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TH#S&AMECOCK “I \ f \ T "V rTl GAME SCHEDULE W 11 |f 11 V f I 1 i MEN’S TENNIS at ITA Southeast Regional, Thursday |—* ■ ■ | EQUESTRIAN vs. Georgia, 2 p.m. Saturday L^| V l|| | l ^ FOOTBALL vs. Vanderbilt, 3:30 p.m. Saturday Page 10 ' KV '-/ —I— V. —I— fV-' Wednesday, Oct. 19,2005 Experience encourages hoops coach in Preseason similarities to Elite Eight team striking to USCs Walvius IDiquel Jacobs STAFF WRITER When five of your 14 players come from overseas, any coach would be left to wonder how the lines of communication and type of play will be different for those players, especially for a team that last season had no seniors, one junior.and eight sophomores. However, USC women’s basketball coach Susan Walvius has spent the past two seasons rebuilding with her group of young players, and after playing a summer tour throughout Europe, believes she finally has the talent, chemistry and experience to compete in the SEC. “When we had our press conference last year, I told you at that time, I didn’t know how we were going to be,” Walvius said. “We did not have a group of leaders, and we did not have a senior or junior class. I - - - - c>- o The Gamecocks also weren’t sure of what it took to play to the level of Tennessee, Vanderbilt, LSU and the rest of the SEC elite. The team struggled to an 8-20 record, but _ improved to a 2-12 mark in the conference, one game better than a season before when the team relied on six freshmen in the nine-player rotation.- Now those players have two seasons of experience, and the team is convinced that those down years prepared them for what they hope will be a breakout year. “This year I feel very different about our team,” Walvius said. “I think we have a pretty legitimate chance. We have a chance because we had an opportunity to take our team to Europe. We took our team to Europe the year before we went to the Elite Eight, and we were in a similar situation as we are in now.” During the 2001-2002 season, the Gamecocks rode a 25-7 record and fell within three games of winning the national championship. With five __l _ ...I_U~A played a combined 370 games as underclassmen, Walvius credited the teams tremendous success to experience. The eight juniors alone on this season’s team have played in 334 games with 163 starts. “We’ve grown up together,” junior guard Lauren Simms said. “We’ve been playing together for the past two years, and I think our chemistry is better now than ever. We know each other’s games and we’re all comfortable together. “We have a team with two years of foundation of teaching and a team that has been through the experience of playing in the SEC for two years,” Walvius said. “It’s nice to have a junior class that has been on the floor. There are a lot of juniors in this conference that now, for the first time, have the first chance to play.” The team tested how those years of experience would work by playing games in Europe that included teams from Croatia and the Czech Republic, countries three Gamecock players call home. Junior forward i r l • t I II I I iVlClalilv JU1U15UI1 G<U1CU L11C LUUI d “once-in-a-lifetime experience” that also allowed the team to learn from its mistakes in past seasons. “When we ran our plays, we looked really good,” Johnson said. “Now that we’re juniors, we know that all the small things really matter. If we did those small things when we were freshmen, we would be outstanding now. “ Simms was the lone Gamecock player to not participate in the games overseas, as she is recovering from a knee injury that sidelined her for the WRLUIUS • II * rm s Wide receivers soar, 0-line stumbles as Sports Editor Jonathan Hillyard delivers Carolina's mid-season report card OUAf^TBF&A^fsS B Sophomore Blake Mitchell has firmly established himself as the man to beat at the position for the foreseeable future. Mitchell is completing 65.7 percent of his passes and is ranked second in the SEC in pass efficiency. FVNNIN& &AC.& The Gamecock rushing attack his been Minimal through six games, ranking dead last in the.SEC with an average of 78.5 yards per contest. Freshmen Mike Davis and Bobby Wallace have been disappointments, but the emergence of senior Daccus Turman gives the unit a passing grade — barely. A You.can't talk about the receivers without first mentioning redshirt freshman Sidney Rice. He leads the SEC in receiving yards per game, but funror Syvelle Newton is also in the SEC's top 10. Freshmen Carlos Thomas and Kenny McKinley have been pleasant surprises, while junior Noah Whiteside is enduring a tough season. __ r SAC^S *** f^ ' Catblina's secondary has been fairly good at not giving up the home-run ball and ranks third in the conference in pass defense. However, before the Kentucky gameTtRe unit could not capitalize on numerous opportunities to create turnovers and are still giving up the third-most points in the conference. I ~ 7 # The performance of these highly touted players has simply not been anywhere near as good as it should be. USCs defense ranks 10th in the SEC in rush defease, a star that can be largely attributed to the linebacking corps. Middle linebacker Ricardo Hurley will be looked to for elevated intensity in the season's second half. OFFENSIVE UNZ D+ It just wouldn’t be fair to give this unit a better grade than USC's running backs because the backs can't produce without any holes, The Gamecock line has allowed the third-most sacks in the SEC, allowing opponents to get to the quarterback 18 times in six games. To their credit, they seem to be improving. <>pECJAL TEAMS t?EFEN<Jy/E LINE B- C Other than problems at This unit has two very different USC kicking One seems to bowled valuable on kickoffs, and senior opponent might be. The other Josh Brown is holding his own occasional!)' gets to the on the field-goal end. In the quarterback and is tied for return game, freshman Carlos second in the SEC with 19 •' ',-y S kU . Thomas looks like a playmaker sacks. We ll find out how good -'.j on kick returns, but Kenny they are when they face the McKinley is leaving something Tennessees, Floridas and V y;: to be desired on punt returns. Clemsons later in the season. Photos by Katie Kirkland, Juan Bias and Nick Esares. Graphic Illustration by Laura-Joyce Gough/'YWYj GAMECOCK 4 Men’s golfer Anderson looks to repeat success Baron Salter FOR THE GAMECOCK Imagine being a highly regarded athlete coming out of high school, dominant in your sport, waiting to see how you stack up against the • next level of competition. Now let’s say you select USC as your college of choice and you get to play right away as a freshman. By year’s end you have been named SEC Freshman of the Year, All-SEC first team and third team All American. Not a bad start, eh? That scenario is reality for USC men’s golf sophomore Mark Anderson. Anderson burst onto the collegiate golf scene with a phenomenal freshman year, and he is looking to improve on that success with an even better year. He finished the 2004-2005 season with one tournament win and four other top-20 finishes. That success has created a hunger in Anderson for more. “This season I really want to surpass what I did last season. I’d really like to be an All-American again. That’s something I want to do all four years of college,” Anderson said. “Last year was a really important season for me. I proved to myself I could play well at this level. Now I need to make sure I continue to get better and keep improving.” While Anderson enjoyed last year’s success, he said he believes this season and the seasons ahead of him will be much more difficult. “It’s a lot harder to stay playing at h a high level than it is to get there. Last year, I played well, but at the end of the year I think I relaxed a little bit and people passed by me. I have more experience this year, and I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen again.” USC men’s golf coach Puggy Blackmon said he believes Anderson could be a very special player for the Gamecocks. “I believe Mark has the potential to be a first team All-American,” Blackmon said. “He still has to mature some in areas like course management, but he has a lot of Photo special to THE GAMECOCK Golfer Mark Anderson was named first-team All-SEC as a freshman. potential. As a sophomore, you wouldn’t think Anderson would NAME* Mark Anderson , , . . , HOMETOWN: Beaufort, S.C.. be looked upon HEIGHT: 5 feet 11 inches to provide YEAR: Sophomore leadership for -SEC Frrshmin of theYeer, Fin* reem AH-SEC and Third the Gamecocks, blit Blackmon -Waa named to-thcSouth Carolina jftlt-Swc team all four years of high school expects , ' ; 4 # -One day hopes to play on the PGA Tourand win a major Otherwise. championship “We Only Laura-Joyce Gough/\'WY. ^AMKCOCK have two seniors; otherwise our team is made up mostly of sophomores and freshmen,” Blackmon said. “We certainly are looking to Mark and our other sophomores for some leadership.” Anderson seems fine with the added responsibility, but he chooses to lead with his play more than his mouth. “I try to be a good example to my teammates when I’m out on the golf course,” Anderson said. “I like leading that way more than being a vocal kind of leader. We do have www. dailygamecock. com some excellent leaders on this team. Senior Eirik Johansen is an excellent leader and so is Florian Fritsch as a freshman already. Both of those guys are very positive and are really good leaders.” Anderson and the Gamecocks head out on the road for the Isleworth Collegiate Invitational tournament in Orlando, Fla., starting Sunday and continuing through Tuesday. Comments on this story? E-mail garqecocksports@gwm.sc.edu f w In week 6, pair of backs rack "’em up fantasy style Alexander, Tomlinson give ample reason to stay atop everybody’s fantasy wish list Week 6 was marked by the big two running backs putting up huge numbers again, a not so well-known wide receiver leading receivers in . points, no big numbers W from quarterbacks /— and injuries that will | affect your fantasy fiM|K football team. Shaun Alexander and Ladainian Tomlinson get first n , mention this week ||eujton because they led most leagues in scoring Fourth-year AGAIN. If you were behind going into the student Sunday night game with only Alexander left, you were probably happy to see Alexanders numbers; if you were playing against Alexander, 0 you are probably beating yourself over the head. Alexander put up four touchdowns and 141 rushing yards against the Houston Texans’ porous defense. Tomlinson had 140 rushing yards and a touchdown, 39 receiving yards and a touchdown, and rounded out his day with a passing touchdown. This is the second time this year Tomlinson has had a rushing and passing touchdown in a game. Santana Moss led receivers with 173 yards to go with two touchdowns. Moss is a consistent player when it fmiusv«ii