The Nightmare On Greene Street
posted by Scott Hood, Monday, January 07, 2008
Saturday night’s stunning 61-58 loss to UNC Asheville at the one-third filled Colonial Center was, as head coach Dave Odom acknowledged, something out of a horror movie.
In my opinion, that’s being kind. Here are some verbs I would use to accurately describe the thundering defeat:
Horrific.
Hideous.
Appalling
Abominable.
Losing to a Big South team at home is unacceptable for any respectable SEC team. Losing to a Big 12 team like Baylor is one thing, but collapsing like a house of cards in the final four minutes against a mid-tier program at best is devastating.
All of a sudden, USC has become Kentucky. Well, this year’s edition of the Wildcats, anyways.
USC is 8-6, and, quite frankly, well behind schedule in its plans to earn the Gamecocks’ first berth to the NCAA Tournament since 2004.
I’ve been inclined to give Odom plenty of chances until now. In fact, while I understand some USC fans are calling for his head on a silver platter following Saturday’s collapse, the bottom line is Odom will ultimately be judged by how well USC does during the SEC portion of the 2007-2008 schedule.
That begins Wednesday night when the Gamecocks travel to Nashville to play undefeated Vanderbilt.
That’s right, I said undefeated. Vanderbilt is 15-0 and has beaten a number of quality teams, including Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, DePaul and UMass.
While USC has enjoyed success against the Commodores in recent years, this season’s matchup appears to be a mismatch. Vanderbilt features the top two scorers in the league in senior Shan Foster (21.1 points per game) and freshman A.J. Ogilvy (19.3).
Let’s hope USC can muster enough ammunition to stick with Vanderbilt and try to win a close game at the end. But before they face the Commodores, USC has plenty of ‘internal’ problems to fix.
You only need to glance at the box score from Saturday’s game to see Odom’s quandry. It’s obvious he trusts just three players – guards Devan Downey and Zam Fredrick and swingman Dominique Archie.
Downey and Fredrick both played 40 minutes Saturday night, while Archie was on the floor for 36 minutes. Downey and Fredrick took over one-half the shots (32 of 62) and scored the majority of points (32 of 58).
There’s a good reason Odom harshly criticized the performance of his big men following the victory over Radford last week.
They’ve stunk, especially defensively. The Gamecocks have surrendered far too many easy baskets inside, a problem that continued to plague them against UNC Asheville.
It’s not a coincidence the game-winning basket scored by the Bulldogs came on an easy dunk by their 7-foot-7 center Kevin George. Nobody wearing a garnet and black uniform offered resistance.
But it wasn’t the first time. UNCA scored 38 points in the paint, an absurdly high number.
If you think trying to beat Vanderbilt will be difficult, the schedule doesn’t get any easier. Tennessee, 12-1 on the season, comes to the Colonial Center Saturday night.
Vandy and the Vols might be the top two teams in the SEC right now. Could USC have a more difficult start to the SEC schedule? Probably not.
The Volunteers will be followed by road contests at Arkansas and Kentucky and a home game against two-time defending national champion Florida.
Ouch.
Could USC be 0-5 in the SEC in two weeks? Yes, if they play as poorly as they did Saturday night.
I shudder to think what the weekend when USC celebrates ‘100 Years of Gamecock Basketball’ will be like if the Gamecocks continue to spiral downward.
Could all of those former Gamecock greats really be greeted by an empty arena? It’s possible. The USC baseball team is scheduled to face East Carolina on the same day (Sat. Feb. 23) at the same time (4 p.m.). Which facility will see more fans, the Colonial Center or Sarge Frye Field?
Right now, my money is on the latter.
Here’s a question I’ve been asked lately: Would Odom be fired before the end of the season? No, I don’t believe he will. That’s not the way athletic director Eric Hyman operates.
Hyman typically waits until the conclusion of the season to review the performance of a particular coach. Unless the situation becomes completely unbearable, Odom will coach the Gamecocks until the end of this season.
Next season? If USC continues to fall to teams they should beat, Odom has little chance of returning, even if it means an expensive buyout of his contract. The sound made by thousands of empty seats at the Colonial Center is deafening.
At this point, USC’s hopes of making the NCAA Tournament are fading fast. The Gamecocks will likely have to win at least 10 conference regular season games and probably one or two conference tournament games to have any hope of making the Big Dance.
Is this team capable of that? Based on what I’ve seen so far, the answer is a resounding no.
Odom could pay the price with his job.
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I’m running out of patience.
Saturday night’s stunning 61-58 loss to UNC Asheville at the one-third filled Colonial Center was, as head coach Dave Odom acknowledged, something out of a horror movie.
In my opinion, that’s being kind. Here are some verbs I would use to accurately describe the thundering defeat:
Horrific.
Hideous.
Appalling
Abominable.
Losing to a Big South team at home is unacceptable for any respectable SEC team. Losing to a Big 12 team like Baylor is one thing, but collapsing like a house of cards in the final four minutes against a mid-tier program at best is devastating.
All of a sudden, USC has become Kentucky. Well, this year’s edition of the Wildcats, anyways.
USC is 8-6, and, quite frankly, well behind schedule in its plans to earn the Gamecocks’ first berth to the NCAA Tournament since 2004.
I’ve been inclined to give Odom plenty of chances until now. In fact, while I understand some USC fans are calling for his head on a silver platter following Saturday’s collapse, the bottom line is Odom will ultimately be judged by how well USC does during the SEC portion of the 2007-2008 schedule.
That begins Wednesday night when the Gamecocks travel to Nashville to play undefeated Vanderbilt.
That’s right, I said undefeated. Vanderbilt is 15-0 and has beaten a number of quality teams, including Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, DePaul and UMass.
While USC has enjoyed success against the Commodores in recent years, this season’s matchup appears to be a mismatch. Vanderbilt features the top two scorers in the league in senior Shan Foster (21.1 points per game) and freshman A.J. Ogilvy (19.3).
Let’s hope USC can muster enough ammunition to stick with Vanderbilt and try to win a close game at the end. But before they face the Commodores, USC has plenty of ‘internal’ problems to fix.
You only need to glance at the box score from Saturday’s game to see Odom’s quandry. It’s obvious he trusts just three players – guards Devan Downey and Zam Fredrick and swingman Dominique Archie.
Downey and Fredrick both played 40 minutes Saturday night, while Archie was on the floor for 36 minutes. Downey and Fredrick took over one-half the shots (32 of 62) and scored the majority of points (32 of 58).
There’s a good reason Odom harshly criticized the performance of his big men following the victory over Radford last week.
They’ve stunk, especially defensively. The Gamecocks have surrendered far too many easy baskets inside, a problem that continued to plague them against UNC Asheville.
It’s not a coincidence the game-winning basket scored by the Bulldogs came on an easy dunk by their 7-foot-7 center Kevin George. Nobody wearing a garnet and black uniform offered resistance.
But it wasn’t the first time. UNCA scored 38 points in the paint, an absurdly high number.
If you think trying to beat Vanderbilt will be difficult, the schedule doesn’t get any easier. Tennessee, 12-1 on the season, comes to the Colonial Center Saturday night.
Vandy and the Vols might be the top two teams in the SEC right now. Could USC have a more difficult start to the SEC schedule? Probably not.
The Volunteers will be followed by road contests at Arkansas and Kentucky and a home game against two-time defending national champion Florida.
Ouch.
Could USC be 0-5 in the SEC in two weeks? Yes, if they play as poorly as they did Saturday night.
I shudder to think what the weekend when USC celebrates ‘100 Years of Gamecock Basketball’ will be like if the Gamecocks continue to spiral downward.
Could all of those former Gamecock greats really be greeted by an empty arena? It’s possible. The USC baseball team is scheduled to face East Carolina on the same day (Sat. Feb. 23) at the same time (4 p.m.). Which facility will see more fans, the Colonial Center or Sarge Frye Field?
Right now, my money is on the latter.
Here’s a question I’ve been asked lately: Would Odom be fired before the end of the season? No, I don’t believe he will. That’s not the way athletic director Eric Hyman operates.
Hyman typically waits until the conclusion of the season to review the performance of a particular coach. Unless the situation becomes completely unbearable, Odom will coach the Gamecocks until the end of this season.
Next season? If USC continues to fall to teams they should beat, Odom has little chance of returning, even if it means an expensive buyout of his contract. The sound made by thousands of empty seats at the Colonial Center is deafening.
At this point, USC’s hopes of making the NCAA Tournament are fading fast. The Gamecocks will likely have to win at least 10 conference regular season games and probably one or two conference tournament games to have any hope of making the Big Dance.
Is this team capable of that? Based on what I’ve seen so far, the answer is a resounding no.
Odom could pay the price with his job.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
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Scott Hood. Since February of 2005, Scott has covered the South Carolina football, men's basketball and baseball programs for GamecockCentral. He may be reached by email at scottblog(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.