Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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START SPREADING THE NEWS PHOTO BY ROBERT GRUEN With last night's win, the Gamecocks will travel to New York on Tuesday to face Syracuse. USC has never made it to the finals of any post season tournament. NIT in NYC BY CHRIS FOY THE GAMECOCK The USC men’s basketball team made the most of its final appear ance at Frank McGuire Arena last night, ripping apart Ball State 82 47 in the NIT quarterfinals. The Gamecocks (21-14) were given a second chance at closing out the coliseum after they end ed the regular season with a loss to Mississippi State. The win was the first NIT quarterfinal victory ever for the Gamecocks, who will travel to New York City on Tuesday to face Syracuse in the tournament semifinals. After the game, the team cut down the nets, and USC head coach Dave Odom was thrilled with the whole outcome. “I could not be happier for our team,” Odom said. “I could not be happier for our fans. And I could not be happier for our universi ty." For the second straight game, the Gamecocks had five players score in double digits. The team’s seniors, Aaron Lucas and Jamel Bradley, each had big nights. Bradley had a team-leading 17 points, and Lucas dished out eight assists and had two steals. Before this season, USC has never won more than two games in the same postseason. Comments on this story?E mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com Watson convicted on drug charge BY BRANDON LARRABEE THE GAMECOCK A Greenville Municipal Court jury found Derek Watson guilty Wednesday of marijuana posses sion. The verdict means that it’s al most certain that Watson will not be reinstated to the USC football team. Watson, who is no longer en rolled at USC, was dismissed from the team in January. “Derek’s status with the team hasn’t changed,” Assistant Athlet ics Director Kerry Tharp said. “Re ally, from an Athletics Department standpoint, I don’t think his status on the team was predicated on the outcome of this trial. “The Athletics Department is hopeful he cah get things moving in the right direction.” H Watson was found guilty Wednesday after the jury deliberat ed for about 50 minutes. The charges stemmed from an arrest out Watson Side a Greenville nightclub, where detectives said they saw Watson inside a car preparing a blunt Jan. 12. During the trial, Antwan Andre Galloway, who had been driving the car, claimed as his a bag of marijuana found near Watson. Prosecutor Debra Gammons said Watson should not be treated differently because of his status as a football player. “The defense is, because he plays football and because he has a promising career, he didn’t pos sess marijuana,” Gammons said. Judge Matt Hawley sentenced Watson to 240 hours of community service after suspending a 30-day sentence. He also waived a $200 fine because Watson said he was unemployed. “While you may have made a serious mistake,” Hawley told Watson, “you are an example for the youth of South Carolina... and you need to refrain” from activi ties like those he was prosecuted for. Watson said after the trial that he was “a little confused right now.” “I will soon sit down with peo ple close to me and try to make a decision on my immediate fu ture,” he said. Watson led the Gamecocks in ♦ WATSON, SEE PAGE 2 Out with the old, in with the new Inaugurations usher in next generation of SG officers, senators BY LOGAN BARLOW THE GAMECOCK Inaugurations for the newly elected Student Government offi cers and senators were held Wednesday in Rutledge Chapel. Outgoing SG President Corey Ford presided over the event and introduced each of the featured speakers. USC President John Palms con gratulated the students “for par ticipating in the government of our great university.” He re minded the new officers and sen ators that “it is still the essential goal of this institution to foster that ideal.” “Edmund Burke, the great philosopher, said, ‘Your relation ship with an institution or com munity is a relationship with everything that came in the past, everything that’s here in the pre sent and will be in the future.’ This is your time,” Palms said. Aaron Hark, chief justice of the Carolina Student Judicial Coun cil, swore in officers and senators. The inductees pledged to abide by the SG constitution, uphold the Carolinian Creed, and represent PHOTO BY CANDI HAUGLUM SG president Ankit Patel is sworn in at the ceremony in Rutledge Chapel. their fellow USC students. Treasurer Becky Floyd started the inaugural speeches. “Over the past month, I have come to real ize how much I like being student body treasurer,” Floyd said. “The more you spend time with it, the more you tend to like it. And the more you like it, the more time you spend with it.” Floyd also gave thanks to “those who didn’t believe in me. They made me see how much I be lieved in myself.” Vice President Katie Dreiling spoke of her background in SG, beginning with Freshman Coun cil. She nodded to her predecessor Nithya Bala and said, “She’s leav ing a huge empty seat for me to fill, so I hope I’ll be able to contin ue some of the things that she has started.” Addressing the incoming Stu dent Senate, Dreiling added: “I’ve always believed that in order to be a good leader you have to be a good servant. That’s something I hope we’ll all try to be this year — good servants.” ♦ INAUGURATION, SEE PAGE 3 New walkways stay on the beaten path BY GINNYTHORNTON THE GAMECOCK USC construction is following the students’ lead. Two new walking paths have been constructed on the green space between the Rus sell House and Thomas Cooper Library. That green space was created and named Davis Field in the summer of 2000 as a part of the campus beautification project. Why has it taken a year and a half to put in permanent walk ing paths? Officials at Facilities Planning and Construction de cided to wait until they knew where students would walk be fore they put in any permanent walkways. “You can’t ever tell where students will walk,” USC “You can’t ever tell where students will walk. They did this sort of like the Horseshoe was done.” RUSS MCKINNEY use SPOKESMAN spokesman Russ McKinney said. “They did this sort of like the Horseshoe was done,” he said, referring to the asymmet rical brick paths on the Horse shoe. Davis Field, formerly a park ing lot, is now used by students for recreation. The Student Ac tivity Fair was held there in Jan uary. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotma il. com New walking paths between the Russell House and Thomas Cooper Library follow tracks on the green space created by student traffic. USC board considers new bureaucratic system BY ADAM BEAM THE GAMECOCK Entering into the second phase of SDI deliberations, the USC Board of Trustees met on Wednesday to discuss Value-Cen tered Management, a proposal that would entirely reshape the university’s bureaucratic system. After releasing its recommen dations in early January, the Strategic Directions and Initia tives Committee is now awaiting USC President John Palms’ ap proval, a decision that could come as early as April. “The president wants to hear what the discussions are about, and I think the president will go pretty quickly after that to the board with his recommendations “The SDI report said there are some things we can do better, and Value-Centered Management is a tool we can use to get better. What is going to be on that list?” ROB WILCOX faculty senate president and then, the board will have fur ther discussion,” Provost Jerry Odom said. “I’d love to have it done by the end of April so that we can try to plan.” The executive committee met ♦ VCM, SEE PAGE 2 = TODAY’S WEATHER: Partly cloudy. High 56, Low 27. ! TOMORROW’S WEATHER: Mostly sunny. High 64, Low 39.