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Gamecock Sports Schedule ■ Track and field at home (S.C. State Championships), 1 p.m. Wednesday ■ Men’s tennis vs. Duke, 2 p.m. Wednesday ■ Women’s tennis vs. LSU, 2 p.m. Wednesday ■ Baseball vs. The Citadel, 7 p.m. Wednesday UDlC (BamtCOCk Wednesday, April 11, 2001 Seniors excited about Odom’s arrival * • ■ Odom thinks new arena should help recruiting efforts by Brock Vergakis The Gamecock After a long, tiresome search, USC has finally chosen a basketball coach and now can begin the process of recruiting for the upcoming season.. The one recruit former head coach Eddie Fogler had, Pawel Storozynski, rescinded his oral commitment to Carolina and will now be playing for Texas Tech and its new coach, Bobby Knight. The signing period for basketball begins today, and the basketball team is optimistic about its future. One of the top tools newly hired head basketball coach Dave Odom will use for recruiting players is the new 18,000-seat arena being built in the Vista. Odom said when he took the head coaching job at Wake Forest 12 years ago, he had a similar situation with the newly constructed 14,000-seat Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. He said the new building helped immensely with recruiting for Wike and expects the Columbia area to do the same for USC. i neie u a urn ui uppununny nere, ne suu. vjne of the great things that attracted me was... 12 years ago, I went to Wake Forest, there was a new building called the Joel Coliseum waiting for me ... That was . absolutely a springboard to excellent recruiting over a very short period of time.” Having a new arena is so important to Odom that it was one of the first things he wanted to see when he arrived in Columbia. “Mike showed me the layout of the proposed coliseum here,” Odom said. “On the way into the airport, all I wanted to see is where tire hole was. Having that new coliseum is analogous to what happened to me 12 years ago... I’m the benefactor, this team is going to be the benefactor and this university will be a benefactor.” Fortunately for Odom, the Gamecocks won’t need a huge rccruitiiig class litis se;tson because only Antonio Grant ;uid David Ross are being graduated this year. And Odom is counting on them for support. “I’ve asked hist year’s seniors to stay. They are very much a part of this team,” fie said. Guard Jamel Bradley said lie is not worried about the Giunecocks’ ability to find recruits and believes that Odom might be able to bring in some players who might not come here otherwise. “Recruitment is always a problem,” Bradley said. “They still have a long way to go. Signing period doesn’t end until mid-May. He may bring some recruits down from Wake Forest.” Special to The Gamecock The sports desk cun he reached at gamecocksports@hotmail.com Dave Odom, USC’s newest head coach, will meet with members of the men’s basketball team before Friday to discuss their futures at Carolina. Chronology of a search The search torn new men’s basketball coach took a little less Ilian a month. March 15: In his final game, , Fogler loses to Connecticut in I the NIT. UConn’s coach, Jim 1 Calhoun (right), would later say no to a job offer from USC. ▼ u April 3-5: Tulsa's Buzz Peterson and Memphis’ John Calipari pull out of the running for the coach ing job, and Tubby Smith (left) declines the job offer. Meanwhile, speculation rises that Bobby Cremins might be under consideration for the job. ■ k I-1 J March 13: Eddie J Fogler (left) resigns as « the university's head basketball coach March 21: Missouri coach Quin Snyder (left), who many hoped would accept the USC job, says he’s'not interested. April 10: USC names Dave Odom head basketball coach at 5 p.m. press conference. by Brock V e r g a k i s The Gamecock When Jamel Bradley was playing high school basketball in West Virginia, he used to watch ACC basketball and try to imitate Wake Forest point guard Randolph Childress. He followed Cliildress and the Demon Deacons with the hope that he, too, would don the gold and black uniform of Wake Forest. Bradley wanted to play for Wake Forest head coach Dave Odom, but as he says, tilings just didn’t work out that way, and lie ended up a Gamecock. Next season, Bradley will have the opportunity lie always wanted —playing for Odom.' But as a Game cock, not a Demon Deacon. “That’s who 1 wiuited to play for out of high school,” Bradley said. “But I didn’t tell him that. I look forward to telling him.” Bradley and the rest of his teammates were only able to meet with Odom briefly before USC President John Palms ;uid Athletics Director Mike McGee officially announced that Odom was taking over the head coaching position. Bradley said he received a phone LUCAS call early Tuesday morning before class with the message that there would lie a tc;un meeting at 4:30 p.m. Odom met with the media and public at 5 p.m. This was the first time lie and the other players were informed that a coach had been hired. Once lie heard the new coach was Odom, Bradley had only one word to describe his first impression: “Relief." “It’s been a lot of tips ;md downs. We’ve been going through a lot. We were just glad to be getting it over with.” In the brief amount of time lie ;uid Odom spent together, Bradley was reminded of why lie wanted to play for Odom. “This is going to be the guy to take it to the next level. I had a funny feeling inside of me that lie was going to bring something special out of me,” he said. Senior point guard Aaron Luciis said he doesn’t have the knowledge of Odom that Bradley docs, but he’s still looking forward to seeing what Odom can do. “This is an excellent chance for the team to step forward,” Lucas said. “(Not knowing) was a pain, and we were kind of getting impatient. Once we saw the outcome, we were all ready to make a big occasion of it.... Overall, this tcjun is very open to the opportunity.” In the brief amount of time Odom met with the players, he did not discuss the possibility of anyone leaving the program. “I didn’t ask anyone if they’re transferring. That’s not agood way to start a conversation,” Odom said. “I’m going to meet with each one individually before the sun goes down on Friday. If they have any concerns like that, I’m sure that will be talked about at that time ... They are my priority today.” Luciis said he didn’t believe anyone on the leant w;ts seriously considering leaving at this point. “We’re not going to think about people leaving,” lie said. “If miybody had made a decision to transfer, it would have been made before (Odom) got here.” While most of the team was present at the announcement, forward Chuck Eidson was absent. Because of an injury, Eidson has been spending the semester at his home in Summerville. The sports desk can be reached at gamecocksports@hotmail.com Success Story In hiiing I):ivc Odom, Athletics Director Mike McGee hits hired n proven winner. Sonic suits: ■ Odom was head coach of Wake Forest for 12 years, going 240-132. For eight of those years, Wake has made the NCAA Tournament. ■ Odom is a three time Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year and was the 1995 National Coach of the Year. ■ Odom has coached All Americans Tim Duncan, Randolph Childress and Rodney Rogers ■ In 2000, Odom coached his team to a NIT tourney championship. He's won two ACC Championships, as well, in 1995 and 1996. The Odom File ■ Full Name: G. David Odom ■ Birthday: Oct. 9, 1942 ■ Wife: Lynn A. Odom ■ Sons: Lane Odom (assis tant coach at Missouri), Ryan Odom (assistant coach at American) ■ Education: M.Ed..East Carolina (1969). B.A., Guilford College (1965) ■ College coaching experience: Wake Forest; assistant coach, 1976-79 East Carolina; head coach, 1979 82 Virginia, assistant coach, 1982-89 Wake Forest; head coach, 1989 2001 Legat keeps rolling along ■ Men's tennis player wins 12th straight for Carolina n y Kyi. i Ai.mond Tipi (Iamm ock Giiillaunic lxyat easily won his I2lh consecutive match to lead the No. 28 USC: men’s tennis team to a 5-2 victory over Wike Forest at the Sam Daniel Tennis Center Monday. The Game cocks’ No. I player dispatched Wake’s Raul Muno/.h 0,6 . i i ii LE(JAT 1, and improved Ills overall record to 17 5 with the win Currently ranked No. 17 in the country, Lcgat could move up into the top ten of the ITA/Wingspan.com nuikings witli his recent play. This has come at the expense of some of the nation’s top players. In his previous match. Legal knocked offArkansas'Oskar Johiutsson in straight sets, 6-1,7-5. Johiutsson was riutkcd No. 1 in the country at the time. The way Legal won die match opened the eyes of even his head coach, Kent DeMars. “I thought that would lie a good lest to see just how good lie is," DeMars said of I Agat’s match with Joluuisson. "I didn't know if he was quite that good yet. “Hut I wanted to see what happened, and sure enough, he heat | Joluuisson | in straight sets." Legal, l)S( ’s lone senior, said lie's playing the Ix'sl tenuis of his lour years ill ( arnlina. “I have a lot of confidence and I r»;uit to win really bad,” lie said. “I’m trying 5 2 not lo make many mistakes, and I guess I’m doing agood job of that.” Legal came to USC in 1998 from Saint Lo, France. I lis countryman, Jerome Jottrdon, played tennis at Carolina and wanted bis friend to join him. “|Joiirdon| made me come here,” Ixgaljoked.“|l)S( | isagixxlschool. I'm happy that I came here.” De.Mars is happy too. Ixgat has burned up the courts since lie arrived, compiling a record of 106-34. lie has also been named to the AN SIX team in each of his three years at ( arolina, making the second leant in 1998 and 2000 and the first team in 1999. I X'spile all of those accomplishments, Ixgat isn’t content just yet. “I want lo lx1 an All American, ” he LEGAT 'll iw.i 9 USC wins at The Citadel, faces home rematch tonight ItY K Y I. (•: A I. M () N I) Tin: (iAMceix k The USC baseball team won its second straight game Tuesday night, oulscoring The Citadel (12-7) in Charleston. Second baseman Bryon .lell'coni went 2-lor-5 lor Carolina, with live RBIs and two runs scored. The Bulldogs (23-13) will get an immediate chance for revenge tonight when they come to Sarge Frye Field to play the No. 10 Qainccocks (27-9) again. USC jumped out on the scoreboard early in the top of the fust inning as shortstop 1 )row Meyer doubled and scored on a groundnut by Marcus McBelh. Liter in the inning, Michael Floyd added an RBI single to give Carolina a 2-0 advantage. The (Ini uncocks added another run in the lop of the third and looked to be heading toward an easy victory, but The ( itadel broke out in the bottom half of the frame for three runs of its own to lie the game. (iary Bell walked home (lie Bulldi ills' Dallas McPherson with tin* bases loaded lo start the comeback. Jason Randall 12 7 then connected witli ;ui two-run single to tie the g;unc at three. Brett Price (l -1) c;unc into the game in the third to relieve Bell iutd shut down the Bulldogs lor four-plus innings. In that time, the Gamecocks were able to add six runs ;uid pull away. The Citadel threatened in the eighth inning, scoring lour runs and cutting the laid to two, hut Gamecock closer Ixe Gronkiewicz came in and sailed the deal for Carolina, notching his eighth save of the season. IxTt-hander Paul Williams (O-.f) took the loss for The Citadel. I le allowed three earned runs in live innings of work. The two teams will gel back into action tonight in Columbia. The first pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. Iiic spoils tlt'sk cm Ih' ii'iiclit'ilhi gamecocksportsi hotmail.com