The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 03, 2006, Page 6, Image 6
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