Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox talking Gamecocks, the yard cocks get a massive sweep. Women's basketball rolls to the Sweet 16. And a recap of the men's basketball early tournament exit. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:58] Welcome to episode 228 of Cox talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 18 one to 2001. And sorry for the late change of schedule here with missing a day of the normal Monday to Friday and everything like that. As I said in the last episode, I had been traveling. Then there was like some tech with the travel that wasn't really working and all that jazz. So that's show business, baby, as they say. So I appreciate all of your flexibility, but in the meantime, I hope everyone is doing okay out there in what has been a very up and down couple of days in Gamecock Nation. I'm here to review that all with everybody here and share my thoughts on that. I don't mean to open up an old wound or anything like that, but of course, going to talk about March madness here and then just in general. I mean, this tournament, very interesting. I mean, you had the first day or so, right? First two days, let's call it. It was just so many upsets. You had the seeding upsets like a Yale and things like that, Ducane come to mind. But then you also had the betting upsets as well, where you just had spreads that didn't matter. You had picks that people thought were going to go deep that just simply were not. But then seemingly, things settled down in the round of 32 a little bit more, looking a bit more chalky now, but my bracket from the word go was just garbage. It was just hot garbage. But nonetheless, it's still fun. That's why we do it. Lots of basketball on constantly. I basically am watching college basketball until my eyes freeze into my head and I really wouldn't have it any other way. And then you sprinkle in a little gamecock baseball in there. It's just a fantastic weekend here, but going to dive into all of that here. But let's do a quick weekend recap here. Starting on Friday, men's tennis lost to Mississippi State four to three, and women's tennis beat Mizzou four nothing. So that's nice there. Saturday, softball lost to Tennessee two to one. Beach volleyball lost to FSU four to one, and also lost to Grand Canyon three to two. And then Sunday, beach volleyball beat Jacksonville five nothing. And then men's tennis beat Ole Miss four to three. And women's tennis lost to Arkansas four to one. So definitely a mixed bag, if you will, from the weekend. I also did see that Nick harbor sent a new personal best. I believe it was in the 100 meters at a track meet this past weekend. So that is exciting to see Nick harbor just continuing to do Nick harbor things. And then also you saw on social media and things like that, that the football program, those guys are full on spring practice and everything like that. They got the pads on this past weekend as well. So heating up there, it's always fun to see what names are emerging as guys who maybe are above the curve is where they should be development or guys who may be vying for a playing time that maybe you didn't really want to see. So going to always be fun to track that with the storylines and scoops and things like that here. But let me dive into sort of the crux of the last few days here and, yeah, I am sorry. So if you want to skip forward a couple of minutes here, I don't blame you. I won't hold it against you. I don't hold any grudges here, but I don't mean to reopen the old wound here, but it would be a disservice to not talk about the men's basketball game the other day since I wasn't able to, while it was a little bit more fresh in all of our minds. But then it will really sort of allow me and allow us to put a cap on the men's season here. So, obviously, we all know that the men were knocked out in the first round of the NCAA tournament by Oregon, 87 to 73. And it's just this funny trade off, right? Where it's like, as fun as it is to watch the tournament and as much I look forward to it, that phrasing probably doesn't make sense, but it's so much fun to get excited for, right? And then you have your team in it and you're so excited to finally be there, then it is just absolutely the most stressful thing because you just don't know that any given day that could be the last of your season. Right? Like just the build up to it and everything like that. At least in football like this last season here, where you're fighting for bowl eligibility, you're in that little bit of a rhythm, at least, and you kind of know, like, okay, this is the game here. Whereas with this, you're kind of filling out a bracket. You're like, oh, if we win this, we got here, and then you kind of have to shake yourself back to reality? Like, well, no. The task at hand is to beat this one team in front of us. And the team that goes into the matchup with that mentality usually comes out the winners here. But we all know the bullet points of this game. And it just feels like the most type of game where you just throw your hands up and just like, of course, of course that would. Right? Like, of course Jermaine Cuzinard has a career day against his former team. And of course, their center, who had been up and down all year, had the game of his life. And then of course, you're playing the PaC twelve champion, the hottest team ever, like you weren't playing a mid major or another at large team.
[00:07:09] You're not playing these teams that maybe you could have benefited a different matchup, you know what I mean? And then in the game, Oregon's defense just had us in a blender pretty much all game. But despite keeping things close at the half, it really was just clear from the start that their zone was giving us fits. And I'm not a coach, right? I don't know if that was a new wrinkle from them or whatnot, but our whole team, staff included, looked very caught off guard with that. And I have heard after the fact that the Oregon coach is really known for doing that, for being really creative with his defenses and mixing different looks in and things like that, because that is certainly what it looked like because our guys were kerfuffled. They were baffled by that. And really, had there not been Cooper's half court shot that went in, this thing wouldn't have been quite as close at the half. And then you see how the final score ended despite some really good efforts from a couple of our guys here. But really, just from my perspective, the guys just looked out of sorts all game. They did. They had a very uncharacteristic day at a really unfortunate time. And it was really tough to see because you're coming off the really tough game against Auburn, too. So you have these back to back games in postseason settings that really don't go your way. Now, I think the guys showed more fight against Oregon and they tried. It was like eleven points, nine points, nine points, ten points. It just felt like every time there was a chance to make a run, freaking Cusinard would hit a three. It was just insane. And again, like Oregon coming off that Pac twelve conference tournament championship, they had that intensity and that mindset, needed to win that tournament game from the word go.
[00:09:16] But it also is funny because really, outside of Cusinard, and Fonte, the Gamecocks held most everyone in check on Oregon, but those two were just simply too much, which is just infuriating because you had two guys who you knew that they were going to keep going to and no matter what we could not stop them. And at some point you got to just throw your hands up and that's the tournament. The guys just get hot and they carry a team.
[00:09:44] Look at Oakland and it's just really unfortunate because I really did think that if this team got going, they had the potential to make a nice little run in the know. I'm not saying that I felt that they were a shoe in for the final four or anything, but I looked at our team and you saw how they looked in SEC play. You saw how they looked all year.
[00:10:10] I felt that they were a team that was built to make the second weekend and maybe the team fell into that own mentality, right? Like, I don't know. But the team just didn't come out with that fight. They were a little befuddled by the defense early on and we're really just not able to recover from that. And they weren't able to get the normal game and the rhythm going and maybe it was just the matchups, maybe it was the zone, maybe there was some nerves, I don't know.
[00:10:42] But that really is just the nature of the beast with this tournament, that it doesn't always go to how your averages were or what you looked like for the rest of the year. So I don't know. But despite this disappointment that we all share with that early exit, it does not change the fact that this season was absolutely one to remember for South Carolina. I mean, this team gelled together in a way that nobody really saw happening. I'm really going to miss BJ, Mack and Cooper. Like, I wish like heck we could hang on to this whole core for another year or so. But this whole team, they were superb to start the year and they really rode that wave despite some adversity hitting here and there, right? Injuries, tough losses, things like that. They kept going and kept seemingly to get better.
[00:11:33] Those wins over Tennessee and Kentucky, the courtstorming, all that, it all proved that South Carolina has every reason to be in the conversation amongst the SEC's best and it should not be a surprise moving forward if South Carolina continues to put together a consistent program on the.
[00:11:56] You know, he's locked up with us and he's proved that he knows how to build a winning team and his efforts have ignited the fandom for men's basketball at USC. So hopefully the resources continue to go his way and he has the chance to continue to build this even more so and I do believe that we will be back in the tournament sooner rather than later.
[00:12:23] There's plenty of talent in the pipeline for the Gamecocks and Lamont has proved that he knows how to leverage the portal. So I'd expect him to do the same this offseason and maybe look to bring in another big to complement CMB, maybe bring in a little size, I don't know, maybe bring in another point guard, sort of like that Talon Cooper veteran role, but nonetheless here. This was a fantastic season. Tough way to end it, but I got to believe that looking forward, things in the future are bright for USC men's basketball.
[00:12:59] But on the other side of the coin here, we are fortunate enough to have two teams in the postseason and the women have proved yet again that they are an absolute wrecking ball in the NCAA tournament. The Gamecocks had their first and second round games at home in colonial life, a perk of being the number one ranked team. In the first round, the ladies beat number 16 presbyterian 91 to 39. Carolina dominated every step of the way and although the game was never really in question, the fourth quarter defense for Carolina was incredible, allowing just two points. Some player highlights here. Chloe Kitts 21 points. She came off the bench and also did that as well in the second game. That might have been done because Cardoza was not in that first game, but I don't mind this move. I'm a big Chloe Kitts fan, but bringing Watkins in as the next piece in the post next to Cardozo, it makes that second unit a lot more different. And I don't mind that. Malaysia full Wiley went for 17 points in this game, but then in the second round the ladies faced UNC for a rematch of the battle of the Carolinas and the Gamecocks put on an absolute clinic in a far cry from the close game between these two. Last time the team welcomed Cardozo back in this game, the opening minutes were both a little slow for both teams, but once Don Staley tapped into the bench, things really opened up in a hurry. The defense and the bench play that was just simply the story for this game as the ladies went on to win 88 to 41 to head to the Sweet 16. The bench contributed 51 points in this game and it is exactly that depth that makes this team so dangerous. Some player highlights here. Malaysia Fulwiley 20 points, nine rebounds. Kits went for twelve and Camilla Cardozo twelve points and ten rebounds. But I just sit back and I am still in amazement at the job Don Staley has done this year. This team is built so incredibly well and they play the right way and they attack in waves and they don't give their opponents an inch. The Gamecocks are simply the gold standard in college basketball and are set to return to the Sweet 16 for the 10th straight time. Just think about that. Ten years in a row this team has gone to the Sweet 16. That is absolutely incredible. Now the Gamecocks will play in Albany between the winner of Oklahoma and Indiana. And then, just looking around, some remaining teams in the quadrant who the Gamecocks could potentially face, notably Notre Dame, Oregon State and Ole Miss. But I will, of course, preview that next matchup with y'all next episode.
[00:16:04] But then, moving away from the hardwood here, talking baseball now, the yardcocks. They welcomed the number three ranked Vanderbilt Commodores to founders in what felt like an early critical series. Didn't know you're so early in the SEC slate, but you really felt like the guys needed a good showing in this one and they responded in a major way and broke out the brooms to sweep the doors. And many people are saying that the yardcocks have in fact arrived this year.
[00:16:37] Game one was postponed, so it was a doubleheader Saturday. First game Carolina won eight to four. Gamecocks actually came from behind in this one thanks to a big fifth and 6th inning. Dylan escue got the start and a no decision. Ty good got the win, Garrett Ganey got the save, going two and a third.
[00:16:57] Game two, South Carolina got the win, eight to three. South Carolina got some early offense to take a lead in the second and then a big 7th inning. Eli Jones went six and a third but got a no decision. Chris Veach got the win and Garrett Ganey got the save. He is just an electric factory. He is just a madman on the mound, his celebrations going viral. I love that guy. Him and Veech are a fantastic one two punch. It's really a matter of can you get the ball to these guys in the big moments? Because it seems to be going well thus far.
[00:17:35] Game three South Carolina secured the sweep, winning ten to two. The Gamecocks got things going right away, scoring six in the first, including a nuke from Gavin Cassis. Carolina would tack on a couple runs throughout the game to put an exclamation mark on this series. Tyler Pitzer got the start and win, going six and a third with nine strikeouts. Very impressive player. Highlights from this game. You had Ethan Petrie one for four, two RBI, Dylan brewer two for four with two ribbies, and Parker Nolan two for five. Now this again was just a massive series for South Carolina. I mean, going into this series, talking about good competition here, the guys just didn't really look like the team we hoped they would. And there were some concerns floating around there about the offense, as well as some other aspects of the team as well, potentially leadership. But that's nothing new around Mark Kingston. But it seems that the guys just simply needed a little bit of a regroup, get some home cooking at founders, and they did so against a top ranked team in Vanderbilt. Right? This is not a fluke. The starting pitching was solid, the bullpen was great, and the guys got consistent offense throughout the series and hit well with guys in those positions to score. So lesson being, the season is still quite young, we're just getting our feet wet in SEC play, so let's see how the guys can build off this. Let's get a couple more series under our belt before we talk about any panic button or anything like that right now. Up next are the Gamecocks is a quick turnaround for a midweek game against Presbyterian on Tuesday, but then the guys will take on Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Thursday starting for that series. So I'll speak a bit more on that next episode, but it'll be funny where the first game will already have been played by the time the episode drops, so going to have to be a little flexible there. But the guys are going to have to continue to be reliant but dominant more so in that bullpen to get this series W on the road and the guys continue to get back in a groove. But with that y'all that wraps 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.
