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Briefly USC track and field ranked high in polls USC is ranked No. 10 in both women's and men's track and field in Trackwire's first team poll of 2004. Ill the men's poll, Arkansas holds the top spot, followed by Stanford, Auburn, Texas and LSU. USC is the fifth SEC school in the top 10. In the women's poll LSU holds the No. 1 ranking, followed by Texas and Florida, Stanford and UCLA. Carolina comes in as the fourth-highest ranked SEC team. Both the men's and women's teams will resume competition in Lexington, Ky. at the Kentucky Invitational this weekend. The two-day event will take place this Friday and Saturday. Head coach selected for MLS Combine • Major League Soccer has se lected USC head coach Mark Berson, along with three other col legiate coaches, to manage a team at the 2004 Adidas MLS Player Combine that will take place from Sunday, Jan'. 11 to Tuesday, Jan.' 13 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. This marks the first time that collegiate coaches will lead the squads over the three-day program. Attending this combine will be top college prospects, in cluding USC midfielder Jack Cummings. Four former Gamecocks currently play in the MLS. Clint Mathis plays for the NY/NJ MetroStars alongside for mer Gamecock Tim Glowienka. Josh Wolff and Henry Ring now represent the Gamecocks as mem bers of the Chicago Fire. Columbia’s Adult Soccer League is now registering teams or individuals for the Spring '04 season. Registration deadline is February 3rd. Call 781-6468 or email columbiasoccer@aol.com. Men’s CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11 nine or more points under their average. USC’s scoring defense is ranked first in the conference and their opponents’ field goal percentage is the lowest in the' nation. In fact, USC is in the top 25 of six other national categories . including scoring defense, scor ing margin, blocked shots, won lost percentage, turnovers per game and personal fouls. The players Ellis referred to are the Fab Five newcomers USC has come to rely on this season. Renaldo Balkman is in the top 10 of six categories among SEC freshmen. Tre Kelley is also list ed in the top 10 in two categories. Brandon Wallace is second in blocked shots per game among SEC freshmen and fourth in re bounds per game. Junior college transfer Josh Gonner is now a key contributor as well, averag ing 9.6 points per game. However, in order to stay with Auburn, the veteran frontcourt of USC will have to post a solid game. Seniors Rolando Howell and Kerbrell Brown and junior Carlos Powell will be critical in matching up with Killingsworth, Robinson and Davis. Howell scored in double figures for the first time this season against Georgia and will likely make his second start of the season. Kerbrell Brown will look to du plicate his performance in . Athens that saw a season-high 18 points for him. Powell has scored in double figures every game this season and will be tested against the powerful Auburn frontcourt. The game will be played in Eaves Memorial Coliseum at 8 p.m. and will be televised on JP Sports. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu Jones CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11 Spurrier talking trash in the press conferences with that East Tennessee accent of his. Oh, and let’s not forget what it would feel like to run the score up on some body. Anybody. Think about how Spurrier would be an instant impact with recruiting, with fan enthusiasm and especially with player confi dence. The university has the money. It has the resources. But it lacks the gonads to go out and make the deal happen. Don’t give me this sad story about how Lou Holtz has been such a generous head coach. This is a business, baby, and when your product can not compete in the marketplace and you suffer losses over a two year period after steady prosper ity, then it is time to consider making a change in leadership. Mike McGee, make that call. And if Spurrier isn’t available, then I hear that Jimmy Johnson is. Women’s CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11 pointers in the team’s last win. The transition game could be what determines the outcome of the contest. In order to win, Carolina will have to take better care of the ball than last time the two teams met. It will be the re sponsibility of Ciocan, the senior point guard, to keep the ball in USC hands. Rebounding will also be a dif ference maker. In the last meet ing, Tennessee out-rebounded USC 34-24. Sliskovic will battle the boards with UT’s leading re bounder, Shyra Ely. With conference play in its early stage, a win against Tennessee would be a huge boost for the Gamecocks’ season. With 12 SEC games remaining, a vic tory would certainly jump-start the team’s season and erase the taste of the four straight losses. Tennessee’s proven track record against Carolina will be put to the test on Thursday night at 7 p.m. at the Colonial Center. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu SEC.News.and.Notes Florida forward player of the week Florida’s junior forward David Lee was named this week's SEC player of the week. Lee averaged 19 points and 9.5 rebounds in the week as he led the Gators to a 2-0 SEC start. Facing a three-point half time deficit against USC, Lee's 21 points and 14 rebounds led a Florida comeback to defeat the Gamecocks by three points. Lee followed up that showing with a 17-point game against SEC East rival Tennessee, help ing the Gators to their biggest win ever against the Vols (95 57). Lee did not miss a free throw during the week (8 for 8) and shot 68 percent from the field. This is the first time Lee has received the honor, and the sec ond time that a Gator has had the honor this season. Guard Matt Walsh was the other Florida player to receive the honor. Full tilt of SEC games this week After two months of non-con ference tune-ups, SEC basket ball is now under way. In this second week of SEC play, the conference will see some cru cial early battles. Tonight, in addition to USC traveling to Auburn, Arkansas travels to division rival Alabama, and 22nd-ranked Vanderbilt travels to Tennessee for an early jump in the SEC East. On Saturday the divisions will begin to take shape. In the SEC West, 24th-ranked Mississippi State will go to LSU to play for the early division lead at 3 p.m. on Jefferson-Pilot Sports. Arkansas will host Ole Miss to avoid an early deficit in division play. Rivals Auburn and Alabama will renew the basketball ver sion of the Iron Bowl in Tuscaloosa, Ala. at 7 p.m. on Fox Sports Net. In the SEC East, the under manned Georgia Bulldogs will travel to fifth-ranked Kentucky looking for a big upset at 1 p.m. on Jefferson-Pilot Sports. The Tennessee Volunteers will come to Columbia hoping to cool down the Gamecocks' hot start at 5 p.m. on Fox Sports Net. Finally, in what should be the marquee game of the week end, lOth-ranked Florida will travel to Nashville to take on Vanderbilt. Saban staying but losing QB Mauck After receiving great news from head coach Nick Saban that he would remain with the Tigers, LSU got some surpris ing news on Tuesday. Quarterback Matt Mauck announced that he would for go his senior season to become eligible for the NFL draft. Mauck led LSU to a national championship and finishes his LSU career 18-2 as a starter for the Tigers. Mauck joins receiver Michael Clayton who also will move on to the NFL. However, good news is all that has come out of the Georgia football pro gram the last few days. On Monday, junior defen sive end David Pollack an nounced that he will return to Athens for his senior season. Pollack finished the year as a second team All-American and recorded seven and a half sacks along with 92 tackles. Pollack said he was told he would be drafted in the first round. Georgia defensive coordi nator Brian VanGorder was awarded the Broyles Award on Tuesday. The award is given to the top assistant coach in the coun try and was presented to VanGorder at an awards ban quet in Little Rock, Ark. Georgia ranked fourth in the nation in scoring defense, eighth in total defense and sixth in pass defense. Interested in taking The Gamecock’s Sports Challenge? If you can beat the editors, you’ll win a free Gamecock T-Shirt. Send in your picks to gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu by 2 p.m. Thursday. We’ll select ONE person at random to be our reader of the week, whose picks we will publish. This Saturday’s games: Rankings are from The Associated Press 1 Connecticut at 9 North Carolina 4 Wake Forest at 2 Duke 15 Florida at 23 Vanderbilt Georgia at 5 Kentucky 20 Mississippi State at LSU Ole Miss at Arkansas UAB at DePaul Auburn at Alabama Clemson atN.C. State Tennessee at USC 4- FOR TIE-BREAKING PURPOSES, PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR SCORE FOR THE TENNESSEE-USC GAME. DON’T FORGET TO INCLUDE YOUR NAME. \*** <fe*S ^$0^ Pop Into Any of The Featured Communities For A Special Rate And Free Rent For January. L A O'- (Offer Expires 1/20/2000 »