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THE GAMECOCK ♦ Wednesday, July 23, 2003 m 0 FIGURE OF THE WEEK CONTACT US I /1 ft L/' I 90: Years since a golfer won the first major he participat E-mailusatgamecocksports@hotmail.com I \ / | | | ed in, which Ben Curtis did at the British Open Sunday. USC, SEC to face inexperience FILE PHOTO/THE GAMECOCK Rolando Howell attempts a shot in a game from last year. Howell will be expected, like many other returning players, to carry the load In the SEC. BY BRAD SENKIW THIE GAMECOCK The old saying “out with the old and in with the new” might take form in men’s basketball in the SEC this season. At last Friday’s SEC coaches press con ference, USC head coach Dave Odom and his colleagues ad dressed many of the changes teams will face during the 2003 2004 season. Much of the discussion sur rounded players that have moved on from SEC schools. Carolina is one that will be forced to rely on inexperienced returnees, incoming freshmen and transfers to pick up the load left off by seniors. “We are like most of the teams in the SEC because we lost a pretty healthy dose of our last year’s squad,” Odom said. “We had four seniors and those guys were integral parts of our team.” The Gamecocks will have to look at returning players like Rolando Howell, Michael Boynton and Kerbrell Brown to make up for the loss of Chuck Eidson, Tony Kitchings, Marius Petravicius and Chris Warren. “The major hope of our team is a mixture of veterans coming back and the incoming new group; four freshmen and one transfer,” Odom said. Players like Carlos Powell and John Chappell will have to help get newcomers Tre Kelley, Renaldo Balkman, Brandon Wallace and Paulius Joneliunas, and junior college transfer Josh Gonner adjust quickly if Carolina is to survive the loss of four seniors. The Gamecocks are joining several SEC teams that are try ing to fill holes. Tennessee’s head coach Buzz Peterson thinks “there is still a lot of talent, but there was a lot that was lost this year. “The Big XII brings back a lot of people. The ACC brings back a ♦ BASKETBALL, SEE PAGE 11 BCS Committee rules out playoff chance (AP) — Forget about a college football playoff for now. The committee overseeing changes to the Bowl Championship Series won’t con sider using a tournament to de termine the national champion despite pleas to open up the post season to more schools. The BCS Presidential Oversight Committee on Monday directed the six conference com missioners to come up with pro posals for changing the BCS with out a playoff. “I’m skeptical a national cham pion could be determined in a playoff without infringing on a stu dent athlete’s welfare,” said Penn State President Graham Spanier, a member of the committee. The panel also said it would meet with representatives from the other five Division I-A con ferences Sept. 8 in Chicago to hear their concerns about the current system. Tulane President Scott Cowen, who is holding a teleconference with 44 other university presi dents from non-BCS schools on Tuesday, said the invitation was a positive step. But he was disappointed that the committee refused to consid er a playoff, which the NCAA has in all other divisions and sports and which would improve access for schools from non-power con ferences. “If we’re going to have a dia logue, all options have to be open,” Cowen said. “If they are eliminat ing options before the dialogue, then what are we talking about? “No matter how good we are, we can’t get into BCS bowls. The rankings are biased against non BCS schools.” In 1998, Tulane went undefeat ed but could only play in the Liberty Bowl because it was ranked 11th in the BCS standings. Teams from non-BCS conferences are guaranteed a bid to one of the four bowl games if they are ranked in the top six. But in the 20 years before the BCS started, only one school oth er than Notre Dame that is not currently in those six conferences played in one of the series’ four bowls. “The trend in the BCS is not very different than what existed in the decades before the BCS,” Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said. “The only thing that really has changed is we’ve cre ated a 1 vs. 2 game.” Money is a major issue. The Rose, Fiesta, Sugar and Orange bowls generate more than $100 million a year for the BCS con ferences. The BCS gives about $8 million a year to the schools from the other five conferences. The BCS was formed in 1998 in an effort to match the top two teams in a national title game. The system takes the champions from the six major conferences — Pac-10, Big 12, Big Ten, ACC, SEC and Big East — and two at-large teams to play in the BCS bowls. The system worked perfectly last ♦ BCS, SEE PAGE 11 Baseball’s wild season will keep on churning BEN SINCLAIR GAMECOCKSPORTS@HOTMAIL.COM • MLB has taken us on a wild ride that isn’t over. The 2003 Major League Baseball season has been anything but predictable. As I get ready for the pennant chases of the second half, it is only appropriate we look into the crystal ball and find out what you can and cannot expect to see the rest of the season. ♦Expect Sammy Sosa to figure out which baseball bats should be used in practice and which ones should be used in a game. ♦It is a good bet that, come October, the Atlanta Braves will freeze up like a Buffalo Bills player in the Super Bowl. ♦The Detroit-Tampa Bay baseball series will draw less than 100 fans. Only half as many people will be watching the WNBA finals. ♦Someone will show up in Montreal to play the Expos when they should have gone to the Expos “home” in Puerto Rico. ♦Barry Bonds will hit another 60 home runs. Over half of these will come against San Diego and Colorado, who routinely end the season with AA-minor league pitchers to get ready for next year. ♦ The Kansas City Royals are for real this year. While they ♦ BASEBALL, SEE PAGE 11