Archive for October, 2009

The view from the ESPN booth

Todd Blackledge will serve as the color analyst for ESPN’s telecast of the South Carolina-Tennessee game on Saturday night. I caught up with him Thursday as he was driving – yes, driving – from his home in Canton, Ohio to Knoxville. He estimated his trek at about seven hours.
During our conversation, Blackledge took the inevitable [...]

More on the AP hoops poll

The wonderful thing about the AP writers poll, or the bad part if you don’t like being held accountable for your vote, is that each ballot is made public.
So while I’d love to sit here and break down the coaches’ poll, and find out which coach gave South Carolina its lone vote, I can’t.
I can, [...]

The preseason hoops polls (updated)

South Carolina gets a bit more preseason respect from the writers than the coaches in the basketball polls, both out today.
The AP writers poll has the Gamecocks 13th among the “also receiving votes” crowd, or a total of 38th.  The Gamecocks got 28 votes, or voting points. (If you don’t know, you get one point [...]

Q&A with Tennessee writer

We return to one of our more popular segments, going behind enemy lines (to borrow a phrase) for an interview with a counterpart on the opposing beat. This week it’s Wes Rucker, who has for several years now covered Tennessee for The Chattanooga Times Free Press.
I also answered questions about South Carolina for Wes, and [...]

The Eric Wolford show

Eric Wolford smiled as he walked over to media members after Monday’s practice. By now, the first-year offensive line coach is used to the routine.
“Monday night,” a USC official said to Wolford with a laugh, signaling it was the coach’s turn for interviews.
“Monday comedy show,” Wolford added with a wry grin.
The reason for the weekly [...]

Excessive celebration?

Apparently, Devan Downey better watch it from now on after he hits a big shot. And if Mike Holmes dunks on somebody, he better just run down court and not even smile.
Well, who knows if it’ll be that drastic, but the NCAA is set to crack down on excessive celebration in men’s basketball, according to [...]

USC and SEC notes

What a day here at the media daze. There will be a couple stories in Friday’s paper, but here are a few quick notes, mainly about the Gamecocks, from the afternoon session:
- Darrin Horn was asked about going into his second year, and the challenges that bring. The main one, he answered, was not getting [...]

SEC hoop notes

Georgia coach Mark Fox appears to know his team has an uphill battle – it was a consensus pick to finish last in the SEC among the 25 voters in the AP preseason poll.
But Fox also knows he can’t let his players think they have no hope.
“If I go into that locker room and say, [...]

Calipari faces the heat

As expected, John Calipari was the center of attention at SEC media days. The Kentucky coach was quizzed on everything: The high expectations this year at Kentucky, his relationship with Bruce Pearl – and yes, those vacated Final Four appearances.
I’ll go in order of how the conversation went. First, those high hopes.
Calipari, who had an [...]

Mark Fox on Malik Cooke

Birmingham, Ala. – We got our first chance to ask Georgia first-year coach Mark Fox, appearing here at SEC media days, about the Malik Cooke situation.
Cooke played for Fox at Nevada and transferred to South Carolina, where he will be eligible for the 2010-11 season, with two years of eligibility remaining. In the meantime, Cooke [...]