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^ Alabama 72 Vanderbilt 62 ^ Georgia 79 Miss. St. 76 Friday, March 6,1998 , Gamecoc sports editor kCWM HUNT It all started back in Octobe amongst a "Madness" of fans, slar dunks, and celebrities on the floor c b\?a*\lr Awvm a 'l'U atm x' i an a. ivaiului c /ii ciia. ixiat mauiics was of course of the Midnight variety and while it was loads of fun for all nothing that happened that night ha a great impact on the 1997-98 editioi 9 of the Gamecocks. Now another Madness has enters the lives of the 12 young men who com prise the Gamecock basketball tear and their loyal legion of rooster boost ers. But this time the stakes are high The outcome means everything. Win, and they get another breatl of life along with the chance to still cap ture an SEC title. Lose, and the Game cocks earn no title and might have t a start using up those frequent flyer mile - to reach their tournament destinatioi out west. The bearing of this weekend' Southeastern Conference Tournamen to be in the 26,000-seat Georgia Dom in Atlanta, Ga. is huge for the Game cocks. Not huge from a standpoint of having to win to be able to make the NCAA Tournament, but huge because this weekend will go a long way in deter mining seeding and region. With 21 wins that include quality wins over Maryland, Georgia, Tennessee, Cincinnati and Florida, the Gamecocks are locked for at least a No. 4 seed. Make it to the championship game of the SEC Tournament in Atlanta and that seed could move up to a No. 3. But to get to that point, the Gamecocks have to face some stiff competi^ tion. Because the sports staff wants tc go home and watch the Florida-Auburn game tonight, we don't know who the Gamecocks will be playing, so we will look at the Gamecocks against both teams. By now you probably alreadj know who won, so just read the sectior that applies. A Florida: The Gamecocks have facec Billy Donavan's Gators twice this yeai and beat them 74-72 in Columbia ir late January. The game was tied late until junior Bj Mckie missed one of his patented spin shots but was tappec back in by SEC All-Freshman tean member Antonio Grant, who would g( on to more heroics in the Cincinatt game. Tn tVia aamriA rromn tVia flama/Y\plr< Ai* M1V DtWUU gOUi^) U1V VIUU1UWV.IU ^ went into a bout that resembled mor< of a fight between Ric Flair and Hoi Kentucky larty WILLIAMS Scoop Shots And so it has come to this. ^ One year gone, a regular season complete, and the Gamecocks' basketball team is where it always wanted to be. It finally has the chance to right what went so dreadfully wrong last year the postseason. Somehow, you knew it would come down to this. A year ago tonight, the Gamecocks were on top of the world. The 72-66 ^ shocker at Kentucky still fresh on their minds. The No. 4 national ranking. Hie seven straight wins. 1QQQ G Eljtent, W4 Alabama J*? "' E3 VanderbiltsiPl Jfvi'W2 Aika W6 LSD J M thtma M Game 3?g;$flp.m. t*meJ E3 Tennessee JiLrl! E4 Georgia Game 2 ???F^ % W5 Mississippi St. W3 Auburn ||. Game 4 ? 9:45 pM Gam |" E6 Florida "T Thursday, March 5 Friday, M Spc The Ga i Spring E If the seeds hold them, Georgia will fnpp OIp Miss latpr tivlav n-pnreri n Vipat ks to spen< lywood Hogan than it did a college basketball game. Junior Bj Mckie was whisr tied for a technical foul and was later Q slapped with a one-half game suspen'f sion for throwing an elbow against the s Gators. The Gamecocks still managed '> to triumph in the game, 79-74. "The thing about Florida that would scare me about them if we played them in the tournament other than the threes that they hit is the fact that we rl 1 1 j. j.1 i ! i j nave ueaien mem twice aireaay ana 11 l" is so tough to win three games in a year Q against any team," Head Coach Eddie Fogler said. Florida is a tough team who is known for their three-point shot. The h Gators hit 16 in two games against the h Gamecocks this season. Florida led the * SEC this season in three-point field 0 goals by making 262 out of 641 attempts s for a 40.9 percent clip. When you look individually at the Gators' shooting, junior Greg Stolt hits s 50.5 percent of his tries, while sophot more Kenyan Weaks hits 50 percent of e his three-pointers. Junior Jason Williams is the Gators' leading scorer with 17.1 points per game. "Florida is capable of beating any1 body," junior forward William Gallman said. "They hit those threes really well, they did against us in both games this year." Auburn: The Gamecocks played Auburn back on January 24th on the plains of Auburn, Ala. The bench play saved the Gamecocks that day as they outscored the Tigers 27-2 off the bench. Carolina managed to win the game despite hitting only one field goal in the final 13 minutes of the game. Melvin Watson had his season high ' seven assists in this game. J. I'.' Game9-1p.m. &S3S I -7:30p.m. ' J ^ ; .. I! Game 1 2S*EIW^ |r [i Carolina GamB IIS -9:45 p.m.. r-#2 [arch 6 Saturday, March 7 Suncb , "Auburn is a real physical team, I and they play real good," Gallman said. , "They have been struggling of late , though." i After a strong conference start, the Tigers have slowed way down by losing their last four conference games and . only winning two of their last eight. Those losses include double-digit loses to Kentucky, Arkansas and Vanderbilt. 3 If the Gamecocks advance past the I quarterfinals tonight at 9:45 p.m., then i they will face the winner of the brack) et that features SEC West Champ i Ole Miss. That game is slated for 3:15 on Saturday. 3 Ole Miss plays at 3 p.m. today 5 against the winner of yesterday's Geor gia-Mississippi State game. loss may he That night, in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference tourna_ _ A 1K V* TTOn i. _ J i-_ ? I meni in iviempnis, uot coasieu iu a modest win over Alabama. They shot well, played staunch defense. The next day, though, it would all begin to crumble. Whatever was the impetus for the two wins over Kentucky, the conference title, the distinction of being the fourth-best team in the land, it wasn't there in the semifinals against Georgia. It didn't return against Coppin State. You know the grisly details. But thanks to last week's season1 ending loss to Kentucky, we don't have ' to worry about any smug feelings had > by the Gamecocks when they begin another postseason tonight. jastern Conference 1 Atlanta, Ga. Georgia Dome (26,00( mini vwuw;' Ole Miss this year 70-68 in Athens. The Gamecocks have beaten the Bulldogs twice this year including the buzzer-beating win last Tuesday night on ESPN. If they face the Bulldogs they will once again have the challenge of defeating a team three times in one year. If the seeds hold however Ole Miss will be the Gamecocks opponent on Saturday assuming a Carolina victory tonight. Ole Miss handily defeated the Gamecocks in Oxford in early January in both teams' first conference game of the year. The final tally from that game saw Carolina lose 73-54. Everybody expects Kentucky to cruise to the championship game in the other half of the bracket. And with good reason. The Wildcats have defeated all of the teams on their side of the hroMrot at looct nnco tViia uoor TTio Wilrl. wi tWMXVV UV 1VUUU V/iiW UliU J VU1 X IIV I V uu cats' two conference losses are both to Florida and Ole Miss who they would not face until the Championship game. Of the Gamecocks' five conference losses only one (Ole Miss) is in their bracket. Tennessee, Kentucky (two loses), and Arkansas are all in the other half and would not be faced until the Championship game. And the Gamecocks want to face the Wildcats again. They were embarrassed in Rupp Arena earlier this year, and Saturday our Senior Day was ruined by the Wildcats. This year the SEC Tournament is as wide open as it has been in years. Instead of Kentucky as the favorite and only one other team with a chance, as many as five teams have a chance to ___ mv _ .1 : r r :i. _ _ win 11 an. ine odvious iour iavomes are USC, Kentucky, Arkansas and Ole Miss. The other team with the talent to win is Tennessee who handed the Gamecocks a loss on the road by one point. The big factor working against Tennessee is the fact that they have no firstround bye like the other favorites so they have to win four games instead of just three. The Gamecocks open play at 9:45 tonight on WIS-TV in the Columbia area. If they advance to Saturday, the game will be at 3:15 p.m. also on WISTV. If the Gamecocks can advance to the SEC Championship game at noon on Sunday, that game will be nationally televised on CBS. lp USC avo Last year, once the victory over Kentucky was assured, a Bacchanakian celebration ensued, stretching from the airport to Five Points. The players took part. Last Saturday, as the clock ticked down on the regular season at Frank McGuire Arena, the Gamecocks were ticked off. Truth is, finishing second to the Wildcats might have been the best thing to happen. In the hours and days following the glorious win at Kentucky last year, there was a palpable sense of accomplishment that served as a serious impediment to the Gamecock's postseason success. With that win. USC had surpassed every goal it had set for ittournament ? I 1 I I 1 ? 12p.m. NCAA Tournament Representative ly, March 8 DRTS mecock Ireak being I* 1 | | | '* Senior Ryan Stack begins play in his 1 game. Stack has averaged 9.6 ppg, 5-9 dd disastrou self back in October 1996, when prac- w tices began. gi That sense of accomplishment doomed the Gamecocks in those losses la to Georgia and Coppin State. S Presumably, after coming up short ^ in the SEC race, the Gamecocks have 11 fVirt Viiinrt<\v.4Uio iranv* TUft ea/\V d Llic ULUigci tins jcai. 111c ^lajcio occiv vindication and closure. Not just in the NCAAs, but the conference tourney g< as well. "1 "I think we can win the big games, ^ and I'm not just talking about the NCAAs," Bj Mckie said, following the "1 loss to Kentucky. "This game wasn't n everything." Indeed it wasn't, especially when a you realize what last year's win at Rupp p j s c k_ t c K_ \ t \ j r f Nate say a first roi the secon bye two v olinanev in the le? 'S-E-Cond -. Hli j ijmB EBfa?# .&P '''\W&&:'$$k m # ^JR. fjj^ :%^M ^wSSHj^BM^Kf. --v "?:#? *::-fo:ffiftfr: vj*;: ast SEC Tournament tonight against t) rpg, and 1.9 rpg, and is 5th in the lea s tourname as good for. once the Dostseason be- lei an: absolutely nothing. ar Obviously Kentucky did something ist year to regroup after its infamous enior Day loss. The Wildcats went to ^1 temphis, won the conference title, then de lade it all the way to the national fej lampionship game. "It's a loss we can learn from as we o into the tournament," Mckie said. Maybe we'll meet Kentucky again in us le tournament." G; In USC, Mckie says he sees a team w] ;hat has the potential to win the tourament championship." So if the Gamecocks have to go up gainst the Wildcats again, the results 0 ^ robably won't be much different. But er SEC Tour facts and ports editor ACHIM HUNT ye In its first five trips to the SEC M 'ournament, Carolina was seeded no ligher than fifth in the Eastern Divi- cc ion and had won a first round game nly once (1994 vs. Ole Miss). m But the Gamecocks have received i first-round bye in each of the last two P' easons: last year after winning the p< 5EC Championship and this season afer finishing second in the East behind >EC Champion Kentucky. *e The Gamecocks automatically ad- S1 fance into the quarterfinals for just the C hird time in seven years and with a ol ictory will play in semifinal action for ust the second time ever. T Carolina is 3-6 overall in SEC Tourlament action all-time. Carolina has played in four diferent league tournaments over the tc s that the Gamecocks have earned ind bye in the SEC Tournament for id consecutive year. USC earned the reeks ago; and prior to last year, Carer had been seeded higher than fifth igue tournament. Page 5 ' to none BRYAN JOHNSTON The Gamecock ie winner of the Florida/Auburn gue in blocks. lit repeat ;'s see the Gamecocks for what they e, or aren't. They're not streaky, like last year, ley're consistent. They play good fense. They're well-coached. They're arless on the road. No, there are no guarantees. Last ar proved that. But something tells i this year will be different, that the amecocks will be game no matter hat, or where. Something tells us that this me, USC will be on the winning end some March Madness before it all ids in San Antonio. nament figures ;ars including the Southern, ACC, 'etro, and SEC classics. In those tournaments the Gameicks are 28-48 in conference tournaent, with two championships (1993 outhern, 1971 ACC), three secondlace finishes, and 15 semifinal apirances. Carolina has not played in a conrence tournament championship game nee a 52-51 win in the 1971 ACC hampionship game against North Carina. This will be the fourth SEC ournament held in Atlanta, and the jcond at the Georgia Dome. The last time in Atlanta USC lost > Auburn in the first round.