Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox talking Gamecocks, the men's basketball SEC tournament is underway. Baseball begins conference play as well. And spring football is just around the corner. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:57] Welcome to episode 226 of Cox talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 18 one to 2001. Then hope you all are ready out there for a big time, big time weekend. We are talking big time matchups throughout the whole entire weekend. We got postseason play. We got league play starting up. There's lots of action and lots of excitement building up, really all around Gamecock Nation. Whether you're looking at men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, huge anticipation for a lot of things, both present this weekend and then also right around the corner. But this is an all time time of year, for lack of a better term. You got march madness gearing up. These conference tournaments are great, especially the ones where you see a Cinderella, a team that has no business winning the tournament, making a run in their own conference. But you get that. Then you get St. Pat's thrown in there, and it's just nothing but good times.
[00:02:12] And this is it. We're just really gearing up, moving all the work weeks out, changing meetings and everything like that, getting ready for the big dance here. But I will, of course, touch more on that when we know seating and all that jazz here. But hope y'all are ready for a big time weekend in Gamecock Nation here. Got a good episode for y'all here. Really diving into men's basketball in the SEC tournament and then baseball as well.
[00:02:41] Obviously, the women are in a little bit of a holding pattern now that their conference tourney is over. And then kind of a slow week in terms of some of the other sports here. But as far as a week in review here, got some fun notes for you all here, starting with the football program. That's right. Spring practice is set to begin Tuesday. That's right. We're talking practice. We are talking practice. But no, seriously, it's always a cool time with football because you start to see the reports trickle out from various sources of what players are maybe setting themselves apart. Are there any surprises? Are there any freshmen who are really turning heads? And then, of course, you want to hear how some of the transfers are looking. I mean, I've already seen some early reports that have Canard and Dylan Stewart as being really as good as advertised. So that's great for the defensive line, but going to be really interesting to follow along and pick up on any clues that you possibly can in press conferences and articles and things like that for how this offense is evolving. Post Spencer Rattler, post Xavier Leguette. It's Lenoris's team, right? Lenora is QB One, seemingly right there, right locked in. But how does Ashford push him? What running back separates themselves? I know rocket Sanders is still recovering from his shoulder surgery. Wide receivers, how does that look? So always interesting to tune into all the press conferences that Beamer and staff will do.
[00:04:25] But then some other fun news here. Unless you were living under a rock or your phone was busted, you would have known a lot of this here. But Lamont Paris was named the SEC coach of the year by the league and then also the AP as well. So that goes without saying how well deserved that is. The turnaround from year one to year two is a story real like I feel like isn't even being talked about nationally enough. I mean, I think LP very well could and should be the national coach of the year, but what he did from this group is just remarkable and he built this team. I was really thinking about this, where sometimes you see new coaches come into programs and they get that initial success like year one or year two. And sometimes that can be attributed to said coach inheriting the previous coaches talent that might have been underutilized, right? Guy comes in, coaches him up, gets a new voice, gets the most out of those guys.
[00:05:37] That's not the case here. Lamont Paris inherited a team that was essentially gutted from its roster. Very few holdovers from the Frank Martin era. So in this season we already know what Paris did, but he went out and built a know he had Michi Johnson, he brought him in, right, but went and got Talon Cooper, BJ Mack, Miles studie recruited Colin Murray Boyles. So these main contributors and the drivers behind this team are because of Lamont Paris and the work that he did to a recruit at the high school level, CMB.
[00:06:20] But his know how and savvy and recruiting skills in the portal for the rest of those guys.
[00:06:27] So you see this team and you're like, that's a Lamont Paris team. That's what his teams, when playing at their capacity are going to look like. And so for all those reasons, he's coach of the year. And I'm sure it's only a matter of time before we get the message that he was named the national coach of the year. But shout out and kudos to LP and then more Lamont Paris news.
[00:06:54] His closet is going to be so full of quarter zips he's going to have a thousand quarter zips because he is set to land a contract extension through the 2029 2030 season. So what's that? A six year extension, more or less, and averaging more than $4 million a year annually. And I mean, that also is just so well deserved. And I think it's just clear that he's a good coach. I think you even saw it in his first year where a team that really had no business being competitive in some games like he did get those guys to be there. You remember when we pushed Alabama to the limits, won in know, scrappy wins or scrappy fighting, going to overtime, close losses. So he's clearly a good coach and he has the resume and it's just funny how things work out.
[00:07:59] I mean, y'all remember that hiring process, it was not the smoothest one by all accounts, right? And when Paris was hired, there's plenty of people who will own up to it who maybe were not jazzed about the hire, right? Maybe they had eyes for someone else. But it's just funny how it works. And I think Ray Tanner and everyone else involved recognized that. Hey, a, we did have this guy on our radar. We interviewed him, hired him for a reason.
[00:08:32] He's already beating expectations.
[00:08:35] He's having a historically good year for South Carolina and we want to lock him know, you want to put aside any other chatter of possible openings elsewhere and everything like that. So he's rewarded and you gotta believe that what he's building is sustainable. He's talked about that where he didn't want to come in and just have a flash in the pan year. He wanted to build for the future. And you see some of the pieces that are even around for next year, hopefully, right? And you see that and then you see some of the guys who are redshirting and you see some of the recruiting he's doing. It's all part of a process. And clearly he's really solid in the portal and you can always plug and play there. But he even said at the SEC tournament that this is where he wants to be. And the contract says that it puts aside any worries from the players on the roster. He said he wants to be here, he's enjoying it. These are his guys, this is his place. There you have it. So really excited to be really just on both basketball fronts, you feel solid. You feel real solid. And it's just a really cool group of coaches that we have that I think across sports really, that just really appreciates South Carolina and really appreciates the university and things like that. And I think sometimes us fans, we have a little bit of a complex from time to time of like, are they going to leave for this bigger job? And things like, know, historically we're not good at basketball. Is he going to go to this school? That school?
[00:10:11] We have everything in Columbia that you need to have to be successful. We're a damn SEC school with plenty fine athletic direction, right? Great facilities, great alumni, passionate fans, every reason in the world to be top notch at everything. Just because it wasn't necessarily that way.
[00:10:36] 2030, 40, 50 years ago, that doesn't matter now.
[00:10:40] So you're on a very exciting, hopeful path, optimistic path for men's basketball and be so, so cool to see us become consistent as well. But let's talk about the guys actually playing here. Get off my LP diatribe there for a second. But postseason play is officially underway with the SEC tournament up in Nashville. And, yeah, meaningful march basketball for the Gamecocks. And it feels so, you know, despite Carolina being locked in for the big dance, it is important to play well in this setting, partially because it's an elimination game, right? It's a one and done. So you got to sort of get those reps. This team has to get those reps of how do we play when our back is already against the wall from the word go, right?
[00:11:37] And then the Gamecocks want to do themselves as many favors as possible to improve their seating for the NCAA tournament. And while we're at know this whole thing, there is a chance that you can win the dang conference. Like, how cool would that be? So there also is that you literally are playing for something meaningful. This is not just reps proceedings right now. The guy's first matchup was against Arkansas Thursday afternoon, and after a little bit of a slow start, the guys really cruised to a big time victory, 80 to 66, which will make their next game in the quarterfinals, their first quarterfinal appearance in the SEC tournament since 2019. And then looking at this game here, I mean, not to be dramatic or anything, but I would take a bullet for CMB.
[00:12:31] He was an absolute monster in this game. He and BJ Mac delivered big time in the post as the Gamecocks had over 50 points in the paint, a season high, really just dominating down low. CMB was absolutely in the zone. Left hand, right hand, spin move, put back, you name it, he was hitting it. But it really just felt like the guys had maybe some cobwebs to knock off a little bit in that slow start. Arkansas had already had a game under their belt in Nashville, so maybe came in a little bit more relaxed. But the Gamecocks did have a strong finish to the half. Had that three point lead going into the locker room and then they never really looked know there was a run from Arkansas and a scoring drought that they had to navigate sort of in the middle of that second half. But once they found their groove, things really opened up and really, I mean, the guys were doing everything well in this. Know, you saw Carolina control the pace for much of the game, but even when Arkansas was trying to run it, guys were able to answer with the pick and roll game, slow some of that down. You saw a really great effort on the boards. Second chance points were going crazy defensively. Carolina was disciplined and then you threw in that wrinkle of the zone, which really has given teams fits. And Paris seems to have a knack for when to call that zone. And the guys respond to it. They're just disciplined. They know what to do, they know their jobs. It's a very fun team to watch and root for here. Player highlights from this game CMB 24 points, seven rebounds BJ Mac 19 points, nine rebounds. If you watched the game closely at the very end, I'm talking like time expiring end, there was a chance for a rebound and BJ did not get it. I forget who grabbed it from our team, but you saw BJ have a moment of like, are you kidding me? Because now I'm reading this. He wanted that double double and he knew where he was at because I saw that, I was like, what is that about? Game's over. My man wanted ten rebounds. I respect that. And then Talon Cooper, he had eleven points. So up next for the Gamecocks is a quarterfinal game against the number four seed Auburn. This will be Friday afternoon. So again, clear your calendars, push off that assignment. Do whatever you have to do. Sit down and watch this game. It's set to be a good one. If you remember correctly, last time these teams met, things did, they did not go well for the Gamecocks. Auburn basically looked like the 2016 Golden State warriors out there. Couldn't miss a shot. And Carolina ended up on the wrong side of a very lopsided game in Auburn. That's an important piece to call out here. So there's a couple of questions going into this matchup. The first one being, does this game being at a neutral site, level off what we saw from Auburn in that first showing? Also, you'll remember, I believe Auburn, I'm pretty sure they were coming off of a bad loss, so they really just came in, locked in. They were coming home at the perfect time. So, yeah, does a neutral sight slow a lot of that down?
[00:16:05] Also, how much extra motivation does Carolina bring into this game because of that first meeting? But can you also push that aside and play your game and stay the course?
[00:16:17] I think it's probably a deal where the team will just mention it like, hey, these guys got the better of us the last time we played. They had some breaks go their way, but we didn't play our best game either. So let's go out there and play our game and stick it to them. But you don't want to get too high on that, right? You don't want to lean into that negative energy, right? Come in with a little bit of a chip, come in, maybe be a little extra motivated, but don't let it throw you off your game plan. But then also it begs the question, like with Carolina already having played and won a game in Nashville in this arena, does that come into play especially early? You kind of saw that with the Arkansas game, right? You have less nerves, you know, the rims, things like that. You got a little juice flowing. So maybe there's a world where Carolina can build a little bit of an early lead. That would be nice.
[00:17:12] But my crow to the game here is I really want to see production from the bench. You need some production from the bench, specifically Miles studie and Jacoby Wright.
[00:17:25] Auburn is a very good defensive team. They're a good team in general. They can score a lot and they can hold you, right. So the second unit for Carolina has to be ready to keep pace with the starters. Now, both of those guys are very much capable of putting up double figures. And in games that that's happened, this team is very difficult to, you know, you can also throw Josh Gray into the mix there coming off the bench. If you can get eight and six from him, that's a good day in the office. It's just a good day. So we need production from the bench because defensively, Auburn might be ready to shut down some of our starters, but it's also just a deal where when the second unit is in, they have to keep pace, right. You can't let a situation where if Michi Johnson has to come out or Talon Cooper has to come out, that all of a sudden, if you're down by, let's just know, just a bucket or two, you can't let that go to four, five, six buckets, right. So I'm really excited for this game. Hopefully the guys can play a couple more in Nashville and who knows? Who knows where we end up? But this is definitely a little bit of a appetizer for the big dance here. But changing gears a little bit here, talking baseball, there's still baseball going on. That's just what's crazy.
[00:18:50] This time last year I was neck deep in baseball. I was just like, yep, women's team is solid. We're cruising. We're doing our thing. Men's team season was over as soon as you went to Nashville. It was already over kind of before that. So it was like, let's totally dive into baseball. I'm still in with baseball.
[00:19:11] I jumped in. But it's just funny that there is baseball going on and we love our yardcocks. And the guys were in action for the midweek game. They took on Georgia State and won four to three. Carolina got the scoring started right away, but they did have to come from behind in this one and took the lead in the 6th. Some really strong bullpen action to end the game from Veech Kimball and gainy. Eddie Copper got the start and a no decision going four and two thirds innings with six strikeouts. Player highlights from this game. Cole Messina went two for three. Petrie went one for four with a ribby. Now up next for the Gamecocks is SEC play.
[00:19:53] That's what I'm talking about. All of a sudden, that's here. And the guys will travel to Oxford for a weekend series against Ole Miss. Your weekend rotation you got Friday Eli Jones, Saturday Dylan Escue and Sunday is TBA. So two weekends in a row. Sunday is open right now. We'll be interesting to see what Mark Kingston does. I think, especially with this opening series here, you want to see how it shakes out. Is it a situation where it's a rubber game? Is it a situation where maybe you're on the right side of the first two? Maybe. I think that will probably dictate who he goes with. Right? God forbid you're on the wrong side of the first two. I think you got to throw out your best arm. That's probably roman Kimball. Maybe Matthew Becker will be very interesting to see going into this series here. Ole Miss is 13 and five micro to the series here. I'm going to recycle one early but hit with runners in scoring position. And I say that because I want this team to start conference play as well as they possibly can. Duh. But on the road that's difficult. And the guys have to take advantage of any situation they can where you have that ability to bring in a know the guys post Clemson game. Had a little bit of a reprieve with the level of competition. Got some of the mojo back and things like that. But things are not going to come as easy very often, especially in the SEC, right? So hit well with runners in scoring position. SEC baseball is here though now. So fun.
[00:21:32] It's time to see really where do we stack up? I think we got a good team. Let's see what we got. But go Cox. And with that, that wraps up this episode. Please follow me on social media Twitter 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.
