Now Comes The Hard Part For USC
posted by Scott Hood, Friday, January 23, 2009
Now do it again. And again. And again.
The hardest part about beating Florida Wednesday night at Colonial Life Arena doesn’t have anything to do with the Gators.
But it has everything to do with Ole Miss and Vanderbilt, the next two opponents on the schedule. And both games happen to be at home.
Rest assured, the stunning victory over Florida doesn’t mean USC has arrived. We’ll reserve judgment on that for later after several more conference games.
Darrin Horn’s toughest coaching job of the season will come in Saturday night’s game against the Rebels. It will be a true test of his skills as a motivator and tactician.
How will USC handle a little taste of success?
Not only does Horn have to prepare his club for another SEC opponent, but he has to guard against the enemy of all college coaches – complacency.
Another word for it is letdown. Whatever you want to call it, we’ve seen too many bad losses sabotage seasons.
The good news for Gamecock fans is Horn appeared well aware of the challenges ahead of him during the Florida post-game press conference. In coach speak, it was just one win.
And now it’s on to the next game.
I’ll be interested in hearing from Horn on Friday during the typical day-before-the-game press conference about how Thursday’s practice went. That will tell us a lot about the player’s mindsets heading into the Ole Miss game.
If I had been Horn, I would have made Thursday’s workout one of the more difficult ones of the season, even if the only purpose was to send a message to the players that they must continue to work hard, and then tone it down on Friday.
Here’s the problem for Horn: 18-to-22 years tend to get it into their minds that they’ve conquered the world when they beat a high profile opponent like Florida, especially when the game-winning basket is shown about a thousand times on every cable channel in existence.
Again, achieving success isn’t all that hard. But sustaining the success over a long period of time is another matter. That’s what separates the good teams from the great ones.
At this point, I would say USC is an average to good basketball team in a mediocre SEC. Remember, Florida was only ranked No. 24 in the AP poll. So, we can’t put in on the same pedestal as Virginia Tech’s impressive win at No. 1 Wake Forest.
But, was it a great win? Absolutely. But it must be followed up with a win over an undermanned Ole Miss club on Saturday night and then another home win over Vanderbilt on Wednesday, or the feeling of exhilaration from the Florida game will vanish quickly.
Hopefully, that’s the message Horn is telling his club as they prepare for Ole Miss.
Unfortunately, sustained success has always been something that seemed to elude USC, no matter what sport we’re talking about. As I’ve said before, the only athletic program on the USC campus that’s proven capable of performing at a consistently high level nationally over an extended period of time is the baseball team.
Under Dave Odom, USC had a tendency to fall flat after a big win. The best example occurred during the 2004-2005 when USC shocked Kentucky, a Top 10 team, at home by double digits (73-61) before dropping four straight.
Sorry, but upsetting a supposedly superior team and then losing to a weaker opponent is not acceptable.
Maybe this basketball season – and this team - will be different, and the veteran Gamecocks will use the Florida game as a springboard for bigger and better things. They’re certainly not lacking in leadership with Zam Fredrick being a fifth-year senior and Devan Downey now in his fourth year.
Statistically, USC found a way to beat Florida without a top-rate performance on the offensive end. Remember, the Gamecocks shot just 39 percent from the field, including 30 percent in the second half. Devan Downey and Zam Fredrick were a combined 10-for-32 from the floor. But they hit the two biggest baskets of the game (don't underestimate the importance of Downey's 3-pointer with 27 seconds left), as clutch players are prone to do.
So, USC knows it's capable of knocking off a Top 25 team without playing its best basketball. That should help down the road from a confidence standpoint.
The importance of these next two games is also seen by the fact that starting with the Feb. 1 game at Kentucky, USC will play four of five games on the road. Two of the other stops are Florida and Mississippi State.
Yeah, USC needs all the home wins it can get at this point. And I’m sure Eric Hyman would like to sell a few more tickets as well.
How good is USC? Ask me that question about 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 28 when the Vanderbilt game is over.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
Nice win, South Carolina.
Now do it again. And again. And again.
The hardest part about beating Florida Wednesday night at Colonial Life Arena doesn’t have anything to do with the Gators.
But it has everything to do with Ole Miss and Vanderbilt, the next two opponents on the schedule. And both games happen to be at home.
Rest assured, the stunning victory over Florida doesn’t mean USC has arrived. We’ll reserve judgment on that for later after several more conference games.
Darrin Horn’s toughest coaching job of the season will come in Saturday night’s game against the Rebels. It will be a true test of his skills as a motivator and tactician.
How will USC handle a little taste of success?
Not only does Horn have to prepare his club for another SEC opponent, but he has to guard against the enemy of all college coaches – complacency.
Another word for it is letdown. Whatever you want to call it, we’ve seen too many bad losses sabotage seasons.
The good news for Gamecock fans is Horn appeared well aware of the challenges ahead of him during the Florida post-game press conference. In coach speak, it was just one win.
And now it’s on to the next game.
I’ll be interested in hearing from Horn on Friday during the typical day-before-the-game press conference about how Thursday’s practice went. That will tell us a lot about the player’s mindsets heading into the Ole Miss game.
If I had been Horn, I would have made Thursday’s workout one of the more difficult ones of the season, even if the only purpose was to send a message to the players that they must continue to work hard, and then tone it down on Friday.
Here’s the problem for Horn: 18-to-22 years tend to get it into their minds that they’ve conquered the world when they beat a high profile opponent like Florida, especially when the game-winning basket is shown about a thousand times on every cable channel in existence.
Again, achieving success isn’t all that hard. But sustaining the success over a long period of time is another matter. That’s what separates the good teams from the great ones.
At this point, I would say USC is an average to good basketball team in a mediocre SEC. Remember, Florida was only ranked No. 24 in the AP poll. So, we can’t put in on the same pedestal as Virginia Tech’s impressive win at No. 1 Wake Forest.
But, was it a great win? Absolutely. But it must be followed up with a win over an undermanned Ole Miss club on Saturday night and then another home win over Vanderbilt on Wednesday, or the feeling of exhilaration from the Florida game will vanish quickly.
Hopefully, that’s the message Horn is telling his club as they prepare for Ole Miss.
Unfortunately, sustained success has always been something that seemed to elude USC, no matter what sport we’re talking about. As I’ve said before, the only athletic program on the USC campus that’s proven capable of performing at a consistently high level nationally over an extended period of time is the baseball team.
Under Dave Odom, USC had a tendency to fall flat after a big win. The best example occurred during the 2004-2005 when USC shocked Kentucky, a Top 10 team, at home by double digits (73-61) before dropping four straight.
Sorry, but upsetting a supposedly superior team and then losing to a weaker opponent is not acceptable.
Maybe this basketball season – and this team - will be different, and the veteran Gamecocks will use the Florida game as a springboard for bigger and better things. They’re certainly not lacking in leadership with Zam Fredrick being a fifth-year senior and Devan Downey now in his fourth year.
Statistically, USC found a way to beat Florida without a top-rate performance on the offensive end. Remember, the Gamecocks shot just 39 percent from the field, including 30 percent in the second half. Devan Downey and Zam Fredrick were a combined 10-for-32 from the floor. But they hit the two biggest baskets of the game (don't underestimate the importance of Downey's 3-pointer with 27 seconds left), as clutch players are prone to do.
So, USC knows it's capable of knocking off a Top 25 team without playing its best basketball. That should help down the road from a confidence standpoint.
The importance of these next two games is also seen by the fact that starting with the Feb. 1 game at Kentucky, USC will play four of five games on the road. Two of the other stops are Florida and Mississippi State.
Yeah, USC needs all the home wins it can get at this point. And I’m sure Eric Hyman would like to sell a few more tickets as well.
How good is USC? Ask me that question about 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 28 when the Vanderbilt game is over.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
Previous Blog Entries
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 @.