Before I speculate on what's to come the rest of the season, allow me to offer coach Darrin Horn and the mens basketball team a big congratulations to the USC basketball team (15-4, 4-2) on their success in conference thus far — I realize they have many more games to play and that February is where you determine what you’re doing in March, but damn, Horn and company already have won more games as the past two entire seasons (both ended with 14 wins) with 11 more games to play (10 regular season games and at least one game in the SEC Tournament). That's incredible. And while the early season schedule was a little light in the loafers, it did provide a huge road win against ranked Baylor that I think really sparked the team to its early SEC success.

And what’s astonishing is that he’s done it with basically the same team from last year minus Dwayne Day (5.1 ppg.). Under Horn’s whistle, the Gamecocks are playing the way fans have dreamed the football team would under Spurrier but haven’t — with heart, intensity and toughness. This team has captured fan’s respect, regardless of how the rest of the season plays out, with its play-until-the-final-horn mentality that even in losses (Clemson and Tennessee come immediately to mind) demands respect.

USC fans are used to losing; to say otherwise is to ignore history. But what they really can’t stand is losing when their team didn’t try, didn’t prepare, didn’t care — precisely the attributes displayed by the football team during the concluding stretch of the previous two seasons.

Handicapping the rest of the way is difficult, but let’s take a stab at it. Of the four remaining home games, Georgia (9-11, 0-5), which just fired its coach this week, and Arkansas (13-5, 1-4) look to be sure wins given how USC is playing at home. That gets you to 17-4, 6-2). I believe the Gamecocks will one of the remaining two home games against Kentucky and Tennessee, and I’m not ruling out the chance of winning both, which would give USC an amazing undefeated home season.

But taking the split, that puts you at 18-6, 7-3. Now, the road games remaining: at Florida, at Alabama, at Mississippi State, at Vanderbilt and at Georgia.  Of those five, I see USC winning two and losing three, likely beating Alabama and Georgia and splitting between Vandy and MSU. That’s not to say they couldn’t go 3-2, but life on the road in the SEC is tough and strange things happen when you’re away from home.

Taking a 2-3 mark, that gets USC to 20-9, 9-6 in the league heading into the SEC Tournament. To me, that’s good enough for the NCAA Tournament, a feat that, if the Gamecocks achieve it, will be truly remarkable given the fact that Odom couldn’t get the same group (or even previous, more talented teams) anywhere near NCAA consideration.

No matter what happens, what’s being proven at the Colonial Life Arena is that coach Horn is as talented a young coach as there is, and the sky is the limit for what he can accomplish here. I applauded the hire when it happened, and I applaud it even more now.

I’ve given you my breakdown, how do you see USC finishing up? Better? Worse? Let me know!