Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecocks, women's basketball as SEC champs, Baseball takes on Clemson, and the football team hires a new coordinator. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:55] Okay.
[00:00:56] Welcome to episode 378 of Cox Talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001. Hope you all are ready for a good weekend Gamecocks. It's a fun time of year. I mean, you got the conference tournaments coming into view, which is always a really fun time of year. And starting to think in the back of your mind, like, oh, like, I could see this team making a run and trying to find that Cinderella early for your brackets. I mean, this is the time of year where I personally start opening my eyes to the. The greater comings and goings of college basketball. Like, you always keep a little bit of a pulse on it, right? But unlike college football, where I can sit down and watch, like, two schools that I have no association with and really enjoy, that doesn't always come as easy in college basketball, but, you know, for the big ones, you do.
[00:01:53] But now is the time of year where I'll really start to dial into some of those other teams. And it's not exactly like the Gamecocks have been. Must watch tv. But nonetheless, I hope y' all are excited for a good weekend out there. Feels like spring is springing. Sprung. Ing. I don't know. But nonetheless, gonna be a gorgeous weekend out there. But I do have a lot to cover this episode, so going to jump right into things here. First, I have a housekeeping note for y'. All.
[00:02:23] Some of y' all may have noticed that there's been some sporadic changes where Monday episodes haven't been dropping as regularly.
[00:02:34] Was teasing out an idea that I've had, and I'm gonna implement it.
[00:02:39] So from now until football season, the show is not going away. We're just going to be once a week. So a weekly show on Fridays where I will do what I'm going to do right now, which is recap anything that's happened at this point, and then I'll preview what's going on in the next weekend. And, of course, I'm going to give my takes and everything throughout that. Now, with that being said, we're talking March Madness. We're talking Gamecock women's basketball. That could be a big run, potentially. If we're talking deep tournament run and something happens on the weekend, I am not going to wait until Friday to talk about that. I will hop on and. And we'll have a Monday episode.
[00:03:23] Also, I'm still on social media so you can still catch me there. But yeah, that's just a little bit of a change here for the next couple of months for no particular reason, but still want to be able to deliver the content to y', all give my takes, interact with the fan base that I love doing. So yeah, just weekly now until football season, barring big news, tournament runs, etc.
[00:03:48] So with that, have a week in review for y'. All. Busy week around Gamecock Nation Monday men's tennis beat Arkansas 4 to 3. Tuesday softball beat Charlotte 9 to 1. Softball was back in action on Wednesday where they beat Winthrop 5 to 1. And then on Thursday, women's tennis lost to LSU 4 to 1.
[00:04:13] But there also was some news from the football team since the last episode. We talked about Joe D. Camilla, special teams coordinator, leaving to go back to the NFL. His replacement has been hired. Shane Beamer is tabbing Matthew Smiley to be the next special team coordinator. His most recent stop was in the NFL as well with the Buffalo Bills. He was fired from buffalo after the 2024 season and this past year was at Penn State as a special teams analyst. So the story, according to Beameran reports, is that he didn't really have that pre existing working condition with Smiley, but he came highly recommended from some folks that he trusted in his network. But then also the couple of coaches who came from Penn State and are now at South Carolina also gave a glowing recommendation for Smiley. I don't really know what to make of this, you know, I mean, you, you can read his time at Buffalo as different ways because that's his most recent stop. He has experience at the collegiate level. Earlier in his career, Buffalo did well in some areas under his tenure and not so good in some other areas under his tenure. I think the camel that, the camel that broke the camel's back, the straw that broke the camel's back with him in Buffalo was they had a couple of blunders with penalties and things like that that hurt the team. So obviously that's a little bit of a concern. But he himself in his press conference said his time at Penn State he learned a lot. He has been around some of the great coaches of special teams. And I was thinking about it like this, like Beamer is a special teams guy.
[00:05:58] He's going to have his hand all over this unit. You know, he's not going to meddle too much, but he's going to want to talk shop with Smiley about this.
[00:06:09] But when we look at the Couple of coordinators that we've had for that position.
[00:06:13] Lembo was really like, let's make special teams a weapon. We did some of the best trickeration under Beamer, really recent years at South Carolina under Lembo. Like, he wanted guys to execute well, but he was like, how can we make this unit a weapon? D. Camillus, I think, did believe that, but I think he was of the mindset of, if we execute really well, good things are just going to happen. We're not going to have to trick people. And I think you saw that with Vicari and the success that he had earlier in the year with the punt returns, because it was just so well blocked and everybody knew what to do, and. And you're executing at the NFL level and good things just happen. The trick plays in that. I feel like declined under D. Camillis. So if we talk about what Smiley could potentially bring to the table, I feel like he's going to err on the side of the D. Camillis school of thought, where we're going to be really well coached. We're going to know how to execute certain situations. I'm going to tell guys what to do, and if XYZ happens and if we're able to turn that into some points, fantastic. And then, you know, Beamer will have the occasional fake punt drawn up. But I don't think you're going to see it quite as much as we did under Lembo. But with that, the Gamecocks are also expected to hire Mike Crissel as a special teams analyst. He was previously the special teams coordinator at Houston in 2024.
[00:07:49] That's all I got on that.
[00:07:51] Special teams coaches have been filled out, and hopefully there's no more weird departures, coaches, players or otherwise on the football team.
[00:08:04] But shifting gears here, talking men's basketball, the guys were in action Tuesday night, seeing if they could keep the momentum up from their win after last weekend.
[00:08:15] And the short answer is no, and the guys did not. As they lost to Kentucky, 72 to 63. I saw something where it was Kentucky's first win at South Carolina in, like, two or three seasons, which is crazy when you think about it, but there have been some fantastic games against Kentucky, upsets that South Carolina has had. It's kind of an interesting rivalry, I guess you could call it, or just, you know, we kind of had Kentucky's number over the last couple of years. Pretty interesting. The Gamecocks did have this game within two points, under three minutes to play, but the Wildcats got on a run and opened things up to 10 and ultimately that was the ball game. So stop me if you've heard this before, but Gamecock's getting close in the second half, only to then lose by not nominal margin. Player highlights Michi Johnson had 18 points. Elijah Strong had 11 points. Up next, the Gamecocks take on Georgia in Athens Saturday afternoon, scheduled for a 3:30 tip off.
[00:09:25] UGA is currently 19 and 9 and 7 and 8 in the SEC.
[00:09:31] Last time these two met, it was a loss from South Carolina, but a close game. So we'll see if the guys can replicate keeping it close and maybe be on the right side of this one. That'd be really exciting. But my quote of the game is, let's see an unusual suspect crack double figures.
[00:09:53] You know, like whether it's Eli Ellis or Kobe Knox, like, you know, guys who can score in bunches and you've seen them have some good games.
[00:10:02] Let's get someone else because I feel like we talk about Michi, Mike, Elijah every single game. So if you can get someone to crack double figures and have the rest of those guys do what they do, you could really keep this one interesting.
[00:10:17] On the women's side of things, the Ladies. Big news here. The Ladies are once again SEC regular season champions for the fifth consecutive year. Dawn Staley has led the team to this feat. It's just incredibly impressive. This, of course, coming on the heels of the Ladies beating Mississippi State last weekend. And you know, we talked about a lot of this team having adversity this year.
[00:10:47] The lineups and the roster looking and feeling different than they have in the past. Some of these games looking and feeling than they have in the past.
[00:10:56] But you sit here and you are still regular season champs for the fifth year in a row and it's just absolutely remarkable.
[00:11:04] And so right now, as I am recording this, the Ladies are playing in their penultimate game of the season against Missouri. It's senior night in Colonial life. And on that note, we did have a bit of news that Khloe Kitts announced she will be returning. Of course not able to play this year with the injury. So that is very welcome news and exciting to see Kits finish off her career in the garnet and black healthy and will be a welcomed return for Dawn Staley and team. But you think about some of the players who are seniors on this team, you know, first person that comes to mind is Raven for me. And it's just a phenomenal career. And this group, all the things that they've seen this program accomplish is just remarkable and A lot of those things wouldn't be done without that group. So big, big thank you to the seniors. Big thank you to Dawn Staley for doing everything that she does, sitting here poised for another deep tournament run. And it's going to be exciting. You know, it's.
[00:12:16] It's a fun prospect sitting here with this team because they are good and they have handled themselves really well. Like, yeah, a couple of games maybe not going our way, having to deal with some adversity, roster wise and things like that. Like, it's not this national championship or bust mentality that has existed a couple of years, but sitting here being like, we're a dangerous team, like, we can go toe to toe with darn near anybody, right? Not darn near with anybody, right?
[00:12:53] But maybe can get slept on a little bit, you know? So it's just. It's. It's fun. It's fun to see. I'm excited for the SEC tournament. I'm excited for March Madness for the ladies, and it's going to be a lot of fun.
[00:13:06] Which brings us to baseball.
[00:13:08] We're on the diamond now here. The Yardcocks had a midweek game against Queens Wednesday night and dropped this game at home 9 to 8.
[00:13:21] Carolina went down early in this one and it looked like it could get out of hand, but the guys had a ninth inning rally, came up just short to keep it a one run loss.
[00:13:33] We're going to get some player highlights and then thoughts and whatever after that. Connor Ciccoli got the start and the loss. Boholins went 2 for 4 with 3 RBI. Tyler back went 3 for 5 with 2 RBI. This game is. This game, this loss was absolutely brutal.
[00:13:54] Absolutely brutal. I mean, Queens, I think I saw they won four games last year.
[00:14:02] Like, yeah, they're gonna be better this year, but, like, this is not a team that you lose to. And you talk about the team dropping a game in the Armed Forces Tournament that they had, like, that was a long week. There's a lot of baseball going on. They had two midweek games and whatnot, so that can be kind of understandable. This.
[00:14:25] This is not understandable. You are head and shoulders more talented than Queens and you had a ninth inning, miraculous rally to cut this lead down, but you were about to be embarrassed at home by like four runs.
[00:14:43] And so, I don't know, it's. It's. It's a shame. Something.
[00:14:49] Something has to change. And I don't know how much you can change of the approach at this point, but, like, that's what it is. It just feels like the players approach at the plate on the mound is off.
[00:15:05] And then that leads me to think that the preparation for the games is off.
[00:15:13] And so now we're talking about how are the coaches communicating to the players, Are the players comprehending and, you know, like implementing the feedback that they're getting from the coaches.
[00:15:26] What is the advanced scouting? You know, Paul Manieri said he was not overlooking Queens.
[00:15:32] You know, and I understand you can make an argument that's like, you look around the SEC and this same week, some power conferences, or, excuse me, some power four teams. You know, SEC teams lost their midweeks to smaller schools, but I don't care about those other teams.
[00:15:51] You know, we've already had, you know, a loss or two here. That's just head scratching this season.
[00:15:59] And it's a shame, you know, like I, I put it out there on social media and just like I, I don't know how to describe my connection to this baseball program right now as a fan. Like, disappointed, discouraged, longing for days past and nostalgic.
[00:16:25] You know, it's just a different feeling. And it's a shame because we love our baseball program.
[00:16:32] And I think you just see a lot of frustration amongst our fans where we're not even out of the first month of the season and people are already saying, like, Donati's got to make a statement about this. Like, you know, whose buyout can we afford? Lamont Paris's or Paul Manari's? Like, all of this. And it's a shame.
[00:16:57] And I've talked about it before that, you know, you had this once very proud program that was the crown jewel of college baseball. It was like the standard.
[00:17:09] And now it's just you have guys not playing up to their potential, you know, and it's just.
[00:17:17] It's just a shame. And so, yeah, it's a weird feeling with this program right now. And frankly, you know, it's. It's been a tough go at it for the men's side of things. You know, you look at baseball starting off to maybe not the best start.
[00:17:31] Men's basketball two years in a row hasn't been good, coming off a tough football season. So it's been a lot. It's been a lot. And, you know, I had hoped to see some improvement from this baseball team. And that's not to say that won't come, but you gotta find a way to string together some good wins before you get into SEC play. And you got no better opportunity than this weekend. Because no matter what the state of this team is. Our fans are going to rally behind this team because this weekend they take on those damn Clemson Tigers. Friday the game is at Founders Park, Saturday the game will be at Segra park and Sunday the finale is at Clemson. Probable pitchers for Carolina, Josh Gunther, Amp Phillips and then Riley Goodman. The skinny on the Tigers. They are 80 heading into this weekend with a 1.43 team ERA.
[00:18:33] My crow to the series here hit with runners in scoring position to put pressure on a staff that hasn't been tested.
[00:18:42] You know, I don't think that there's been too many impressive wins for Clemson this year. So if the Gamecocks can get men on base and put their pitchers in high leverage situations that they have not been in a lot of to this point, that's where you can get guys to make uncharacteristic mistakes.
[00:19:00] And if you can go out there and win this series against Clemson, you can undo some of the ick that has plagued the season thus far. And then that's a way to get some real momentum. You beat a team in the series, rather, that's your rival that so far is having a good year.
[00:19:20] That could be a way to string together some good vibes and some good results.
[00:19:26] 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.
