The South Carolina Gamecocks have concluded the 2012-2013 regular season with a record of 14-17 overall (4-14 SEC). Safe to say that postseason dreams are dashed so it is time to think of the future of the Frank Martin squad. As we have said often, the future is bright for USC basketball with Coach Martin calling the shots just have patience. This past season will be the low-point of his tenure (thanks Darrin Horn).

On the recruiting front, there is hope and progress. There is a strong feeling that quite a few of the current Gamecocks will not be members of the team next season. Whom you ask...not sure yet but don't be surprised when you see some of the upcoming changes.

On the recruting front, the Gamecocks lost out on Elgin Cook as he chose to be a Duck over a Gamecock. He gave his plege to go from his junior college to Oregon. Hated to see that but it happens. We do hope to see the landing of Demetrius Henry, as the Gamecocks need the 6-foot-9, 218-pound big man. He is down to USC and a few others.

The other recruit we hope to see Coach Martin get is 2013 point guard Dominique Hawkins. He recently got a offer from USC and has a host of others to sort through. Hawkins is from Kentucky and the "Big Blue" is giving him a look. USC has some work to do to get him but if UK passes then there is a shot. USC would love to have his type of aggression running the point.

So in summary, keep the fingers crossed the Henry and Watkins say yes to Coach Martin.

If y’all have listened to the LOHD podcasts or read some of my other pieces on here, you will know I am an advocate of the social media known as twitter. If you aren’t on twitter yet, this is for you. If you started an account but never kept up with it, keep reading.

The value that twitter brings is that it is completely personalized. At first I was quite leery of twitter. My initial impression was celebrities and teeny boppers talking about lunch and friends and what not. Then I found out that people who write about college football also used the medium and my attitude changed completely.

The fact is news breaks on twitter. News is on twitter before it is on your favorite national news website. News is on twitter before you find it on the ESPN crawl. Way before you find it on the hometown newspapers website. Heck, twitter even has where players are drafted before the decision is announced on ESPN or the NFL Network. Certainly there is some less than solid sources that need to be sifted through, but the cats that know what is going on, break it on twitter.

On Sunday South Carolina dominated Clemson 8-0 to clinch the series against the Tigers for the 7th straight year.  Carolina also won in dominating fashion 6-0 on Friday night in Clemson but dropped the neutral site game on Saturday 6-3.

The Gamecocks shut out the Tigers twice in the series.  On Friday series MVP Jordan Montgomery dominated the Tiger bats.  He pitched 8 complete innings while only allowing three hits and striking out nine.  In the ninth Tyler Webb came in to dominate some more.  Webb had been called soft by a forgotten Tiger infielder a few seasons ago.  He was anything but on Friday night.  He faced three batters, threw 16 pitches and struck out the side.

A disappointing performance on Saturday was redeemed on Sunday.  Nolan Belcher, the fifth year senior, took the mound at Carolina Stadium.  Belcher had a breakout freshman year, and has been a role player since.  An injury took away one year, but even in the other two years he was never as impactful as he had been.  Apparently he aims to change that this year.  He won the Sunday starting role after a tight battle with freshman Jack Wynkoop.

This Sunday Belcher decimated Clemson.  He threw a complete game and shut them out.  He allowed three hits and struck out seven.  The orange and purple threatened a couple of times but Belcher found ways out of all his jams.

At this point Carolina's dominance in the rivalry is staggering.  They have won the season series each of the past 7 seasons.  Barring a meltdown in an unlikely rematch in the tournament, this senior class will have never lost a season series to Clemson.  The class before them can say the same thing.  And the class before them and the class before them.  

South Carolina has won 20 of the last 27 games in the series.  In fact, the Tigers have only won the season series twice since 1999.  Ray Tanner had his way with the school from Pickens, and Chad Holbrook appears poised to continue that tradition.

Some think the major difference in the programs is their approach to the game.  In Ray Tanner's last years he became much more relaxed, and his players seemed to thrive in that environment.  In the other dugout there is Jack Leggett who often appears uptight and ill at ease.  His teams tend to play that way as well.  On Sunday Carolina's team could be found dancing in the dugout in between a couple of innings while the Tigers looked dour most of the afternoon.  Is that the difference in the rivalry?  I'm not sure, but as long as we keep dominating, I'm not sure I care.

The "Road to Omaha" truly begins in South Carolina this weekend as the Clemson Tigers (5-2) square off against the South Carolina Gamecocks (6-1) in a three-game series at three different sites this weekend. Game times are 6:30 PM on Friday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson, SC, 2:00 PM on Saturday at Fluor Field in Greenville, SC, and 3:00 PM on Sunday at Carolina Stadium in Columbia, SC.

The No. 7 Gamecocks have had the upper-hand in this rivalry of late as evidenced by South Carolina winning two of three regular season games last year and then two in the postseason. Also USC has won four games in a row at Carolina Stadium and eight games in a row in the series away from Tigertown. But it is a new year and a new baseball game, so here are some things to watch for:

In a case of "ours is better than yours," the University of South Carolina decided to "one-up" the rival Clemson Universtity. Well, that happens a lot in South Carolina as evidenced by USC beating Clemson in football four years in a row plus making them a second class citizen in collegiate baseball. Let's just say "back-to-back" national champs. Now it seems we are making improvements that outshine the "team from the Upstate."

Recently, the USC board of trustees gave approval to the funding for the new practice fields and indoor practice facility. So you be the judge, which is better...

The South Carolina Gamecocks Football coaching staff got some good news yesterday as their checks should look a little nicer. Guess that is the cost of winning and keeping up with the market.

In our view, these raises are justified and deserved. It also keeps the staff together which helps to sustain a program.

Here is a recap of the money spent and to whom...

(Assistant - 2013 salary, 2014 salary)
Deke Adams - $225,000; 250,000
Kirk Botkin - $225,000; 250,000
Grady Brown - $180,000; 200,000
Shawn Elliott - $325,000: 350,000
G.A. Mangus - $175,000; 175,000
Joe Robinson - $325,000; 350,000
Everette Sands - $215,000; $230,00
Steve Spurrier Jr. - $325,000; 350,000
Lorenzo Ward - $650,000 for three years

This has been approved by the USC board of trustees.

The assistants were provided with a two-year contract keeping them with the Gamecocks through 2014. Coach Ward has a three year deal that is set to expire at the end of 2015. Coach Spurrier had his contract extended two years through 2017 back in December.

So again, price of winning and good to see.

The sorta famous "Howard's Rock" on the campus of Clemson University is supporting South Carolina's Jadeveon Clowney for Heisman in 2013....check out the pic below....

This Gamecocks blog is going to start a new little feature on here called "Outside the Roost" to shine the spotlight on some interesting things outside the Gamecocks sports world that we find interesting or we feel the need to poke some fun. With that being said, here is our first post...

One of our favorite movies is "The Hangover" and one of the best scenes out of the movie is the "tigers dream of" piano solo as we too have found ourselves thinking about what Tigers dream of. Here is the scene...

Here is the lyrics - "What do tigers dream of, when they take a little tiger snooze. Do they dream of mauling zebras, or Halle Berry in her catwoman suit. Don't you worry your pretty stripped head we're gonna get you back to Tyson and your cozy tiger bed."

Well, it seems they are crazy in their dreams as they honestly think that the Clemson Tigers are "America's Team." Silly Tigers.

Amazing, you just can not make this stuff up. Poor Clemson. I guess when you have a coach that pumps you full of smoke this is normal. The reality is they are not America's team. Heck, they have lost to South Carolina four years in a row. I get it, they beat LSU and now they think they are the best. I hope those dreams keep them warm at night as the 2013 college football season will be here before we know it and a reality check will once again be served.

A former member of the South Carolina basketball team, Johndre Jefferson, made headlines recently because of his elbow. Jefferson, after blocking a shot, caught former Texas forward Gary Johnson squarely in the forehead and fractured his skull.

First, who knew that Jefferson was hooping it up in the Israel Basketball Association for Elitzur Ramla. Well, getting passed that, it is good to hear that Johnson will make a full recovery.

Coach Frank Martin changed his substitution strategy Wednesday night, and the result was a 63-62 win over Ole Miss.  The Gamecocks didn't play as many players as they usually do.  After the Alabama game, Coach had indicated that not everyone on the bench would play.

Eight players saw action in the win.  Carrera, Chatkevicius, Ellington, Smith and Jackson started.  Only Slawson, Williams and Richardson came off the bench.  Several times during the game it looked like the Gamecocks were gassed, but Coach Martin stuck with his strategy, and it worked.