Staley, Morrow and more
So, APR day is over. Wow, what a whirlwind. Are you as depressed as I am that it’s over and we have to wait another year for the next one? Don’t you think this momentous day quickly is passing National Signing Day - and possibly the SEC championship and the birth of your first child - in terms of buildup and excitement?
Or are you like most people, who think APR day is when your credit-card rate gets jacked up 3 percentage points without you knowing it? (A quick reminder: In NCAA sports, the APR stands for Academic Progress Rate. In the credit-card world, APR stands for whatever the companies want you to pay this month so their executives can go to Tahoe.)
Anyway, if you were embroiled in all the APR fun, you might have missed a few events relating to South Carolina basketball:
- The apparent hiring of Dawn Staley as USC’s women’s basketball coach leads to an interesting thought: In hiring two basketball coaches this spring, USC ended up hiring a bigger name for it’s women’s job than for the men. And I don’t mean comparatively. On March 1, who do you think had more name recognition both across the country and in South Carolina: Darrin Horn or Dawn Staley?
That’s not necessarily a knock on Horn, who, like many mid-major coaches, got his break in the NCAA tournament. Bruce Pearl was just as unknown in the month before his 2005 run with Wisconsin-Milwaukee and subsequent hiring at Tennessee.
But it speaks to how well-known Staley is in the basketball world. This hiring will get as much play nationally, maybe more, than Horn’s. Some questioned whether Horn was a home run. There’s no question, hiring Staley is a home run for South Carolina.
- In case you missed it, former Gamecocks recruit Darius Morrow signed Tuesday with East Carolina. The forward from Atlanta was the lone member of this year’s recruiting class then asked out of his letter of intent two weeks after Horn’s hiring.
Morrow visited Auburn last week and was thought to be leaning toward the Tigers. But lo and behold, he ended up at a mid-major.
“East Carolina is an up-and-coming program, and I believe I can come in and help turn things around,” Morrow said in a statement released by East Carolina. “I think it’s a place where my game can really blossom.”
- As of this writing, there is no word on whether Trevor Deloach will transfer, but it’s expected to happen.
The natural question is whether Deloach will be the only current player to leave the program. That appears to be the case, but that can change as players head home for the summer.
Deloach is apparently the only player who has been told he isn’t in the staff’s plans. Others who played little under the previous staff - such as Mitchell Carter, Austin Steed and Chad Gray -apparently have shown something to the Horn and his coaches.
- The South Carolina baseball team's RPI ranking inched up to 12 after the Florida series. While that's good news, the Gamecocks aren't getting help from other teams when it comes to postseason seeding. A national seed remains a longshot. As for hosting a regional, Baseball America expert Aaron Fitt wrote Monday that USC could get pushed by Vanderbilt or LSU, if the SEC is only going to get two or three regionals.
Georgia at this point is assured a regional, and is the SEC team best position for a national seed. Vanderbilt and LSU are coming on strong while South Carolina is perceived to just be puttering along. That all could change with a strong finish. With no clear dominant teams in the league this seeason, I continue to suspect that this will come down to Hoover.
Or are you like most people, who think APR day is when your credit-card rate gets jacked up 3 percentage points without you knowing it? (A quick reminder: In NCAA sports, the APR stands for Academic Progress Rate. In the credit-card world, APR stands for whatever the companies want you to pay this month so their executives can go to Tahoe.)
Anyway, if you were embroiled in all the APR fun, you might have missed a few events relating to South Carolina basketball:
- The apparent hiring of Dawn Staley as USC’s women’s basketball coach leads to an interesting thought: In hiring two basketball coaches this spring, USC ended up hiring a bigger name for it’s women’s job than for the men. And I don’t mean comparatively. On March 1, who do you think had more name recognition both across the country and in South Carolina: Darrin Horn or Dawn Staley?
That’s not necessarily a knock on Horn, who, like many mid-major coaches, got his break in the NCAA tournament. Bruce Pearl was just as unknown in the month before his 2005 run with Wisconsin-Milwaukee and subsequent hiring at Tennessee.
But it speaks to how well-known Staley is in the basketball world. This hiring will get as much play nationally, maybe more, than Horn’s. Some questioned whether Horn was a home run. There’s no question, hiring Staley is a home run for South Carolina.
- In case you missed it, former Gamecocks recruit Darius Morrow signed Tuesday with East Carolina. The forward from Atlanta was the lone member of this year’s recruiting class then asked out of his letter of intent two weeks after Horn’s hiring.
Morrow visited Auburn last week and was thought to be leaning toward the Tigers. But lo and behold, he ended up at a mid-major.
“East Carolina is an up-and-coming program, and I believe I can come in and help turn things around,” Morrow said in a statement released by East Carolina. “I think it’s a place where my game can really blossom.”
- As of this writing, there is no word on whether Trevor Deloach will transfer, but it’s expected to happen.
The natural question is whether Deloach will be the only current player to leave the program. That appears to be the case, but that can change as players head home for the summer.
Deloach is apparently the only player who has been told he isn’t in the staff’s plans. Others who played little under the previous staff - such as Mitchell Carter, Austin Steed and Chad Gray -apparently have shown something to the Horn and his coaches.
- The South Carolina baseball team's RPI ranking inched up to 12 after the Florida series. While that's good news, the Gamecocks aren't getting help from other teams when it comes to postseason seeding. A national seed remains a longshot. As for hosting a regional, Baseball America expert Aaron Fitt wrote Monday that USC could get pushed by Vanderbilt or LSU, if the SEC is only going to get two or three regionals.
Georgia at this point is assured a regional, and is the SEC team best position for a national seed. Vanderbilt and LSU are coming on strong while South Carolina is perceived to just be puttering along. That all could change with a strong finish. With no clear dominant teams in the league this seeason, I continue to suspect that this will come down to Hoover.
Posted by sethemerson in
• General
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