Monday Musings - Bracketolgy style:

No. 1 Seed - SEC play on the horizon for the baseball team

The South Carolina baseball team returned to winning ways last week with five straight wins in series sweeps of Valparaiso and Brown. The Gamecocks travel back to Fluor Field on Tuesday to face Furman. South Carolina is 4-0 all-time at the Greenville ballpark.

After hosting Davidson on Wednesday at Carolina Stadium, South Carolina opens Southeastern Conference action against Tennessee with a three-game series over the weekend at Carolina Stadium. The Vols are picked to finish in sixth in the SEC East and were 11-19 in league play and 26-29 overall in 2009.

Preseason All-Americans Cody Hawn and Blake Forsythe will be the Tennessee hitters to watch out as both players had strong offensive campaigns in 2009. Hawn became just the 10th Vol ever to win the team Triple Crown in 2009, leading the Vols in batting average (.364), home runs (22), RBIs (81), hits (72), doubles (15) and slugging percentage (.773). 

Forsythe started 53 of 55 games behind the plate for the Vols last spring, hitting .347 with 68 hits, 15 home runs and 46 RBIs in addition to leading the team with 40 walks and a .486 on-base percentage and collecting 19 multi-hit games and 13 multi-RBI contests. For more preview info on the Vols, read this pre-season outlook from SECSports.com.

No. 2 Seed - Downey racking up postseason awards

Devan Downey continues to pile up the hardware from his impressive senior season with the Gamecocks. After becoming the first Gamecock to win the league's scoring title, Downey was also named to the first-team All-SEC team by the league's coaches and by the media. The honor marks the third-straight season Downey has been a first-team choice by both the coaches and media. His selection marks just the second time a South Carolina player has been named to the AP first team in three seasons (BJ McKie was the last to do so).

Downey was also named to the league's All-Defensive team along with junior Sam Muldrow. The guard departs the program's as the school's all-time leader in steals. In addition, he was named to the USBWA All-District (III) squad, the Sporting News Fourth-Team All-American team and as a Yahoo! Sports Honorable Mention All-American.

You can hear Devan tonight on Inside the Roost with Athletics Director Eric Hyman and Derek Scott at 7 p.m.


No. 3 Seed - Track team finishes well at NCAA Indoor Championships

South Carolina's track & field teams posted strong performances at the NCAA Indoor Championships over the weekend in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The men earned their best placement in five years, placing 8th overall. It was the team's first top 10 finish since 2005. The women's team finished in 19th place - the 13th time in 14 years that the Gamecocks have finished in the top 20.

The Gamecocks transition to the outdoor season this weekend with the Shamrock Invitational at Coastal Carolina.

No. 4 Seed - Gamecocks return to proving grounds

After a brief hiatus for spring break, the football team resumes spring drills Tuesday at 7 p.m. The Gamecocks will practice twice this week (Tuesday and Friday) and are scheduled to scrimmage on Saturday at 10 a.m.  For more on Gamecock spring practice, click here.

Read the latest installment in The State from DeAngelo Mack as he chronicles his experience at Yankees' spring training in Tampa this spring - click here to read.

Besides the hamstring tweak, spring training has been a great experience. It's kind of amazing to see how the organization manages to get 150 players ready for the season each day. Pitchers will go off to work with the pitching coaches and throw bullpens, while the position players do individual defensive work and take batting practice. As for the weather, it has been mostly in the 70s, and the rain has been consistent each afternoon. Even when it does rain, we manage to still get a lot of work done in the mornings. If it rains in the morning, we spend time in discussion with the veteran coaches learning more about the mental side of baseball.

Tonight's show features one of the best to play on the hardwood for the Gamecocks - Devan Downey.

You can listen live on www.1075thegame.com.

If you've got a question you'd like to ask on the show, send an e-mail to roost@ispsports.com, call locally at 404-6100 or 1-866-667-1075. You can also submit your question in the comments section of this post and we'll get it over.

Add some Gamecock color to your computer with one of our new desktop wallpapers - we've just added Baseball and Softball.

Former South Carolina catcher Landon Powell is a nominee for the College World Series Legends Team that will be honored at the 2010 College World Series in Omaha, Neb.   The Legends Team will represent those student-athletes who had the best CWS performances in the 60 years the event has been played at Rosenblatt Stadium.  The 2010 CWS will be the last to be played in Omaha's Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium.  Voting for the CWS Legends Team begins Thursday, March 11 and will run until Noon on Friday, April 16.  Fans are encouraged to vote at http://www.ncaa.com/cwslegends/index.html

    Powell played in the College World Series three consecutive years (2002, '03, '04) and twice was named to the CWS All-Tournament Team in 2002 and 2004.  He had nine hits, six RBI and a HR as the Gamecocks finished as National Runner-Up in the 2002 CWS.  Powell is currently with the Oakland A's.  He was a two-time All-SEC selection at catcher (2003, '04) and earned All-America honors in 2004 as well.

  

The South Carolina men's basketball team (15-15) will face Alabama (16-14) in the opening round of the 2010 SEC Tournament on Thursday at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. The contest will tip off at 1 p.m. ET on the SEC Network (WIS in the Columbia area) with Jimmy Dykes and Brad Nessler on the call. Fans can also listen to Andy Demetra and Casey Manning on the Gamecock ISP Sports Network across the state.

2010 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament Central

TV: SEC Network (Click here to find the SEC Network in your area)

Radio: Gamecock ISP Sports Network

Web: Live Stats, Live Audio, Twitter, ESPN360.com

Chris Dearing from The State has a feature in today's edition about South Carolina's first SEC champion in the pentathlon, KeKe Clarke. Click here to read.

Getting there wasn't easy. Clarke has battled hamstring and knee injuries, and there were plenty of times she thought about quitting. But with the encouragement of coaches and teammates, she was able to compete pain-free her final semester.

She made the most of her opportunity.

"I've thought about quitting so many times," Clarke said. "You know what you can do, but you can't because you are restricted with injuries. But I wanted everybody to remember me as a hard worker - even with what I've been through. I can still win and compete, and it finally showed."

Carolina Calls with Darrin Horn this week will be live from the Embassy Suites in downtown Nashville, Tenn., the site of the 2010 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament. This week's show will air from 7-8 pm ET on Wednesday. 

Call the show using any of these numbers: 877-477-7201, 404-6100 or #2001 for Verizon Wireless customers.

The State ran two good stories related to South Carolina's baseball team in today's edition. The first was a story about Hank Small, South Carolina's former home run king who passed away unexpectedly last week. Click here to read. 

"I loved Hank Small," said Jeff Grantz, a teammate of Small's at USC, who stood in a pew to address the gathering of about 300 at Second Ponce de Leon Baptist Church. "He was a great friend and an awesome teammate. He was the greatest hitter I've ever seen."

Small, the first true home run hitter in USC baseball annals, died last Wednesday at age 56 after a freak fall at his new home in Griffin, Ga. He left behind his mother, three brothers, an ex-wife, two daughters and countless admirers.

They all had stories to tell about the affable Small, whose 48 career home runs stood as a USC record until two seasons ago. The baseball stories were mostly about his towering home runs.

Ron Morris also wrote a positive column about the new South Carolina-Clemson series format. Click here to read.

Talk about everything falling into place. Two outstanding college baseball games. Beautiful weather throughout. Overflow crowds. In the end, the new format for the South Carolina-Clemson baseball series was a smashing success.

Eric Hyman liked it. Mike deMaine, the Greenville Drive general manager, liked it. Jack Leggett liked it. Ray Tanner liked it...

South Carolina great Melvin Watson (1994-98) will be named Carolina's SEC Legend at the SEC Tournament to be held at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville this week.  Watson, a 1997 First-Team All-SEC selection and a 1998 second-team honoree, still ranks as Carolina's all-time leader in games started (116) with teammate BJ McKie, while he also ranks first in career assists (543) and fourth in steals (194).  Watson ranks 14th all-time in South Carolina history with 1,424 points and was a 41.1% career shooter.