Choosing between football and hoops?
If the South Carolina football team does indeed go to the Papajohns.com Bowl – as is now widely expected – it creates a bit of a conflict.
The bowl game in Birmingham is scheduled for Jan. 2 at 2 p.m.
The USC men’s basketball game is set to host Baylor that same day at 1 p.m.
So there you go.
My first thought was that USC could seek to move the time of the basketball game. But that doesn’t appear to be feasible on several fronts.
USC officials aren’t commenting yet, because the bowl bid isn’t official. But the basketball game is already set for television (Fox Sports Net), so that makes it almost impossible to change.
In addition, Baylor is scheduled to fly commercial to the game, since it has a game at Arkansas on Dec. 30. A time switch would cause a lot of headaches there.
Given all that, unless there’s a sudden change in bowl plans, it appears there might not be a huge crowd for a pretty big nonconference game. Baylor (5-1) has defeated Xavier and lost by three to Alabama. This will be four straight year Baylor and South Carolina have played, the visitor winning each of the first three.
The last time there was a bowl-basketball game conflict was three years ago, when the basketball team had a game the same day as the Liberty Bowl. But the bowl game (when South Carolina beat Houston) was a few hours before the basketball game, so USC opened the arena early, inviting fans to watch the football game on the arena big screen, then stick around for hoops.
I wouldn’t foresee a similar arrangement this year – the football team would be starting the bowl game while the basketball team is opening the second half. The best fans can do, if they want to see the basketball game in person, is leave right after the game and catch the second half of the football game.
That is, assuming the bowl choice is the Pizza Bowl, which should be official Sunday.
14 Comments to “Choosing between football and hoops?”
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State newspaper sports writer Seth Emerson blogs on University of South Carolina basketball and baseball.
Hey Seth, didn’t we play Houston in the Liberty Bowl?
Yup, sorry. Mixed that up with the Independence Bowl against Mizzou. Fixed it, thanks for pointing it out.
Seth,
With Archie and Holmes out with injuries, the Baylor game isn’t going to be much of a game.
Of course I don’t think the pizza bowl will be much of a game either. I’m not talking about winning or losing. It’s just a crappy bowl.
But I’ll watch it from my living room.
I won’t go to any basketball games until those two guys return because without them, we have no chance at all against good teams.
Hey, Barry. I guess you didn’t see last night’s b-ball game…..
USC hoops fans need to get on board and support this well coached and determined ball club. Granted Holmes and Archie are significant loses but this team is resilient and will respond well to the pressure!
[...] If the Gamecocks wind up in the Papajohns.com Bowl as expected, they’ll be playing opposite a USC basketball game with Baylor.2. Speaking of basketball, South Carolina’s defense allowed Darrin Horn to [...]
Yeah, Seth, that is the first thing I thought about when I heard about the possibility of PapaJohn’s. So, now you know my priorities. A quandry for sure.
Any updates on Dominque or Mike?
Thanks!
Why don’t they show the rest of the bowl game after the B’ball game? Makes sense to me. Give updates of the football game over the PA until after we beat Baylor…They will most likely only miss the 1rst quarter.
They could also DVR the bowl game and not give updates, then start it from the beginning on the big screen once the bball game ends.
sacbuoy, I love your idea, altho it’ll never happen, but Imma plan on DVR’ing the football game & watching it after I get home, no way on earth am I missing the Baylor game
Forget the helmet heads! Get your but in the seats and cheer on a basketball team that actually has a chance to be a contender!
Scheduling conflicts like this should be avoided at ALL costs – including giving us the Peach Bowl instead! Our AD dropped the ball preventing this.
But, you could also say 1 more football win would have insured we got what we wanted all by itself.
Hopefully, this situation will be prevented from ever happening again (and SEC should help us too).
Just curious, CG, but how could our AD have “prevented” this situation? Eric Hyman had no say in the Outback Bowl selecting Auburn, which threw the entire SEC bowl selection process into disarray. Hyman also didn’t cause us to lose winnable games at UcheaT and Arky, a win in either would have sent us to Atlanta. And Hyman didn’t cause Clempsun to lose to GT in the All Creampuff Conference title game, which dropped the Taters to the bowl in Nashville, and there was no way they were going to schedule a rematch.
Think before you type.
I LIKE YOUR UcheaT FOR TENNESSE FOOTBALL COACHES FOR CHEATING AT RECRUITING PLAYERS.I WONDER WHY NY TIMES HAD TO MENTION THIS STORY,DIDN’T OTHER COACHES FROM OTHER TEAMS NOTICE ANY CHEATING BY TENNESSE? I WOULD HATE TO THINK COACH REEVES.WHO WAS ASSISTANT COACH AT SC IS CHEATING TO GET PLAYERS FROM SOUTH CAROLINA.