Odom's Crew loses another shameful game

[BigSpur]

In front of 4,000 fans in the Thompson-Bolling Arena in Knoxville, where the upper deck was draped in black because of lack of fans, and fans were encourages to move as close to the court as possible not worrying about who had what tickets, knowing nobody really cared. The Gamecocks trailed by as much as 23 to the volunteers in the first half, Odom's crew rallied in the second half to bring it within 3 in the final minute. Only to have have poor coaching and decision making ice the game for good as Carlos Powell ran down the court and threw up a pathetic shot within the first 5 seconds of the shot clock with 50 seconds remaining. Whether Odom had instructed him to do so or had not pounded in the players heads to look for a quality shot is not known. The Volunteers hampered by injuries and lack of talent were too much for the Gamecocks early as they went on an 18-0 run in the first 5 minutes of the game. The back court of Kinsey and Kelley for Carolina combined, put up the big goose egg for the Gamecocks. Josh Gonner added 15, who is better than Gonner to get hot when the game is hopelessly out of reach, a real clutch player. Antione Tisby had another big game, he has emerged out of nowhere while the rest of team has dissapeared into the void known as mediocrity. Does Balkman even play for the team anymore or did he get sent home because he can't hit a layup. USC only had 12 free throw attempts and missed over half of them, highlighting the fact that USC has no penetration or shooters. A truly sad game for the Carolina faithful who have seen their share of sad games under the Odom administration, who beat Kentucky after losing to Auburn only to be crushed in the 2 following contest. A model of consistensy. Pathetic!

[JBryant12]

It is getting pathetic...they are turnin into USCs women basketball team

[fernandomike]

I still can't figure out whether it was our crowd noise or our talent that beat you?

[BigSpur]

I'm not sure was it our crowd noise or talent that beat you in Columbia?

[Galactus]

LOL...

Yeah...we just suck, guys. Until we get a coach in here that puts recruiting at a premium, things won't change.

Time for Dave to go.

[fernandomike]

I'm not sure was it our crowd noise or talent that beat you in Columbia?

Maybe the Gamecocks were distracted by the LACK of crowd noise. We'll take a win any way we can get one.

[BigSpur]

I hear that. Good win. Definetly the better team last night. That Lofton Kid looks like your future.

[CarolinaGrad]

I was at the game last night, and the UT team that showed up in the first half of the game was a team that has not shown up all season. I think Buzz was even surprised. They were really fired up. Lofton was totally unreal!
We just dug a hole too deep in the first half, but credit the Gamecocks in the second half for trying to come back and win.
By the way, the reports I read today showed over 10,000 people there, and I think the reports are true. However, the student section was pathetic! I think it consisted of about 5 or 6 students.

[BigSpur]

I was at the game last night, and the UT team that showed up in the first half of the game was a team that has not shown up all season. I think Buzz was even surprised. They were really fired up. Lofton was totally unreal!
We just dug a hole too deep in the first half, but credit the Gamecocks in the second half for trying to come back and win.
By the way, the reports I read today showed over 10,000 people there, and I think the reports are true. However, the student section was pathetic! I think it consisted of about 5 or 6 students.

Casey Manning and Mike Morgan reported 4 to 5 thousand, I was not there but there was hardly any noise over the radio even when Tenn was up by 26. I do credit Carolina for coming back but I think it has to do with the fact that we have a better team and once they cooled down we started dominating. But for some reason less than average teams always are hot against Carolina, could have something to do with the fact that we come out with no intensity. Our backcourt murdered us by putting up 0 between Kelley and Kinsey. I don't understand how they could be so cold, I play rec ball and I have bad nights but I don't put a goose egg. Its time to face it we have a NIT team we had a NIT team last year, even though for some reason we got put in the dance to get embarrassed, and we'll be lucky to have a NIT team next year. I agree about Lofton though, he is going to be good.

[fernandomike]

He is the one guy on the team that gives me hope. The kid is one hell of a shooter and to go out against tough competition and not be intimidated by crowds is amazing at his age. I can hardly watch the Vols play. When we had Jerry Green, we were at least entertaining. When we had Kevin O'Neill, the team always battled. We often lost, but you got the sense that the team left it all on the court. I was surprised that this team was able to beat USC, even at our place, given the recent history of the series.

[BigSpur]

Yea thats my problem with Odom's teams. Its so boring we rarely get out of the 60's, at the Clemson game we were still in single digits with 6 minutes left in the first half.

[WayzUp]

I've thought Odom a mistake from the first day he was hired myself. I don't pretend to be a Dave Odom expert by any means but what little I knew of him pre-USC was his recruitment of Tim Duncan and Randolph Childress. His teams always seemed to have that one good player and a bunch of mediocre ones which, with the exception of Duncan/Childress teams, led to mediocre teams. And at USC, I can't think of even that one good player on ANY of his teams...it's just been a collection of gutsy performances by an out-manned roster most of the time.

In case you can't tell, it's been awhile since I've been excited about our basketball team. When I say "awhile," I mean the year we lost to Coppin State as a #2 seed.

Just to throw it out there.....who do y'all think is out there that would be a good candidate to court, coaching currently or otherwise?