The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 18, 1996, Page 11, Image 11
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ASSOCIATED PRESS {
NEW YORK ? The New York Jets,
who have the No. 1 pick in Saturday's
draft, know how easy it is to mess up a *
high choice. 1
Just mention one name: Blair
Thomas, on whom the Jets used the *
second overall pick in 1990. That was 1
| the same year another running back ? 1
Emmitt Smith ? went to Dallas with (
the 17th. <
First round busts are the rule in the 1
NFL ? odds are that a third to a half ^
of the 30 first-rounders Saturday won't
meet expectations. Some will take teams ?
down with them. ?
Thus were the Dallas Cowboys of the 1
'80s done in by the likes of Rod Hill and '
Billy Cannon Jr; the New York Giants 1
have declined in the *90s because of picks
like Jarrod Bunch and Derek Brown,
j rp r? i >4 i j 1
OLiu l amp a u ay naou t nau a w inning
season since 1982 largely because of a
succession of blown draft picks, most in
the Top 10.
This isn't an exact science," said Bill
Polian, who built a team in Bufialo that
^ made it to four Super Bowls and now is
general manager of the Carolina Panthers.
"There are a lot of excellent talent
tirlin Viqtto
CValUdlUio ill L11L3 league wuu iiavc uiauu
Year in Sp
The long semester is coming to an r
end, and most of us (I apologize to those i
of you will be attending summer school) !
can't wait for summer to get here. As i
I sit at my desk thinking about my i
upcoming exams, I can't help but get j
sidetracked and start thinking of the i
x _ .1 1 1 1.1
past, scnuui yeai auu tue spui uo
highlights and lowlights that have 1
filled the year.
Lowlight: Definitely my lowest
moment of the year would have to have
been football season. The Gamecocks
entered the season with unreasonable
expectations and fell below reasonable
expectations. The Gamecocks made
stare out of Georgia's Robert Edwards,
Arkansas' Madre Hill and Kentucky's
Moe Williams, who all had Heismanlike
days against the men in garnet
and black. ESPN highlighted Carolina's
defense on their "On Campus" segment;
however, it wasn't for their superb
play ? it was for their dismal play.
Highlight: On the bright side,
Steve Taneyhill had the kind of season
^ you expect your seniors to have.
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ooking for
i lot of big mistakes." seo
Some examples: lin
? In 1989, a lot of people thought eve
lie best player in the draft was offensive tak
;ackle Tony Mandarich. bat
Dallas had the first pick but Jimmy
Johnson bypassed Mandarich for Troy
\ikman. Aikman has been the winning ove
Ditcher in three Super Bowls; Mandarich, Th
)ut of the league for four years, is now lit
attempting a comeback in Indianapolis Ru
vith Lindy Infante, the coach who drafted an;
aim No. 2 overall for Green Bay.
? In 1986, Tampa Bay drafted Bo rui
Tnrlcsnn with thp Nn 1 nirV pvpn thnuob
Jackson said he'd play baseball rather in 1
ban play for the Bucs. Jackson did play
baseball, then went to the Raiders the be<
aext year. Ra
? In 1987, the Bucs drafted Vinny tea
restaverde with the top pick to replace the
the incumbent, 26-year-old Steve Young, wa
Y^oung was traded to San Francisco, Wc
restaverde set a record for interceptions
in Tampa and now, with the Baltimore Wi
Ravens, is somewhere in the middle of Wi
the NFL's quarterback pack. th<
? In 1981, the New Orleans Saints sh<
had the first overall pick. Bum Phillips,
hoping to recreate Earl Campbell, took sat
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Rogers had an OK career, but the ba
)orts, highli
raneyhill was at ROBBIE Fe
the top of the MEEK tea
SEC and the |||EQi2Q3lH ^
nation in passing of 1
all season long. Steve has been projected an
as one of the top quarterbacks to be roi
selected in Saturday's draft. pri
Highlight: Dallas defensive end wa
Charles Haley dejected after a Cowboy '70
loss announced his retirement for about
10th time in the last couple of seasons, de:
Lowlight: It wasn't for real. Haley A1j
was only looking for sympathy. Grow th<
up, Charles. Quit being a baby.
Highlight: Cal Ripken broke Lou fir:
Gehrig's consecutive games played CI
record of 2,130 games. With the new ch
record (which, by the way, is still being "tl
added to), Ripken became baseball's ch
"Iron Man" and put his name in Rii
baseball's record book for years to come,
maybe forever. Too bad there aren't Nc
more Cal Ripkens in the sports world Mi
for kids to look up to. lea
Highlight: The Gamecock to
basketball team had their most on
successful season since the George hif
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another
and player chosen, by the Giants, was
ebacker Lawrence Taylor, whom
sryone BUT the Saints would have
en. The eighth pick overall? Defensive
:k Ronnie Lott.
Look out for draft trends.
New Orleans, for example, picks 11th
rail, not a good place for them to be.
e last two times the Saints picked
h they took Shawn Knight (1987) and
ssell Erxleben (1979), who make
pone's list of all-time worst No. Is.
Kansas City has had little luck with
ining backs.
In 1985, the Chiefs took Ethan Hortan
the first round.
Horton wasnt the answer and finally
:ame a decent tight end with the
iders, who love to resurrect other
ins' busted No. Is. So two years later,
} Chiefs drafted Paul Palmer, who
s last seen trying a comeback in the
>rld League.
More recently, they've taken Harvey
lliams (1991) and Greg Hill (1994).
lliams finally found his niche with
i Raiders (who else?) and Hill has
)wn only flashes.
Some teams look for insurance with
juration drafts.
The Giants, in need of a running
ck, used their first pick in 1982 on
ghts and
Iton era. They beat a Final Four
im ana gainea expenence ior tne
ure as they went to the final eight
he NTT. Carolina defeated Davidson,
d Vanderbilt in the opening two
ands of the tournament. In the
Dcess, the Frank McGuire Arena
is as loud as it has been since the
is.
Lowlight: The Gamecocks were
nied a trip to the NIT final four by
abama, a team they beat earlier in
e season by 23 in a one point loss.
Highlight: Jeff Gordon won his
3t Winston Cup Championship, and
levy won another manufacturers
ampionship. Don't be surprised if
le Intimidator" wins his eighth
ampionship this season to break
chard Petty's record.
Lowlight: This past weekend, Greg
>rman once again failed to win the
asters. Norman held a six-stroke
id going into the final round but lost
Nick Faldo in what was probably
e of the biggest chokes in sports
stoiy.
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? 7:05pm
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leaders
I Thursday, April 18,1996
Thomas
Butch Woolfolk, then chose Joe Morris
in the second round. Woolfolk had an
undistinguished career, but Morris ended
up gaining over 1,516 yards and scoring
22 touchdowns for New York's 1986
Super Bowl winner.
In 1988, seeking offensive linemen,
they used the 10th overall pick on Eric
Moore, just before Dallas took wide
receiver Michael Irvin with the 11th. In
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left tackle Jumbo Elliott, whose work
on Bruce Smith helped them win the
1991 Super Bowl.
Bobby Beathard, one of the most
accomplished drafters ever, hates first
round picks, and he's had his share of
second round busts, like Tory Nixon and
Walter Murray when he was in
Washington. But he still prefers to trade
out of the first round ? last year, he
traded away San Diego's first-rounder
to move up in the second round and take
running back Terrell Fletcher. Typical
Beathard?
In 1990, he arrived in San Diego to
find himself with the fifth overall pick
in the draft.
"I don't think I know what to do with
a nick this hieh." he said.
He took Junior Seau.
He knew.
lowlights
Highlight: To finish up where I
started - the Gamecock football team
had a good spring. The defense looks
a lot more promising than last season.
The defensive line looks to be stronger
and so does the secondary. Look out
for linebacker Darrin Hambrick to
turn some heads. He could be a positive
for any defense.
There is nothing Magic about
this. What was Magic, I mean Ervin
Johnson (I won't call him Magic again
until he redeems himself), thinking
Sunday when he made contact with a
referee? Johnson, who had criticized
teammate Nick Van Exel for shoving
an official about a week earlier, bumped
a referee after he made a call Johnson
didn't agree with. Ervin didn't set too
good of an example for his younger
teammates. Come on, Ervin. You are
too good of a ball player to be making
mistakes like these. L
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USC BRIEFS Staff Repo
SOFTBALL f
The USC softball team moved 1
up one spot to be ranked No. 7 in
the eighth weekly USA
Today/NSCA Division I Softball t
Top 25 Poll announced Wednesday. (
This is the seventh consecutive ^
week the Lady Gamecocks have
been ranked in the top 10. 1
The Lady Gamecocks posted a ?
6-1 record last week, including a 1
4-1 record to place second at the (
North Carolina Invitational. ?
Carolina's loss came to No. 16 1
Florida State, 4-2, in 10 innings, i
Carolina will play in its final 1
in-season tournament this weekend
at the Frost Cutlery Invitational J
in Chattanooga, Tenn. The No. 8 t
Lady Gamecocks will face ]
Tennessee Tech at 10 a.m., ]
Centeraiy at noon and No. 17 South i
e Florida at 8 p.m. Friday. Saturday, '
Carolina will face Marshall at noon <
and begin single-elimination I
championship play at 6 p.m. and. i
continue until the championship ]
game Sunday.
]
MEN'S TENNIS <
]
In their season finale, the USC
men's tennis team rallied from 1
behind Wednesday afternoon to 1
claim a 43 victory over the Clemson i
Tigers. With this win, South
Carolina improved to 12-9 overall I
and 8-1 in Region n, while Clemson
fell to 12-10 on the season.
Down 3-0 after losing the i
doubles point and the first two ;
singles matches, the Gamecocks 1
fought back to win the last four 1
singles matches. Junior Jorge <
Esaueda won his ninth match in
a row with a 6-4,6-4 victory over
Ryan Bauer. With this win,
Esqueda finished the year with a <
team leading record of 31-6 and
19-4 mark in the region. Freshman
Grzegorz Badurowicz took care of
Luis Garcia 64,6-3 while freshman
Keith Brill held on to pull off a 63,3-6,6-2
win over Richard Reyes.
Freshman Francesco Cattini
clinched the match for USC as he
fought hard in a three-set victory
over Ken Wasserman 4-6,6-3,64.
This match wrapped up the
regular season for South Carolina
The Gamecocks start up with
postseason play as they travel to
Fayetteville, Ark.,nn April 24-28
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11
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br the SEC Championships.
WOMEN'S TENNIS
?
The Lady Gamecocks improved
jo 15-8 and 8-2 in the SEC with a
5-3 win over No.17 Georgia
Wednesday afternoon.
The bottom part of the lineup
cu-i tVio mau fnr Qnntli riamUna in
jingles play. Sophomore Tracy
Sotseos recorded a 7-6,6-2 victory
>ver Nadine Van de Walle, while
sophomore Tobi Rakic downed
Xelly B as kin 6-3,6-0. Also, junior
Sophie Ljucovic rolled over Kappy
Xellett 6-3,6-0.
With the match knotted at 31,
the Lady Gamecocks realty pulled
through in doubles play. At the
Mo. 1 singles position, the team of
Seather Greene and Karolina
mproved to 13-2 with an impressive
1-6,6-2,6-3 victory over the No. 3
doubles team in the nation of Anne
3hazu and Michelle Anderson. In
addition, Tobi Rakic and Celine
ttegnier rallied Irom behind lor a
1-6,6-4,6-4 win over Jane Reid
and Kelly Baskin, while Tracy
Kotseos and Sophie Ljucovic
defeated Nadine Van de Walle and
Kappy Kellett 7-5,6-3.
The Lady Gamecocks wrap up.
their regular season Sunday as
they head to Kentucky for an 11
a.m. match.
BASKETBALL
USC men's basketball head
coach Eddie Fogler ended his third
year at the helm of the team with
the team's annual awards banquet,
which featured Wake Forest head
coach Dave Odom as the special
guest.
TVip nnstspasnn awards ware
handed out at this time by master
of ceremonies Charlie McAlexander.
The awards were as follows:
MVP ? Melvin Watson; Most
Improved ? BJ McKie; Best
Defensive Player?Malik Russell;
Best Rebounder ? Malik Russell;
Most Outstanding Player ? Larry
Davis; Mr. Inspirational?Arthur
Carlisle; Buck Freeman
Sportsmanship ? George
Formanek; and the Academic
Award ? Malik Russell.
The Gamecocks finished the
season 19-12 on the season and
advanced to the third round of the
NIT before being eliminated by
Alabama 68-67.
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