University of South Carolina Libraries
Friday: The 2000 Gamecock baseball season is previewed in a spe cial insert Schedule ■ National Signing Day, today ■ Men’s basketball vs. Florida, 7:30 p.m. ■ Women’s basketball vs. Auburn, Thu. ■ Track & Field at Milrose Games, Fri. ■ Baseball vs. Chas. Southern, Fri. "* Page B1 USC looks to avoid 7th straight loss by Jeff Romig Sports Editor When the Florida Gators and the South Carolina Game cocks face off tonight at Frank McGuire Arena, two of the top freshmen in the nation will square off against each other. But who is better? Florida’s Donnell Harvey comes in with all the ac claim. He was picked as the SEC Newcomer of the Year by Basketball News and was one of 12 Dick’s Dandy Dozen Diaper Dandies by Dick Vitale’s College Basketball. “Harvey is the most relentless rebounder I’ve seen,” said Eddie Fogler, USC head coach. Fogler gives the nod to his own freshman star Chuck Eidson, but he doesn’t think Eidson has gotten the same recognition because he’s not playing for a Top 25 team. “Our team hasn’t been on television as much,” Fogler said. “Because our team has lost close games, I don’t think people realize how good he is. “I’m not saying he’s as talented, but he’s as good a player as I’ve seen playing the game. There are certainly more talented, more athletic, but I think it’s quite obvi ous to anyone that has seen him play that he is an excel lent player.” Eidson is averaging 10.1 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.7 as sists and 3.2 steals a game. He leads the SEC in steals and is ranked seventh in the NCAA in the same category. Any attention Eidson has gotten hasn’t fazed him to this point. “I’m just another player out there,” Eidson said. Eidson knows about attention. As a senior at Pinewood Prep in Summerville, Eidson was billed as the next god send for the Gamecocks. “I got too much (attention),” Eidson said. “I was get ting sick of it a little bit.” Despite being made out to be the next USC star, it was assumed that Eidson would have to take his lumps in the SEC before he made an impact. How does Eidson feel about his progress to this point? “I expected to be playing a lot better,” Eidson said. “Right now, going to the point, I can’t wait to play Florida. I need some more work at (playing the point), but I had a good time out there and I look forward to Flori da.” Gamecock team captain Herbert Lee Davis knew dur ing summer practice that Eidson had the heart to even tually make an impact in the SEC. “During the summertime, he tried to dunk on me,” Davis said. “He didn’t dunk, but that just showed that he had a lot of heart. “That was the big question coming in. Was he tough enough? Could he compete at this level? When he played aggressive like that, I knew that he would be something special.” Probable Starting Lineups USC (9-11,1-6 SEC) F #35 Antonio Grant (6-5,230, RJr., North Augusta, S.C., 7.7 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 1.2 spg) F #33 Damien Kinloch (6-7, 215, So., Charleston, S.C., 4.9 ppg, 4.8 rpg) C #12 Marius Petravicius (6-10, 245, Fr., Kltenenu, Lithuania, 7.9 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 0.8 bpg) G #14 Herbert Lee Davis (6-5,182, Sr., Georgetown, S.C., 11.2 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 1.4 apg) G #31 Chuck Eidson (6-7,198, Fr., Summerville, S.C., 10.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.6 apg, 3.2 spg) No. 12 Florida (15-4,4-2 SEC) F #00 Brent Wright (6-7, 232, Jr., Miami, Fla., 8.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.1 apg) F #25 Major Parker (64,218, Jr., Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., 4.4 ppg, 1.8 rpg) C #50 Udonis Haslem (6-7,260, So., Miami, Fla., 11.9 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 1.0 bpg) G #5 Teddy Dupay (5-10,170, So., Cape Coral, Fla., 9.0 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 3.7 apg, 1.5 spg) G #13 Mike Miller (6-8,218, So., Mitchell, SD., 14.5 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 2.8 apg, 1.4 spg) Coaches use Head Coach; Eddie Fogler (102-96 USC, seven years, 244-' 176 overall, 13 years) Assistants: Rick Callahan, John Cooper, Barclay Rade baugh Florida Head Coach: Billy Donovan (64-45 Florida, four years, 97-65 overall, six years) Assistants: John Pelphrey, Anthony Grant, Donnie Jones Series History Overall: Florida, 18-16 Last meeting: Florida, 89-6 l*in Gainesville Streak: Florida has won the past two games against USC At Columbia: Florida 10-9 At Gainesville: Florida 7-5 At Neutral Sites: USC 2-1 Fogler against Florida: 11-10 Donovan against USC: 2-5 Location: Frank McGuire Arena, Columbia Tipofl: 7:37 p.m. TV: None Radio: WVOC-560AM Tickets: Still available ^—esssam^i i 'in' ■———E-a— Sean Rayford Gamecock Sports Freshman Chuck Eidson dunks during USC’s 61-60 loss to Vanderbilt last week. Eidson and the rest of the Gamecocks will take on the No. 12 Florida Gators toninht at 7:30 n.m. at Frank McGurie Arena. Gortman tears ACL, will miss rest of season Women’s Basketball Roundup Gamecock Sports The USC Lady Gamecocks learned Tuesday that sophomore guard Shaun zinski Gortman wall miss the remainder of the season with a tom anterior cru T^iate ligament in her left knee. The injury occurred in the first six minutes of Sunday’s game at Florida as Gortman was bringing the ball up the court uncontested. Originally believed io oe a minor ruiee sprain after the game, Gortman un derwent an MRI in Columbia on Mon day afternoon and the ACL tear was found. Gortman, who had minn, « UUni mmi - at point guard for South Carolina, led the team in scor ing (14.8 points per game), assists (4.2 per game) steals (2.6 per game), and was third in rebounding (5.6). ^ Earlier in the season, Gortman ac complished only the third triple-double in team history against Geoigia South ern when she scored 21 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and passed 10 assists. “Obviously, it is a big hit to our pro gram to lose a player with Shaun’s abil ity,” USC head coach Su$an Whlvius said. “She is a big part of our offense and our running game. We have a very talented team and Shaun is not our on ly scoring option. “I know that our players will accept this setback as a challenge to work hard er in practice and during the game. Our team will have to rally behind the in jury and we’ll need Annie Lester, Jo celyn Penn and Petra Ujhelyi to step up and score more points. We probably won’t be the same up-tempo team with out Shaun, but we will still stick to our game plans of pushing the ball upcourt.” “I can’t really explain what hap pened,” Gortman said. “I had gotten the rebound and started dribbling up the court and just after I crossed midcourt, my left leg stopped on the floor and the rest of my body kept going. “At halftime, I thought that I could come back out and play but we decid ed not to risk it. I am disappointed that Sunday’s game was my last opportuni ty to play with our seniors Shanta Jeff coat, Casie Key and Annie Lester. I’ll just have to accept it, work hard in re hab and come back stronger than be fore.” USC won its only Southeastern Con ference game this season behind Gort man, who scored seven points and had four steals. The Lady Gamecocks are currently 11-9, 1-6 SEC with seven remaining games. Lady Gamecocks lose again, 79-63 by Shannon Rooke Assistant Sports Editor Despite out-shooting and out-rebounding their No. 7 opponent, the Lady Gamecock basketball team fell to Florida 79-63 on Sunday. Carolina got off to an early lead with top scorer Shaunzinski Gortman leading the way with four points and two rebounds in the first six minutes. Not long after that, the sophomore point guard was bringing the ball across half court when she fell to the floor and had to leave the game. The USC trainer’s re port during the game stated she had sprained her left knee and wouldn’t return to the floor for the re maining 44 minutes. Freshman Kelly Morrone and senior Annie Lester rallied around the loss and brought the struggling Gamecocks from a nine-point deficit to a 19-18 lead with 5:10 left in the first half. Morrone set a new ca reer record and also led the team with 15 points. Florida answered and went on a 16-5 run, send i ing themselves into halftime with a comfortable 10-point lead. The Lady Gamecocks would never recover. Missing their top scorer and top rebounder throughout the second half, Carolina sank into an 18 point hole and never had a chance to dig them selves out. The Lady Gamecocks were unable to stop Lady Gator guard Tiffany Travis and watched as she scored eight consecutive points. Travis would go on - to score 16 of her 22 points in the second half. USC head coach Susan A^hlvius is happy with the consistant improvement from her team. “I’m not totally unhappy with our performance today,” she said. “We had some good looks at shots today but they just didn’t go in. We corrected some things from our last Sunday’s game against Florida and we did a better job in transition and on the boards.” With Gortman off the court for now, Walvius has had to look toward her younger players to fill her chnpc “It’s hard to win in the SEC when you lose your point guard and top scorer,” Whlvius said “Our young players had to play a lot of minutes in the second half and they came out and played hard. “They weren’t scared or intimidated by Florida. Our team can learn from freshman Kelly Morrone. Her mentality makes her a winner and she doesn’t quit or accept defeat. I was pleased with her play to day as I was pleased with Ines Ajanovic’s play.” After conversing with the trainer about the in jury on Monday afternoon, it was concluded that Gortman had tom her ACL and will not return for the remainder of the season. With the loss, USC dropped to 1-6 in the SEC and the Gators moved to 3-3. Next, Carolina returns to their home court Thursday night for an SEC bat tle against the 11 th-ranked Auburn Lady Tigers. Auburn is 4-3 in the SEC and 16-4 on the season. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. 5 ; t )avid Cloninger 1 Who Else? Janikowski ■ just another; Criminole i r People the world over have been telling the same fi tupid, tasteless jokes about the lack of intelligence c upposedly possessed by Polish citizens for years, ti Although the remarks are vile, insensitive and bsolutely false, in the case of Florida State place- a icker Sebastian Janikowski, the jokes can’t ring any t< lore true. v How can one person be so stupid? a Briefly, the facts of the case: Janikowski is an All-American kicker from the ational champion Seminoles, revered for his mighty ii 3g and projected as one of the highest draft picks n ver at his position. After winning the Sugar Bowl n Jan. 4, Janikowski announced he would forego his enior season and enter the NFL draft. v The Polish-born player had come to America to a lay football, become quite successful at it, and want- e d to become a pro so he could get money to bring p is mother over from Poland. Great story, right? Really warms the heart, right? o Oh, what a tangled web we weave. li Janikowski was arrested last week after offer- o rg a bribe to a police officer outside a Tallahassee i£ht club. Allegedly, Janikowski and an underage iend were drinking at the establishment when the ops raided the joint, taking the friend into cus >dy. As his friend was being written a ticket by the rresting officer and being administered a sobriety !St, Janikowski allegedly (the hell with allegedly, e know he did it) approached the cop and offered $300 sum to let his friend go. Brilliant. Long story short, the colorful kicker was taken i on an attempt to bribe an officer of the law, and ow he could be deported back to Poland. Good riddance. First of all, the guy’s a thug. In a recent inter iew with Sports Illustrated, the kicker made no tempt to hide the fact he stays out until 3 a.m. most very night of the week, drinking and shooting aol around Tallahassee. Janikowski frequents these places so much, most f the bartenders know what brand of deodorant he kes to wear. There’s nothing like the commitment F a dedicated team player, is there? CloNINQER see page B2