The South Carolina Gamecocks men's basketball program has lost sophomore guards Ramon Galloway and Stephen Spinella as Gamecock head coach Darrin Horn announced today.

Not shocked by Spinella making this choice as he only played in 15 games last season and saw his role diminsh greatly.  He averaged just 2.5 points and 1.4 rebounds in those games.  He played in 44 career games at USC, averaging 1.8 points in 10.2 minutes per game.  He never seemed to reach his potential at South Carolina.

But Ramon?  Did not see this one as I thought he enjoyed "jacking three's" for USC.  Galloway played in all 30 games this past season and averaged 10.7 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.7 assist per game.  He fit the 6th man mold very well and would have been a nice fit in next year's team.

Wish both the best but this is interesting for the men's program....could Horn be changing his offensive strategy and these two did not like the direction or is it not that simple?  This is the 5th or 6th player to either leave or be asked to leave the program under Horn's watch so this your team. 

Horn is 50-41 in three seasons at South Carolina and let's hope things improve in 2011-2012 now that Horn has cleaned house.

By now you have filled out 15 brackets, between ESPN and your office pools. I will breakdown each regional and let you know if there are going to be any upsets.  I am no Jay Bilas, and I can't really tell you how many teams are in the tournament or if the first round starts on Tuesday or Thursday.  I do however watch a ton of college basketball and have a pretty good idea about most of the teams in the tournament.

So here goes.... 

Calling all Gamecock fans....see if you are better than your favorite Gamecock bloggers.
March Madness is here, so please join in LOHD's Tournament pick'em via Yahoo.com.  

LOHD TOURNEY PICKEM 11 

GROUP ID# 116049

The South Carolina Gamecocks lost to Ole Miss in the SEC Tourney and we gave you are written recap in our recent Hardwood Report.  USC lost 66-55 and ended the year with a 14-16 record.  Before we dive into some postseason thoughts, we wanted to share the highlights and let you listen to Coach Horn's own words.

Below is the highlight video of the game and Coach Horn's postgame comments:

The University of South Carolina men's basketball team lost to the University of Mississippi Rebels today in the first round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament by the score of 66-55.  This loss concludes the Gamecocks season as they finished the 2010-2011 season with a 14-16 record.  USC was 4-13 against the RPI Top 100 in this season.  This season was full of ups and downs and it seems the ride has come to a end.

We will write more about this season later on but here is a quick recap of the game...

Brad Senkiw of the Anderson Independent Mail penned a interesting story the other day pointing out, in his opinion, that the South Carolina men's basektball program has is now third in the minds of USC fans with respect to the overall sports program.  Hoops has moved behind baseball as football at USC is still the "big man on campus."  Do you agree?

I certainly agree that football is number one.  Duh.  It makes the most money for the sports department and brings out the most passion from the fanbase.  Now to whom is in the number two slot....as bad as I hate to say it, I think he is right.  I think baseball is in the number two slot in front of basketball now.  USC is the defending national champions but since 2000, us the fan, could see this shift taken place.  Just look to the energy around the program and its' new home venue.

Why USC hoops moving down the ladder...well I agree with the points that the writer laid out as he noted that USC has not been to the Big Dance since 2004 and has not won a NCAA tourney games since 1974.  That right there is the reason there is no excitement in the hoops program.  Winning produces excitement and fans love being part of or watching winning. (Not the Charlie Sheen type here).

As Brad said, " The Gamecocks were a force in the 1960s and ’70s under legendary coach Frank McGuire, even winning an ACC championship. And Eddie Fogler won an SEC regular season title in 1997."  USC need to begin to demand better.  Eric Hyman, the A.D., needs to demand better.  Horn as the Coach should demand better.  I as the fan, demands better.

USC men's basketball needs to get back to their winning ways as they have the ability to do it.  Don't tell me they can not recruit due to "Tobacco road" as all you have to do is look at Georgia and/or Clemson to see that there are plenty of basketball players to go around.  USC has the venue and a great school.  Now it is time to get after it.  No reason USC can not compete at a high-level each year in the SEC.

What are your thoughts...do you agree hoops is #3 at USC?

The South Carolina Gamecocks lost today to the Mississippi State Bulldogs by the score of 60-58 and will be the number six seed out of the SEC East in the upcoming SEC Tournament.  Their opponent will be the Ole Miss Rebels, who beat Arkansas 84-74, and clinched the number three seed from the SEC West.

A few weeks back, the Gamecocks beat Ole Miss when they played them last on Feb. 22nd by the score of 79-73.  South Carolina leads the all-time series 14-13 between the two schools.

South Carolina is 94-113 overall in games played in the month of March. In those games, 16-19 (.457) in SEC Tournament games.

The game between West No. 3 seed Ole Miss and East No. 6 seed South Carolina will be at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday in the first round of the SEC Tourney in Atlanta.

The USC Gamecocks traveled to Starkville to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs only to put forth another lackluster 30 minutes to start then try a failed comeback in the last ten minutes.  USC lost 60-58 to the Bulldogs.  This is the fifth straight win for MSU over USC.

I guess we all knew the answer to my question in the statistical comparison post.  MSU was going to win.  USC has not played well at all the last 10 games.

The Gamecocks were lead by Bruce Ellington, 15 points, and Malik Cooke, who added 13. Mr. Bi-polar, Sam Muldrow, added just 10 points and seven rebounds as South Carolina lost its fifth straight game in the series with MSU.  Muldrow confuses the heck out of me.  Some games he is NBA-material and then other games he is quiet as a homeless guy in the Richland Library.

USC had their shot in this game as they battled back but a bad decision at the end cost the chance at the win.  For some reason, Ellington decided to try a three ball after shooting 3-9 before the miss.  So it is not like he had a hot hand from the arch.  Should have worked it inside for a higher percentage shot but you know what that scenario describes the season really.

USC has lived and died from three ball land and yet again...they paid the price for the dependency on the lower percentage shot.  It baffles me, along with the overall offensive game-plan of Horn this season. 

I hope the team has learned a lot this season as numerous stripes have been earned, along with lots of misery from the fanbase.

South Carolina now will play their next game in the SEC Tourney versus Ole Miss.  Let's hope some magic can happen as winning the SEC is the only hope to a NCAA berth and really USC needs two wins to claim a case to a NIT berth.

USC finishes the regualr season with a 14-15 record and 5-11 in SEC play.

Well, here we are at the end of the regular season and the Gamecocks need to end on the right foot for a shot at the NIT.  The South Carolina men's basketball team (14-14, 5-10 SEC) travels to face Mississippi State (16-13, 8-7 SEC) in Starkville at Humphrey Coliseum. The contest will be televised on ESPN2. 

Based on the statistical comparison below, who will win?

		PPG	FG%	FT%	3P%	RPG	ORPG	DRPG	APG	TPG	SPG	BPG	FPG
	MState	69.8	43.4	71.9	35.6	36.0	9.7	26.3	12.5	13.3	5.4	4.2	15.3
	USC	68.4	40.0	66.1	31.6	38.1	14.7	23.4	10.8	13.7	6.9	6.2	18.9
	MState Opps	70.1	41.6	64.9	33.3	37.3	12.7	24.6	11.6	11.2	6.7	2.9	17.9
	USC Opps	69.4	42.6	68.6	34.8	37.7	12.6	25.0	12.9	14.9	5.9	3.2	16.2

Of Note
- MSU holds a 14-8 upperhand in the all-time series, including a 7-2 upperhand in games played in Starkville.
- Mississippi State has won four-consecutive games in the series between the two schools.
- The last South Carolina win in the series came in a 66-63 victory at Humphrey Coliseum on Jan. 27, 2007.

The South Carolina Gamecocks lost to the Tennessee Volunteers by the score of 73-69.  It was senior night for Gamecock seniors Johndre Jefferson and Sam Muldrow, the team could not send them off in the right way as the Vols proved too much.

Actually, again, the first half play was so bad for USC that the improved second half play from the 'Cocks could not overcome the hole dug.  UT led 40-23 at the break; compared to 46-33 USC run in the second half.  The Gamecocks had no answer for UT's Tobias Harris, who had a career-high 25 points, and Scotty Hopson, who had scored 24, as Tennessee fought off the late SC ralley.

With the UT win, Tennessee has now won nine-straight games against South Carolina and four straight in Columbia.  The last South Carolina win in the series came in an 81-64 victory on Feb. 17, 2007. The win marked South Carolina's 100th since joining the SEC.

The loss drops USC to 14-14 overall and 5-10 in SEC play.

This game was not all bad for USC as there were some bright spots, like the play of Muldrow - 24 Pts, 12 Reb, 2 Ast, 5 Blk.  Also the Gamecocks outrebounded UT by 11 and USC had 18 offensive rebounds. USC also had 7 blocks and 8 steals as a team.  As you can see, the Gamecocks played slightly better than in recent games but poor shooting was again the culprit.  USC shot 39% from the field (26-66) and 5-18 from 3 ball land.  I wish USC would cut down on the number of three balls they launch.  Maybe next time?

This Gamecocks blog wishes Jefferson and Muldrow much success in the future.  They will always be Gamecocks.

Up Next: South Carolina travels to Mississippi State on Saturday in the regular-season finale for both schools. The contest will be televised on ESPN2 and will tip-off at 2 p.m.  Follow LOHD on Twitter and Facebook for the latest 'slanted' news on USC.