The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 02, 2004, Page 9, Image 9
^ Briefly
Former USC player
leads British team
Former USC All-American
Megan Matthews led the Great
Britain softball team to a win in
the Gold Medal game of the
International Softball Tournament
over Greece earlier this week.
Matthews pitched a complete
game in the effort, allowing just
six hits while recording three
strikeouts, leading her team to a
3-0 victory. She went 2-1 for the
tournament.
Great Britain broke a scoreless
tie in the sixth inning after load
ing the bases. Sarah Lockett
•would come through and drive in
two runs, and Sophie Froud would
score the third and final rim later
in the same inning.
Greece loaded the bases in the
seventh inning, just to see
Lindsay James come to the plate
and ground out to Matthews to
seal the victory for Great Britain.
USC equestrian set
to compete in finals
Traveling to Rome, Ga., for the
third time this season is the USC
equestrian team, which will com
pete in the Zone 5IHS A finals this
weekend. The event will begin at 8
a.m. on Saturday and will wrap up
on Sunday.
The team has had success in
^Georgia this season, having won
™the Western and Hunt Seat com
petitions October 2003. By finish
ing second in Rome in February,
the Gamecocks qualified for the
Zone Finals.
In the field for USC will be Tara
Brothers who, in her last IHSA
outing, was named High Point
Rider in Hunt Seat and in the re
gion, along with a number of other
riders.
Following this weekend's com
petition, the Gamecocks will com
pete in the Varsity Equestrian
Championships on April 23-24.
USC will play host to the event
with Georgia and Auburn.
Wesley Brown event
to cheer on children
^ In what has become an annual
event for the children at Palmetto
Health Children's Hospital and the
Children's Center for Cancer and
Blood Disorders, athletes from
USC's Team Gamecocks along
with Cocky and the cheerleaders
will visit the center for autograph
sessions, room visits and photos
April 9. Snacks will be provided
by Chick-Fil-A.
Wesley Brown, an athlete who
graduated from Spring Valley High
in 1997 and USC in 2001, passed
away in January 2003 after being
diagnosed with leukemia just sev
en months before. Brown's most
prized possessions included an au
tographed football by Lou Holtz
Bind a baseball signed by the entire
baseball team following their re
turn from the College World Series.
In his memory, Brown's family
decided to push the annual event
in partnership with the Palmetto
Health Children's Hospital. The
hospital was the first of its kind in
South Carolina and treats more
than 82,000 children each year.
Clemson beats USC
for first time in years
For the first time since 1995, the
USC men's tennis team was de
feated by Clemson last Wednesday,
6-1. .
USC's Tom Eklund and Marcus
^^Vestman defeated John Boestch
and Damiisa Robinson, but were
the only doubles team to pull out a
victory.
Eklund was also the only
Gamecock to win his singles
match, which was the No. 2 singles
match. Falling in third set
tiebreakers were USC's Ben
Atkinson and Pedro Rodrigues.
Demus takes SEC
honor title after win
After an outstanding indoor sea
son, USC track athlete Lashinda
Demus has been named SEC
Female Track Athlete of the Week
after posting the world's leading
400-meter hurdles time last week
■end in Gainesville, Fla.
) Sheranatimeof55.50towinthe
event at the Florida Relays, setting
a meet record. The time was good
enough to automatically qualify for
the NCAA Championships.
This is the third time this year
that a Carolina track star has
earned SEC weekly honors.
Others include male athletes Fred
Townsend and Tony Allmond.
Demus is the first female athlete
to be honored in the outdoor 2004
season.
Van Haren
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8
“R-E-S-P-E-C-T” Holtz has a hair
line fracture in his left fibula.
Huh? How did that happen?
What’s a fibula, and how do I
keep mine from getting a hairy
line?
Lou’s not supposed to be tak
ing full-contact Gatorade breaks
with Demetris Summers any
more. It seems a little ridiculous
that Holtz was injured; after all,
he came to USC after one too
many Notre Dame leprechaun
maulings.
|« Here we are, halfway between
the hell of last season and the po
tential heaven of a fresh start,
and Lou gets creamed by Cory
Boyd. They’re both fine, and they
still bleed garnet; they just want
some action any way they can
get it.
Frankly, I don’t blame them;
redemption is a wonderful
friend.
Well, “redemption” might be
too strong a word. It sounds like
something a melodramatic
ESPN Classic anchor would say
with soft trumpet music in the
background. We just want a
winning season, and that’s not
too much to whine incoherently
for. When Dondrial Pinkins is
good, he’s smoother than silk;
when he’s bad, he feels like a
prison back massage with a
Brillo pad. When Demetris
Summers, Daccus Turman and
Boyd are hot, they’re flaming
like Richard Simmons; when
they’re cold, I want to slap them
all in a row, Three Stooges
style.
Winning will have to wait un
til opening day at Williams
Brice, when drunken fans and
slightly drunker student fans
scream like the hillbillies they
are in proud salute to a giant
chicken.
As I look at the stadium from
my dorm window at night, it
honestly resembles a dead cock
roach turned over on its back,
legs in the air. I like to think it’s
just a trick of the light and not
some bizarre omen.
When I don my marching
band gear again and turn my
bass amp up to 11, we’ll all be a
little older and a little fatter.
Let’s hope we gain more than a
fibula fracture during spring
cleaning, and let’s be less awful
for the injured Lou.
Web site
CONTINUED FROM PAGE £
or hurting USC’s recruiting. I
wrote it because it was a timely
column.”
McLendon said he’s received
a lot of feedback to the site.
“We’ve gotten tons of e-mail,”
McLendon said. “I think if peo
ple will stand firm and actually
cancel their subscriptions and
voice their opinion in large
numbers; we will get a re
sponse.”
McLendon said he has plans
to make FireRonMorris.net
bumper stickers, T-shirts and
eventually plans to raise money
to post billboards in direct com
petition to The State’s Ron
Morris billboards that have
popped up around Columbia.
As for Morris, he is handling
the situation about as well as
can be expected and said he re
spects the opinions of his ac
cusers.
“I can understand where fans
would have that sense in that
they have an incredible passion
for their team, maybe like no
other in the country,” Morris
said. “What other large group
of fans follow their team with
such passion even through 100
years of mediocrity? So I can
understand how they can feel
that way. That doesn’t mean it’s
true, but I can understand
that.”
As for the personal attacks on
site, Morris doesn’t seem offend
ed.
“By being a columnist in a
town like this, I guess you could
say I’m somewhat of a public fig
ure. I have to watch what I do,”
Morris said. “If that means be
ing personally attacked, then
that comes with the territory.
Nobody likes that, but I don’t
know this man and he doesn’t
know me, so it doesn’t bother me
too much.”
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecocksports@gwm. sc. edu
WWW
dailygamecock
f / .com
> Read it five days a week.
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__f $ !&>. ik-?!«»&> *^BSar_.
m-,-1
I L _
' PHOTO COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS
Duke’s Chris Duhon helps cut down the net after the Blue Devils’ victory over Xavier Sunday.
Duhon leads Duke’s defensive
efforts in NCAA Tournament
BY AARON BEARD
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN ANTONIO — Chris Duhon
stalks his opponent, swiping at
the ball when he sees a screen out
of the comer of his eye.
His ribs are sore, bruised from
a fall in a game two weeks ago.
He could go around and avoid im
pact, but he’s not going to let up.
He fights over the screen — winc
ing with the glancing blow — and
stays with the ballhandler.
All season, Duhon’s dogged de
termination has been the motor
that powers Duke’s aggressive
defense. Now, after straying
briefly from that shut-you-down
mind-set late in the season, the
Blue Devils are back to playing
the defense that coach Mike
Krzyzewski loves heading into
Saturday’s national semifinal
game against Connecticut.
UTI7„ 5_1___11_._1
IIO UV/Vil U XV/UXXJ1 f)WU uv
fensive team all year,”
Krzyzewski said. “We were play
ing great defense during (the win
ning streak). Then, I think we let
up because we started to score
more. But in the NCAA tourna
ment we’ve played very well de
fensively.”
The Blue Devils (31-5) have
held opponents to 40 percent
shooting and 65 points per game
this season. Duke has also aver
aged a school-record 6.6 blocks
and forced 17.2 turnovers per
game.
During an 18-game winning
streak, Duke’s defense over
whelmed opponents and carried
the Blue Devils to a midseason
No. 1 ranking. But the Blue
Devils wavered, losing four of 10
games heading into the NCAA
tournament.
They sure seem back to form.
In tournament wins against
Alabama State, Seton Hall,
Illinois and Xavier, they allowed
62 points per game and 39 percent
shooting.
Duke’s staple all season has
been pressure man-to-man de
fense. When it’s working well,
the Blue Devils get hands in pass
ing lanes to force turnovers, fu
eling a potent transition game.
It all starts with Duhon, a
freshman on Duke’s 2001 NCAA
championship team. The 6-1 se
nior typically chases the oppo
nent’s top perimeter player and
hasn’t let his sore ribs suffered
in the Atlantic Coast Conference
tournament slow him.
He never wants to let his op
ponent breathe, partly because
the injury makes it hard for him
to do the same thing.
“I’m just trying to help fny
team out as much as possible
right now,” said Duhon, who has
worn a protective wrap under his
jersey. “I take pride in my de
fense. I just want to go out and try
to help my team win.”
Duhon held the mini’s top
scorer, Deron Williams, to seven
points on 3-for-13 shooting in the
third round, then alternated on
Lionel Chalmers and Romain
Sato of Xavier. The duo had com
bined for 41 — Sato had 27 — in
the third round against Texas,
but had 27 points on 8-for-26
shooting against Duke in the
Atlanta Regional final.
• " “Each of the kids he guarded
went from hot to cold,”
Krzyzewski said.
On the inside, the rugged 6-9
Shelden Williams has blocked
nine shots, tying UConn All
American Emeka Okafor for tops
in the tournament. Duke also has
■6-10 reserve Shavlik Randolph —
who has blocked four shots in the
last three games — and Luol
Deng, a 6-8 freshman with the
versatility to defend on the wing
or inside.
“You’d have to prepare for ev
ery player they have,” Huskies
guard Ben Gordon said. “They
have pressure defense. You can't
prepare for just inside or out
The Blue Devils’ defense has
overcome a drop in offensive pro
duction. After averaging 93
points in the first two. rounds,
Duke averaged 69 points in its
next two wins.
“I’ve been told that offense
wins games and defense wins
championships,” junior guard
Daniel Ewing said. “Even if the
offense is not going for us, as long
as we keep playing good defense
... we’re going to score some
buckets. Somehow, someway,
we’re going to get some points.’
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