Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox talking Gamecocks, March Madness is here. I preview the men's and women's initial bracket release selection, all that jazz, and then also quick run through from the opening SEC weekend for baseball. Okay, here we go.
[00:01:04] Welcome to episode 227 of Cox talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 18 one to 2001. And my, oh my, how nice is it waking up this morning, Gamecocks? I mean, March has been pretty good to us, and we have so much, so much to look forward to right now. It is a very, very special time for the Carolina Gamecocks, for our fandom, for our whole community, and buckle up, because the next week, hopefully longer, two weeks plus, is set to be very exciting and very emotional. And there's just going to be a lot of action left, right, and center all the time. Now, I cannot wait to get this started. Going to jump into all of March madness selection Sunday and everything with that, with you all, among other things. But quick note, I am traveling. So if the podcast maybe sounds a little differently or maybe you hear a little background noise, I'm trying my best.
[00:02:23] But yeah, nonetheless, I am traveling, which should make for some fun and different locales for your boy watching these games and all that jazz. But I will do whatever it takes. I'll watch the gamecocks on the freaking moon if I have to, especially in March madness. But before I jump into all that, let's do a quick weekend recap for y'all here from around USC athletics here. Starting with Friday, men's tennis beat Alabama four to three. Women's tennis beat Alabama also four to three. How about that? And softball beat Michigan eight nothing. Michigan State, excuse me, that's a nice Friday there. Saturday, softball beat Minnesota four nothing. Beach volleyball beat Southeastern Louisiana four to one, and also defeated Boise State four to one. And then Sunday, you had the men's golf team finish fifth in the schneckle Invitational. Men's tennis lost to Auburn four to one, and women's tennis beat Auburn five to two. So overall, I'd say that was a pretty successful weekend from around USC athletics. So that's always fun to see. And again, all of our student athletes deserve all of the praise they could possibly get. And if I do miss something, I apologize, but shoot me a DM, let me know. Be like, hey, Tim, so and so team is kicking ass. You really gotta give them a shout out. I absolutely will. But people and the teams and the squad that especially needs the shout out now are our basketball players. So let's jump right into that. I'm starting with the men's team here. The time has come and gone.
[00:04:13] Selection Sunday has passed, and for the first time since 2017, it's incredible to say that our South Carolina gamecocks are back in the big dance. I cannot describe how amazing this is. And this season really has been just so special, and it truly can't be stated enough. And now it's the ultimate payoff, right? Like, that is the goal for any college team, and it's just to get into the big dance, just get some skin in the game, have a shot at it, because you don't really know what all could possibly happen. And you just never know who can make that run and who can be that team that shocks the world. And it's just crazy know, looking back on, like when you start the mean. I had the highest of outside dreams of making the Nit. I was like, this team, if things come together and, you know, steps up his game and all that jazz, we'll make the nit. And that would still be fun. And I would have gotten so into the NIt that year, but things worked out so well. This team came together and they responded and they play hard, and Lamont is really the man to do this for our school and look at where they're at.
[00:05:54] Mean. Funny thing is, truth be told, even when it became evident that the Gamecocks were going to make it into the tournament, when we were deep into the year, the record was still great. The quad one wins were there. Despite the net rankings being whatever, I was still really nervous to say it aloud. I mean, I said it here on the show a couple of times, but I feel like you could even tell that I wasn't trying to be too assumptive about it just because we know what the roller coaster of Gamecock sports is, and we hadn't seen success in men's basketball for so long. So it really was a deal where I just didn't want to say anything and have the other shoe drop. But this team continued to play well and they continued to make the case as to why they need to be rewarded, and they were. So the Gamecocks were awarded a 6th seed and are in the Midwest bracket. They will face off against the eleven seed Oregon Ducks Thursday in Pittsburgh. So you kind of saw it all over the place. Like, at one point I think you might have seen projections having us as a four seed. At other times it was a five seed.
[00:07:14] Ultimately, the Gamecocks land at the six seed. I don't really mind it. I mean, look, when you're talking at large bids, you have to just have enough faith in your own team that it doesn't really matter whether it's a four, five, or six. And if you remember correctly, when Carolina men's team made that run and went to the final four as an at large bid, they were a 7th seed. So it just goes to show that it doesn't necessarily matter. Like, you have to still go out and play well. But if we're going to get a little funky with it, I might make the case that the six seed where if you do advance enough, having to face off against the two seed deeper as opposed to the one, I really don't really mind that a ton. Of course you have to maybe potentially play the three a little bit earlier, but nonetheless, this is a tournament of surviving and advancing. So at the end of the day, you have to have the faith and the belief in yourself and in your own team to get the job done. And you got to believe that the coaching that you have is ready for the moment and the players are ready for the moment because funky things happen in this tournament.
[00:08:35] You might be facing off against a team that had a huge upset in the first round, assuming you make it to the second right. But even in that first game, you're facing a team that is hot and just because it's a smaller school or maybe they didn't win, like whatever it might be, you need to be ready to go. And so that's what we're going to see. Carolina will, if things hold true and the seeding holds, the winner of our game will play the winner of Creighton and Akron in the round of 32. Creighton has a good team this year. They're the three seed. But all told, I do like how this bracket shook out for the gamecock. So the one seed in our quadrant is purdue and other notable seeds. You have Kansas with the four and Utah state with the eight. Now, of course, Carolina may have to face the third ranked Creighton in the second round, but if they can make it past that and the rest of the seeding holds true, they will face off against Tennessee, who is the number two seed, and a team who we know very well. And this is what I'm talking about, this is where you might actually be okay with that 6th seed. Because if you do get on a run and you win that first round, and let's not get ahead of ourselves here, right, but you have to look at a bracket and you're filling out these brackets trying to predict the future. So let's talk about it for a minute here.
[00:10:12] This team could potentially play Tennessee for a third time in a year. Now, that doesn't happen very often. Obviously, South Carolina got the better of Tennessee one time and then Tennessee got the better of us the other time, but both games were close. Both games felt like tournament games. So if it works out that way where you're playing a familiar conference foe on a neutral site, that is the stuff that you really want and both teams will be hot.
[00:10:47] But to me, Carolina is a team that really builds off the momentum like we've seen in the year. They just get on runs and they fight and they find different ways to win. And that is a team built for the tournament, not relying necessarily on one type of player or one guy or yes, you have your preferences to maybe play a little bit slower, both offensively and defensively, but we've seen Carolina be able to keep up and beat teams that like to push the pace like Arkansas or Florida.
[00:11:30] So point just this is just what you ask for in college basketball. I mean, you need to survive in advance. It all starts Thursday afternoon, 04:00 in Pittsburgh.
[00:11:46] I mean, we've seen the garnet in black travel everywhere.
[00:11:50] So I would hope that we see a good contingent of our fans there, but just need to survive and advance. Okay. Playing the 11th seed, Oregon. Right? That's an interesting matchup as well. Jermaine Cusinard, former Gamecock is on Oregon, so you get a little bit of that there. Does he come up with a little bit of extra chip on his shoulder? I don't know. Oregon, they had a so so year, but they ended up winning the Pac twelve. So they're hot right now. You have to take that into consideration. Right? But maybe they really used up all their juice to win that. South Carolina had that one win in the SEC tournament, then had obviously a very disappointing game against Auburn in that next round. But that's a couple of extra days of rest. Miles studio was not available in that game. So maybe now you can look at it and you can say, well, maybe this team is fully healthy, little extra rest should be able to go, but you need to be able to survive and advance, right? You're not playing a slouch team. It's a power five team. Pac twelve is really not all that bad this year. I mean, maybe we could say they're even in the Big Ten as a representative, but nonetheless here it's a team you have to take seriously. And it all starts Thursday and then from there, just onto the next. Onto the next. This team plays great defense.
[00:13:23] They don't play selfish basketball at all.
[00:13:27] And let's go. It's here. I can't believe it. Do whatever you have to do. Any superstitions you have to do, do it. We need to get this going. Let's get on a run. Let's make a run. I'm pumped.
[00:13:41] But then, not to be outdone, the women's bracket was also announced this weekend, and it's really a deal where it was no surprise, but South Carolina was the number one overall seed. Now, their tournament, it gets underway a little bit later this week. So after the first round, the women will play the winner of UNC and Michigan State. Now, just given the timing of the first round, I will dive into that a little bit more next episode. But nonetheless, it was an extremely exciting and beneficial weekend for South Carolina basketball, both men's and women's. And for the first time in was that seven years, we have both programs dancing, and not many schools can say that. It is very, very impressive what Lamont Paris and Don Staley have done. And both this year have just won at an incredibly high rate. But I've said it a thousand times on this show this season. Enjoy that. Take a second and enjoy it, because there will become a time where not both are great. And we've seen that as early as just a year ago. And it's just incredible to look back and think that from where both these programs were, from where we were last year, we were like, yeah, our women's team is steady, eddie, and they still are. And for the women's team, it's like, yeah, of course we're the number overall seed. We're back. Like, we never left because we didn't. But there was very much a belief that this team would have to take a step back in order to grow and continue to develop youth and things like that.
[00:15:41] And then on the men's side again, like making the big dance, that felt like a pipe dream. Like, what are you talking about? We're going to make the tournament. Let's start with having a winning record.
[00:15:54] Let's start with looking competent. And Lamont put this team together and the guys responded to his coaching remarkably, remarkably so. Enjoy it. This is going to be a hell of a couple of days. Fill out your brackets, get on your garnet in black, and let's go. Let's make a run. Let's go.
[00:16:17] So now, going to wrap this thing up with some baseball talk. Going to speed run through this really quick, hit the high levels. Not gonna dive into as much as I normally do just because of time and things like that. But it was the SEC opening series for the Gamecocks as they took on Ole Miss. Now, unfortunately, South Carolina lost this series, but they did avoid the sweep. And I always just go back to the old adage that Ray Tanner had where it's win your series at home, don't get swept on the road. And that should equal a very successful season for you in college baseball. So anytime you can avoid the sweep on the road, that is huge. It's hard to win in the SEC. It's hard to win on the road. Now, game one here, South Carolina lost five to four. Game two, South Carolina lost twelve to three. Game three, Carolina avoided the sweep, winning six to two. Now, up next for the Gamecocks is a midweek game against USC upstate. Now, the guys need to continue to get solid production from the midweek pitchers to build momentum and get this win. That is probably meaning Eddie copper getting the start, who has looked very solid in that midweek role. So look for him to get the ball and to get that quality start right. Get us four or five innings, pass the ball off to the next guy, and then hopefully the guys can get that win. That's two in a row, and then carry that over into the next series, which I will preview next time. But with that, y'all, that wraps up this episode. Please follow me on social media. Twitter 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.
