Gamecock Basketball: Not Very Exciting

HALF-FILLED ARENA WATCHES GAMECOCKS GET THRASHED BY KENTUCKY WILDCATS

FITSNews - January 17, 2007 - Other than the University of South Carolina’s historic obession with wasting your tax dollars, we’re not sure what possessed its Athletics Department to give head basketball coach Dave Odom a two-year contract extension earlier this year.

Because if the goal was to get Odom’s basketball team to “pick it up a notch” during its 2007 Southeastern Conference schedule, yeah, that’s not working.

South Carolina basketball stinks. And we’re not just talking about the 87-49 woodshedding Kentucky put on them last night at the antiseptic, half-filled Colonial Center. Or the 84-50 spanking administered by the Florida Gators three nights earlier.

The problem is bigger than those lopsided losses.

It’s that absolutely nobody seemed to notice, let alone care about them.

It used to be when the Kentucky Wildcats came to town, excitement came with them. Because it was going to be a close, exciting, nationally-significant game. Which is why it used to be that when Kentucky came to town, people walked around outside the arena with their fingers held up, looking for tickets. Last night people were walking around outside the arena alright, but the only thing being held aloft were tickets looking for people.

We don’t know what South Carolina’s announced attendance from last night’s game will be, but the truth is there were maybe 7,000 people there (in an arena that seats 18,000) and at least 2,000 of them were students. And another 2,000 were dressed in Kentucky blue.

Simply put, it was the most pathetic atmosphere for a college basketball game that we have ever seen. And every potential recruit in the nation saw it because it was on ESPN HD.

So much for that whole “we’ve got great fans” thing.

We don’t know what the problem is, but contract extension or not, Dave Odom needs to get it together. And Fast.