The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 27, 2004, Page 9, Image 9
Game.Schedule
SOFTBALL vs. Fresno State in NFCA Leadoff
Pnntnpt Classic Tournament, noon
L>UI ILdl/L, - BASEBALL vs. Duquesne, 3 p.m.
Story ideas? Questions? Comments? WOMEN’S TENNIS vs. Arkansas, 2 p.m.
E-mail us at gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu MEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Georgia, 7:30 p.m. Saturday
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Vanderbilt, 2 p.m. Sunday
NFL draft
shouldn’t
supersede
»education
In light of Southern Cal’s Mike
Williams entering the 2004 NFL Draft
early, based on the Maurice Clarrett
ruling, I’d like to issue a thank you.
That’s right Mike, your premature
entry, along with Clarrett’s and Larry
Fitzgerald’s, should make the future
brighter for the rest
of college football’s
stars.
Now that these
three gentlemen
have decided to sail
into new waters and
showcase very little
experience in the
BRAD SENKIW pros, we can all
Fourth-year watch them strug
Jpurnalism gle' ™s does n0‘
■ tudent mean that they will
w ' never impact their
future teams, but it will show how dif
ferent the NFL is compared to the
NBA or MLB.
we ve all seen tne impact Letsron
James and Carmelo Anthony have
made to their teams’ playoff chances,
and Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady
didn’t spend much time figuring out
their game. Little can be said about
guys shooting early from all-confer
ence in college football to the Pro Bowl
in a season or two.
There is a reason for this. The
NFL is an entirely different monster
because of the complexity of the
game. In basketball, if you can jump
high and run fast, you have the abil
ity to contribute. In baseball, if you
have a strong pitching arm, you can
^et to the majors pretty quick. But in
P^otball, if you don’t learn everything
you can about the game, you’re stuck
being an understudy to a 10-year pro
fessional while hanging out on the
sidelines with a playbook in your
hand.
In the pros, the game has evolved
from a power and strength game to a
quickness and mental sharpness con
test. College guys don’t get to spend
every waking moment either on the
field, watching film or in the weight
room. They have to attend class and
study sessions and find time to enjoy
their college experience. The pros
are pros for a reason and that’s why
coming out early doesn’t help your
game.
This is not to say that leaving after
A mr junior year is a bad idea. Michael
!^>ick pulled it off and Randy Moss had
a short collegiate experience, but both
those guys are absolute freaks at their
respective positions.
Also, before football players get to
college, the only chance they get to
learn the game is around a dozen
times a year in high school.
Basketball and baseball have ama
teur leagues that allow them to ma
ture not physically but mentally.
Sports take time to understand be
cause of the amount of membries a
brain must handle. These guys make
exceptional catches and hit game
winning shots because they’ve been
in those situations before and know
how to react mentally.
_ Football takes the most time, espe
lly once you’re in the pros. The sys
tems on both offense and defense can
rival nuclear engineering, and I can
almost guarantee Florida State’s
Bobby Bowden doesn’t have to adjust
his game plan like New England’s Bill
Belichick does week-to-week.
Understanding these complex
strategies and performing at the high
est level all in less than a week is a lot
to ask, especially for rookies with two
years of college experience. Williams,
Fitzgerald and Clarrett will have the
opportunity to learn this the hard
way.
And when we don’t see them scor
ing the winning touchdown or voting
for them for the Pro Bowl, this will all
make sense. And somewhere, a col
lege football player will head to his ad
viser for one extra year at a universi
ty. At least that’s worth dreaming
A’^out.
V
Club.Corner
The USC women’s rugby team will
be in action this weekend, taking on
Central Florida and Georgia. The
Gamecocks take on UCF Saturday at
9 a.m. and Georgia Sunday at 1 p.m.
Both matches will take place on the
B/C Field next to the Blatt P.E. Center.
The team is also looking for new mem
bers, so any women interested in see
ing how the game is played or joining
the team should show up this week
endjat a match or contact the club
president, Liz Skelly, at
. LIZardSKKahotmail.com.
PHOTO BY MARK SCHILLING/THE GAMECOCK
Center Rolando Howell goes up for a shot in USC’s loss to Mississippi State.
- •
Gamecocks have hopes of NCAA berth
with strong regular season finish
BY JAY POU
’ THE GAMECOCK
The USC men’s basketball team
will take on the Georgia Bulldogs
Saturday hoping to stop a late-season
skid and make the NCAA tournament
for the first time since 1998.
The Gamecocks (20-7,7-6 SEC) need
at least one more regular season vic
tory to be considered for the NCAA
tourney, but many experts believe
USC will have to finish 9-7 or better
in the SEC to make the tournament.
The Gamecocks appeared to be a
guarantee for the tournament earli
er this sea'son after getting off to an
18-2 start, but they have lost a bit of
their momentum recently, winning
only two of their last seven games.
Georgia (14-10,6-7) has been hav
ing a season that is nearly opposite
of USC’s. The Bulldogs appeared to
be NIT-bound at best after a slow
start, but have put themselves in good
shape at the end of the season after
several huge wins, including victo
ries over Georgia Tech and Florida
and a season-sweep of Kentucky.
Georgia is on an SEC-best three-game
winning streak, posting consecutive
victories over Kentucky, Florida and
Tennessee.
The Bulldogs are led by senior for
ward Jonas Hayes, twin brother of
former Bulldog Jarvis Hayes who de
parted last year for the NBA as a first
round draft pick. Jonas, a back-up
most of last season, broke into the
Bulldogs’ starting lineup in their sec
ond game this season and hasn’t
looked back, averaging 14.8 points per
game. He was the hero of Georgia’s
thrilling double-overtime victory
over archrival Georgia Tech, explod
ing for 25 points.
Other major contributors for the
Bulldogs include senior guard
Rashad Wright, who is averaging 14.6
points per game, and senior swing
man Damien Wilkins, who is averag
ing 13.5 points per contest. Georgia is
led by first-year head coach Dennis
Felton, who was an assistant coach
on Clemson’s staff from 1994-98.
The Gamecocks will be in good
shape if Saturday’s game goes at all
like their first matchup with Georgia
this season, a 84-63 blowout that was
USC’s largest win over the Bulldogs
since 1962. Carolina used great de
fense to keep Georgia’s score low and
sealed the deal with great shooting,
hitting 54.5 percent of their field goals
and 36.4 percent of its three-pointers.
Forward Kerbrell Brown led the way
f6r USC, scoring 18 points and hitting
all three of his three-point attempts.
Guard Josh Gonner scored 13 and for
ward Rolando Howell put up 11 points
while grabbing six rebounds.
To defeat Georgia this time
around, USC will need a good defen
sive effort and a solid rebounding per
formance, something that has been
absent in many of the Gamecocks’
losses. Carolina big men, center
Rolando Howell and forward
Brandon Wallace, will have to step up
and box out Georgia’s strong re
bounders, including senior forward
Chris Daniels who grabbed nine
boards in these teams’ first meeting. If
the Bulldogs are having success on
offense, the Gamecocks will have to
rely on their three-point shooting, a
category in which they’ve been solid
but inconsistent.
The Gamecocks will hope to grab
the NCAA Tournament Selection
Committee’s attention Saturday at
the Colonial Center. Tip-off is set for
7:30 p.m.
Comments on this story? E-mail
gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu
Baseball trying to build on strong season start
BY JONATHAN HILLYARD
THE GAMECOCK
After starting the season with sweeps
of its first two three-game series against
Charleston Southern and UNC
Wilmington, the USC baseball team will
look to remain undefeated as they play
in this weekend’s Gamecock Round
Robin at Sarge Frye Field.
“All of the teams that are coming in
this weekend — Radford, Duquesne,
and George Mason — are friends of
mine,” USC head coach Ray Tanner
said. “It’s a chance to kick the season
off and a chance to get together and en
joy college baseball.”
The round robin will serve as the
season opener for Duquesne after
reaching the Atlantic 10 championship
for the first time in school history last
year. Head coach Mike Wilson led the a great start this season, boasting a bat
Dukes to a school record 15 conference ting average of .409 with five home runs
wins to finish second in the A-10 West and 15 runs batted in.
Division. The team finished with a 26-23 The Radford Highlanders will look
record, bix position
starters and two start
ing pitchers return for
the Dukes from last
year’s successful sea
son.
In last year’s three
game series against
Duquesne, USC swept
the Dukes with scores
of 12-2, 7-5 and 9-0. In
Friday’s matchup, junior pitcher Billy was picked to finish ninth in the BIG
Buckner will look to improve on his 1-0 South in the conference’s preseason
record on the mound for USC. Junior poll.
Kevin Melillo will look to match last Last season, Radford shocked the un
year’s game one performance in which defeated and sixth-ranked Gamecocks
he hit two home runs. Melillo is off to in Columbia in the first game of a three
to turn arouna tneir
season this weekend
after starting the sea
son with a three
game losing streak.
The Highlanders
were swept in a
three-game series by
the Duke Blue Devils
to start the 2004
schedule. The team
game series by a score of 5-4. USC re
covered on the weekend and ended up
winning the final two contests by scores
of 7-1 and 5-1.
Tanner has named junior Aaron
Rawl as the starter for Saturday’s game.
Rawl is 2-0 so far this season with an
earned run average of 2.25 and wins
over both CSU and UNCW. So far this
season USC has scored an amazing 59
runs in two games, a frightening stat
for Radford.
In the final game of the weekend, USC
will take on the George Mason Patriots,
who have started off this season with a
red hot 3-0 record. GMU finished last sea
son strong, advancing to the Colonial
Athletic Association championship
game. USC last faced the Patriots in the
♦ BASEBALL, SEE PAGE 10
“It’s a chance to kick
the season off and a
chance to get together
and enjoy college
baseball.”
RAY TANNER
USC HEAD BASEBALL COACH
Softball team faces tough
competition this weekend
BY STEPHEN COLLINS
THE GAMECOCK
After defeating the College
of Charleston 2-0 last Sunday,
the No. 23 USC softball team
stands at an impressive eight
wins and zero losses on the
year, and 3-0 in games decid
ed by two runs or less.
This weekend in
Columbus, Ga., the team will
participate in the ninth an
nual NFCA Leadoff Classic
Tournament. Standing in the
Gamecocks’ way are the 16th
ranked Fresno State
Bulldogs, the Princeton
Tigers, and the No. 18
Arizona State Sun Devils.
Fresh off a tournament in
California where three games
we,re cancelled because of
rain, Fresno State (5-2) is itch
ing for action. Sophomore in
fielder and 2003 NCAA
Second Team All-American
Christina Clark leads the po
tent offense, while junior
pitcher and two-time NCAA
All-American Jamie
Southern is the ace of a
stfong pitching staff.
Thp Prinrptrm snfthail
team boasts back-to-back Ivy
League titles as well as NCAA
Tournament appearances.
The team looks to 2004 to gain
another conference ring.
Very early this season,
Princeton will face the team
that gave them their first loss
of the 2003 Regional
Tournament. USC, the No. 2
seed in last year’s tourna
ment, trailed 7-2 to Princeton
in the seventh inning only to
rally and beat the Tigers 8-7,
handing Princeton its first
loss in the double-elimination
tournament.
Already 21 games into the
2004 season, Arizona State
(15-6) will travel for the first
time this season to partici
pate in the Leadoff Classic.
The Sun Devils, under the ex
cellent tutelage of 15-year
hea(l coach Linda Wells, and
the stellar pitching of Desiree
Serrano (8-0), along with an
offense that looks to break
last year’s record of 45 home
runs, are certainly a quality
opponent.
The Gamecocks will face
their opponents in a fixed
team in the bracket moving
on to the Gold Championship,
the second place team to the
Silver Championship, and the
third place team to the
Bronze Championship. While
all the teams Carolina will
face will surely be tough com
petition, the Gamecocks go
into the tournament with
confidence. USC allowed only
three runs last weekend on
its way to winning the
Gamecock Invitational.
They pitched three
shutouts in the tournament
alone, and have amassed five
shutouts on the year. Both se
nior Stacey Johnson and
sophomore Melanie Henkes
sport ERAs of 0.00, while ju
nior Aleca Johnson trails the
two with an impressive ERA
of 0.35. The offense is also
powerful, with a team batting
average of .324 and 16 home
runs in only eight games. So
far this season, Carolina has
outscored opponents 49-6.
USC will first play Fresno
State at noon on Friday.
__,_£'
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PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK
Jt- \
Freshman Chrissy Schoonmaker gets run over as she tries to pick off
~ - iipa -i- , i- • •