Around the Horn

"No, Mr. Morris, I won't pull your finger."

So we got a new coach...and his name is Darren Horn. Not the biggest "name" out there, but it's hard to argue that he doesn't fit exactly what we were all looking for. His resume is impressive:

• 2 NCAA Tourney wins in his fledgling head-coaching career. Need I remind you that's about two more wins than the USC program has had in about the last 30 years?
• He recruited Dwayne Wade to play at Marquette. And if you watched his press conference, you could tell that recruiting was job #1 for Horn. Of all the knocks on The Warchest, this was probably his most glaring deficiency. So an aggressive, energetic, relentless recruiter will be a nice change of pace here at USC.
• His program at WKU had a 100% graduation rate. With the APR cloud hovering over our program, this new emphasis on academics should help clean things up.

But as great as all that looks, that's not what people are talking about. No, thanks to Bart Wright, we have to hear about Clemson, Clemson, Clemson. Sure, we all love to have fun with the Tigers, but they shouldn't be part of the conversation right now, when we have all these positive new things to talk about.

But Wright threw a wrench into the festivities by bringing up our "rival" and baiting Horn into a response. And being the fiery guy he is, Horn shot back with a witty little quip.

"Should I even say it out loud? I think they wear orange. To mention their name would justify their existence, wouldn't it? We don't want to go there. I mentioned we're the University of South Carolina, coast-to-coast, border-to-border."

Chuckle-worthy? Yes. Incendiary? Hardly. But the press took his quote and ran with it as if Horn had shot Archduke Ferdinand, invaded Poland, and invented WMDs all at once.

So welcome to South Carolina, Coach Horn and family. If you can ignore the jackals in the media and the self-loathing curmudgeons within our own fanbase, you should do just fine.

Odom's Last Stand?

Is this it? Is today's first round SEC Tourney matchup versus LSU going to go down as Dave Odom's final game at Carolina? Or will he engineer another late-season tourney run?

Honestly, anything happen. It was only two years ago that the Gamecocks marched into the finals against a Florida team (soon to be the National Champs) that USC had already beaten twice. Dave also has two late-season surges which led us all the way to the NIT Championship. He also has had more than his share of tank-jobs.

So as we approach The Warchest's potential USC finale, we can only look at this final game with the focus gained from seven years of disappointment, surprise, and malaise. In other words, no focus at all. I wouldn't be shocked if we made a run...but I certainly expect to pack it up and head home this afternoon.

Are you ready for some...basketball?

Tonight, The Warchest unveils his 2007-2008 team at The Colon. Sure, it's only against SC State. But this is almost an entirely new Gamecock squad...we might actually be good this year. That's my official stance. Mark it down. We're going to be good. Like, 20 wins good. NCAA Tourney good. Good enough to beat Gardner-Webb, at least.

So what do you think, Gamecock Nation? Will this be the year we return to the NCAA Tourney? Or will this be another year of sitting at home? Or even worse, another trip back to...you know where.