What do Presbyterian, Winthrop and Coastal Carolina have in common?
All three schools field baseball teams. And all three baseball teams swept South Carolina and Clemson this baseball season.
This distinction was sealed last night when Presbyterian went to Columbia and left with an extra-innings victory to hand the Gamecocks their 12th loss in 18 games.
After learning earlier in the day that top starter Wil Crowe is out for the season with an elbow injury, the Gamecocks dropped a 7-4 decision in 10 innings to Presbyterian at Carolina Stadium for the team's 12th loss in the last 18 games.
"Obviously, I sit up here extremely disappointed. Baseball can be exhilarating at times and it can be awfully cruel at times," USC coach Chad Holbrook said. "Like I told the team after the game, there might be some things going against us, and we might be a victim of some tough luck, but in this game you have to make your own breaks. (The Blue Hose) made their own breaks tonight."
The Gamecocks fell to 23-15, while the Blue Hose of the Big South improved to 22-15. PC is the third in-state school to defeat USC in a mid-week game this season, joining Winthrop and Coastal Carolina. USC had won 10 straight against the Blue Hose dating back to 1948 before the loss. The team also has lost nine of its last 12 SEC games.
"You've got to find a way to win, and right now we're finding ways to lose. That's hard to stomach around here," Holbrook said.
The Gamecocks and Tigers certainly don't love them Hose after their recent encounters with them this season.
A few Wednesday links:
-- Jameis Winston says: "People try to dehumanize me."
"They say, 'Off-field issues.' They say, 'The sexual allegation stuff.' People view me as a convict, and I didn't even do nothing. People say, 'How does he play like this and all this stuff going on?' Like by me playing well during that adversity, that made people think about me worse, thinking I'm a sociopath … It [the allegations] hurts the women that I respect.""
-- Feel a little dirty opening this link about Winston's Wonderlic score, because do we all really need to know this stuff? I dunno. Anyway, he posted a respectable score in case you were wondering.
Multiple league sources told Yahoo Sports that Winston scored a 27 out of 50 on the league's general aptitude test that is administered at the annual NFL scouting combine prior to the draft. That's a respectable score for quarterbacks, and just one point shy of the 28 Manning scored prior to the 1998 draft. It also stacks up favorably with several recent Super Bowl winners, including the New Orleans Saints' Drew Brees (28), the Seattle Seahawks' Russell Wilson (28), the Baltimore Ravens' Joe Flacco (27) and the Pittsburgh Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger (25).
While Wonderlic scores are becoming less relevant in draft equations, they still carry weight at some decision-making positions such as quarterback, an AFC personnel source told Yahoo Sports.
But it certainly doesn't guarantee NFL success. For example, former first-round pick Blaine Gabbert scored a very impressive 42 on the test and has struggled mightily in the NFL.
"[The Wonderlic] is a smaller piece now than it used to be, but it's generally helpful when it comes to some positions," the source said. "It's kind of a guardrail - a score doesn't tell you the whole story about a player, but at times it can tell you if there's something you might need to look at more closely. … For me, it becomes important if it's wild, like, way off what I'm expecting.
-- David Teel says Virginia's basketball team still has plenty of talent, even as Justin Anderson bolts for the NBA.
A national championship certainly was conceivable had Anderson returned. It is by no means inconceivable now.
Malcolm Brogdon, London Perrantes and Anthony Gill are all-conference caliber. Marial Shayok, Devon Hall and Isaiah Wilkins flashed promise last season as freshmen. Rising seniors Mike Tobey and Evan Nolte are capable but maddeningly inconsistent.
Then there's Darius Thompson, a 6-4 rising sophomore who sat out this past season after transferring from Tennessee. Like Shayok, Hall and Nolte, Thompson will compete for Anderson's minutes. Unlike the other three, he is essentially unknown to those outside the program.
"Combo guard, sneaky athletic," Williford said of Thompson. "I think he'll help Malcolm and London, because he can get in the paint. We just haven't had guys who can break you down (off the dribble). He has the ability to get in the paint and kick. Very good feel.
"Working on his jumper. Jumper needs to be a little more consistent. But the kid is a talent. I think he can be very good defensively. He's so long. His vertical, believe it or not, is higher than Justin's. The kid's a super athlete."
-- Charlie Strong and Kevin Sumlin can agree on one thing: The Longhorns and Aggies need to resume their rivalry.
Strong has been a part of two annual rivalries in which the two schools were in different conferences. He said there has to be a way to make this one happen again.
"Can you imagine Florida not playing Florida State or South Carolina not playing Clemson?" Strong said. "We all love to see those games. Within the state, it would have such a buildup. It's a game that needs to be played."
-- And Jenny Vrentas of MMQB has a really good piece on the Rex Effect in Buffalo.
Going into the 2014 season, the Jets had deficiencies at critical positions, including cornerback and receiver, but Ryan believed those holes could be mended to make the team competitive. The agent for All-Pro cornerback Darrelle Revis called the Jets about his returning to the team, but the Jets weren't interested in their onetime star. (A year later they brought him back on a $70 million contract.) Cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie visited with the Jets but left without a deal and signed with the Giants. According to multiple members of Ryan's Jets staff, frustrations ran high when the team didn't pursue free-agent wideout DeSean Jackson and when pleas to select Clemson receiver Martavis Bryant on the third day of the draft were ignored. (The Jets drafted two receivers in the fourth round before the Steelers took Bryant, who had eight TDs as a rookie: Oklahoma's Jalen Saunders, who was cut in September, and UCLA's Shaq Evans, who spent 2014 on injured reserve.)
Even before the season began, Ryan was worried about the Jets' ability to compete. Last summer he bought a house in the Nashville suburbs. "When the draft and free agency didn't go the way I would have liked it to, I was concerned," Ryan says. "That's why I bought a house in Tennessee. I didn't know what the hell was going to happen, but I knew I would need someplace to live. That I was probably going to get fired."
And this:
The Big Tree Inn, favored watering hole of the '90s Bills players, is where Ryan had his first beer as the coach in Buffalo: a Bud Light on the house. He was back at the bar last week with Kelly-whose life-sized wood-carved likeness stands outside the door-and Thomas, both of whom still live in the area and remain close to the Bills organization. Co-owner Brian Duffek approached Ryan with a cold beer and a warm handshake. "Thank you for being here," he said. "It's huge for the city. I really mean that. You're a Buffalo guy-you just never knew it when you were coaching the Jets."
Maybe it's because he drives a pickup and drinks beer; or because his favorite local Mexican restaurant, El Canelo, sits in a strip mall; or because he wore a throwback Thurman Thomas jersey at the combine; or because he orders a plate of wings, even though his lap band won't let him eat more than one or two during a sitting. Whatever the reason, Ryan has already won over the fans and the franchise's legends.
"Mm-hmm. He fits Buffalo," Thomas says, letting out a satisfied chuckle. "If this had been his first head coaching job, he'd still be here."
LW
This post was edited on 4/15 9:39 AM by Larry_Williams
