SEC basketball has a few games to go before the tourney and here is our power poll ballot for the week ending March 5th.

Do you agree with how we rank them below:

The bloggers invloved in the SEC Hoops Power Poll conducted a roundtable discussion recently about the state of play in the best conference in the southeast. This year,A Bulldog in Exile is hosting and below are this Gamecocks blog's answers...

The South Carolina Gamecocks lost to the Georgia Bulldogs by the score of 64-48.  It was ugly for USC due to poor shooting and lackluster play.  I would give credit to the 'Dawgs but the Gamecocks really did not play good enough to challenge UGa so all Coach Fox's boys had to do was play average to beat USC.  And that is what happen.

The Gamecocks shot 1-for-19 from 3-point range and 17-for-60 (.283) overall while getting out rebounded.  The 'Dawgs were lead by a three headed monster of Lesile, Thompkins and Price.  Those three people produced 59 of those 64 points.  USC had no answer and I have no answer for USC's play.  Putting it simple - USC got outplayed and beat soundly.

I am tired of begging for better shot selection and a offensive strategy that involves working the ball around not just shooting three pointers.  I will not complain too much in this post as the season is pretty much done and us Gamecocks fans have frustration written on our faces.  This team is better than what they have been showing the last month and the issue is not on the team but on the coach.  Seems he took the idea of a young team and just let them play it out rather than coach them.  We love Coach Horn and will give him another year to right the ship but for the love of god do not blame this poor play on a young team.  Youth has no bearing on basketball.  Just look at UK with three freshman starting and many other teams that lean on young players to contribute a high amount. 

What I want to see over the final two games:

1.  Eric Smith to start.
2.  Galloway not take another 3 point shot.
3.  USC not get outrebounded.  Crash the boards please.
4.  One of the guards to have 7 or more assists.
5. USC to have more points in the paint and 2nd chance points than against UGA.  They had 18 and 14 respectively.  Let's see at least 22 and 18 next game.

Is this too much to ask?

The South Carolina Gamecocks basketball team will head across the border to take on the Georgia Bulldogs on their court with a 7:00 pm tip-off that can be seen on FSN, ESPN3.com.  This game really needs to be won by USC today as looking at their schedule they need to win two out of three down the stretch to close out the regular season.  This will boost any hope of postseason play.  But before you think of the "what if's" the Gamecocks need to tame the 'dawgs today and take care of business as USC has lost four out of their last five games.

If you recall, South Carolina has already played Georgia back on February 12th and lost 60-56. The Gamecocks have a record of 14-12 overall and 5-8 in SEC play.  While the Bulldogs maintain a record of 18-9 with a 7-6 record in the conference.

Last season, the Gamecocks went 1-1 against the Bulldogs. In four years, South Carolina has a record of 4-5 against Georgia, including 1-3 at Stegeman Coliseum.  For USC to get this win, they need to do five things:

Let's be honest, the South Carolina Gamecocks men's basketball team must win the SEC Tournament if they are going to have a chance to make the NCAA Tourney.  Making the Big Dance is not likely and I hope you realize this unless a miracle run can occur for Coach Horn's team.

I do hold my breath for the NIT but based on their schedule, in my view, they must win at least two of their final three and at least one game in the SEC tourney to have a legit shot in getting a NIT invite.  Two wins in the SEC tourney would help the case and seal it for USC.  Can they do it?

They have three final regular season games to prove themselves to the selection committees - at UGa, home vs. UT and then at MSU.

Here is USC's resume as of 2/25/11:

The Gamecocks have two quality wins versus AP #13 Florida and AP #18 Vanderbilt, but they're weighed down by two bad losses against RPI #267 Auburn and RPI #120 Furman.

What is your take...can USC make a run at the NCAA or is the NIT more likely....give some comments....

Former South Carolina Gamecocks forward, Renaldo Balkman, is back with the team that drafted him as the 20th selection overall in the 2006 NBA draft.  His old team, the New York Knicks acquired the services of Balkman as part of the Carmelo Anthony trade recently.  Forget 'Melo, getting Balkman is what makes the Knicks better now.

Balkman brings his 2,6 points per game to the "big apple" and could be in line for more playing time, something he did not get in Denver, given the fact that the Knicks got rid of half their team to get 'Melo.  Balkman is certainly not a guy that will light up the score board but he is a all-around contributor that does the little things, like play defense, as a role player.

Good luck to Renaldo.  Good to see a former Gamecock in the NBA.

New York Knicks Bio

Every Sunday this Gamecocks Blog and Bloguin's NCAA hoops writers come together to vote on the four best teams in the country, our Fabulous Four, plus the best team from a non-BCS conference.  We present to you the Fab Four Plus One - because who has time to read a list of 25 teams.

Here is our ballots last week and this week:

The game between USC and UK was close until tip-off.  From that point on, it was the Kentucky Wildcats show as the USC Gamecocks had no answer for Coach Cal's team.  UK won 90-59.

Malik Cooke had 12 points as he led the way for Carolina.  The other rising contributor of late has been the play of Eric Smtih, in this game he had eight points. Leading scorers Bruce Ellington and Sam Muldrow combined for 13 points on 3-of-17 shooting as South Carolina suffered its worst loss of the season.

Reasons for the loss begin with poor shooting, bad shot selection, poor rebounding, poor defense......you get the point.

The Gamecocks have fallen to 13-12.  The last time USC started the season 13-12 was 2006.  Prior to this game, USC played 39 Top 25 opponents in the last 5 seasons with a record of 10-29.  Seems we can now add one more to the 'L' column.  USC, this year against the RPI Top 50 is now 2-9.  USC is now 10th in the SEC with a conference record of 4-8. 

USC now has a 5 game losing streak.

These quotes say a lot:
---"We didn't compete," Horn said. "There's really no excuse for that. We had individuals that obviously we count on that didn't get anything done tonight." 
---Malik Cooke....."We didn't compete well enough as a team," Cooke said. "We got outrebounded and stuff like that. The crowd was in it, [Kentucky] got a lot of loose balls that we should have got."
---"I have great concern for our players to go out and compete and play what resembles South Carolina basketball," Horn said.

Next opponent:  Mississippi at home on February 22nd.

South Carolina has played Kentucky already, and lost to them 67-58 on January 22nd. Last season, the Gamecocks went 1-1 against the Wildcats. Over four years, South Carolina has gone 3-6 against Kentucky, and 1-3 at Rupp Arena.  For USC to beat UK in "Big Blue" country it will take a mighty effort from South Carolina combined with a poor showing from Coach Cal's boys.

The Gamecocks have an overall 13-11 record as well as 4-7 in the SEC with a RPI at 117.  They look to improve against a very talented UK team that is 18-7 overall, 6-5 in SEC and have a RPI of 17.  USC is 1-5 versus ranked teams this season.  Can they make it 2-5?

Here is a comparison of the two teams:

		PPG	FG%	FT%	3P%	RPG	ORPG	DRPG	APG	TPG	SPG	BPG	FPG
	UK	77.2	46.3	71.0	39.9	38.2	12.0	26.2	13.0	11.4	5.9	6.5	16.2
	USC	69.1	40.7	63.8	32.9	38.4	14.4	24.0	11.3	14.0	6.8	6.5	18.8
	UK Opps	64.0	39.0	72.0	34.0	33.4	11.0	22.4	11.2	12.8	5.4	3.8	18.4
	USC Opps	68.5	42.1	67.3	33.8	37.8	12.6	25.1	13.0	15.0	6.1	3.3	16.6

For USC to win they must do the following three things -

1. Attack the basket.  USC's guards must be aggressive in getting to the basket and the "bigs" must attack the rebounds.
2. Play Smart D.  USC must play tough defense and force UK to make mistakes.
3.  Play with urgency.  USC needs to win.  No room for loses if the idea of postseason play is to live.

The tip-off is at 4:00EST and it will be televised on SEC Network.

I want to think USC wins this game, I do but will they...you tell me....I can see, given USC's habit of poor shooting, this game getting out of hand for Carolina.  UK by 12 sounds about right as USC should fight back but as normal the hole will be to deep.

The South Carolina Gamecocks lost to the Tennessee Volunteers by the score of 73-67 in Knoxville.  The loss drops USC to 13-11 overall and 4-7 in SEC.  Is it safe to begin to think that postseason play is not a option for the Gamecocks basketball team in 2011?

South Carolina again played poorly in the first half only to try and surge forward late in the second half.  Overall, USC continued to depend too much on the three ball and it did not pay off (10-32 3FG).  Just think if a few more of those fell?  Also USC had 22 personal fouls which resulted in 21 points for UT at the free throw line.  Again not the smartest of smart play from Horn's crew.  Poor shooting overall (24-73 FG), too many three ball attempts and too many fouls....all that equals a loss.

I want to see penetration from the guards and better play on the interior.  Seems that Malik Cooke is the only "big guy" playing consistent of late and his play needs to rub off on the other interior guys.  Yeah, Muldrow had 6 blocks but why on earth is he shooting six shots from three ball land?  He made just one of those but those are wasted shots in my view when he should be playing on the post more.  If Muldrow could improve his play with his back to the basket, he could really be a legit NBA prospect but it seems he does not want to play like that.

Let's hope a lot of coaching is done over the next few days because USC travels to Lexington to play Kentucky on Saturday.  USC will need their "A" game and I am not ready to give up on USC making it to the NIT quite yet.  This team has flashes of goodness but need to be smarter and play consistent as a team for the full game.