Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox talking Game. Cox, the SEC opponents have been released for both basketball teams, and the baseball team wraps up the regular season. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:54] Okay. Welcome to episode 242 of Cox talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001 and hope y'all had a nice week out there, gamecocks, and are ready to seize the weekend. You know, all this talk about, you know, seize the day, give it your best effort during the week. Let's seize the weekend, huh? How about that? Let's make the most of our weekend, enjoying our time to ourselves, kicking back, watching some sports, having a couple drinks, whatever you want to do this weekend, be the best at it. You want to be the best couch potato? Fantastic. You want to go play pickup basketball? Fantastic. Be the best at it. I'm feeling very motivational in this moment. I don't really know why, because we just got a lot going on in game cognation, and the baseball team is question marks on question marks, but woke up this morning feeling dangerous. So nonetheless, here, got some things to cover for y'all. I'll talk about the baseball series, and we'll get y'all out of here. Not a ton to go over today, so we'll see how it goes. But let's do a quick week in review here. The only score to report comes from the men's golf team. And on Wednesday, the guys finished 8th in the Baton Rouge regional. And although they had a good effort and were made a push late, unfortunately, the guys came up just short, and their season comes to an end as they are not able to advance. So way to go, guys. You know, you really gave it your all was a good season. There were some highs, you know, just from keeping up with the team. They had some nice, strong finishes scattered throughout the year. And unfortunately, the season does come to a close here in the Baton Rouge regional. But there will be a good amount of action to review from this weekend as you have postseason play for softball continue as they're in the NCAA tournament. And then women's golf, remember, they're in the final round of the postseason as well. So some big, big, big time, high stakes action, if you will, from women's sports at South Carolina this weekend. So very excited. And best of luck to the softball team and the women's golf team. I got a good feeling about both them, especially the women's golf team. They're really good. They kick ass, and let's see what we can do here. But in other news, not really score related or anything like that. We had some fun updates from both basketball programs as the SEC opponents for next season dropped.
[00:03:49] I absolutely love this. I love big time college athletics because the way they just space some of these things out. It's May, okay? It's May. And we're talking SEC play for next basketball season. So we got to go through the remainder of this baseball season. Then we got to get through the summer, and then comes the fall, and then eventually that late fall, early winter, you get basketball season rolling. So, I mean, off the top of my head, like, when the heck does the SEC play even start? December, you know, January ish. Right? Like, it's just. It really is funny. Like, maybe, like late November. I got myself in a pretzel now. But the point being, the talking season just doesn't stop. And I love it. I absolutely love it. So let's see what we got here. So, for the ladies, you're looking at the schedule. It looks like all w's to me, man. It looks like all dubs. All dubs. I kid. Not really, though. But some highlighted games from the ladies is LSU at home, Texas at home, and in Austin. So doing sort of a home and home with the Longhorns and then hosting Oklahoma. So you're getting both new SEC teams to come to colonial life.
[00:05:13] Welcome to the SEC. I mean, really, you get to go against the defending champs at home, but nonetheless, that will be a really cool site to welcome in some new teams here. Who knows? Maybe it's the start of a new rivalry, right? Some of the games get chippy and you look forward to it next year. That's how these things build. Maybe it happens right away with Texas and Oklahoma, but for real, like, no matter who the Gamecocks are playing next season, they will be getting everyone's best shot. And really, when you think about it, this team went undefeated last year. So there's going to be this badge of honor, if you will, to break that streak from any team who the Gamecocks play, right? In conference or otherwise. If you can give South Carolina their first loss in, you know, however many games that's going to get these teams ready to play. And on the conference side of things. Like, even with that being said, there really isn't a team that puts fear in me. So it's going to be really interesting to watch this season. And I'm so excited because you got the ladies seemingly still very motivated. You have so many returning players, stars on the rise. Malaysia Fulwile team's going to look a little differently, obviously, without Cardozo, but it's going to be another fantastic ride. That LSU home game is going to be popping. I mean, it was jumping when we went to their place and now they come to ours. I mean, at this point, you know, SEC championship game, national championship, angels gone. Like at this point, who knows what they're going to look like. And I certainly think now that the dust has settled from the last couple of years, I still think Carolina is in better shape. I think Carolina is built better. And I certainly think we can sort of look down our noses a little bit at LSU, but it's still a very intense rivalry. They don't like us, we don't like them. Their coach is a maniac and it's going to be jumping. So very excited for the SEC opponent drop from the women's side of things. Now on the men's side, it's a very intriguing slate as the home schedule will include Texas, Alabama, Auburn and Arkansas. Now, don't forget, it's still going to take some getting used to. Coach Cal is at Arkansas, so some familiarity there with the coaches and things like that.
[00:07:53] Certainly this presents a challenge when you look at some of those, some of those teams here.
[00:07:59] But the fan support for the men's team is as high as it's been in years. So CLA will be jumping for these matchups and this incredible atmosphere that we saw really building and building last year. I think you're going to see it more and more this year. But those couple of games right there, of course there's more home games, but Texas, Alabama, Auburn, Arkansas, my goodness. I mean, Arkansas with coach Cal is very intriguing. That's going to be a very interesting scenario to watch play out, right? Alabama, incredibly deep tournament run this year. Texas, they've been a tournament team the last couple of years. They put a lot of emphasis in that program there. Auburn, disappointing showing this year in the tournament, but, you know, has proven to be one of the better teams in the SEC the last few years. So at least at home, it's absolutely jumping on the road. The men's slate is highlighted by Oklahoma. So new entry there, Tennessee and Kentucky. So Tennessee and Kentucky. It's nice that we still get to play those guys again. Kentucky will be interesting to see what that team looks like in the first year under a new coach themselves. But I mean, generally speaking, I feel like the guys played pretty well on the road last year. Obviously, like big upset as well. So it would be awesome to watch and see if they can steal another big one or two on the road as well. But really, I mean, between the ladies going on their repeat tour and the men looking to continue the success they had from last year, I think it's safe to say that colonial life is just going to be packed with energy all year. Between the fams, the men's team, and everybody, basketball fever is still very much in Colombia. And I think you see it. You know, I was joking about it, that it's May and we're talking about basketball, but people legitimately were. You're on social media, you're on other sites and things like that. People are talking about these matchups and are excited for that.
[00:10:12] That hasn't happened, at least on the men's side of things, in a very long time.
[00:10:18] And hopefully it's going to be more of the same here, but especially with the men's side things because, you know, the attendance and the atmosphere is going to be there for the ladies. Don has built that and deservingly so. On the men's side of things, you can really get excited when you look at some of the transfer players Lamont has brought in, the recruiting that he's done, the core couple of guys still coming back. It's going to be a very fun team to watch. You don't want to put unrealistic expectations on that. You know, he made the tournament for the first time in, what was it, seven years, more or less, and you don't want to say, you got to get right back there. But my gosh, there is certainly a lot to be excited for. So, yeah, if you haven't looked at the full schedule, go check it out. It's on both their social medias. The graphic is. Is up there, and we got a long wait. We got to get there, but it's going to be fun once it finally does here. But let's talk about games that are currently being played here. I'm talking baseball here. And it is the final regular season series as the Gamecocks take on the number one ranked Tennessee volunteers up in Knoxville. The Gamecocks entered this series at 33 and 18 overall and 13 and 14 in the SEC. The Vols entered things at 43 and ten and 19 and eight in conference. So as y'all are listening to this, those records will of course, be different. Someone's gonna be better, someone's gonna be worse because this series got underway Thursday. So just with the timing of the releasing and recording and things like that, game one will have already been decided. You will have known this by now. Maybe some of it's been updated, but the pitching rotation as recording. This is Ty good. And then TBA and TBA, which of course is exactly how you want your pitching rotation to look in the last series of the year.
[00:12:25] Two tbas.
[00:12:27] Oh, boy. I mean, that's really all you can say? Shout out Ty goode. He's had a very solid year. He deserved this start. Hopefully he has a nice outing in that game one and hopefully this is just a little bit of gamesmanship from Kingston. Like hopefully he's, he has the game plan about who's going to start two and three. But gamesmanship aside, like, you want to have that stability. You want to have something right. You want to know what direction you guys are going in. That's just baseball. You have a pitching rotation. But this series here, it comes at a big time for Carolina baseball.
[00:13:10] The team is still being projected to make regionals by major sites. You have 13 sec wins right now, but historically, when you look at it, I was reading this today, 14 sec wins, you're looking really good. Like you're almost guaranteed in the regionals with that 15. You're certainly in, right? That's why that 15 is really kind of looked at as that benchmark. I think because Carolina has over 30 wins overall, that's giving them a big boost in the post season argument. But regardless of that, right, this team is coming off a horrible showing and a showing in which they got swept last weekend. And so now you're going against a team in Tennessee which is certainly ranked higher and they deserve it because they are very, very good.
[00:14:06] So the challenge going into this series is just enormous for this Carolina team to go out there and get some things right before they head to hoover for the SEC tournament.
[00:14:19] And again, you probably feel good about your postseason chances.
[00:14:26] It's not a situation where you're reading a lot of like being left off, things like that. But at 13 league wins, history tells you you get one more, you can really breathe easy.
[00:14:39] You're going against a really good team. You're on the road. That has to be the goal, right? Of course you want to go out there and play your best and win the series, but the goal has to be out there and get one, get one, get 14 league wins, you can breathe a little easier and then you go out to hoover and you give it your all. But I mean, questions like, can we see the offense put up numbers against the really good pitching staff? Can our pitching staff reverse the trend that we saw from last weekend and tame this lineup? This lineup is just as powerful, really more than George's. Right. So can you reverse that trend?
[00:15:24] Ken? Mark Kingston, silence the critics. Right. These are just some of the questions we have swirling around this series. And frankly, this team feels like it's in a very fragile state and you're ending the regular season and you want to be able to do so on a high note. But there's just a, it's a big uphill climb, seemingly right. And the fans opinions of this team are really not in a good place right now.
[00:16:04] And it's still this, you know, you want so much for this program, and it just, it just, again, it just feels like it's fragile right now where you have some fans kind of still holding on to some hope. You have some people who maybe are apathetic when in the past they weren't. They've just been kind of pushed towards that spot. You have some fans who still think you can get hot. I mean, the truth is you've seen some teams in recent years who might not have the best record, but they just get on that run in the post season, they find themselves in Omaha.
[00:16:45] And Mark Kingston has said that I, I don't think you want to be banking on a miracle run. Right. You want to be coming at it from a position of strength.
[00:16:55] But, you know, it's an interesting spot to be in. So does a good showing against a really good team change some of these things? Probably not. Right. But if you do that, it at least brings in some hope for a good showing in Hoover and hopefully beyond that.
[00:17:16] And then after that, when we get through whatever lies ahead for the Gamecocks, we'll let the chips fall where they may. And we can certainly sit here and debate about the direction of the program, who should be leading the program, what resources should be pushed towards this program, things that may need to be improved in and around founders and things like that. So one thing at a time, let's get through this series, steal a win, get to Hoover, and let's go. But with that, y'all. That wraps up this episode. Please follow me on social media, Twitter or X is Cox Gamecocks. Instagram is just the name of the show, Cox talking Gamecocks. And please, like, subscribe and review the podcast. I appreciate all y'all. Go, Cox.
