Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecocks, equestrian wins a national title, baseball picks up a midweek win, and the basketball team adds to its staff. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:55] Okay.
[00:00:56] Welcome to episode 386 of Cox Talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001. Happy draft week, Gamecocks. For us football junkies, this is as close as we're going to get until actual football. So just trying to soak it all in and act like I'm a scout and act like I know what I'm talking about and you know, occasionally pointing out like, oh yeah, I remember that guy. You know, he was good. You know, I'm talking about other teams, of course. But it's going to be pretty cool. Cool to see where our fellow Gamecocks end up. Our Gamecock football alum C. Say Barrett, among others. But you're gonna be really cool to see and it's always fantastic content to see whatever the team puts out there the moment these guys dreams are realized. And it's a fun weekend. Something to put on in the background and track and see what your team's doing and just get hopeful for the next NFL season. And then it's always cool to see where South Carolina stacks up among schools to have players drafted in this current draft, but then seeing where the total falls for where we are at SEC wise and nationally as well for just players in the NFL. And it's sneakily high. So hey, South Carolina, the new DBU CSAY is going to continue that legacy.
[00:02:23] Very exciting stuff here, but all right, let's jump into things here. Not a whole lot going on now. I mean, it's that interesting time of year where, you know, we've had major sports wrap up, football practice wrapped up when we're talking NFL draft here, but there still are some comings and goings here.
[00:02:44] Leading off with a great exciting piece of news from last weekend. And that is our Gamecocks equestrian team casually going out there and winning a national championship.
[00:02:58] Awesome to see. Add it to the trophy room, add it to the collection. Banners fly forever.
[00:03:04] You just love to see it. So I think it worked out where they went up against Texas A and M in the finals of what I imagine is some sort of tournament, but ended up beating Texas A&M 169.96 to 1473 and bringing home some hardware. You had a lot of really cool celebrations and just seeing the congratulations pouring in from across the different accounts and from across different sports to this and it's just great to see like I don't care what sport it is.
[00:03:39] These student athletes are taking time out of their day, putting in their resources and giving it all. And when we talk about a sport that, you know, the Olympic sports or something where they're, I don't know if there's a major league equestrian. I mean maybe there is internationally, but you get my point that this is something that is going to be cherished for a long time and could be like the pinnacle of a riding career. So super cool to see shout out to our equestrian team there. But all right, looking back at some reviews and scores and things of that nature from this past week here, looking at Wednesday, softball was an action border war taking on UNC and the ladies got the win 16 to 14.
[00:04:30] That's, that's like a football score. But Gamecocks getting out of Chapel Hill with a win and that's just great to see there. It's this season for the softball team. It hasn't come as easily as it did last year, especially in the sec.
[00:04:47] A lot of the wins, the vast majority of the wins rather have come in out of conference games. And you see it here by beating North Carolina and continuing that trend. But going into a season that I think there were some raised expectations compared to last year and at least in the conference play, it hasn't really matched that. It's great to be able to notch a big time win like that. So shout out to the softball team. And then Thursday, men's golf was in action. SEC championships, round two. They are sitting in eighth going into Friday. Beach volleyball was in action and they took on Boise State, defeating the Broncos 4 to 1. Shout out to beach volleyball there.
[00:05:34] And then we do have some news from around the basketball program starting with the women's team here. Not staying away from the headlines for too long is Dawn Staley as five star recruit Olivia Edwards has committed to South Carolina. This is a really interesting story. So Edwards was originally committed to Tennessee, but was released from her national letter of intent earlier this month. Soon after that she was taking trips and was back on campus at South Carolina and ended up committing. And sometimes you just got to do a double take and you end up where you're supposed to be. She is a top five number five overall aspect or prospect, excuse me, in the class of 2026 she is first among power forwards. But this is part of that insane story coming out of Tennessee, which I don't want to spend too much time talking about a rival program and A rival school, but it's comical and it's a head scratcher. So I think we're allowed to talk about it here. But do yourself a favor, read an article or two about what has gone on at the University of Tennessee women's basketball program, and it's a wild ride. In short, I don't know where it stands right now, but basically the entire team left hit the transfer portal and I think pretty much all of their recruits and commitments decommitted, all stemming from their new coach who was in year two. And after a little bit of success, things hit a rocky patch and called out her team in the media. And the team basically responded by saying, okay, if that's how you feel and you think we're a bunch of quitters, watch this.
[00:07:27] And left and they hit the transfer portal. And this new coach is kind of left with her hands in the wind trying to find a way to piece together a team. I don't really know. I don't know much more beyond that crazy story in women's college basketball, but South Carolina seems to be the beneficiary of it in this regard. So welcome home, Olivia Edwards. And just adding to what is already a pretty strong recruiting class for Don and also bringing in a couple of key transfers as well, as well as she looks to reload for another big run next season and then moving over to the men's basketball side. Yeah, got some updates here. South Carolina has added to its coaching ranks.
[00:08:15] So it is being reported that South Carolina has hired David Duquette from the Charlotte Hornets.
[00:08:23] Probably going to assist in some sort of scouting or GM resource management type of role. Very interesting. When you look at his past experience, he was assistant gm, director of salary cap strategy, director of basketball strategy. So not an on the court assistant here for Lamont and for usc. This is definitely someone who's going to come in and. And help manage resources, help manage scouting and help manage the roster construction, which was a big, big problem for Lamont these past two years. And it's interesting because I feel like they asked Lamont about this at the end of the season and especially when he was retained about how are you going to handle roster management? Are you going to hire a gm? And he didn't really get into too many details. And I think this is a clear indication that the athletic department is intending on having some dedicated people who are going to oversee the big picture in that aspect. So. Pretty interesting. Yeah, I mean, I, I like it. I mean, I. You're trying to beef up the staff and you're trying to, you know, beef up the brain trust, I guess, for lack of a better term, and let Lamont focus on what he can do best instead of having to manage all this. And I think it's great. So really cool to see and neat to see that South Carolina is keeping up with the times in that regard. You know, you saw it over on the football side of things where in addition to Darren Ursher, they've brought on a couple of folks to help in that regard with scouting and nil management and that type of deal. And it's crazy to say that you have to have GMs now in college, but it is the, it is the way and really cool to see it happening on the men's side of things. So shout out to our basketball programs, keeping us on our toes with some news in this slow period here, but not slowing down anytime soon.
[00:10:31] It is baseball season still in full swing. The guys were in action against Presbyterian Tuesday night at Founders park and got a rare comfortable win, ultimately winning a 9 to 3 here. Presbyterian got the scoring started early, scoring two in the first, but the Gamecocks would not be denied as they scored in every inning, first through the fifth and then also tacked on one in the seventh. And you really like to see it, you know, scoring in multiple different ways, taking advantage of Presbyterian mistakes, hitting with runners in scoring position, hitting for power, getting a few home runs in there and ultimately finding ourselves in a very comfortable win. You know, Presbyterian is having a tough season, but hey, you play who's on your schedule and that's exactly what you're supposed to do, a midweek game against a team like Presbyterian at home. Nonetheless, you are exactly supposed to handle business here.
[00:11:36] Some player highlights for y' all here.
[00:11:39] Ethan Lizama went 2 for 3 with 2 RBI, KJ Scobie 1 for 4 with 2 RBI as well, and then Tyler back 1 for 4 there. On the pitching side of things, Patrick Dudley got things started. More of an opener going for one inning and a no decision. It was Connor Ciccoli who got the win, going four innings, giving up no runs and four strikeouts. So was a feel good day at Founders, getting that midweek win, something you absolutely love to see. And then the guys continue their home stand this weekend as they will be taking on Kentucky this weekend at home, getting things started Friday evening. Kentucky is towards the bottom of the SEC as Well, sitting at 31 and 26 overall, 13 and 17 in the SEC.
[00:12:40] Your projected pitching matchups, it's kind of what we've been seeing the last couple of weeks here for South Carolina.
[00:12:48] Friday, Amp Phillips, Saturday, Brandon Stone, and Sunday is listed as to be announced here. So sitting here again after a tough showing last weekend in baseball against Mississippi State, where you felt like you had some momentum, and ultimately that was disproven as you got swept at home, I understand Mississippi State is having a solid year. They're ranked, I believe it was 17th going into this one. So it's not quite the competition. But, you know, South Carolina sitting at 6 and 24 in league play compared to 13 and 17 for Kentucky. I mean, you have to take every team seriously at this point because quite frankly, at least on paper, all but Missouri are better than us. So hoping that the guys can take some of this momentum that we saw in the midweek against Presbyterian, particularly hitting with guys in running position or, excuse me, hitting with runners in scoring position and being dynamic offensively. Hopefully that can carry over and you can try to go out there and win this series. And, you know, I think after last weekend against Mississippi State, I was sitting here before that series talking to y' all about maybe, just maybe if you go out there and have a good showing, you can make these last couple of weeks interesting of the season.
[00:14:26] You know, you had some folks getting a little bit ahead of themselves with what all was left on the schedule. I think a lot of those hopes were dashed after you get swept. But there still is stuff to play for and it's pride. It's setting yourselves up well, getting some momentum for if, you know, those who are staying around for next season and just trying to get the vibes back around this program. And I think that's the opportunity that is ahead for this team going against Kentucky.
[00:15:01] So we're going to see how it goes, you know, and it's really all we are, we have at this point with baseball. And, you know, hopefully we're sitting here this time next week after a winning series and feeling a little bit better and you have some momentum there. But there was a lot of comings and goings throughout the athletic department this week. I know I'm a little under here, but yeah, it is that time of year and hopefully we get some positivity and some highlights to discuss from this weekend from the baseball team. And then of course, we'll bring y' all up to speed about where all the Gamecocks land in the NFL draft. Y' all have a great weekend. 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.
