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Gamecock Sports Schedule ■ Men’s basketball at Alabama, 8 p.m. Wednesday ■ Women’s basketball vs. Mississippi State, 7 p.m. Thursday ■ Baseball vs. Delaware State, 3 p.m. Friday ■ Softball vs. Washington at USF Tournament in Tampa, 3 p.m. Friday Around the SEC Carolina’s Grant honored by SEC by Kyle Almond The Gamecock South Carolina went two-for-two last week and, as a result, got itself back into the NCAA Tournament hunt. Senior co captain Antonio Grant can take most of the cred it. For scoring back-to-back ca reer-high point to tals, Grant was named SEC Play er of the Week. “He had just a tremendous week,” USC head coach Eddie Fogler said. Tremendous might be an understatement. Grant’s 18 points and 10 second-half rebounds ignited a sluggish Carolina team to a win over Georgia last Wednesday, and his 24 points and 10 boards were team highs in Saturday’s win at Vanderbilt. Prior to last week, Grant had only one double double in his career. Now, he has three. “He is a player that plays with a lot of heart,” USC’s Jamel Bradley said of Grant. “He’s the heart and soul of this team. When a rebound is needed or a shot is needed, he comes through.” What might be even more impressive than back-to-back double doubles is the fact that, through both games and 67 minutes of play, Grant had no turnovers. Elsewhere around the SEC: LSU: As the dust clears from National Signing Day, the LSU Tigers look to have one of the most formidable classes in the country, much less the SEC. Head coach Nick Saban’s group of 27 players consistently ranks in the top three in America, according to most major recruiting publications. Max Emftnger of National Blue Chips in Covington, La., rates the Tigers’ class No. 1, while Rivals.com and the National Recruiting Advisor rates it No. 3. “I think we filled a lot of our needs witli this recruiting class,” Saban said. “I am very pleased with the quality of the big people we were able to recruit on both sides of the ball, which we most certainly need. I think we’ve got a few players that are playmakets on defense, some skill guys on offense who make plays, and some speed in the slots.” Highlighting LSU’s recruiting class is three Parade All-Americans: tight end Marcus Spears, wide receiver Michael Clayton and offensive lineman Ben Wilkerson. Spears, a 6-foot-5-ineh, 280-pound tight end, was rated first at his position and third overall in the country by SuperPrep magazine. Clayton, who, like Spears, is from Baton Rouge, stands 6-foot-4 and runs a 4.5 in the 40-yard dash. Wilkerson was thought by many to be one of the best linemen in the country. Alabama: For his complete-game shutout against No. 18 Oklahoma this weekend, junior right-hander Lance Cormier was named the first 2001 SEC Pitcher of the Week. Cormier allowed only five hits in the game and struck out four in the Tide’s 5-0 victory. The win also helped push Alabama into the Baseball America Top 25. The Tide is now ranked 25th. we need ior Lance to pncn mat way for us to do well,” Alabama head coach Jim Wells said. “Since the midway point of his freshman year, Lance has been up and down. It was good for him to pitch the way he did Saturday, both mentally and physically.” Georgia: After 39 years at Georgia, Georgia athletics director Vince Dooley is going to retire. But not yet. The Bulldogs’ former football coach, who won six SEC titles and the 1980 National Championship in his 25 seasons at the helm, will leave Georgia at the end of 2003. Dooley agreed to a two-and-a-half year extension this past Wednesday. “I have agreed to the extension and assure Dr. Adams (university president Michael Adams) and everyone associated with this great university that for the time remaining, as I have done for the past 37 years, I will devote all of my time and energy to serving the university in the highest possible manner,” Dooley said. Dooley’s new contract includes a $214,925 base salary, including a 5 percent raise, along with $85,000 for radio and television appearances and a guaranteed $13,500 bonus for the football team’s performance. The sports desk can be reached at gamecocksports@hotmail.com Track teams win more NCAA marks by Kyle Almond The Gamecock USC’s track teams posted nine automatic and seven NCAA provisional times this weekend in the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, one of the most prestigious meets of the season. A handful of school records were set in the meet. Sprinter Pap Howard was the runner-up in the men’s 200-meters Saturday, breaking the school record with an NCAA automatic mark of20.84. In the same event, teammate Andre Totten came in third and also set a NCAA automatic time. The men’s and women’s 4x400-meter relay teams broke school marks. Howard teamed with Otukile . Lekote, Otis Harris and Gerald Pressley to break tlie men’s record with a time of 3:07.26. With an automatic time of 3:33.01, Miki Barber, her twin sister Me’Lisa, Tacita Bass and Demetria Washington broke the women’s record by more than two seconds. In the field events, pole vaulter Chris Steddum broke a school record. Stcddum’s jump of 17-8 1/2 was also a NCAA provisional mark. “That’s agood vault for Chris,” pole vault coach Kevin Brown said. “Very good. It’s even more imj'ortant he did it here, because when we come back for the NCAA Championships next month, he will already feel comfortable in this environment.” Gamecock Antoinette Wilks qualified automatically in the long jump with a personal second-best-ever jump of20-10 3/4. She already holds the best jump of the year nationally at 21-8. Wilks, who also qualified provisionally this weekend in the triple jump, credits her work ethic for her offseason improvement. “I think I have a lot left,” Wilks said. “I have been working harder and concentrating more this year. I changed my diet. I have been eating better and at the right times of the day.” Washington and Miki Barber went first and third respectively in the 400-meters. Washington ran an automatic and season-best time of 52.39. Miki Barber also qualified automatically right behind Washington at 52.95. Bass finished eighth with a time of 54.47, good enough for a provisional spot. Washington and Miki Barber also earned another automatic mark in the 200-meters. Lisa Barber posted a provisional mark. Lekote was runner-up in the 800-mctcrs with a time of 1:48.05. It was USC’s second-fastest time ever in Track seepages I USC to try to end ’Bama streak ■ Crimson Tide hoping to tie record with victory over Gamecocks at home . by Kyle Almond The Gamecock USC faces perhaps, its toughest road game in the SEC on Wednesday night at Alabama. The No. 21 Crimson Tide (18-5, 7-4 SEC) is undefeated at home this season in 13 games, and it hasn’t lost at Coleman Coliseum in its last 16 tries. A win against the Gamecocks (13-8,5-5) would tie Alabama’s all-time best home record, which is 14-0 set in 1993-94. Alabama is led by its dynamic shooting guard, sophomore Rod Grizzard. Grizzard leads the conference in scoring with 18.6 points a game. He also shoots 88 percent from the free-throw line and gets about six rebounds a game. But according to Fogler, for the Gamecocks to have any chance of winning Wednesday night, the key isn’t stopping Grizzard. It’s hitting shots from outside on offense. “I think you have to shoot the ball well,” he said. “I think we’ve shot the ball well in our two road wins this season from three.” USC is playing possibly their best ball of the season after beating Georgia and Vanderbilt this past week. The wins propelled Carblina to .500 in the conference, and Fogler feels that if his team can continue, it should make the NCAA Tournament. “I think we’ll get at least six teams (from the SEC) in,” Fogler said of the NCAA Tournament. “I don’t think there’s any doubt about that.” There are five teams in the ■ LOCATION: Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Ala. ■ TIME* 8 p.m. Wednesday ■ RADIO: WVOC 540 AM ■ RECORDS: USC (13-8, 5 5 SEC), Alabama (18-5, 7-4) conference (Kentucky, Florida, Geoigia, Ole Miss and Alabama) over .500. Two teams, Tennessee and Arkansas, are tied with USC at .500. “I also think that perhaps this is a year where... whether it be an ACC team, a Big Ten team or a SEC team, [one of them] could get in under .500, because I don’t see the depth in some of the other conferences,” Fogler added. “Geoigia, who’s played probably the most difficult schedule in America, if they went 7-9, they could probably get in, in my opinion.” ’Bama coach Mark Gottfried thinks .500 is good enough to get in the tournament. “I think if you go .500 in this league, especially this year, there’s no question that you are one of the best teams in Basketball seepages Travis Lynn/The Gamecock USC’s Marius Petravicius takes the ball to the basket during last Wednesday’s win against Georgia. (From left to right) Travis Kraft, Chuck Eidson, Rolando Howell and Ivan Howell sit on the Gamecock bench in street clothes during the Georgia game. Kraft, Eidson and Rolando Howell were all sidelined for the contest, which Carolina won by two. Injuries fail to keep USC down by Shawn Skillman The Gamecock The USC men’s basketball team looks more like extras on the set of Platoon than a team on the rise in the SEC. Four different Gamecocks have been on the shelf this year. Forward Calvin Clemmons sprained his ankle and missed two games against Auburn and Florida Chuck Edson went down in January with a tom right ACL and is out for the season. Rolando Howell missed one game with an ankle sprain. Travis Kraft’s foot injury has kept Em out of action. But as the injuries mount, the Gamecocks contmue to improve, sitting at 5-5 m the evenly-matched SEC. “We just find other people to step up,” sophomore center Tony Kitchings said. “We are a very unselfish team, so if we see someone having a good night, we’ll keep try ing to give him the ball. The last couple of games, it’s been Antonio.” A survivor of the injury plague, Antonio Grant recovered from a strained back to become the Gamecocks’ first SEC Player of the Week this season. The senior forward tallied 18 points and 10 rebounds against Georgia and 2^points and another 10 rebounds against Vanderbilt. Grant also registered no turnovers in both wins. According to head coach Eddie Fogler, the Eidson injury has deeply affected USC. “He not only can steal the ball, but he’s an excellent passer and has the instinct and ability to rebound,” Fogler said of Eidson. “All the versatile tilings that Chuck brings, we lose. That’s a very tough thing to overcome.” Eidson will be off the court for six months and is rehabbing at his home in Summerville, S.C. Kraft has been hampered for two years in a row. Last season, it was a stress fracture in his left foot. This year, a strain in his right foot has limited the sophomore to just four games. One of those was against Florida, where he hit the game winning 3-pointer as time expired. “It’s been difficult, but we keep fighting through it,” Kraft said. “We’ve had so many different people playing at different times, it’s been hard. I don’t think we’ve had a full practice with everyone there. But the captains (David Ross and Grant) have really helped us stay together.” Kraft could qualify for medical hardship by the NCAA and not lose any eligibility at season’s end. , “We can’t h;uig our heads in this part of the season,” Howell said. “We have to keep moving to get where we need to be.” A reason why the squad feels it has been able to overcome these circumstances are Fogler’s practices. “All the injuries are big, even the little ones, but practices remain intense,” Kraft said. “I think that might be why some of them occur, but the intensity helps us get better in the long run.” The club also consists of players who can play a multitude of positions, which allows Fogler to routinely substitute throughout the game. “Coach does a good job of subbing everyone in and out,” Kitchings said. “We’ve got role players and scorers, so it weighs itself out . ’’ Despite the injuries, the club still keeps an upbeat attitude that carries onto the floor, helping them win their last two conference matchups. “We don’t need to look at it as bringing the team down, but everyone picking it up,” Howell said. “We’ve had injuries,” center Marius Petravicius said, “but it is part of the game. All we can do is just keep playing hard.” The sports desk can be reached at gamecocksportsChotmail.com