The University of South Carolina has self-reported 14 secondary NCAA violations by various sports teams during the last six months in the athletic department.
Secondary violations are defined as inadvertent and isolated and usually carry a minimal sanction, if any at all. Six of the violations are considered Level 1, which means they will go to the NCAA for review while the Level 2 violations will be dealt with by the SEC. Two of the Level 1 violations were committed by Steve Spurrier's football program, while first-year Gamecock's basketball coach Darrin Horn committed five violations the school reported.
The ones that will generate a few head scratches will be the "impermissible snacks" violation during an away-from-home competition and an impermissible entertainment violation for a bowling trip. Both violations were committed by the men's basketball team.
FanHouse placed a call to the NCAA for clarification of the snacks rule. Apparently, USC violated NCAA Bylaw 16.5.2, which governs away-from-home competitions.
I'm starting to get the feeling that the SEC will get at least three, possibly four, bids to the NCAA Tournament. And I don't get it.
Barring someone making a Georgia-like miracle run in the conference tournament, your most likely candidates for dance invitations are LSU, Tennessee, South Carolina and Florida. The Gators stay in that group on the basis of Saturday's messy 60-53 over Kentucky. While both Florida and Kentucky entered the contest technically on the bubble, neither really looked like a tournament team -- especially the Wildcats, who have now lost four straight and have one foot in the ground.
Bruce Pearl seems like a pretty intense dude. He's willing to paint himself orange and run around Knoxville, Tenn., shirtless, for one thing. For another, he yells a lot. Well, on Thursday night against South Carolina, he was rocking a blazer-white T-shirt combo. And at one point during the first half, he ripped said blazer off. Brent Musbergernoticed, too. Enjoy.
Well, I mean aside from LSU which has run their record to 10-1 in the conference. Over in the SEC East it is a mess. Whether you want to call it parity, mediocrity or just plain suckitude, there are four teams pillow-fighting their way to see who can back into the top spot in the division.
Kentucky got humiliated by Vanderbilt yesterday. Florida, which had lost three of four got a win over a bad Alabama team. Tennessee got run out of Oxford by an injury-ravaged Ole Miss team. South Carolina has been overachieving, but they couldn't win in Starkville. That leaves all four with identical 7-4 conference records.
If South Carolina is going to make a habit of the last second, game winning shots we will keep posting them. One of the longest 22.2 seconds you can watch in a non-tournament game. South Carolina inbounds at halfcourt to Devan Downey. Downey does not even look to pass. He just dribbles the clock down, penetrates and pulls up for a two to give South Carolina the 78-77 lead. After Kentucky struggled with inbounding and a couple time outs they get it in to Jodie Meeks. Meeks takes it to halfcourt to launch a desperation three at the buzzer that hits the front of rim and harmless bounce off.
It's becoming a habit for South Carolina in the SEC. They pulled out the win against Florida in the final seconds off a missed free throw, and now they do it to Kentucky. Perry Stevenson missed two free throws, and South Carolina got the rebound. South Carolina took a timeout after getting to midcourt. They ran the clock down, and Devan Downey hit the turnaround jumper with 3.2 seconds remaining to give the Gamecocks the 78-77 win.
It was the first win for South Carolina in Lexington in 12 years, and only the second time they have won there since they joined the SEC. Once more, Kentucky's inability to take care of the ball caught up to them. They turned the ball over 21 times
Usually it takes until the next game before a player gets a chance to make up for a mistake that costs his team a chance to win. For Zam Frederick, it came much faster in South Carolina's 70-69 win over Florida Wednesday.
The Gamecocks were down one with Zam Frederick on the line with a chance to tie the game. Frederick missed and Florida got the rebound. Florida's Chandler Parson's got the rebound and was immediately fouled with 3.3 seconds remaining. Parson went to the free throw line in a 1-and-1 situation. He missed, and Mike Holmes made a perfect pass to a streaking Frederick for a game-winning finish.
"Both Branden [Conrad] and Robert [Wilder] have been exemplary in everything that we have asked of them since we arrived on campus," said Horn. "Since we have some scholarships available, I felt that we should reward them while we can. They have earned it and they deserve it."
I'm not sure exactly what they have done in the two plus months since Horn and his staff came to Columbia, but it is an excellent gesture and some positive publicity. The Gamecocks only had 9 players on scholarship for the upcoming season, so the program had the spare scholarships.
Conrad is a senior and Wilder a junior. Even if Wilder doesn't have his scholarship renewed for his senior year (athletic scholarships are year-to-year), he still got one free year. There's no arguing it is a great thing for those kids.
In the latest APR report from the NCAA, South Carolina basketball scored an 899 (PDF), below the 925 threshold score. This cost them a scholarship for the upcoming season.
Don't be surprised if other programs facing a threat of lost scholarships from poor APR suddenly get generous to walk-ons when there are open scholarships.
In a press conference -- delayed until the afternoon because the weather prevented the plane South Carolina chartered to fly in Horn and his family from leaving Columbia on time -- Horn not only said the standard things about winning the SEC, he talked about South Carolina getting nationally relevant. He also gave Clemson fans bulletin board material about recruiting.
"We are going to put a fence around the state of South Carolina, and the best players in South Carolina are going to be recruited to play at the University of South Carolina," Horn said.
Horn had a base salary of $157,000 at Western Kentucky, but the South Carolina deal starts his base at $800,000. His incentives are primarily for winning that could add another $335,000 -- $25,000 for a first round win and increasing each round up to $250,000 for a national championship.
Interestingly, the other incentive is for getting the fans to commit. The Gamecocks had 9322 season ticket holders this past season. He gets another $50,000 for every 1000 more season ticket holders. South Carolina's arena has a capacity of about 18,000.
It isn't clear whether South Carolina is paying Horn's buyout with Western Kentucky, or if Horn is responsible (like John Beilein leaving West Virginia to Michigan). The South Carolina AD, however, did acknowledge that they will likely have to honor the other term of Horn's Western Kentucky contract -- play two home-and-home games with the Hilltoppers over the next 4 years.
Western Kentucky had to know that getting to the Sweet 16, would also mean that it would elevate their coach to "hot" status. Sure Darrin Horn is an alum of Western Kentucky, but when you balance that against a bigger paycheck and opportunity to coach in a major conference it really isn't going to stop many.
Western Kentucky Athletic Director Wood Selig said in a telephone interview Saturday night that [South Carolina Athletic Director Eric] Hyman had contacted him "to let me know they wanted to talk with Darrin."
"It wasn't like he was seeking permission. It was like, 'We intend to talk to Darrin,' " said Selig, adding Hyman didn't "leave a number to call back."
Selig said he talked to Horn, who told his boss he was interested in talking with Hyman, who declined comment through a spokesman.
"It would not surprise me that Darrin is in Columbia right now. I would suspect they probably flew plane up to him and they're having conversations right now about the job there at South Carolina," Selig said.
At Western Kentucky, Horn makes about $157,000 per year with a $200,000 buyout. A new coach at a major conference school generally makes at least $600,000 per year. Deep ties to his state and school don't seem that strong when contrasted against the paycheck and the opportunity. If South Carolina decides Horn is who they want, it's hard to see him saying no.
NCAA Basketball 
The University of South Carolina has self-reported 14 secondary NCAA violations by various sports teams during the last six months in the athletic department.
I'm starting to get the feeling that the SEC will get at least three, possibly four, bids to the NCAA Tournament. And I don't get it.
Well, I mean aside from LSU which has run their record to 10-1 in the conference. Over in the SEC East it is a mess. Whether you want to call it parity, mediocrity or just plain suckitude, there are four teams pillow-fighting their way to see who can back into the top spot in the division.
It's becoming a habit for South Carolina in the SEC. They 
New South Carolina Coach Darrin Horn gave 
Western Kentucky had to know that getting to the Sweet 16, would also mean that it would elevate their coach to "hot" status. Sure Darrin Horn is an alum of Western Kentucky, but when you balance that against a bigger paycheck and opportunity to coach in a major conference it really isn't going to stop many.
