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Insider gives tips on. improving Monday NITRO | MICHAEL STRICKLAND | WCW began NITRO in September of 1995. Shortly thereafter, the Outsiders arrived on the scene to take WCW to the top of the wrestling industry. For two years WCW put out a tremendous product, dominating the WWF in quality. Each week we tuned in to see what the nWo and others would do next. The element of surprise was at its climax. However, since then, WCW's proerrammincf has consistently slinned. What o o */ ri should WCW do to retake their position as the No. 1 wrestling promotion in the world? First, the Outsiders were the reason WCW skyrocketed. Yet WCW decided to break the group up. While there are talks the group will be reformed next month, much has been lost in that time, as the tag-team division has been gutted. WCW should dissolve the Wolfpac and put Hall and Nash back together. Oet them back to their "no affiliation" gimmick. With that, send Sting back to the crow or surfer when he returns in 1999, and use Randy Savage as "The Madness" to see what kind of trouble he can stir up when he returns around the holidays. Second, reduce Hulk Hogan's airtime. He rliH holr\ molro urroctlincr what it io hut nnt U1U AAV>A?S 111UUV TTlVUKUllg TT 11UV XV XkJ j VUV AAV/V by doing what he does now. He was never on the air this much during his glory days. Use him sparingly and carefully. He could be much more effective in a similar role as Roddy Piper. Then Bischoff could be removed from the nWo. Third, continue to heat up the Four Horsemen angle. Fans love Ric Flair, no matter his age. A Horsemen/nWo feud would surely capture the audience. People want to see Flair go out in style by getting back at Eric Bischoff and proving that the nWo is just a carbon copy of what the Horsemen were during the '80s and early '90s. This time, give the fans what they want. Also, how about a legitimate feud for Goldberg. Give him a real challenge. Hey, maybe even find someone to beat him. The undefeated, invincible thing will not last forever. Something must be done with him before he goes stale. In addition, continue to push the likes of Kidman and Chris Jericho. These types of guys are terrific performers and deserve a chance. Finally, I propose that WCW reduce NITRO to two hours. The first hour is pointless, and so is part of the second. WCW might have overestimated how much airtime they could support, with the extension of NITRO and the addition of Thunder. Along with that, take more steps in setting up the PayPer-View events better. Too often we are days away from the big events and don't know half of the card. That said, here is a brief recap of a wild NITRO. Juventud Guererra was able to derail Kidman and regain the cruiserweight title, landing the 450 splash in another terrific match between the two men. Later, Arn Anderson and the Horsemen took out Horace and Stevie Ray of the nWo with a tire iron, heating up their feud. Ric Flair then came out and stole the spotlight by announcing Bany Windham as "his man." No telling where this may lead. Bret Hart faced Chris Benoit in a major brawl that saw Hart eventually take out both Benoit and Malenko. However, Hart got a dose of payback as DDP returned from injury unexpectedly to attack The Hitman. These two will lock up in a dandy for the U.S. title at WWIII. WCW dropped a pleasant bombshell by bringing Bam Bam Bigelow into the fold earlier than expected as the "Beast from the East" entered WCW and demanded Goldberg. The two monsters brawled for a few minutes at the close of NITRO. This sets up a feud for Goldberg. This NITRO was one of the wildest, most unpredictable NITROs of recent memory. Hopefully the events from Monday mean WCW is getting back on track. Enjoy WWI II this bunday. USC hosts Vir ^ .: ^ ? Hrs!^- . I,. mH^1 ? ?? '' g^r ":" - , , ^?u?^ , Nathan Watkins (kneeling), Chris Morma Gamecocl ^ South Carolina freshman Damien Kinloch tries over BC Kandit, Croatia at Frank McGuire Aren return to reguair-season play Nov. 23 when they Williams'play coi I DAVID CLONiNGER 1 . H m SC( V leade When the South Carolina men's basketball this a team closed out its highly successful 1996-97 A season, Head Coach Eddie Fogler knew he had hi bit to find somebody to take the place of seniors the p Larry Davis and Nate Wilbourne. horts I ne answer came m b-ioot-e, zzu-pouna ju- "Mai nior transfer LeRon Williams from Florida. y Williams, after several disputes with Flori- comr da coach Billy Donovan, decided to come to Co- perfc lumbia to finish out his collegiate career. y Fogler and the Gamecocks weren't disap- Gam pointed, as Williams stepped into his new po- son c sition and quickly became one of the most dan- roie 1 gerous power forwards in the Southeastern cauS( Conference. leng Since Dec. 17,1997, Williams has become ]y the second-leading scorer in the Gamecock of- won' fense, behind BJ McKie. take Averaging 14 points per game last year, y Williams is off to a hot start this year, scoring teair 14 against both Valparaiso and Indiana, 11 against Croatia, and 17 against Marathon Oil. . ginia Commonwt <m:-M i to the t ^ 1 ^ ? \ A ^ rts!u, i u ? ^ lM et. We SEAN RAYFORD Sport.1) Photo Editor namen xi and Ryan O'Neill celebrate a goal Sunday. namen B take ui SMIHH '^B mml f i S IHr^BMWw^^^BH jMMf??'' f - |r. ^i HsnHKi HBHv^'iiittSl ^U|_^ ^ iw S ***66460 mm^ PJSj :-.tv 0 <g|. r |p M ' 1 <;' ' ' to penetrate down low in the first half of a. Kin loch had six points and six rebound host Wofford at 7:30 p.m. uld carry USC tc [e is also currently leading the Gamecocks i 3ring this year, averaging 14 per game. scor Williams, also the field goal percentage ;r from last year, is shooting 52 percent /ear while playing just 22.5 minutes. 1 s a fan in attendance at the first two ex- to le ion games, I was very impressed with pUu day of Williams, spurring me and my co- r > in the Cockpit to yell out our battle cry, te 'em bleed, LeRon." can ou'd be surprised how much an innocent sine nent can make a difference in a player's aga; irmance. , Williams has been the bright spot of the rt/lArtl.0 AA f 1.1A AAA AAA IX/VlAf A.TA1. KAA htlll iicu u uus scdsuii. it id a pi iv iicgc tu icp- ruuiiu. the University of South Carolina. in the lought this was a very complete brack- Th have always wanted athe soccer tour- order, t to be set up like the basketball tour- ington t\ and Ir cvuV/xvo du iai tiiio ocaouu. miaicvci ica:oach Fogler has for limiting BJ McKie's havi this season hasn't made a difference, be- do v e "The Thug" has stepped up to the chal; with explosive performances every game, lany people are saying that the Gamecocks Will t have a very good season this year, but ( heart. 20-\ Williams has become the sparkplug of the i, always pumping the other players up the simple way he can drive a basketball Wit] an opposing player's face. day, ^alth in NCAA' 7/tr CHRIS DeGUlDO If they v ! Carolina men's soccer team will host seated a Commonwealth at 1 p.m. Sunday in it round of the NCAA Tournament, as 0f j iced Monday. featinj s marks the 13th time ? the 12th in the Fo years ? the Gamecocks have advanced the to :hampionships. St. Jol m very, very pleased to return to the went j Tournament," said USC Head Coach La Person. "I am proud of our team; they featec UnJ T4- ir, ? 4-n 1 linspire : fML v | m^0'.^-4. wM'^%* Aj^SVffl ftr':: ^"^^WIWIIIIIIIW JhH 'V->x-:/:::^5::: '1^:tf:?^mB!>fi:. '' wAsv.v?.?Wyi "mi} ^fesolsJ? Sfefc ' * . ' SEAN RAYFORD Sports Photo Editor Monday night's 88-80 exhibition win is for Carolina. The Gamecocks (0-2) ) great heights Against Croatia Monday night, Williams ed Carolina's first five points and finished l 11 for the game. de even seemed to bo holding back at times, t his other teammates take some credit and their weight. rhe SEC already knows what a threat he be and has given LeRon a healthy respect e his two 25-point performances last year inst Tennessee and Auburn. 'Basically, I was expected to step up and die a lot of the workload this year, and I _ A !l 1 1 T 1 i_l_ -X T 1J1 A. - e contnuuieu. i Knew mat i wouia nave to /ell if we wanted to win, so I'm just playing cetball right now the best way I know how." liams said. Carolina fans who have come to expect vin seasons have no reason to worry bese the Gamecocks lost their first two games, h Williams leading the way, as he did Mon, USC is sure to have another great season. Tournament the Gamecocks win the first match, /ill face the winner of Rider and No. 2Virginia. Virginia would host the match, e Rams (12-5-3) handed USC (15-4) one 'ew losses this season in Richmond, deg the Gamecocks 2-1 in overtime, ur 1998 Carolina opponents advanced to urnament: VCU, No. 1 Clemson, No. 5 hn's, and No. 6 UCLA. The Gamecocks L-3 against these teams., st year, USC was a No. 4 seed and deI Charleston Southern 3-0 in the first Carolina lost to Clemson 1-0 in overtime second round. ie top eight seeds in the tournament, in , are Clemson, Virginia, Duke, Washi, St. John's, UCLA, Cal State-Fullerton idiana. d victory asst. sports editor KELLY MAGUIRE The Carolina men's basketball team took a break from regular- season play to take on international competition Monday night at Frank McGuire Arena. BC Kandit, Croatia (0-4 on their U.S. tour) arrived in Columbia to give the Gamecocks a taste of European basketball. However, USC showed the Croatians which country reigns in basketball. The Gamecocks led by as many as That lead dwindled to six alter a tip-m Irom Croatia's Dubravko Zemljic. However, things only got worse for the Croatians, as Carolina ran up the score late in the first half to take a 24-point lead into halftime. Ross was the leading scorer at the half, with 10 points, Bud Johnson had seven rebounds, and BJ McKie led with five assists. "I liked our unselfishness in the first half," Fogler said. "It was outstanding." Carolina returned from the lockerroom and USC increased its lead to 26 points on a Johnson baseline shot. The lead decreased early in the second half, as the Gamecocks went over five minutes without a field goal. The only point USC scored during that five-minute period was on a free throw by Williams. At the 11:03 mark, McKie fouled out while scrambling for the ball at half-court. McKie finished the game with only five field goal attempts and one 3-pointer. McKie finished with four points, all of which came on free throws. He also finished with eight assists. Lucas was then moved to point guard in McKie's absence. With 9:18 remaining in the ballgame, Carolina saw its lead trickle down to six points, after a 3-point shot by Croatia's Drazen Tankosic. Lucas then shot two free throws to give the Gamecocks a 65-57 lead. On his next attempt, Lucas hit a 23-foot 3-pointer to increase USC's lead to nine. Over the next minute, Carolina managed to get its lead back to 14 points on baskets by Rouse and Damien Kinloch. "First half, pretty well; second half, they shot better," Fogler said. "We lost a lot of enthusiasm ? basically the game was over at half, so I don't know if we can learn a lot from that." Over the final five minutes, USC and Croatia stayed fairly even on shooting, as Croatia responded to each of Carolina's baskets. The last shots ended up being two free throws by Croatia, which was fitting, considering the foul trouble each team had in the game. Croatia saw six of its players commit three or more personal fouls, while only three Gamecocks had three or more: Tony Kitchings with four, McKie with five and Ross with three. Three players hit double digits for USC: Lucas, Ross and Williams. The trio had 18,10 and 11 points, respectively. Carolina shot 45.2 percent on field goals, 38.1 percent on 3-pointers and 64.9 percent on free throws. Johnson led in rebounds, with nine for the night. Next, the Gamecocks host Wofford at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 23. Carolina might have to do without Davis, who injured his wrist late in the first half, in that game. However, forward Antonio Grant might be able to return to action bv Mon day. i 26 points during the course of the game, Ultimately winning 88-80. Fans not traveling to Clemson for this weekend's football game might have seen glimpses of football-like plays Monday, as the two squads battled for possession, several times tackling each other and rolling across the court. At one point, more than half the players on the court were scrambling for the ball. "I liked our getting on the floor for loose balls, as well, the first half," said Head Coach Eddie Fogler. "That was very well-done." Carolina took the early lead and never relinquished it. The onlv lead of the entire contest for Croatia was the first basket of the game, when Peter Patton hit an 18-foot shot for two points. Less than 20 seconds later, USC's LeRon Williams hooked a 5-foot shot for the Gamecocks, a shot that might as well have sealed the win for Carolina. It began a run of 11 unanswered points for USC, six of which came off i.' ~ O 4. ZJ 1 i, T cuxxsecuuve o-puxxxiexs uuuxiesy ui neiuext ijee Davis. Croatia then scored again to narrow the lead to six on what was to be one of 12 3-pointers from the Europeans. USC freshman Aaron Lucas came in less than five minutes into the first half for Hagen Rouse. Lucas immediately assisted William Gallman on a shot to extend the Gamecocks' lead to 10. With 13:51 left in the first half, Lucas took matters into his own hands and scored two on a driving layup. "Aaron's good, it's obvious," Fogler said. "A freshman with a lot of talent, he's tough, smart. He's awfully good." David Ross then extended the Gamecocks' lead to 16 on a 3-pointer from the left corner.