Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecocks, the women's bracket is revealed, men decline the nit, and baseball suffers a tough series loss. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:55] Okay.
[00:00:57] Welcome to episode 306 of Cox Talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001. Hope y'all had a fantastic weekend out there. Gamecocks. A lot of St. Pat's festivities this past weekend. Whether you were in Five Points, Charlotte, Savannah, New York, Chicago seemed to be the day to really get it going, where you're green, and whether you're Irish or not, pretend like you are. So if that's your thing, hope you had a good time. If not, I hope you had a productive weekend otherwise. And for actual St. Patrick's Day, hope you're chilling, hope you're wearing some green, hope you're hanging out. It's a, you know, it's a good time. It's an excuse to let loose a little bit and wear any green clothes that you have. If green's your color, brings out your eyes, who knows? I don't know. But hope you all had a great weekend and are excited for the week ahead. A quick note before I get into things. There will not be a pod on Friday. I am doing some traveling, personal reasons, and so therefore, we'll have to disrupt the schedule a little bit. But we'll be back in action fully a week from today, so there'll be a Monday show. So be able to recap what we saw from the first round of the NCAA Tournaments and any baseball updates, things like that. So thank you for bearing with me there. But, yes, no show Friday, but I'll still be, you know, active on social media and things like that, as I typically am. But let's jump into things here. Got a few things to talk about, actually, but let's kick things off with a weekend recap here starting on Friday. Friday night, the softball team was in action. Looking to bounce back. Unfortunately, was not able to. On Friday, they took the loss to Georgia seven to three. You had women's tennis in action on Friday as well. They beat ole miss 4 to 3.
[00:03:04] And then looking over to Saturday, softball got off the schneide beat Georgia 4 3. That was great to see. Men's tennis, the guys beat Oklahoma 6 to 1. Got to love that. Beach volleyball was an action. They beat UNCW 3 2, and then, unfortunately, did lose to Coastal Carolina 4 to 1. Which brings us to Sunday here. Softball got the series win, beat Georgia 3 to 2. So how about that? You know, the ladies faced adversity last weekend against Oklahoma.
[00:03:45] Tough midweek game. You start off the series against Georgia with a loss. So all of a sudden you had this massive amount of momentum coming to a screeching halt. But the ladies were able to bounce back, get an SEC series. W. That's got to feel good. It's got to feel good for Coach Chastain. It's got to feel good for everybody in that room, in that building. So fantastic job there. And shout out to the softball team. Sticking with Sunday here, women's tennis, they took a loss to LSU 3 to 4. Beach volleyball beat EKU 5 nothing. And then also beat College of Charleston 5 nothing. So a busy weekend across Gamecock athletics. Shout out to everyone who was in action and yeah, shout out to softball for having a bounce back series win there. Hopefully they can continue some of that momentum and continue rolling in the sec. Very, very good stuff there, but okay, now moving over to some of the bigger sports here, the more major headline grabbing news, if we will. Here the first piece is the men's basketball season is officially over. So we had selection Sunday, this past Sunday. And then the way that the NIT and the formatting and all that jazz works, you had 14 teams from the SEC make the NCAA tournament. So just goes to show you what the committee thinks of our conference and how deep and how good it is. It's also classic South Carolina, like 14 teams make it. We're not one of them, but that's a story for a different day. But because of that, the SEC received two automatic invitations to the nit with the idea the format being the two highest ranked, if you will, the two best remaining teams would receive a bid. So if it was, you know, example, 12 teams made it to the NCAA tournament, you'd have the 13th and the 14th SEC team go or get invitations rather. In this case, with 14 teams receiving bids, it was the bottom two teams, which may not be how it was originally intended, but that's how it shaked out. South Carolina was one of those.
[00:06:16] As such, Lamont Paris, athletic department, whoever all is involved in that decision, decided to decline the NIT invitation despite there being some rumblings that they would accept should that happen. So, look, this officially ends the season. I talked a lot about why I feel maybe the season went the way it did last episode. We don't need to, you know, rip that band aid off again, but I do see, I see both sides to this. On one hand, if you accept the nitrogen, you have a chance to keep your team together for that much longer, you can continue to develop some of the younger guys on your roster.
[00:07:04] You also get a chance to prove that you know, you're better than what your SEC record says you are, which I think we all feel that way. You know, we handled our business pretty well against other Power 4 competition. We had a pretty good non conference record, right? So I think we could have gone to the NI team. We could have made some noise.
[00:07:27] On the other hand, though, it does kind of feel like you're just dragging out the inevitable. Like this season was a disappointment. You know, you're trying to make the NCAA tournament.
[00:07:38] It might put you a little bit behind the eight ball in recruiting the Portal and things of that nature. So I think it's at a point where you say, you know what? This season did not go the way that we wanted it to. It went sideways. We have work to do internally recruiting, self scouting, roster management, all that. So you know what? Let's just end the season, turn the page. Everyone can get on with their lives. CMB can make his decision. If there are anyone, you know, if there's anyone who is thinking about maybe going into the Portal from our roster, they can go ahead and do that. We're not waiting in this limbo state. So all told, I agree with the decision to decline the nit. Would I have gotten up for those games? Would I have watched the nit? Filled out a bracket for the nit, like, yes, absolutely. But nonetheless is what it is. Decline the nit. Men's basketball season is officially over.
[00:08:36] And on the other side of things, you know, we do get to look forward to the NCAA tournament. I mean, it is the most electric couple of days in the sports calendar. Those first two rounds. Really just so much action.
[00:08:51] It's gonna be. I'm gonna be in a pretzel, a brain pretzel for these next few days. Filling out a bracket. It's gonna be so fun. It is just an amazing time. Gonna just watch college basketball until I can't move anymore.
[00:09:06] It is a fantastic time of year. But speaking of that, it wasn't just the men's selection Sunday, it was the women's as well. So we finally have some clarity into the next steps for the women's season.
[00:09:22] Definitely a weird lag between the ending of the power four conference tournaments, SEC tournament, and now finding out the path forward. But the ladies once again are the number one seed in the tournament in the Birmingham bracket. So just quickly looking at South Carolina's quadrant here you have South Carolina, of course, as the 1 seed, as the 2. You have Duke 3, North Carolina 4, Maryland 5, Alabama. So, you know, you avoid some of these teams that might have given you some, some trouble in the past. You know, you. You avoid someones that you have some deep history with, like an lsu, you know, ucla, usc. So I think that I like what we see from this quadrant for South Carolina. You know, you have to, of course, respect it. You're going to be playing against teams who you haven't really seen before, who are playing different styles. You have less time to prepare. But there's also teams that South Carolina has played and, you know, has handled. You know what I mean? So I like the path you're going to be playing. Assuming the seating holds in the first round, you handle your business. Against Tennessee Tech, you are going to be facing the winner of Utah and Indiana. And then depending on how that shakes out, you could be looking at maybe Maryland, who has a good program, who in the past South Carolina has faced. So there is a little bit of history there. You could be facing Alabama, a conference foe no doubt you're familiar with. So I think from a Carolina standpoint, you kind of got to like this quadrant here. Again, you're avoiding some of these teams that maybe have given you fits in the past or teams that maybe you could have had trouble against. You know, like UConn, for example. UConn is not the number two seed in our quadrant. That was something that gave me concern there. You know, you have teams like, again, an LSU who you handled business against, but there's history there. They're familiar with you. So all told, I like how it breaks down here. I mean, number one seed in tournament, you should deserve that as much. So I think Dawn Staley and this team, they're ready, they're prepared, they have the tournament experience to know what this entails. It's an intense few days where you are just quick turnarounds, playing teams, a lot of pressure. You know, everyone's fighting for their life. We're still the defending champions. We're going to have a target on our back. You know, we're not into this tournament undefeated like we were last year. But nonetheless, when a team goes against South Carolina, especially in a tournament setting, they have to give us their best shot. And that's what you're going to get every single time. So I'm really excited for it. It's going to be fun. The path and the standard is deep. Tournament runs here, you know, Sweet 16s, Elite Eights, you know, and More, but you have to take it one game at a time here, lean on your veterans. You have some players here who have really blossomed late in the season. Chloe Kitts, right. If you can get consistent play at a her out of Sinai Fagan. Joyce Edwards now has a lot of experience under her belt. Can we get tournament Tessa, that would be awesome. Breezy Tahina, Malaysia. Like the, the roster is there, the experience, you know, it's. You have a lot of players on this team who have experienced deep tournament runs and they know the expectations and they know the standards of South Carolina. So you got to lean on that, lean on the coaching and the experience of Don Staley. We've seen this team this year have some ups and downs. You know, don't expect to roll through things right. But the way they played in the, in the SEC tournament, the way they've responded to the adversity that has struck every time this season.
[00:13:40] Our roster is as good, if not better than anyone else in the country. Absolutely. Have to love our chances in this one. Super excited. Let's go.
[00:13:50] It's going to be a lot of fun. It's going to be a lot of fun.
[00:13:54] But okay, moving over, changing gears here, looking at the diamond here. The Yardcocks baseball was in action this past weekend. They started SEC play against Oklahoma and tough one, tough one to say the least. Here you had a chance to really begin SEC play with, with a statement if you will.
[00:14:22] Unfortunately, the guys dropped the series to Oklahoma losing the rubber match Sunday and just a tough way to start SEC play. You know, you never want to drop those anything at home, but you don't want to drop those conference tournaments, especially early in the year because now you are playing a little bit behind and it doesn't get any easier. So Friday, game one, you had South Carolina losing eight to five.
[00:14:55] Brandon Stone, first start, you know, he was sort of a change up. He got the loss, going five innings, giving up five runs. And yeah, it was just a deal where Oklahoma jumped on Brandon. They jumped on us early and built up that a little bit. South Carolina battled back four runs in the six. Ultimately it was just, it was just too, too little, too late. So you know, you drop the opener against Oklahoma, but then the guys bounce back. You win, you win Saturday, 11 to 5, putting up consistent offense in the middle innings there. Just exactly what you needed to do. Jake McCoy got the start and the win there. Tyler Pitzer got the, got the save. So you know, save. We went four innings in relief so you know, a good effort. From, from that standpoint, you know, you had Kennedy Jones mashing 3 for 5 with 2 RBI. And so you end up going into Sunday here and it's a tight game, you know, back and forth throughout.
[00:16:03] One run separating here, two, one separating there. South Carolina was basically playing ahead. You know, they jumped out in the first, Oklahoma tied in the fourth, but Carolina battled right back to take the lead. Oklahoma was trying to battle back. It was just this two SEC teams fighting for the series win. And South Carolina had the lead going into the ninth. And just absolutely brutal errors, mistakes.
[00:16:39] Give up the two runs in the ninth to lose the lead. Oklahoma tied it in the ninth. South Carolina could not get anything going in the bottom of the ninth.
[00:16:52] Comes to the 10th inning. Oklahoma solo home run in the top of the 10th and South Carolina can't do anything and loses the rubber match and the series in extra innings. So it's just an absolute gut punch. You know, you were in position to win the series late in the game, couldn't protect the two run lead in the ninth. It's a gut punch. It's a gut punch. And it's tough because first SEC series. Baseball's a long series or long season. Excuse me, things happen. But this would have been a huge win for this group here. Oklahoma is a good team, they have a good roster. And so if South Carolina were able to beat them, it would have said a lot about this program. And yeah, the guys were right there. So if you want to take a silver lining from it, it's that that the guys stuck it to them Saturday, had the game in hand on Sunday, but couldn't do it.
[00:18:01] But at the same time, that's a tough, tough early season loss where the rubbers meet in the road. Now going against the sec, these games matter. It's going to matter for conference tournament if you have hopes and eyes on potential postseason league wins. Our benchmark, and you just let one slip through your finger and it doesn't get it, it doesn't let up because we are in such a competitive conference. So really, really tough one. This is going to be the job of Paul Manieri. Now this is why you brought in a veteran coach who has navigated these types of situations. Disappointing losses, losing series where you had it. How does he get the guys to rally? So disappointing SEC opening series.
[00:19:01] The guy's got to find a way to bounce back. Starting pitching.
[00:19:06] There's question marks. You know, we have to figure this out. You know, I know there's only so many options. I think that was the idea of putting Brandon Stone in there. Just trying to change it up. But yeah, that is certainly a disappointing tough gut punch. Opening series loss for the guys. Up next, they play College of Charleston on Tuesday night, Segra Park. And then looking ahead, weekend series, the guys take on Arkansas in Arkansas. So again, really not letting up here. So you have to find a way to get this momentum back. Can you beat College of Charleston and then go in and steal at least a game against Arkansas? Have to make sure you can do that. Absolutely. But with that, 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 Gamecocks. And please like subscribe and review the podcast. I appreciate all y'all. Go Cox.
