Everything we know at TRC, listed as quickly as we possibly can:

– Tubby Smith is a great choice for South Carolina’s MBB coaching vacancy.  In other news from 1998, There’s Something About Mary is hilarious, Dale Earnhardt (Senior) finally own the Daytona 500, and these cute little Beanie Babies are really gonna be worth something someday.

– Our Baseball team is horrible.  And our Baseball team is great.   Or something, but clearly Price is a closer and Koumas is a starter.

– WBB coach Dawn Staley is kinda hot.  There, I said it.  And I don’t mean like she’s a hot coaching prospect.  Oh, and we’re in the Sweet Sixteen, so she’s also a hot coaching prospect.

– Spring Practice is BORING this year.  Which is good, I guess.  And probably 90% attributable to the fact that Stephen Garcia has exhausted his eligibility.  The other 10% is attributable to the fact that all our starters are on the sidelines watching.

– If you aren’t already, you need to be following the college football sub-reddit.  If you aren’t familiar with reddit, then here’s a good sample: a hilarious look inside what trends are disturbing some of the other CFB fanbases.

What could possibly cause Bruce Ellington to announce one week he’s giving up football to play basketball exclusively, then turn around the following week and say he’s reconsidering his decision?

My guess is he went back and watched 2004’s most excellent sports movie Friday Night Lights, and specifically the scene where Boobie Miles realizes his football career is over:

Video note: Public Enemy jacket, mid-top fade, acid wash jeans – like looking in a mirror from 1988.

OK, maybe the thought of never playing football again spurred by a movie scene isn’t it. My guess is 23 immediately regretted his decision, and decided to talk to the HBC about it.  To the HBC’s credit he apparently didn’t try to talk Bruce into anything, probably helped him sort through all the pros and cons, and told him to sit on it a for a few days before making a final, final, final decision.

My personal feeling is he made the right decision when he chose basketball only, but I admit that’s the selfish fan in me speaking.  Ellington is exciting on the football field, but his 317 yards from scrimmage and 2 TD’s can be replaced.  He has great potential as a kick returner, but so do three or four other guys on the team.

He is critical to the success of our basketball program.  His sophomore numbers were similar to his freshman numbers, but the games and practices he missed hurt both the team and his personal development.  I don’t blame the guy for doing it, mind you.  Again, I’m just being a selfish basketball fan who really wants to see this program get turned around in a hurry.

I fully expect his final decision to be football and basketball again.  And I’ll be excited to see him do both, even if I disagree with it.

On to the sweep…

The Rumor Mill. Eric Hyman made an interesting statement when announcing the new basketball coach search, essentially saying “whatever rumors you hear, they ain’t coming from me or my department.” But it has also not stopped the mill from turning.

Gregg Marshall is fading, asking for too much money. Frank Martin (LOVE) is the hot name today, even though he’s been out recruiting for Kansas State since their elimination from the NCAA tournament.  Tommy Amaker is a top candidate.  Tubby Smith is going to get a good look.  Shaka Smart would be on the list, but he appears to be headed to Illinois.  Steve Alford’s season at New Mexico has put him in the conversation.

All of the above appear to be nothing more than rousing from the rabble that run blogs and post on message boards. If Hyman is to be believed, nobody knows nothin’.  And frankly that’s the way I like it.

If I were a betting man, I’d take the field over anybody listed above.

Falling Skies. I keep up with our baseball team pretty closely, but I have to admit on opening day when I looked at our roster I was taken aback.  While we have a deep starting pitching staff, and some veterans out of the pen, many days our lineup consists of anywhere from five to seven newcomers.  Talented newcomers, no doubt, but newcomers nonetheless.

That didn’t make the weekend sweep at the hands of a fired up Kentucky team any easier to take, though. So far this team is lacking timely hits and its play in the field has left a lot to be desired.  With a home series with #1-ranked Florida on the horizon things certainly don’t get any easier.

There is definitely reason for concern, but nobody needs to panic just yet.  There will be bumps in the road, but as the lineup gets settled and some of the freshmen get more acclimated to the college game this team will win on a consistent basis.

I can see this team hosting a regional, but probably not a super.  But with Roth, Price, Holmes, Webb et al on the mound, I still like our chances to get back to Omaha.

And if we are 1-5 or 0-6 after this weekend, don’t go trying to buy fireraytanner.com.  This program is built to win for many years to come.

MMT&A. Are you a fan of MMA/UFC?  First, The Ultimate Fighter on Friday nights on Spike TV is a serious adrenaline rush.  I recommend.  Second, watch this promo of the March 3 fight between Ronda Rousy and Miesha Tate.  Then watch the entire fight itself.

Now that’s entertainment.

Buck. Out.

[click the photo for video, IF YOU DARE!]

Yesterday something significant happened in all the major sports.  Well, maybe not women’s basketball, but since they announced an NCAA tourney bid the day before, we can cut Coach Staley and her charges some slack.

First the big news.  As in BIG NEWS.  After only 18 months of needing to do it, AD Eric Hyman quickly moved to relieve MBB Coach Darrin Horn of his duties.  In listening to the press conference yesterday, I was struck by how reasonable and deliberate the AD sounded, which must mean I fell asleep and dreamed the whole thing, or its time to up my welbutrin script.  Again.

One thing Hyman made clear was that money would not be a problem in the search for a replacement candidate.  Despite hinting that the Horn hire was necessitated by a much weaker financial situation four years ago, the AD stressed repeatedly that the Gamecock front office was now willing to pay whatever “the market” required to hire a top flight coach.   [If you will recall, “the market” is a rough equivalent of what it took to “put a smile” on Cecil Newton’s face during the sale of his son to the Auburn Tigers.  But I digress. . . ]  At the risk of interrupting my longstanding Anti-Hyman meme in this space, I think we can relax and trust our resident Tarheel to get it right this time.  Maybe.   /pops another welbutrin tablet.

As if this wasn’t enough, yesterday was also the first day of Spring Practi-football, football, FOOOTBAAALLLLLLL!!!- and as is usually the case, the news came fast and furious:  Jadeveon Clowney isn’t going to class, Kenny Miles isn’t NOT going to practice, and Marcus Lattimore can now run in a straight line.  Oh, and Devonte Holloman is playing safety spur safety spur safety spur again, and that allows Demario Jeffrey to slide over to will spur will spur will spur will, his more natural position (despite all the coaching changes, its nice to know that nothing has really changed).

Other mini bombshells, such as Corey Robinson to DL OL buffet DL OL and Qua Gilchrist to fullback, deserve a mention, if for no other reason than to mention those two cats for the first time in the history of TRC.  Deangelo Smith, last years Taqiy Muhammed Award winner, (awarded by TRC staff to the most dominant performer in a scrimmage environment) was, at least for now, named first team wideout.

At the Quarterback position, this spring promises to look exactly like the last five – no Stephen Garcia.

In news of a more mundane nature, the baseball team defeated Charleston Southern 5-2, and the Softball squad dropped both sides of a double header to the Bizzaro Dawgs.

(Well, that last part is probably just wishful thinking.)

 

. . . . story developing.

I, and we, have tiptoed around the subject on this blog for the better part of the season.  We’ve pointed out the failures and deficiencies during the course of the season.  We’ve expressed our frustration with the program here and on social media platforms.  But I’m not sure any of us have come right out and said it, so now that the season is mercifully over, here it is:

Darrin Horn must go.

Following up a 15-16 season with a 14-16 season with a 10-21 season is not acceptable.  Not at South Carolina, and I dare say not at any power conference school.

We have below average basketball tradition here at USC.  I get that.  Heck, what little basketball tradition we do have is dying off with each passing season.  The last time we won an NCAA tournament game was 1973 for crying out loud.

But that is no excuse to hang on to a guy who not only has not had a winning season in three of his four years here, but has driven the program into a ditch at a dizzying speed.  And the worst part – where is the hope if he stays?  South Carolina fans are supposedly famous for saying “wait ’til next year”.  Think any rational Carolina fan is saying “wait til next year” if Eric Hyman announces in the next couple of weeks that Horn will be back in 2012-2013?

We have a moderate amount of talent, but Horn has either wasted scholarships or failed to develop several players currently on the roster.  Whatever the reason, that’s on him.  We couldn’t shoot, were sloppy with the basketball, fouled at inopportune times, didn’t foul when we needed to, and were downright undisciplined more often than not.  That’s not all coaching, but much of it is.

I watched today as Brenton Williams came off the bench to score 13 points in 13 minutes and hit back-to-back three pointers to fuel a second-half rally.  Then, in the final minutes of the game, he had a nice comfortable seat on the bench. Why?  My guess is Bruce Ellington took his spot on the floor, and Williams couldn’t be in there for match-up reasons.  But if you can have Eric Smith and Williams on the floor at the same time, then you can most certainly have Ellington and Williams on the floor at the same time.

Speaking of Ellington, why did he sit with four fouls until the four-minute timeout?  Jimmy Dyches, one of the best color guys in the business and a basketball man through and through, was calling for Ellington to come back in at the 10-minute mark.  What have you got to lose at that point?  Your seeding in the NIT?  (You are welcome to point out that we made our run with Ellington on the bench, but I would respond that maybe our run would’ve been even bigger and better with him on the floor.)

That was how it was all season.  A Saturday afternoon point guard like me pointing out glaring coaching errors by our million-dollar coach.  I don’t claim to know as much about basketball as Darrin Horn, but it sure felt like it at times.

If Hyman announces Horn will be back next year, I hope he gives me a reasoned explanation as to why.  Don’t tell me he “deserves more time” without telling me why.  Don’t tell me about how hard it is to win here without telling me how Clemson has done just fine in a much tougher conference.  Don’t tell me it’s a “process” without telling me how long I’m going to have to endure it.

You know what he can tell me?  We’re cheap.  We don’t want to pay Horn’s buyout because we’re cheap and we don’t really mind that we’re not good at basketball and we want to focus our resources elsewhere.

That will be much better than telling me Darrin Horn is the man for the job, because it is quite obvious he is not.

Kinda Works:

One of our favorite pastimes:  matching things with completely unrelated other things:

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[yes, yes I know there’s no London or Beamer.  I actually respect those two, and its gettin’ in the way of my snarkiness]