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Posted: Wednesday November 06, 2002 5:53 PM Updated: Friday November 08, 2002 1:42 PM South Carolina Gamecocks
The following preview is provided by Blue Ribbon. For the most thorough preview available of the upcoming season, order the 2002-03 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, on sale now at 1-800-775-2518. Team Preview | Blue Ribbon Analysis
All things considered, Dave Odom’s debut season at South Carolina was a rousing success. The Gamecocks started fast, becoming the first team in school history to win 10 games before January, stalled in the middle of the season, then rallied in March. Some critical late-February losses doomed South Carolina’s chances to play in the NCAA tournament, but rather than settling for the NIT, Odom made sure the Gamecocks embraced the opportunity. The result was positive -- South Carolina advanced all the way to the championship game, where it lost to Memphis. After that game, the returning players were convinced Odom had a plan that worked. That will be a plus as Odom begins his second season. "Our team expected me to kick their butts in the offseason, and we did with strength and conditioning," Odom said. "The difference this year is the players' attitudes -- we didn't have to search them out and encourage them this season and our run to the NIT finals helped. They tasted it and wanted more and made themselves available to the strength coach and have played a lot of pickup ball.
"Plus, our players have worked really hard on their skills as well. Last year at this time, it was more difficult for the players to see why those types of things were necessary. This year, they're seeking it out on their own and that's a sign of maturity on this team -- a maturity I hope this will carry on throughout our season." In the absence of departed guards Jamel Bradley (13.1 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 2.3 apg) and Aaron Lucas (10.4 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 3.9 apg), the team’s top two scorers, 6-foot-7 senior Chuck Eidson (8.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 3.4 apg, 2.4 spg) will shoulder a large share of the leadership responsibilities. Odom could find few players better equipped for the job. South Carolina’s 2001-2002 season was transformed when Odom, much like former South Carolina coach Eddie Fogler did before him, realized that Eidson’s best position is probably the point. When Eidson switched from the wing to lead guard, the Gamecocks, not a high-scoring team, became much more efficient offensively, and a lot harder to beat. "We had sort of a strange lineup," South Carolina assistant Ernie Nestor said. "Our leading scorer was 6-1 and 155 pounds and wore two hearing aids (Bradley). Our three-man (Lucas) was 5-11. And our point guard was 6-7. But Chuck did a nice job. He’s a guy that really fills out a boxscore. He does a little bit of everything, and that’s why the pros [scouts] have been asking about him." Eidson put in a lot of time in the offseason building up his body after becoming a firm believer in weight training. He also went into the gym and launched thousands of jump shots. If Eidson has a weakness, it’s his perimeter shooting, but after a slight change in mechanics and all the practice time spent hoisting jumpers, he should be improved in his senior season. "Chuck is one the better ball handlers, passers and decision makers on our team," Odom said. "I've been around a lot of players with good intuition, but I've never been around a player with a better mind of the game than Chuck. He really understands the game and knows what to do on the court. Chuck has that kind of ability and was one of the better players in the league as a non-scorer, but I think he'll move up in the ranks because he will be more of a scorer this season." Whether Eidson has to handle the point again this season hinges on whether 6-2 junior Michael Boynton (1.9 ppg, 0.9 rpg, 1.4 apg) or 6-1 freshman Jarod Gerald can handle the job. "Playing Chuck Eidson at the point is the fail-safe option, but putting him there right off the bat will close out Michael Boynton or Jerod Jerald, or someone else who could play there," Odom said. "I'm not convinced putting him at the point will help this team by putting a ceiling on everyone else. I'd prefer thinking of Chuck as a wing at first but if we need a safety net, we certainly can play him there." Boynton played in 34 games a year ago and earned two starts. He played just 10.4 minutes per game, but displayed a shooting touch from 3-point range that South Carolina can use after the departure of Bradley, the school’s all-time leader in 3-pointers made. Boynton shot 43 percent from behind the arc (16-of-37). Gerald, from Mullins, S.C., signed with Georgia in 2001, but didn’t meet eligibility requirements. He then enrolled at Fork Union (Va.) Military Academy, which he helped lead to a 28-5 record. Two years ago, Gerald averaged 24 points, 11 assists and six rebounds at Mullins High School. Besides Eidson’s emergence at the point, the other key to South Carolina’s success late last season was the emergence of big men Tony Kitchings and Rolando Howell. Odom and his staff challenged the two underachievers to live up to their high school billing, and both played their best basketball of the season down the stretch. The 6-9 junior Howell (9.9 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 1.0 apg) started 31 games and was the Gamecocks’ third-leading scorer. He shot 49 percent from the field. Howell got in some extra game action during the summer when he toured Canada with the NIT All-Stars. He was able to train for a week and then played in seven games. The 6-10, 260-pound Kitchings (7.0 ppg, 6.2 rpg), a senior, is at his best when he gets aggressive offensively. He knows how to score with post moves and has a decent jump hook that’s hard to stop. Kitchings led South Carolina with 33 blocked shots. "Tony Kitchings came on at the end of last season and worked hard to stay in shape this summer," Odom said. "He's been working hard academically and wants to put himself in place for graduation. Rolando Howell came on strong at the end of last year and is committed to having a strong season. Night in and night out, he has the tools to compete against the best in college basketball. With three positions set, Odom and his staff have to find some shooters to man the wing spots. Odom thought he had an immediate replacement for Bradley in junior college shooting guard Tim Pickett, but an SEC rule that South Carolina compliance personnel overlooked caught him up. A junior college player has to complete three semesters at his previous school to become eligible to play in the SEC. Pickett didn’t, and the Gamecocks lost a game-breaking type shooter. He eventually signed with Florida State. After losing out on Pickett, the South Carolina staff had to scramble to find a replacement. They got lucky when 6-8 junior Kerbrell Brown asked out of the scholarship he signed with Oregon State before coach Ritchie McKay took the New Mexico job. Brown averaged 16 points for Dodge City (Kan.) Community College last season. The native of New Orleans jumped at the chance to return to the South when Odom offered a scholarship. "His strength is shooting the ball from the perimeter, which is what we need," Nestor said. "We’re hopeful he’ll fit into the mix." Two returning players will figure into the Gamecocks’ rotation. Carlos Powell (6.3 ppg, 2.7 rpg), a 6-7 sophomore, was impressive at various times during his freshman season. He started strong, scoring a combined 28 points against Duke and UCLA in the Maui Classic, slumped during the regular season, then really came to the forefront in the SEC Tournament, when he averaged 13 points and four rebounds and made 16-of-22 shots (72 percent). Powell scored a career-high 19 points against Tennessee. Chris Warren (4.1 ppg, 2.2 rpg), a 6-5 senior, didn’t play a huge role after transferring from junior college last season, but he isn’t far away from being a respectable 3-point shooter. He made 20-of-62 (32 percent) from behind the arc last season. South Carolina coaches think he can contribute more than the 13.4 minutes a game he did a year ago. If Warren tacks a few percentage points on to his 3-point average, there’s no doubt he’ll play more. Three other returning players will back up Howell and Kitchings. Senior Marius Petravicius (5.9 ppg, 4.0 rpg) started 22 times last season and shot 50 percent from the floor, tops on the team. The 6-10, 250-pound Petravicius is a banger and will play at least as often (18.4 mpg) as he did last season. John Chappell (0.4 ppg, 0.8 rpg), a 6-10 sophomore, and 6-7 junior Ivan Howell (2.7 ppg, 0.9 rpg) will have to work to find minutes. The rest of South Carolina’s recruiting class didn’t impress the experts, but Odom doesn’t worry about that. "I was in North Carolina recently and one coach told me, ‘Dave, you’ve got one of your classic recruiting classes full of people we haven’t heard of.’" Odom said. "I hope that’s a good thing because we’ve had solid success in recruiting in my tenure as a head coach." South Carolina went to Florida to sign a pair of 6-6 freshmen, Marcus Morrison and Terance Kinsey. Kinsey might be the more decorated of the two. Last season, he averaged 25 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists at Jefferson High School in Tampa and was chosen the AAAA player of the year. Morrison, a slashing scorer and dunker, averaged 18.0 points while helping lead Lakewood High School of St. Petersburg to its first state championship. "Marcus Morrison is a very good athlete and has a chance to be a good defender while Terrance Kinsey is more of a scorer but can do other things as well and did very well in the high school ranks in Florida," Odom said. Can Odom build on South Carolina’s success in the NIT last season? The early returns in recruiting didn’t knock any of the analysts’ socks off, and in fact Odom and his staff had to scramble to fill a gaping hole after an appeal to the SEC to get Tim Pickett in school was denied. There were far more intangible benefits to the NIT run, however. The Gamecocks, perhaps a tad resistant to Odom’s philosophy and hard-nosed style a year ago, have bought into the program now. In the offseason, they worked as never before to get ready to build on their postseason exploits. With strength and size up front, a crafty, versatile veteran in Eidson to run the show and several candidates to fill holes at the wing spots, South Carolina will once again be a postseason team in 2002-2003. Which tournament the Gamecocks find themselves playing in come March depends on several variables. If Odom finds a shooter or two, the Big Dance could be in South Carolina’s immediate future.
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