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THiftiAMECOCK SPORTS Page 6 K_y _1_ vy _L V, rV ' Friday, Feb. 3,2006 Katie Kirkland/ THE GAMECOCK USC guard Tarence Kinsey leads the Gamecocks into Fayetteville, Ark., on Saturday to take on Arkansas. Gamecocks look to rebound from loss to Tennessee USC hoping for complete game as it searches for 3rd conference win Brent Greenberg THE GAMECOCK The USC men’s basketball team will try to rebound from a lackluster performance against Tennessee as they travel to Fayetteville, Ark., to take on the Razorbacks on Saturday. In Knoxville, the Gamecocks managed to keep the score close for the majority of the game, but the Volunteers pulled away late to win 81-65. The loss dropped Carolina to 11-9 overall and 2-5 in the SEC. Once again, the Gamecocks could not keep up their steady play for a full forty minutes as they let an early lead slip away. They also held double-digit leads in games against Kentucky and their first meeting with the Volunteers. In each contest, Carolina came up short. The Razorbacks are 14-6 overall and 3-4 in the SEC, and are led by the SEC’s leading scorer, Ronnie Brewer. Like the Gamecocks, Arkansas has had trouble maintaining a lead and has suffered a few second half meltdowns. The Razorbacks led by as many as 18 against Kentucky earlier this week, only to see the Wildcats storm back to snatch a 78-76 victory. Earlier in the year, they also lost a close overtime game HOOPS • 1 Age of 30 no handicap for talented Tiger Woods Age not an issue for golfers as it is for other professional athletes Two lines come to my mind when considering the current state of Tiger Woods’ career as a professional golfer. “Still it’s a real good bet, the best is yet to come.” — Frank Sinatra. “Itisnotthe end. It is not .11 TODD GRCCI1 Sports and entertainment management graduate student r.t j r. Li 1C UCgllllllllg C»1 LI 1C C11U. XL is the end of the beginning.” — spoken by Sherman the robot in the obscure 1989 Kris Kristofferson film “Millennium.” Tiger Woods won the Buick Invitational last Sunday - his first tournament of 2006 — by defeating Jose Maria Olazabal and Nathan Green in a playoff. Winning tournaments has become so commonplace for Tiger Woods that it’s almost not even newsworthy. What makes this win special for Woods is that it is his first since having turned 30 years old. In most professional sports, turning 30 signifies the beginning of the end of the careers of most athletes. NFL running backs take such a beating that they are lucky to even still be playing by die time they turn 30. Athletes who are over 30 have a stigma attached to them. They are perceived as having lost a step or two. But professional golf is different in that it’s thought that most golfers don’t reach the top of their game until Gflccn • 1 Future USC offensive lineman Seaver Brown signs his intention to play for the Gamecocks next fall as his mother looks on. Steve Spurrier’s 26 signees include four four-star recruits, vaulting the class into Rivals.com’s top 25. Spurrier stocks line on both sides as recruiting season ends \ Stephen Fastenau SPORTS EDITOR USC wrapped up a recruiting class on Wednesday that is low on glamour, but high on need. There were no last-minute surprises as there were last year — the 2005 class that was stocked with wide receivers and quarterbacks received much more hype than this year’s class of mostly lineman. That is unlikely to worry USC coach Steve Spurrier as the main needs of his team, most notably along the offensive and defensive lines, were addressed. “We believe it is a very similar recruiting class to last year. You never know until about five years from now,” SPECS • 1 2006 USC SIGNEES NAME POSITION NAME POSITION Pierre Andrews OL Chris Hail DB AVR Casper Brinkley LB Captain Munnerlyn DB AVR ■ > "1, ' i . ....i. Ryan Broadhead OL Eric Norwood TE/DE Moe Brown WR Rodney Paulk LB Terrence Campbell DL Vandaral Shackleford LB Emanuel Cook RB Chris Smelley QB Hutch Eckerson OL Darian Stewart DB 'ii* # ? i f Kenrick Ellis DL Kevin Youn, Of