Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecocks, March Madness is here. The fan base hits a tipping point for baseball and football pro day. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:53] Okay.
[00:00:55] Welcome to episode 381 of Cox Talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001. Hope you all had a great week out there, Gamecocks. Hope everyone is recovered from any St. Pat's festivities and celebrations that may or may not have happened. If you partook in the five point celebration, I'm very jealous. A lot of good memories there. Whatever you were doing, hope it was good and festive. Hope you wore green and stayed hydrated. I was out celebrating St. Pat's and clinging on to the little bit of youth that I have left and then only realizing that you just don't have it anymore. It's a very sad realization that I keep trying to push off whenever we have big celebrations like this, but nonetheless excited for a jam packed wall to wall action of college basketball. Maybe the best weekend of the year is the first weekend of March Madness. It's just so electric, like sitting here getting ready for this after some of the first few games. Already on Thursday, there's been madness. My bracket is already fudged, and I just can't wait to watch college basketball until my eyes are ready to jump out of their socket. Like this weekend is up there. Like when college football kicks off and you don't have any buys and you're looking forward to all these, like, marquee matchups, like, that's a fun weekend.
[00:02:27] But you do have some of the matchups that aren't so great. Like sometimes it's lopsided Week one of March Madness. That first weekend, really, those first two rounds are just so incredibly exciting and just, yes, getting ready to sit down for that. And then the women are starting, which I'm going to touch on in a little bit there. But yes, I hope everyone is buckled in and ready to go full send for a weekend full of college athletics. So got a few things to touch on here, but of course, to do a week in review starting on Tuesday, here had the women's golf team in action, up against Ole Miss, winning five to nothing. And then the softball team was in action on Wednesday and they beat Georgia Southern 13 to 3. So A, you know, not super eventful midweek. There's a lot going on on the weekends, though. This weekend we have men's tennis, we got beach volleyball, we got softball. So stay tuned because anywhere you look, there's going to be some updates on Gamecock Athletics there, but got some other updates for y' all here. It was the Football Pro Day.
[00:03:44] Very exciting stuff there. These guys trying to make those last impressions to NFL scouts before the NFL draft and it always makes for cool content, like just any behind the scenes look you get at this and it always makes me chuckle to a degree because it's like yes, like the big strong football player is in fact strong and big and fast. But some of the stuff that our guys were doing were impressive. Nick Barrett had a very impressive showing in the bench press, as did DQ Smith. I've seen a lot of good things being reported about Kilgore, so very exciting to see and looking at these mock drafts, which I don't always spend a ton of time doing, but seeing a few pop up with Brandon Cise listed as a possible guy that could sneak into the end of the first round is very cool. Of course, Sisay was only at Carolina for one year, but he made a big impact and you could see that he has the skills to be a serious corner at the next level.
[00:04:52] But then going back to basketball here, women's basketball, we have to talk about the Ladies postseason tournament run getting started this weekend. Their first round game is on Saturday, 1pm and what's very intriguing about how the bracket works out this year, so the Ladies are the number one seed in the West Region, so a lot of people attributed that to the loss in the SEC Championship game not getting a more favorable location. But nonetheless we know the fams are going to travel well and this is a tough, deep, good, experienced squad. So I think that being in Sacramento for the first two rounds is not the end of the world for dawn and Team. But so they're over in the west coast in Sacramento region as the 1 seed. Of course, the second round games, assuming that the seeding holds for our game, South Carolina will be taking on the winner between either Clemson or the other USC and that would be the second round matchup. So how about that for intrigue? Like, I don't think I've been excited like to that degree for a second round matchup. It's one of those deals where, you know, maybe I've been peeking ahead a little bit until the sweet 16 and whatnot, but man, like to get that potential satisfaction of eliminating Clemson from the tournament, like that sounds awesome. And then on the other hand, when you have a matchup of the uscs, to be able to eliminate them potentially and hold the crown of the real USC would be A lot of fun. So very exciting matchups there and going to be tuned in and rooting on the ladies as they begin what hopefully is a deep tournament run. And just to give you all a breakdown of what we're potentially looking at here, Iowa is the 2 seed in our region, so still a formidable program there. So a lot of times, you know, historically, when you're talking about the women's bracket, the higher seeds do tend to hold true. It tends to be pretty chalky. You're going to have some upsets, of course. So just potential matchup late in our bracket could be potentially Iowa. But then if Don and team do their thing and advanced FAR, UConn is in the same side of our bracket as a one seed. And you're talking about a potential. I'm not putting the cart in front of the horse here, whatever that saying is. I'm just saying talking about potential scenarios and storylines, if you will, going into this tournament here, it could be a potential Final Four matchup between UConn and South Carolina. Of course, a lot of recent history there, but also not so recent history. And UConn is a team that a lot of people have picked to win the national championship this year. So if it ends up being that South Carolina versus UConn, you could make an argument that the national champion is in that matchup. But again, I don't want to put the cart in front of the horse here. I don't want to put, you know, count our chickens before they hatch. But that is the storylines, if you will. But one, one game at a time here, one round at a time. It's survive in advance. Let's focus on this first round game. Let's try to eliminate a very intriguing matchup in the second round and then go from there. And of course, the venues become more enticing thereafter. So the fams are going to continue to be out in droves and very excited to support our ladies team. They've had a good year. I talked a lot about how it has felt different at times compared to the last few.
[00:08:52] This team has been challenged more than years past, but this is still a very, very good basketball team. And they are incredibly well coached and they have very good veteran leaders who have seen adversity, who have made those deep runs, who can be those veteran calming presence that you need. And so this squad has everything that they need to make a deep run.
[00:09:25] You know, there's more parity going on in women's college basketball, but with that being said, if South Carolina plays their best they can hang with anybody. And even if you bring, you know, your B plus game, I think that can carry you pretty far in your region, Right? So let's see what the ladies can do. They've had some time to decompress and learn from that SEC championship game. And right now, this is really what you're playing for here, right? Like, this is the big dance. Let's get after it. Let's have some fun. Let's go, Gamecocks.
[00:10:02] Very excited to be supporting the ladies here, but, all right, changing gears entirely here. Talking baseball here, so brace yourselves. We went from a very fun, positive conversation to not so much. So. The baseball team was in action. They had a midweek game on Tuesday against Charlotte, and the guys ended up losing this One at home, 11 to 8.
[00:10:32] The skinny on this is that the Gamecocks blew an early lead, and it looked like the guys were hitting the ball well. They were moving guys on base. Charlotte tacked on a run or two, right, closed that lead, and then in an inning where South Carolina was in position to stop a Charlotte rally, you had an error, you had some walks, and you had a blast that brought Charlotte right back into this game, taking the lead. It was back and forth, and ultimately, South Carolina falls. Now, there's a lot of things that we can talk about here.
[00:11:05] I don't even know where to begin, really, but I'm gonna. I'm gonna begin at the beginning of the game. There has been a picture that is circulating around our fan base that was taken at the beginning of this game of Founders park, and it is damn near empty.
[00:11:22] Like, I think the reported attendance was 5,000 or so people. And that is just a blatant lie. There may. There maybe was 500 people, and I think that's being generous. Like, this picture may be five dozen people.
[00:11:36] So it's a perfect encapsulation of where this baseball program is.
[00:11:45] And so is this game, right? Like, you're at home. Like, yes, Charlotte is fine, you know, but you're at home. It's a midweek game. You're. You're in SEC play, right? So you should be really, like, on the rise. You know, they're like, no more figuring out who you are type stuff, right?
[00:12:10] And you lose in rather embarrassing fashion.
[00:12:16] 11, 8.
[00:12:18] And here we are again, talking about losing a game that you really shouldn't be in a way that you shouldn't have, and games that historically South Carolina has not dropped, and losing at home, which never happened. And all of it leads to an indictment on Paul Manneri. Like, this is over. Like, you know, like, I danced around it with Lamont Paris this past season and now we know he's coming back. Like, I basically said as much at the end of last baseball season. A lot of people, like, didn't want Paul coming back. It was the first year. Like, you could see some of the rationale. Like, no. Like, it's. It's over now. Like, he needs to go and the university and Donati need to figure out whatever you have to do.
[00:13:14] Like, he's done after this year. Like, it's. It's done. He is past his time. The game has passed him. The proof is in the pudding. You were awful last year. You were bad in the SEC last year. You just got a barracing start to SEC play this year. You got beaten by your rivals. You've lost them, I think five times in two years. You know, around that mark.
[00:13:37] You just lost to Charlotte at home. The fan support is zilch. It's over.
[00:13:45] So figure out whatever the buyout is. And like, you gotta weigh the pros and cons of holding on to this guy much longer versus just cutting bait as soon as you possibly can, right? Like, if the buyout is a little bit more firing him midseason compared to the end, like, so be it.
[00:14:09] Because right now the fan base sentiment is awful.
[00:14:16] Like, that picture sums it up where no one wants to show up for this team.
[00:14:24] And it's just insane. I was trying. I was trying to wrap my mind around it and, like, this is going to sound dramatic, but it, like, almost feels as if the damage that has been done to this program is irreparable.
[00:14:39] Like, going from like, the program in the country, which, like, yes. Like that level of success going to Omaha multiple years in a row, back to back national championship. Like, yes, like that, like that height. Like, eventually you're gonna come down a little bit, but you still were and should have been continued to be, like, one of the better programs in the sec. Like, top quarter of the sec, right? And like, on a down year, top third of the sec, right? Founders park used to be packed for these midweek games.
[00:15:20] Didn't matter if it was a little chilly outside. Founders park used to be a really hard place to win.
[00:15:27] And there was a lot of pride in Founders park amongst our fan base.
[00:15:32] Now the. The fan base is so turned off by the leadership of this team that they're not showing up. It's not even apathy. Like, you know, there's all this talk about apathy is the most dangerous thing that you could happen to. To a fan base. Like, I think this fan base is just ticked off, you know, like. Or just, like, if there's a word that's like, beyond apathy, let's just, like.
[00:16:00] Like, almost wanting things to go bad.
[00:16:03] So it's an indictment on Paul Mineri so that he gets relieved of his duties, and that's worse. Like, wanting bad stuff to happen to the team.
[00:16:14] I don't even know what to say. Like, it's just.
[00:16:17] He absolutely needs to go. You know, there was this great clip going out. I think it was on inside the Gamecocks of just, like, looking at the body language of this team and looking at the body language of Paul. Like, I don't think this team is inspired, and I think there's conflicting messages in that locker room about how to handle the adversity and what to do now. And I just. I don't think that this coaching staff is relating to the players in any meaningful way.
[00:16:50] And in my mind, everyone needs to go. Everyone. You know, like, you get. You have to blow this thing up. I know there was a lot of excitement about Monte Lee coming back, and he probably should have been given a shot, but at this point, you need completely new blood in this program, and it's a very, very sad state of affairs for a program that we love. And when I said it was irreparable, I just mean, like, the fan base has lost a lot of trust in the program, and the fan base has lost a lot of trust, the athletic department, to do something about it, especially considering the man who put Monary in this seat was once the hero of this program.
[00:17:32] But it's just. You have to now build back the excitement of this program. This is not okay.
[00:17:41] You fired Mark Kingston because he was good, but not good enough. And, you know, you could bring someone in where they're still fan support, they're still fan excitement. Like, yeah, I'm just gonna take that step forward. Like, now we are beyond the basement, and you have to rebuild that relationship with the fan base, and that's an incredibly hard place to be in for whoever takes this job next.
[00:18:05] And it's a tough spot, and I feel.
[00:18:08] I feel bad for the players. Like, I think when you look at when things are going, you know, so sideways, like, you know, Minary is not the one who made an error in the field. Right. Like, you know, there's coaching to a point, and, no, you know, there. You got to coach guys to how to act under some of these circumstances.
[00:18:27] You know, I think guys could perform better in different spots. I think you have guys offensively who have performed below what we certainly expected them to.
[00:18:39] But I still feel for them because this isn't what they signed up for. And I think the recruiting pitch coming from a guy like Minary sounds a hell of a lot better than, than what he says and does day in and day out in that clubhouse.
[00:18:54] So it's just a sad state of affairs and it stinks. And, you know, I really, really hope that sooner than later we have some action on this program because we deserve better. We deserve better in basketball, we deserve better in baseball, we deserve better in football. And I'm hoping we get that in the fall. But it's March.
[00:19:16] Can't wait until September to start to get excited about our athletic department again.
[00:19:23] So nonetheless, the guys are taking on Arkansas this weekend, Number four ranked team at home.
[00:19:32] Let's see what they can do, huh? Like, backs are way against the wall.
[00:19:37] Maybe this is a series in Donati makes a decision based on how it goes. Right? Two series into the SEC play and we'll see what goes from there. But with that, y', all, that wraps up this episode. Please follow me on social media, Twitter or X is Cox gamecox. Instagram is just the name of the show. Cox Talking gamecox. And please, like, subscribe and review the podcast. I appreciate all y'. All. Go Cox.
