The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 02, 2005, Page 14, Image 14
SEC News & Notes
Bass hooks weekly honor
LSU forward Brandon Bass has
been named SEC player of the week
for a stellar performance in last
Saturday’s 69-62 upset of
Mississippi State.
The 6-foot-8-inch Bass scored 26
points, pulled down 11 rebounds and
managed five blocks against the
Bulldogs. The sophomore also helped
hold Lawrence Roberts to 3-of-ll
shooting for the game. It was Bass’ third
consecutive double-double.
Bass was also a key component in
Wednesday’s 70-60 comeback win
over Ole Miss. Down by as many as
10 points in the second half, Bass
led LSU’s rally, finishing with 14
points, 11 rebounds and five
blocked shots. Bass is averaging a
near double-double on the season,
at 17.7 points and 8.8 rebounds a
game.
BILL FEIG/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Louisiana State's Brandon
Bass puts the ball up and
over Mississippi State’s
Lawrence Roberts for two of
his 26 points Saturday.
Crimson Tide, Gators to tangle
in Gainesville
Alabama will travel to Florida on
Saturday in a battle of one
conference-loss teams. The Gators
will be coming off a Tuesday night
contest with Mississippi State, with
the Crimson Tide having taken on
USC on Wednesday.
Florida went to 5-1 in conference
play after Saturday’s 80-72 win over
USC.
Alabama is coming off of a 75-47
throttling of Georgia that pushed its
record to 6-1 in the conference. The
Crimson Tide also beat in-state rival
Auburn 60-55 on Wednesday.
Earnest Shelton led the Tide
with 22 points, including five 3
pointers. Kennedy Winston, last
week’s SEC player of the week,
scored 16 points, including 12
beyond the arc.
■ BLOOM
Continued from pagel3
attend a Weight Wachers convention.
31) Permanently change my cell
phone ringed to “He/en Is A Place On
Earth” by Belinda Calisle.
45) Re-alphabefce the Thomas
Cooper Library usinghe fourth letter of
every author’s middloiame.
The commercial} are slightly more
enjoyable than th halftime show.
Slightly. The ones Jhate the most are
the ones that will just show some
random event or series of events, none of
which involve the product being
advertised, and then just show you the
product name and* that’s it. The
commercial is over, and I am confused.
For example: In some far away land, a
squirrel defecates on a legal pad. The squirrel
finds something more interesting to do, like go
find nuts, and scurries away. The camera pans
back, the screen fades to black, and an
ominous voice-over tells us to “Do the Dew”
or something like that. Yes, this is just an
example, but bad advertising is all the same:
bad
The only good commercial during
last year’s Super Bowl was the
Budweiser commercial with the donkey
and the horse farting (any time an
animal farts is guaranteed humor), and
they have already said they aren’t
showing that one this year. 1 guess that
means I only have one thing to look
forward to on Super Bowl Sunday: the
Super Bowl.
Comments on this story? E-mail
gamecocksports@gum.sc.edu
■ ODOM
Continued from paje 13
individual meeting! after the Florida
game, they will remai on the team.
“The opportunit I have is to help
them realize they’re mtside the confines
of the team, what’s 1st for our team, and
we got to get themto the point where
they become like usAnd they care more
about — there’s a kr word ‘care’ — they
care more about usteam, then they do
about their own deres,” Odom stated.
Without Tisby itthe lineup in the 80
72 loss to the Gatorhn Sunday, the team
was without one of its limited, thick post
defenders. Gonner provided a spark in
USC’s comeback victory over Vanderbilt’s
streaky shooting as he impeccably pushed
and handled the ball in the Commodores’
zone. Nonetheless, the lack of care
outweighed his solid play of late.
Amid these potentially distracting
situations, USC heads into tonight’s game
against the Razorbacks (14-6,2-5 SEC) in
need of a string of victories. To be
considered a postseason presence, the
team will need to manifest the same
magnificence it did in its three road losses
to then top-10 teams, as well as in the
majority of its 10 home victories.
“We all need correcting. We all need it
from time to time. And that’s what we
had last weekend, a chance to cleanse
ourselves,” Odom said.
“Here’s a chance to take that on,”
Odom said. “Yeah, it comes at a time
where, hey, we’re home tomorrow night,
and we got these other games, and some
people look at them as winnable, and I
don’t argue with that, that’s fine. Maybe
that’s good. Maybe this gives us
something to concentrate on so we don’t
feel the pressure of the games themselves.”
Comments on this story? E-mail
gamtcocksports@gwm.sc.edu
Men’s golf to tee off
in Gainesville tourney
By JASON SCHIEIDER
THE GAMECOCK
It’s February, flks. And that can
only mean one thig: It’s golf season.
Alright, so maybe ;olf isn’t the first
thing that crosses yur mind in early
February. But for ISC coach Puggy
Blackmon and the *arolina golf team,
February means it’s me to hit the links
as the Gamecocks hid to Gainesville,
Fla., to participate iithe University of
Florida’s SunTrust <ator Invitational.
After what Blackron described as a
somewhat mediocre J1 which saw the
Gamecocks finish srenth, third and
13 th in respective totnaments, he said
he feels this season’s team has shown
quite a bit of promise, as well as quite a
bit of diversity in age and experience.
“We had some freshmen step up,”
Blackmon said, “And I think this is the
first time since I’ve been here we’ve got a
good seasoning of older players with a
lot of,experience, and we’ve got some
talented freshmen.”
Possible standouts on this year’s team
include two seniors, two juniors and two
freshmen. Blackmon said he expects
team seniors Alex Hamilton and Jake
Thompson — both Academic All
Americans — to provide the leadership
necessary for a successful team.
Eirik Johansen of Norway, a 2002
03 All-American, and Robert Svensson
of Sweden comprise a duo of talented
juniors whose play will be key to the
team’s success this year.
The freshmen class, which Blackmon
called “one of the best I’ve seen in my
time here,” is most notably comprised of
the 2003 South Carolina Junior
champion Mark Anderson and local
product Warren Thomas. Both,
Blackmon said, have proved very
capable of putting up low numbers.
Unfortunately, this weekend’s
tournament allows for only five players
per squad. All six of the aforementioned
w
players, however, will travel to
Gainesville with the team.
“We’re going to play the five-man
team, and one player will play as an
individual, which will be good because
that will really give us a feel for who’s
ready to play,” Blackmon said.
As far as the competition goes, the
field looks to be quite challenging.
Florida, which seems to be the team’s
primary competition and the
frontrunner in the field, returns nine
players from last year’s team, which
finished sixth overall in the NCAA and
second in the SEC behind Georgia.
The most notable of the returnees are
First-team All-American Man Every and
All-American Honorable Mentions
Brett Stegmaier and Jessie Mudd.
Rounding out Florida’s top five are
redshirt freshman Manuel Villegas and
senior Duke Butler IV, both of whom
are ranked in the top 80 individually in
the SEC.
So, as the metaphorical bell rings for
the golf team’s season this weekend in
Gainesville, the Gamecocks will tiy to
keep their heads down, left arms straight
and come out swinging.
-:_II_ ; * _
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This week’s games:
11 Alabama at Florida
Mississippi State at Auburn
6 Kentucky at Vanderbilt
Arkansas at Ole Miss
LSU at Tennessee
25 Georgia Tech at 4 Duke
12 Michigan State at Iowa
22 Maryland at Miami
Texas Tech at 14 Oklahoma
USC at Georgia
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