Signs Of Life?

They say that over 9,000 people attended the University of South Carolina basketball team’s win over Wofford College three weeks ago.

We put the number at less than half that, but whatever.

Of course, the game was played the week before the students came back to town, it was the last non-conference game of the season and came at the end of a long holiday weekend for most people … in other words the definition of a slow night.

But that’s precisely why we picked it, as the relative quiet and stillness of a quarter-full arena provided us with the best opportunity to take the measure of the man tapped to turn around a program that has flirted with, but never achieved sustained success.

We met first year USC coach Darrin Horn prior to the season, but this was our first chance to watch him in action.

And what did we think, in a word?

Sold.

Seriously, people.

We’re sold.

And while we were even more impressed watching Horn commanding his troops during this weekend’s obliteration of Ole Miss (which brought USC’s record to 14-4, 3-2 SEC), we still go back to a moment during that quiet win over Wofford three weeks ago – a moment that told us all we needed to know about the Gamecocks’ young coach.

It happened during the second half, when a ball ricocheted out of bounds off of a Wofford player while USC was pressing in one of Horn’s many full-court trap defenses.

The referee flat out missed the call, and gave Wofford possession.

At that moment, hundreds of fans and the entire USC bench jumped up and down in protest, but Horn did something hardly anyone noticed … something we have frankly seen far too little of in Gamecock Athletics (for far too long).

He got over it.

In fact, before even the first drawn breath of frustration, the first raised arm of exasperated disbelief from the hundreds of angry players, fans and assistants surrounding him, Horn had already signaled in the next play he wanted his defense to run.

It was like the missed call never even happened.

In less than a millisecond, Horn had already banished this glaring example of botched officiating into the distant past and placed the entirety of his focus squarely on the battle at hand – quite a study in contrasts from USC’s chronically bitter, visor-tossing head football coach.

It’s not that Horn isn’t energetic – he’s constantly bouncing up and down on the sidelines – and we’ve certainly seen him express frustration at officials before.

But he picks his battles – and keeps his focus on his players, meticulously studying match-ups every time opposing substitutions are made and preemptively shuffling in new personnel to take advantage of mismatches.

That focus has paid off thus far for South Carolina, and while we’re not necessarily expecting the current season to end in an NCAA bid, the Gamecocks are playing inspired – and dare we say, focused – basketball for a change.

We attribute that shift entirely to Horn, who in addition to having an unflappable courtside manner seems to be an excellent motivator and polished spokesman off of the hardwood.

After posting a 111-48 record during five seasons at his alma mater, Western Kentucky, Horn has already exceeded expectations in his first year at Carolina – matching last season’s win total with two months of basketball yet to play.

Plus, he’s following the old Roman Gladiator rule of “winning the crowd.”

Over 14,000 fans attended USC’s last home game – which bodes well for a program that has been struggling to fill its cavernous new arena in recent years.

By all appearances, Horn is precisely the sort of intelligent, engaged young coach that college athletes of our present era respond to … i.e. precisely the sort of coach we need stalking our football sidelines.

Obviously, the current season is a long way from over and Horn will have to prove he can finish (unlike Spurrier), but so far, so good.

Gamecock basketball once again has a pulse, people.

Comments