Man in the Hat media

The one truth heading into this college basketball season for South Carolina men's team was expectations were low, at least nationally. Coming off an 11-21 season, excitement could best been described as tepid for second year coach Lamont Paris. Hell, the Gamecocks were picked to finish dead last in the league in preseason media polls.  But behind some key transfer additions, as well as an influx of freshmen talent, the Gamecocks are sitting at 21-3 and tied for first in the Southeastern Conference with seven games left.  Already, this is the best second year improvement under a new coach in program history. Better than Frank Martin, who had back-to-back 14-win seasons; better than Eddie Fogler, who went from nine wins to 10; better than George Felton, who went from 15 wins to 19; better than Frank McGuire, who went from six to 11 from 1964-1966.  For context, previous coaches Darrin Horn, Dave Odom, Steve Newton and Bill Foster all had second-year setbacks in win totals....

It did not take South Carolina head football coach Will Muschamp long to find his new offensive coordinator. David Cloninger of the Charleston Post and Courier posted the break , officially, December 8. The hire is still pending Board of Trustee approval, which is expected to go through the coming Tuesday. After demoting wide receiver coach Bryan McClendon, and firing quarterbacks coach Dan Werner, Muschamp named former Colorado State head coach Mike Bobo to attempt to turn around an anemic offense, and coach quarterbacks. Bobo made his way to Carolina after negotiating his resignation from Colorado State, likely more for State's benefit to lessen the cost of Bobo's reported buyout of $5.5 million . That amount dropped to $3 million if Bobo was let go after December 31. LINK: Bobo headlines possibilities for new South Carolina offensive coordinator The moves also follows a pattern with Muschamp and looking at fellow Georgia alums. Muschamp and Bobo both played fo...