Interview: Mike DeCourcy, Sporting News



Mike DeCourcy

I had a chance to catch up with Mike DeCourcy, National College Basketball writer for Sporting News about the college teams in our region and what to realistically expect from them this year. You will notice that South Carolina is left out of this exchange. That’s because when your leading scorer also plays football for a team that will probably make a New Year’s Day bowl game, its safe to say that it’ll be a tough year for the Gamecocks. There’s your explanation.

On Clemson:

“I think Clemson has a real opportunity here. Beyond the top two teams (Duke and North Carolina) I don’t think there is a great team. Florida State has good components and could be that third team, and then it really thins out from there. Clemson has some veterans in Andre Young, Milton Jennings and Devin Booker. Those guys have been role players in the past. I think Jennings has the potential to be a significant player in the ACC, and we saw some really good play from Andre at the end of last year. So I think they have a chance. The fact that there are no other GREAT teams beyond those top two gives Virginia, Clemson and NC State a chance. If you listen to your coach and build team chemistry you can win those games. That’s the way Clemson has to approach this season.”

On Georgia Tech:

“The talent drain out of the program subsequent to Paul Hewitt leaving has been fairly substantial. And it wasn’t really that great of a base to begin with. Georgia Tech begins at square one with Brian Gregory. I like Brian a lot. He’s a great person. The one thing he was never able to do at Dayton was take full advantage of the power of his brand. They were always good, but being very good to excellent always seemed to be a bounce of the ball away. At Tech, he has a stronger brand now, stronger talent base, so the margin for error is greater. Because if he’s a little off what the potential is at Georgia Tech, that’s still pretty good. It’s up to him if he can translate his recruiting base from the Midwest to the South (he worked at Michigan State and Northwestern before coaching at Dayton). He’s an appealing personality and a very good basketball coach.”



Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Rivals.com

On Georgia’s star frosh Kentavious Caldwell-Pope:

“Pope is a tremendous talent. He’s probably the best pure basketball talent Georgia has had in the program for at least five years, and possibly longer than that. This is a gifted young man. A Top-15 player coming out of high school, and somebody they can build around.”

On Georgia losing Travis Leslie and Trey Thompkins, and also what those players lose as well: “They lost a ton into the abyss of this lockout. If those guys (Leslie and Thompkins) were back, they would be better served to be playing basketball now, to be coached, to be developing. So many guys made the mistake of jumping into that lockout. Especially the guys who knew it was coming, and knew they probably weren’t first round picks. And as much as Georgia is paying a price for them leaving, so are they.”

Metro Spirit 9-1

Prep Rehash

For the Evans Knights, it wasn’t that we thought they couldn’t produce points; we just weren’t sure where they would come from. With only three offensive starters returning, chemistry was the main concern entering this season. Team speed on defense seems to be their fastball this year. The surprises started with Sophomore running back Stephon Jacobs, who ran for 213 yards and three touchdowns in his first varsity start. Evans also got stellar play out of—then reserve—quarterback Eddie Johnson who went a perfect 7-of-7 for 81 yards and added 36 yards rushing on eight carries as well. What was most impressive for the Knights thought was after only scoring a touchdown in the 1st half, they found their momentum and exploded for 26 points in the 2nd half to get the 33-19 win at home. And not to put too much stock into one win for the Knights, but Coach Marty Jackson-- at least for this week-- will be able to ditch the pencil and use a pen to fill out his starting lineup.

Lincoln County enjoyed an exciting matchup in their 2nd game of the season. They took on Abbeville, which is Lincoln County coach Larry Campbell's hometown team, had won 14 consecutive games and beaten Lincoln County the past three seasons. The win was in comeback fashion as the Red Devils trailed 13-10 at halftime against South Carolina's reigning Class A champion. To solidify the win, the Red Devils relied on quarterback Denzel Gunby (9-16, 117 yards, 2 TDs) and Zireycus Letman ( 5 Rec, 72 yards, TD) who also intercepted a pass to setup the go-ahead TD early in the 2nd half to prevail 24-13.

The areas best team, the Burke County Bears, are at it again. Led by dual-threat QB Corey Mayton and RB/WR/DB Montres Kitchens (88 yards of total offense, TD and 2 INTs), but the Bears beat a Top 10 team in Baldwin with the help of excellent run defense. They held the Braves to just 16 yards rushing on 14 carries. Thereby completely eliminating any type of run game Baldwin might have had and making them more predictable on offense. Burke County also proved they can finish a game early in the season against a respectable foe with their 14 points in the forth quarter to put the game out of reach at 31-14.


Games to Watch


Statesboro @ Washington County- Friday 7:30

3rd best team in AAAA heads to Sandersville to give the talented, but lower classification Golden Hawks all they can handle.

Thomson @ Lakeside- Friday 7:30

We see how Mark Weidenaar performs against a tough Thomson bunch, and also what Head Coach Jarrett Troxler has up his sleeve.

Evans @ Grovetown- Friday 7:30

Grovetown has had a lot of down time since their thrilling 28-24 win over Greenbrier on August 18th. Evans is riding high from their great 2nd half performance against ARC. This will be quite the battle for both teams.


College Games to Watch


Western Carolina @ Georgia Tech- Thursday 7:30pm ESPN3

If you can name me five Tech players/coaches that are not named Barry Bostic or Paul Johnson, you might have a problem.

Georgia Southern @ Samford- Saturday 7:00pm

What do you have planned for your second season, Coach Monken? After leading Southern to their first NCAA FCS playoffs semifinal appearance since 2002, and beating five ranked teams throughout the season, he’s got the diehards back in Paulson Stadium after they started going to Statesboro High School games and inhaling Crown Royal to forget the Chris Hatcher era at GSU.

Georgia vs. Boise St (Atlanta) - Saturday 8:00pm ESPN

UGA is the dawg—like what I did there?-- in this one as the boys of Boise come into town looking to add a SEC team to their resume in hopes of playing for the National Championship at the end of the season. Georgia is underrated this year based off of last years losing season. Don’t be surprised if they pull out the victory, the speed on the defense this year will surprise you. And if you can’t make the game and are in the area, drop by the parking lot for the tailgate, somebody’s bound to have a drink for ya.