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USC Schedule ■ Men’s basketball vs. Court Authority, 7:30 p.m. ■ Women’s Soccer at SEC tournament, Thursday Gamecocks ready to move forward Seven freshmen make debuts tonight by Kevin McCrarey Staff Writer The USC men’s basketball team will try to take its first steps toward re bounding from an 8-21 season when they open against Court Authority tonight. This game is the first of two exhibi tion games Carolina will play before be ginning the regular season. Next week, the Gamecocks play Lithuania-Salai. This will also be the first game in the post-BJ McKie era for the Gamecocks and the first opportunity to see who, if anyone, will step up and be the team’s next superstar. It is the youngest team of coach Ed die Fogler’s tenure, with five players play ing their first games in a Carolina uniform. Guard Herbert Lee Davis is the only senior on the team, and forward Anto nio Grant and guard David Ross are the only juniors. The Gamecocks will take on a Court Authority team loaded with former col lege players, many of whom had stellar college careers. Many of their players have played professionally overseas and one, Edmond Sherod, had a brief NEA ca reer with the New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets. Court Authority has played only one game this season, an 84-83 loss to Navy on Monday. Guard Warren Peebles and center Phil Stinnie led the team with 16 and 14 points, respectively. The starting lineup for the Gamecocks will be: guards Davis, who averaged 6.3 points per game last season, and Aaron Lucas (5.7 ppg); forwards Grant (5.7 ppg) and Damien Kinloch (2.2 ppg); and center Tony Kitchings, who was amedical redshirt last year and saw little action. Court Authority will start Vince Wilson and Peebles at guard, and Jason Williford and Tim Davis at the two forward spots. Wilson, Who buried two treys against Navy, will start at center. The game will begin at 7 p.m. at Frank McGuire Are na. Tickets are still available. Sean Rayford photo editor Sophomore Aaron Lucas, right, will be expected to lead the Gamecock offense at 7 p.m. tonight in USC’s first game against Court Authority, an exhibition match. Women's soccer to begin SEC tournament by Shannon Rooke Staff Writer When South Carolina women’s soc cer coach Sue Kelly decided to take on her fifth year coaching the USC team, she had no idea it would end up finishing the season 14-5 and 6-3 in the Southeastern Conference. “I knew we had the potential and the tools,” Kelly said. “It just depend ed on the staff utilizing their talent and how the team responded. This is the best group of young people that I’ve ever coached and their chemistry, re spect for themselves and respect for the program would make anyone proud.” Now, seeded fourth and heading in to their second consecutive SEC tour nament appearance, Kelly will lead the Gamecocks to Nashville, Tenn., to take on the other seven top seeds in the con ference. Carolina’s main weapon is senior Jennie Ondo, with 14 goals and four assists. After her performance in the Gamecocks’ past two regular-season games, she was named to the Soccer America team of the week and also earned the SEC Player of the Week award. “I always knew that we’d do this well because of the positive attitude we’ve had all season,” Ondo said. “One thing that I am looking forward to is taking on Florida again, because we need to prove to them that we’re better than they are.” Alongside Ondo is Mindy Sanders, Carolina’s assist leader with 13. “We’re definitely ready for this tournament and we have been for a while,” Sanders said. “We’ve accom plished so many things this season, which makes us optimistic and sure that we are capable of winning.” The Lady Game cocks will kick off their tournament appearance against fifth seed Van derbilt at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Despite con stant criticism since last season, Kelly and her players have been con fident they will prove them?elves this season. “We’re looking to take it a game at a time,” Kelly said. “But the hard work, blue-collar ap proach, principles and ethics are the only rea son that we’re 14-5.” The rest of the tour nament field: Florida: The top seed for the second con secutive year, the Gators finished their regular season 8-0 in the conference. Looking to win their fourth straight SEC title, Florida has allowed only eight goals all year and leads the SEC in goals with 68. Players to watch: Sophomore Ab by Wambach heads up the conference with 51 total points and is second in goals with 19. Senior Sarah Yohe fol lows her teammate closely with 50 points and leads the SEC in goals with 21. Mississippi: Finishing 4-5 in the SEC and winning the Western Division, the Mississippi team, seeded second, has its highest tournament seed ever and is making its third consecutive ap pearance. Players to watch: Freshman Brid get Brooks leads her team with a to tal of 14 goals and 29 points. Junior Regan Scanlon is tied for fourth in the SEC in assists, with eight on the season. Kentucky: After winning the tour nament in 1995, the Wildcats have reached the semifinals in the past two years. They have been 5-5 in the six previous tournaments and now look to bring the title back to Kentucky. Player to watch: Sophomore An nie Gorge is third in the SEC with 33 points and has tallied 13 goals for the Wildcats this year. Vanderbilt: Ending their season 6-3 in the conference and placing them selves in the fifth seed, the Com modores are hosting the tournament for the first time since 1993. Although no seed lower than four has ever won the title, Vanderbilt has earned its sev enth straight year appearance in the tournament and is looking to change that streak. Players to watch: Freshman Jen nifer Talavera leads the Commodores with seven goals and 14 points. Junior Kim Szurovy has added six goals, two assists and 19 points. Georgia: Seeded sixth, the Bulldogs are returning to the tourna ment after missing it last year. They ended the regular season 5-4 and out shot their opponents 377-166. Players to watch; Junior goalkeeper Nicole Williams has recorded 10 shutouts and 241 saves. Forward Amy Berbary has added seven goals and three assists to her record. Tennessee The Lady Vols finished their season with a 5-4 record and will make their second straight appearance in Nashville. Players to watch: Sophomore Al ison Campbell has put in 11 goals and assists for her team. Arkansas: After making back-to back appearances in 1993-94 and 1996 97, the Lady Razorbacks are returning to the tournament in 1999. Their most recent title is the 1996 western divi sion championship. Players to watch: Sophomore Hol ly Collins is tied for fourth in the SEC . with eight assists. Freshman Megan Bals has recorded 83 saves, which places her in fourth, as well. Sean Rayforo photo editor Kim Murray enjoys the rain following Monday’s practice. The Lady Gamecocks begin the SEC Tournament on Thursday. Brad Walters Graphics editor The Slate National Football Conference East Division W L Home Road Div Str Washington 5 2 3-1 2-1 2-2 W-l Dallas 4 3 3-0 1-3 3-1 L-2 New York Giants 4 3 2-1 2-2 2-2 W-2 Arizona 2 5 1-3 1-2 2-2 L-2 Philadelphia 2 6 1-3 1-3 1-3 L-2 Central Division Detroit 5 2 3-1 2-1 2-0 W-2 Green Bay 4 3 3-1 1-2 2-1 L-l Minnesota 4 4 2-2 2-2 1-3 W-2 Tampa Bay 3 4 2-1 1-3 0-2 W-l Chicago 3 5 2-2 1-3 1-0 L-3 West Division St. Louis 6 1 4-0 2-1 3-0 L-l San Francisco 3 4 2-1 1-3 1-2 L-3 Carolina 2 5 1-2 1-3 1-2 L-2 Atlanta 2 6 1-3 1-3 2-2 W-l New Orleans 1 6 1-3 0-3 1-2 L-6 American Football Conference East Division W L Home Road Div Str Miami 6 1 2-1 4-0 2-1 W-4 New England 6 2 3-1 3-1 2-1 W-2 Indianapolis 5 2 4-1 1-1 2-2 W-3 Buffalo 5 3 3-1 2-2 2-1 W-l New York Jets 1 6 0-4 1-2 0-3 L-3 Central Division Tennessee 6 1 4-0 2-1 4-0 W-3 Jacksonville 6 1 2-1 4-0 3-1 W-4 Pittsburgh 4 3 1-2 3-1 3-1 W-2 Baltimore 2 5 1-3 1-2 1-2 L-4 Cincinnati 1 7 0-4 1-3 1-3 L-3 Cleveland 1 7 0-3 1-4 0-5 W-l West Division Kansas City 5 2 4-0 1-2 2-1 W-3 Seattle 5 2 2-1 3-1 1-1 W-2 San Diego 4 3 2-2 2-1 2-1 L-l Oakland 4 4 2-2 2-2 0-2 L-l Denver 2 6 1-3 1-3 1-1 L-2 I Tuesday’s Top News • Walter Payton, the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, dies of liver can cer at 45 • Buffalo Sabres goalie Dominik Hasek to be out at least two months with tom groin muscle • Rangers outfielder Juan Gonzalez dealt to Detroit in nine-player deal • Reds manager Jack McKeon voted as AP Manager of the Year • Jeff Gordon loses five members of his pit crew to Dale Jarrett 7 Kyle Almond Guest Columnist Sports, . business don’t mix Cs the college football regu lar season draws to a close, there are quite a few things that we, the fans, can count on. USC won’t score 20 points this season. The Bowl Championship Series system will screw a deserv ing team out of a national title shot. Army will play Navy. The Pac-10 still won’t comprehend the idea of defensive football. But the most disturbing cer tainty we all face is the overexpo sure of advertising in the season concluding bowl games. If you’ve ever watched a col lege bowl in recent years, you know what I’m talking about. Every game is “sponsored” by a different com pany, a company which then pro ceeds to do the best it possibly can to overwhelm the public with a massive display of logos and shameless promotion. It’s a sick ening reality. This vpar thp national rhamni onship game will be the NOKIA Sugar Bowl. When you sit down to watch it, you can be sure you’ll see and hear the word NOKIA roughly 537 times. The announcers won’t refer to the game as the national championship or the Sugar Bowl, but as the NOKIA Sugar Bowl. And why? What does a cellular phone have to do with football? Ab solutely nothing at all. Last year, Florida State and Ten nessee played in the TOSTITOS Fi esta Bowl. I watched the entire game, and not once did I see any tortilla chips make a single tackle or throw for a first down. People watch football to watch football. They don’t watch to look for a reliable cellular phone or some tasty chips. Bowl games are a staple of a sports fan’s Christmas vacation. It’s a tradition that has stood the test of time without such blatant adver tising. So why the sudden change? It’s sad to say, but sports is now strictly business. We live in the age of $100 million contracts and as tronomical salaries. The theme of the ‘90s? Sell to the highest bidder. And nothing, not even a sport as sa cred as college football, is exclud ed. As I previously mentioned, bowl games are only one example of how corporate America is taking over sports. I remember the days when a new stadium or arena was named after someone who put in years of hard work and dedication to the franchise (Lambeau Field), or after an important person in American history (R.F.K. Stadium). Now, a business with the right bid can get a major-league stadium named af ter them. There’s the MCI Center in Washington, D.C., Coors Field in Colorado, Ericsson Stadium in Char lotte, PSINet Stadium in Baltimore and countless others. Two of the most storied arenas in sports, Boston Garden in Boston and the Great Western Forum in Los Angeles, were replaced by the FleetCenter and the Staples Arena, respective ly At this pace, every major sports venue will have a corporate name by the time I die. It doesn’t stop there. There’s been speculation over the past few baseball seasons about putting lo gos of corporate sponsors on ma jor-league baseball uniforms. Yes, that’s right. The powers that be have actually been contemplating vio lating the purity of our national pas time. Could you imagine the Yan kees abandoning their trademark pinstripes for, let’s say, a big Taco Bell logo? Or how about the Braves with a Rolaids patch on their sleeve? Yeah, it would be the most relief they’ve had in recent memory, but it would ruin the integrity of the \ Almond seemgem