South Carolina Basketball 2010: A Season of Growth, Not Wins

Since football season is now officially over, it is time to turn my attention and considerable writing prowess (ahem) to my second love...basketball.

When I taught middle school, I was the head coach of the basketball team and learned quickly as a coach how much more difficult it is as a sport and as a mind game.

For those that think basketball is a sport for stupid people who just need to put the ball in the hoop, think again.

In football, you learn a ton of plays...but unless you are the quarterback, you aren't making a whole lot of adjustments. In basketball, every player is making choices on every play. When you have the ball in your hand, you are making reads and choices every time...and there is no luxury of a huddle or pre-read assignments.

You can dribble to advance the ball, find an open man, reset...each player responsible for choices that make or break a possession.

This is why I am so impressed with what Darrin Horn is apparently building at South Carolina. At 10-6, the record doesn't exactly show this team to be world-beaters. Losses against Furman and Alabama show that this team is not really going to do much this season.

However, wins against Vanderbilt, Western Kentucky and Clemson, plus a close matchup with Michigan State, show the blueprint for a bright future.

It is next to impossible to predict how the team will perform night in and night out. This is due to the youth on the team. I don't predict many wins for them at this point.

I won't go game by game, but I can see a sweep of Auburn, winning a rematch against Alabama in Columbia, a win against Mississippi and then one or two miscellaneous upsets in SEC play. Maybe Georgia, maybe LSU or Arkansas...

The point is, 15-15 should be the goal. If that is attained, and it can, then Horn should be getting coach of the year consideration. Seriously. 

Nine of the 13 players on this team are either freshmen or sophomores. Six of them are freshmen. That is roughly HALF of the team. We aren't talking 5-star freshmen like Kentucky get...we are talking workmanlike, 3- to 4-star guys who are made for Horn's system.

You can see a vicious high-speed attack forming. If the shooting improves (a big if, but can come with time), this team could be a very difficult SEC out in years to come.

Add to this two Rivals top 150 players coming in next year—Anthony Gill and Damien Leonard—and Murphy Holloway, an established SEC defensive star coming from Mississippi, and you have the makings of a contender.

Give Horn a few more years before you start calling for his head. Basketball is a tough sport to build a winner in, and Coach has them on the right path.