be a close game.

Prediction

Although we match up fairly well with them because they're weak against the short pass and we've done well defensively against teams like Georgia and LSU that run similar offenses, Iowa is a very good team, definitely as good as some of the teams that beat us this year. This is to say that I don't love our chances in this game. However, those of you that have read my previews throughout the course of the season know that I'm a huge homer and sunshine pumper when it comes to predictions. I picked against the Gamecocks once all year. That was against Florida, a game I rightly thought was utterly unwinnable. This game, while certainly tough, is not unwinnable. If everything comes together, we will win this game and notch our best victory of the season. I think we will, by a score of 24-20.