Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecocks, women's basketball is in the SEC tournament. Men's basketball wraps up the regular season, and baseball sweeps the midweek. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:55] Okay. Welcome to episode three, 303 of Cox Talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001. And we are in it. We are in March now. Can't believe I didn't make a bigger deal out of this in previous episodes. But, man, you can just feel it. You're seeing it around with some college basketball crazy finishes. You got some of the smaller conferences having their tournaments now going on. We already got a buzzer beater or two that's making waves. Oh, yeah, it's fantastic. You know, you kind of got that weird lull like after the super bowl, you know, kind of right before spring training. But even the beginning of spring training, because, you know, that's. Can only get so excited about that, in my opinion. But we get excited for, you know, college baseball being back. But there is this lull of big time national excitement with college athletics. And now you're kind of getting out of that thaw and March Madness conference tournament week. That's a. That's a fantastic time. Sneaky, underrated time is the conference tournaments. If you get a Cinderella that makes tournament via the automatic bid that way. That is incredible. So really excited to see that start to get rolling here. Of course, we got some regular season basketball to finish up on the men's side. I'll get into all that in a little bit here. All that to say, I hope y'all are excited to dust off the OL bracket muscles soon enough. And yeah, this is like the. You just. I'm cramming for a test, trying to figure out who's going to be my sleeper or two on my bracket there, but hope y'all outside of that are ready for a good weekend. Let's make it a good one, folks. Warming up. Absolutely love it here. Got a packed episode for y'all. Gotta cover a lot of things here. So we're gonna jump right into a week in review. Really only one day to go over, funny enough. And it's Wednesday as the women's golf team finished tied for first in the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate. Absolutely love it.
[00:03:15] On the logo of that tournament. Has a golf ball with the block C. So it's the Gamecocks tournaments. Darius Rucker. You gotta finish that. I feel like I've talked about this a few times, you know, annually at this point, and I want to say we tend to do pretty well. So familiarity with the course, Gamecock pride, you absolutely love it. Shout out to the women's golf team.
[00:03:39] And then also on Wednesday, softball beat Youngstown State 10 to 2. That team is fun. Our softball team is still undefeated. I want to say it's 20 and oh, and they are now getting ready for a weekend series to start SEC play against none other than powerhouse, perennial powerhouse number one Oklahoma. So what a way to switch gears and get into league play. But hey, you gotta love this. I mean, you're not facing them. You couldn't ask for a better time to face them. You know what I mean? You're rolling, you're undefeated, the vibes are high.
[00:04:23] And yes, this program probably has a little bit of ways to climb until we can say we're a perennial powerhouse. But to be the best, you gotta beat the best. Am I right? And that's what we're going to see now. We're going to see how this team stacks up against the best. And there could be gaps, there could be adversity if this team manages to end up 23 and oh, after this weekend, like, oh my God, like high water mark for the entire program, probably. But it's okay if we get a little bumps here, right? It's all part of the growing process, all part of development. But you couldn't have asked for a better start. So good luck to the ladies, good luck to coach Chastain and that entire team. They look like they're having a lot of fun and it's really, really cool to follow along. So fantastic work by that entire team, top to bottom. Let's go kick some sooner ass. Absolutely huge. So, so cool. But sticking with the ladies here, only changing sports, talking women's basketball. The women are officially in postseason play as the SEC tournament has been rolling throughout this week. That's what I'm talking about. There's just basketball, good quality basketball on all the time. If you're working or studying at home, just, just throw on some basketball. It's fantastic. We have the number one ranked South Carolina Gamecocks thanks to the famous coin flip. Not too long ago they received a double buy and will face 8th ranked Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals Friday at noon. So fantastic start to the weekend there. Get things rolling early. It was just a few games ago that South Carolina beat Vanderbilt 82 54. Vanderbilt at that point, if you remember correctly, had a big win or two under their belt. This was a scrappy game for them to get to the Quarterfinals. So they are a team you do have to take seriously here. And you know, this is, this is just what South Carolina is built for in my perspective, right? A tournament setting, high stakes, high pressure games.
[00:06:38] This group, and especially Don Staley, they've been here before. You have that championship DNA that is not to be understated. You know, I know in college it's a little tricky because you have varying degrees of experience, but just last year, this team did some incredible things in this tournament. Shout out Camila Cardozo. But then they also, of course, did the biggest of things in the next setting. So anyone who was on that team last year, which is a lot of this team, darn near everyone, like, they know what it takes and Don knows what it takes. So it's in those late game situations, in those clutch moments that you got to have that belief. And there is a little bit to be said in my opinion of that. Hey, we've been here before.
[00:07:30] You know, this team has veterans. They know what it takes to win this tournament because it's not going to be easy.
[00:07:37] I mean, everything we've talked about this year has to come together these next few days and really into the next tournament. You know, we need consistent post play, you know, shouting out Chloe Kits and I Fagan.
[00:07:53] We need to see Joyce Edwards continue to shine. There's the old saying, it's really, it goes with basketball that when you get to this point in the year, you wrap up the regular season, you're no longer a freshman.
[00:08:06] Basketball coaches say that all the time.
[00:08:09] You've gone through a full season now, gone through a whole year, no longer a freshman. Let's see that continued development there.
[00:08:17] And then you need strong guard play, both offensively and defensively.
[00:08:23] So if I were to have a crow to the game for this quarterfinal matchup, it would be that have strong perimeter defense.
[00:08:30] Vanderbilt is led by a dynamic, exciting freshman guard.
[00:08:36] Defense has to be on point from those positions.
[00:08:40] Now, I'm not going to look ahead and say, like, what could happen?
[00:08:47] Because I don't want to, you know, be blamed for any bad juju or anything, right? So we're just going to look at this one game for Friday afternoon.
[00:08:55] If you were just looking at the bracket, the semifinals are Saturday afternoon, I believe, 4:30 and then an evening game with the championship game being Sunday at 3pm so regardless, those games are going to happen. It'd be lovely if the Gamecocks would find their way into it. But nonetheless, wishing the best of luck to Dawn Staley and the ladies.
[00:09:17] You Want to win this one, you want to have the best showing you possibly can. Of course, in this, you got to take pride in winning that tournament. This has been our conference for some time now.
[00:09:29] But you also want to do it where, you know, you want to have that momentum and you want to be playing your best basketball going into the next tournament setting. So. And then also, you know, seeding for. For the big tournament is at stake as well, really. So you got to have a good showing here. And it's crazy because the first time in a while, we're talking about South Carolina potentially not being a number one seed.
[00:09:51] So if you can go out there and have a good showing in the SEC tournament, you're doing yourself a lot of favors, especially if you have to beat a team that might be in consideration for the number one seed. So a lot to watch for. Very exciting, very fantastic stuff here and then. So sticking with the hardwood here. Moving over to men's basketball. The guys were in action Tuesday night, Senior night, as they took on UGA and lost 73 to 64.
[00:10:23] This was one that we had seen before from Carolina, where the guys were down 11 at the half. So not as bad as we had seen some other times, but again, talking about a notable difference or, you know, deficit rather, at the half. But the team battled. They battled in that second half. Gotta give them credit as they have basically throughout the whole year.
[00:10:46] It was about midway through the second half, Carolina was within one possession, crazy enough, and then CMB had late free throws that could have brought it to four, but he missed. And ultimately the guys went down in this game nine points. Some player highlights. CMB, he went for 24, and Nick Pringle went for 11.
[00:11:09] Up next for the Gamecocks is their regular season finale.
[00:11:13] So for better or worse, the season is coming to a close, at least the regular season, right? The guys take on number four, Tennessee, Saturday afternoon in Knoxville. Tennessee is 24, 6 overall, 116 in conference. They just barely could not hold on and lost to Ole Miss lately. So coming off a tough one there, they are currently in fourth place in the sec. Now, the Vols are definitely going to come to play in this one. It's their season finale, going to be their senior night. But these last couple of games here are going to have big implications in the SEC tournament. I mean, we're talking about a league that we've talked at nauseam, it seems like, about how deep it is. So any advantage that you can get for the conference tournament will go a long way. So these teams, you're seeing some fantastic games. Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Ole Miss, like A and M. Like, these teams that are at the top of the league are playing incredibly well right now.
[00:12:20] And I, you know, A, they're just good teams, but B, I do definitely think that there is some extra motivation on the line when you're talking about trying to set yourself up for success in the next setting, because that only can help you down the line here. And then, look, obviously this has been a really challenging season for the Gamecocks. It was great to see them get two conference wins down the stretch there. You know, it's crazy. Like, you look at the last five games, you know, whatever it may be, the record, right, 2 and 2 and 3. But, like, it's just like that's kind of what you maybe expected this year to look like. If you just look at that snapshot where, you know, you showed up against some SEC teams. You know, you were in a close one against a team like uga, you know, like, yeah, one of the better teams in Mizzou kind of had their way with you, but you move on.
[00:13:13] It's just unfortunate that it took us so long in the season to. To see, you know, a couple of decent performances close together. So when the season, like, wraps up. Wraps up whenever that may be. I mean, unless there's an incredible run, could you imagine if there's an incredible run and we win the SEC tournament? That would be incredible. But no matter what, I will put together some thoughts on this season. There's only so much you can say, but we'll certainly look back a little bit on the season once it's all said and done officially. My crow to the game, though, in this regular season's finale. Let's see CMB be Superman again. You know, we saw him do that, and it resulted in a league win. Tennessee is really good. They're deep, they're experienced.
[00:14:08] You're gonna need a Herculean effort, a heroic effort from cmb, and it'd be really great to see. And I don't know what the. I don't know what the deal with CMB is. You know, I mean, I would love to see him come back for another year.
[00:14:24] Wouldn't be surprised if he were to make the jump. But let's see. Let's go. Let's get a big effort from him, but moving away from the hardwood and onto the diamond here. Talking baseball. Love the yard Cox. Absolutely. The guys had a pair of midweek games, back to back games this week. No rest for the weary here. As they looked to bounce back after the tough showings against Clemson. The team is dealing with a couple of injuries right now, namely Kennedy Jones and Talmadge LeCroy. Word is that Jones should be okay, should be back any day, hopefully by this weekend. I think Leroy might linger a little bit longer than that. He was trying to gut it out, but he's pretty banged up there. But Tuesday, the guys took on Davidson at home the yard. Cox got the win 7 to 3. Funny enough, you know, you had the battle back in this one. Davidson took an early three, three nothing lead in the second. Carolina strung on, you know, one or two runs here and there, but it was a five run sixth inning, which really was the difference maker. Ryder Guerino got the start in a no decision. Tyler Pitzer got the win in relief. He's been good out of the pen thus far, huh? Player highlights. Henry Kasmar went 2 for 2 with two ribbies. Ethan Petrie 1 for 4 with one RBI. And then Nathan hall went 1 for 4 with two RBI.
[00:15:56] So then on Wednesday, back to back here, the team went down to Charleston. Little game in the low country. Gotta love it. They took on the Citadel and put together probably their best game of the season so far. Paul Manneri said as much, in so many words, said it was their most complete game of the season. And when you look at the final score at 9 to 1, Gamecock's getting the win. It makes sense. Petrie got the party started right away with a two run home run in the first inning. You had Evan Stone in the yard, you know, in the lineup going yard rather. And it was, it felt like batting practice at a certain point, to be honest. The Yardcocks were really seeing the ball well and you just saw a great blend of power and then moving guys around the bases. And again, I've talked about this before, but I think that's the recipe for this Carolina offense. You have guys who have pop led by Petri, Right. But I think this team will not necessarily play small ball, but you saw a lot of runs produced by like singles and doubles in this game. So I think that's probably what you're looking for, getting a lot of singles and doubles and then you have a beginning where you get a big blast or you have a guy like Petrie who just spots you with, you know, a two run lead in the first inning. But outside of that, Jarvis Evans. Wow. Big W. Wow. I mean, he got the start and earned his second win, going seven innings, giving up just the one run as Carolina really cruised in this one, so really great performance from him. And I think that that's what Paul Maneri's talking about, where you gave the ball to your midweek starter. And midweek games are tricky, especially back to backs, because you used some guys in the first game, you had a little bit more action in the bullpen, so you're hoping to stretch out your starter a little bit longer. It's exactly what Jarvis gave you, seven innings, one run. But then on top of it, you didn't have to stress because the offense was clicking. So it was really, really cool to see player highlights from this game. Ethan Petrie, 3 for 5 with three ribbies, Nathan Hall, 2 for 4 with one RBI and Evan Stone, 2 for 5 with two ribbies. Up next are the Gamecocks. They have a weekend series at home against Morehead State as they look to get back to the winning side of a weekend series. 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.
