The Columbia State Newspaper

[50's PONY]

Posted on Mon, Apr. 11, 2005



USC basketball shops for big men




THE BASKETBALL SPRING signing period begins Wednesday with USC shopping for a big man.

The Gamecocks have targeted three big men for the spring and would like to sign two.

Power forward Keving Palacious (6-foot-8, 250 pounds) of Eastern Oklahoma State Junior College visited USC this past weekend. He averaged 13 points and 6 rebounds per game this season. Palacious is also looking at Creighton and will visit there this weekend.

Another USC target, Antanas Kavaliauskas (6-10) of Barton County (Kan.) JC made an official visit to Virginia Tech during the weekend and will visit Tennessee this weekend. He has also visited USC and Texas A&M.

The third big man on USC’s list, Theryn Hudson (6-10) of LaVergne, Tenn., visited SMU during the weekend.

The Gamecocks signed three prospects in the early signing period, Allassane Savadogo (6-foot-8), Dominique Archie (6-7) and Bryce Sheldon (6-5).

[Pony4Life]

It's still funny to read "USC" and then realize they're referring to South Carolina, not Southern Cal.

[Stallion]

If South Carolina still has an offer on the table then it says something for Tubbs sales job that SMU is still in it. His coach seems mystified that he isn't sold on USC yet. Every newspaper report from that paper quoting that coach has suggested its a done deal-well tommorrow's the signing date so what's the holdup?

[me@smu]

Completely agree...I joined this site a little annoyed at what I perceived as a lack of effort by Tubbs in getting us top recruits.
I must eat my hat on this one, as our men's team seems to be moving very quickly in the right direction and Tubbs and his coachs' efforts are the only reason for our brightening future.

[Higher Authority]

Never fear, me@SMU -- if there's one thing Coach Tubbs will never do, it's quitting on the recruiting trail. I'm not sure he knows how.
And .... that story in the SC paper was written for Sunday's edition, so it was written Saturday night, right? One rumor I heard was that Hudson had such a good visit here that even if Coach Odom stays in Columbia, we might get him anyway. Obviously, there's nothing concrete here -- maybe it's wishful thinking, but I'm going to hold out hope until I learn otherwise.

[EastStang]

Boy if we could land two wide body power forwards, that gives you depth that you need to succeed. One can get into foul trouble, the other steps in. You can run pressure defenses until the other team wilts. I hope this guy comes as well. We could have a very good young team next year. I'd love to serve some of those uppity basketball programs in CUSA a big fat $..t sandwich. As much as 3 point shooting can change a game, its still won in the paint. If a team has to shoot threes to beat you, then they will usually lose. I am sure that Tubbs was embarrassed that he didn't land any big DISD recruits. So the fact that he widened his search is a sign that he is doing the right things to succeed. Hopefully a little success on the Court will make some of those kids take notice.

[Hoss]

It's also a sign that despite his relationship with DISD coaches, the DISD players always have known him as an assistant, and for the guys who are being recruited now, he has been in Oklahoma during their high school careers. I'm quite sure that Coach Tubbs has been using his relationships with DISD coaches to increase his familiarity and reputation with Dallas players. He got a DeSoto kid in Willingham and an Addison kid in Williams. That's not a bad start.

[BUS]

De Soto and Addison - WHAT DO YOU WANT. We got two good players from our own back yard. Tubbs has done great in my book!

Last year we saw a team come together a little. They had SMILES on their faces for the first time in a long time. They played HARD.

Not enough DISD. Take your focus off DISD ONLY. In time, IF, Mr. Tubbs signs a DISD player, I'll bet he will be good. Until then, take De Soto and Addison - Thats local.

[Stallion]

honestly some of you people would think we did GREAT if we signed Joe Blow-just think there were only 61 players in Texas rated higher than this kid!!!!!! In BB if you ain't picking from the Texas Top 20-25 you are taking everybody else's leftovers.