After sharing the SEC East title with the Tennessee Volunteers in the 2008-2009 season, the Gamecocks have finished with a losing record in back-to-back seasons. The energy appears to have left the program and fan support is dwindling down.

However, the new season always brings new hope and this year started off with promise for South Carolina. The young talent came to play in the season opener against Western Carolina, with a few underclassman leading the charge in a 75-50 win. True freshman Anthony Gill led the team in scoring with 14 points, while JUCO transfer Brenton Williams provided a spark off the bench for 13 points.

So far, so good.

Things were looking up for South Carolina. People began to hope this could be a turning point in South Carolina basketball with a young basketball squad growing up together and getting better over the year.

Up next: A road game at Elon. Yes, at Elon. Easy win, right?

Wrong.

South Carolina got away from their half-court offense that worked against Western Carolina and began to launch an array of three-point shots that didn't fall. There appeared to be no offensive game plan whatsoever as USC fell 58-53 to Elon. The Gamecocks shot 31.3 percent from the field while only shooting 11.1 percent from three-point range on 3-of-27 shooting.

It's amazing how this basketball team regressed from Friday to Tuesday night. A mere few days and all the optimism brewing from the opening game is demolished. Now the outlook has become grim, as the Gamecocks play North Carolina, Ohio State and Clemson in the coming weeks. They also play Kentucky, Florida and Vanderbilt two times each this season in SEC play.

This schedule isn't getting any easier.

If South Carolina can lose to Elon, then what happens when they play the number one North Carolina Tar Heels?

Darrin Horn will need to make some adjustments quick to give hope back to the Gamecock nation for the rest of the season. The talent on hand seems solid: Damien Leonard and Anthony Gill entered the starting lineup almost immediately as true freshman, and players like Malik Cooke, Lakeem Jackson and Damontre Harris should be better this season.

Bruce Ellington plans to return to the basketball team after he plays against Clemson in football on November 26 to give the Gamecocks its leader from the 2010-2011 team.

The pieces are there for this team to fight for, at the very least, an NIT bid but you can't give away what should have been a guaranteed win in Elon.

Now questions will arise when the Gamecocks play lesser teams this season, and the wonder of whether they will finish with a winning record in 2011-2012 will continue to cross the minds of Gamecock fans all season long.

Maybe it's too early to give up hope when the Gamecocks have only played two games, but fans won't put up with bad basketball for long. There needs to be some immediate results soon.

This basketball team needs to show improvement, or it will be essentially the same team from the past two seasons and there won't be any signs of growth in the program.

Darrin Horn appeared to be the right guy for the job when he was hired but if he can't pull it together this season, he could be looking for a job in the near future. The support behind him and this program has all but faded over the last few years, and another losing season will surely wipe out what remains.

South Carolina fans always have hope. They've been through a lot over the years. There will be hope this basketball team will come around this year, but they won't wait around forever.

It could be now or never for Darrin Horn and right now, unfortunately for him, it looks like it might be never.

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Have you ever seen people so excited to finally see some basketball on their TV besides NBA 2K and Hardwood classics?

Basketball fans are at the point now where they don't really care if they are watching their favorite team or their favorite player. We just want to see some basketball, so it only makes sense more and more people will turn to college basketball.

The sport is clean and untainted by greed. There are more teams resulting in more games for fans to tune into to. 

The passion the players play with is unbelievable—it is not their job; it's just the game they love. 

The fans are some of the most passionate beings on the planet as they pack out their arenas in an attempt to give their team that edge.

In reality, the lockout does wonders for college basketball, for these young talents looking for exposure.

College basketball gets it's fair share of publicity, especially in March. However, it's never been appreciated as much as it is now.

Let's accept it. There's no NBA right now, and we don't know how long this lockout will last.

But we do know that there is nothing that can affect the beloved game of college basketball.  

The talent is amazing and forever improving. There are crazy finishes and great players who will eventually play at the next level.

There's always a chance for an upset, which makes college basketball one of the most exciting things to watch.

Truth be told, I assure you that there are some rookies out there wishing they stayed in college if they really knew what they were getting themselves into.

Instead they are sitting around doing who knows what. Pretty sure this is not exactly what they envisioned when they used to daydream about their rookie season.

The bottom line is college basketball is not a bad second option, if that's what you want to call it.

There are great stories, there are great coaches, there are awesome displays of gamesmanship day in and day out and huge conference games scheduled.

Go ahead and tune into ESPN, and get your fix of basketball. If you have to use creative thinking and pretend it's the NBA, nobody is judging you.

Do whatever you have to do in order to survive this lockout, but I'm just saying, college basketball is a little light in the tunnel.

If the lockout lasts all season, when football is over in February, college basketball will reign supreme before March for the first time in a very long time.

Basketball is basketball, whether it is millionaires playing against each other or the young talent of the future playing the game they love for free. 

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Going into the year, Mason fans had dreams of grandeur about what to expect. We believed our team would steamroll their first two games, have their big date with Virginia Tech, and maybe even prepare for Syracuse in the Garden.

Unfortunately, things haven't exactly gone as planned for the Patriots.

After a nailbiting victory in their home opener over URI, Mason fell flat against Florida International, a team they were heavily favored against, and never got to have their dream matchup against Virginia Tech.

Through three games, Mason is 2-1, and although it's early, we still have learned a bit about what to expect from the Patriots this season.

Some of it's good, some of it's bad, but all of it is important, so without further adieu, here are a few of the things that Mason fans have learned from the first few games.

Begin Slideshow

To anyone who follows Northwestern, or the Big Ten in general, you would assume that if Shurna put up only 15 points, the Wildcats would not win. 

That was not the case on Friday in Charleston, as Drew Crawford led Northwestern to a four-point win over Tulsa.  The win puts the Wildcats in the Charleston Classic Final against Seton Hall on Sunday.

Crawford’s 28—his highest scoring game since a 35-point effort against North Carolina A&T in 2009—came a day after Shurna led Northwestern with 37 in a win over LSU.  He took over the game for the Wildcats in the middle of the first half and led the team into the half scoring 20 of the team’s 37 points. 

Crawford scored in numerous ways—he attacked the basket both in the half court and in transition, and then using that attacking ability against Tulsa defenders to create space and knock down three-point shots.  He made 3-of-4 threes in the first half and 5-of-8 for the game. 

He also made some plays around the basket as well, grabbing four rebounds and flying into the paint to grab a deflected pass late in the first half, leading to a Wildcat basket. 

Now a junior, Crawford seems to have nicely filled the role as the team’s second fiddle to Shurna.  After the departure of Michael Thompson, the team’s second leading scorer a year ago, Crawford was expected to step in and give Bill Carmody a consistent second scoring option.  In three games so far, Crawford has gradually increased his offensive production, scoring 11, then 17, then 28.  He also has improved dramatically on his three-point shooting thus far, making 50 percent (8-of-16) of his outside shots after shooting just under 33 percent last season.

At 6’5”, Crawford provides a multidimensional scoring ability that will be a huge asset in Carmody’s motion offense.  Like Shurna, he has the ability to shoot over smaller defenders.  If he hits shots and draws the attention of a forward on D, then Crawford has the quickness and controlled aggressiveness to take the ball to the basket and get points that way.

In an offense where most players rely on motion and passing to get good scoring looks, Crawford’s ability to create his own scoring opportunities is a big plus for Northwestern.  If defenses, especially those in the Big Ten, commit to containing Shurna, having Crawford there to step up and get points could easily make the difference in at least a few games this season. 

One area where Crawford will need to improve is passing, where he is averaging just one assist per game thus far.  He will need to keep an eye out for an open shooter as defenses close on him when he goes to the bucket.  However, given his consistent improvement throughout his time in Evanston, expect him to improve his passing as the season goes on—especially as defenses key in on him more.

On Sunday against Seton Hall, Crawford will look to pick up where he left off Friday.  It is a nice opportunity for Crawford and Northwestern to win an early-season tournament, and rack up three decent nonconference wins. 

For a team that—you know, has never made the dance—these wins could be very valuable come February and March, when the Wildcats try to pitch their case to the NCAA selection committee.

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After sharing the SEC East title with the Tennessee Volunteers in the 2008-2009 season, the Gamecocks have finished with a losing record in back-to-back seasons. The energy appears to have left the program and fan support is dwindling down.

However, the new season always brings new hope and this year started off with promise for South Carolina. The young talent came to play in the season opener against Western Carolina with a few underclassman leading the charge in a 75-50 win.

True freshman Anthony Gill led the team in scoring with 14 points while JUCO transfer Brenton Williams provided a spark off the bench for 13 points.

So far so good.

Things were looking up for South Carolina. People began to hope this could be a turning point in South Carolina basketball with a young basketball squad growing up together and getting better over the year.

Up next: A road game at Elon. Yes at Elon. That's an easy win right?

Wrong. South Carolina fell 58-53 to Elon Nov. 15.

South Carolina got away from their half-court offense that worked against Western Carolina and began to launch an array of three-point shots that didn't fall and there appeared to be no offensive game plan whatsoever as USC lost to Elon.

The Gamecocks shot 31.3 percent from the field while only shooting 11.1 percent from three-point range with 3-of-27 shooting.

It's amazing how this basketball team regressed from Friday to Tuesday night. A mere few days and all the optimism brewing from the opening game is demolished. Now that outlook has become grim as the Gamecocks play North Carolina, Ohio State, and Clemson in the coming weeks.

They also play Kentucky, Florida, and Vanderbilt each two times this season in SEC play. This schedule isn't getting any easier. If South Carolina can lose to Elon then what happens when they play the No. 1 ranked North Carolina Tar Heels?

Darrin Horn will needs to make some adjustments quickly to give hope back to the Gamecock nation for the rest of the season. The talent on hand seems solid. Damien Leonard and Anthony Gill entered the starting lineup almost immediately as true freshman and players like Malik Cooke, Lakeem Jackson and Damontre Harris should be better this season.

Bruce Ellington plans to return to the basketball team after he plays against Clemson in football on Nov. 26 to give the Gamecocks its leader from the 2010-2011 team.

The pieces are there for this team to fight for, at the very least, an NIT bid but you can't give away what should have been a guaranteed win in Elon.

Now questions will arise when the Gamecocks play lesser teams this season and then wonder if whether they will finish with a winning record in 2011-2012. It will continue to cross the minds of Gamecock fans all season long.

Maybe it's too early to give up hope when the Gamecocks have only played two games this season, but fans won't put up with bad basketball for long. There needs to be some immediate results soon.

This basketball team needs to show improvement or else it will be essentially the same team from the past two seasons and there won't be any signs of growth in the program.

Darrin Horn appeared to be the right guy for the job when he was hired but if he can't pull it together this season then he could be looking for a job in the near future. The support behind him and this program has all but faded over the last few years and another losing season will surely wipe out what has remained.

South Carolina fans always have hope. They've been through a lot over the years. There will be hope this basketball team will come around this year but they won't wait around forever.

It could be now or never for Darrin Horn and right now, unfortunately for him, it looks like it could be never.

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That changed Friday night, as the Pasadena, Calif. native sank a three-pointer from the top of the key with 2.8 seconds left to give Cleveland State a 67-64 victory over St. Bonaventure in front of 3,073 fans at the Wolstein Center.

With the win, CSU improves to 3-0, while SBU drops to 1-1.

"First off, I would like to thank god for the shot," said Harmon, who led the Vikings with 20 points on 7-of-12 from the field. "It was designed for me to come up top towards the end and Aaron (Pogue) set a good screen for me and I was wide open."

Vikings head coach Gary Waters said the final shot was designed for CSU to run the clock down to eight seconds. Then Aaron Pogue was to set a down screen for Harmon to come up top. Once Harmon had the ball he had two options: If he was open he was supposed to take the shot and if he was guarded he was supposed to drop it inside to Pogue.

"They did a great job of executing it," said Waters.

Still, the Bonnies had one last chance to tie the game, but CSU senior guard Jeremy Montgomery stole the inbound pass.

The Bonnies led 37-32 at the half as they shot 68.2 percent from the field.

SBU would score the first two buckets of the second half on back-to-back baskets from senior forward Andrew Nicholson, which led Waters to call a quick time out.

"One of the things I had to tell them (in the timeout) is if they get another bucket this game can get out of hand," said Waters. "So now we got to bring it back so its back under control."

Waters also said he changed defenses in the timeout, switching from a three-quarter court press as opposed to a fullcourt press.

Coming out of the timeout, CSU would score nine straight points to tie the game at 41-41 on a pair of free throws from Montgomery.

With the Bonnies leading 61-58, CSU would catch a huge break as Nicholson picked up his fifth foul with 3:32 left in the game.

The 6'9", 240-pound Nicholson had been dominating the Vikings inside all game long. He finished with 20 points on 9-of-14 from the field.

"It was a relief," said Harmon on Nicholson fouling out. "We took advantage of that (opportunity) when he left the game."

With Nicholson on the bench, CSU would outscore SBU 9-3 the rest of the game.

A one-handed jump shot in the lane from junior forward Tim Kamczyc gave CSU a 64-61 lead with 2:21 left.

That lead would not last as SBU's Michael Davenport picked the pocket of Montgomery and raced down the court for a lay-up. Davenport was fouled on the play by Kamczyc and converted the three-point play to tie it at 64-64 with 1:30 left.

The Bonnies shot 56.5 percent from the field and the Vikings shot 46.2 percent.

CSU were able to keep the game close with its defense. They had 13 steals and caused 23 turnovers, which led to 20 points for the Vikings.

Montgomery and senior guard D'Aundray Brown, each contributed 12 points for the Vikings.

Junior guard Eric Mosley finished with 11 points for the Bonnies.

The Vikings are back in action on Tuesday at Kent State.

Harris signs: Darnell Harris, a 6'8" forward from La Jolla Prep (Calif.) signed a grant-in-aid with CSU earlier this week.

"We're hoping everything works out with him academically to get him here," said Waters. "Once that's all set we have a top 100 player. At 6'9", he can really shoot the ball.

"He plays like a four-man on offense, but has a five-man's body on defense. So he will cause havoc on offense for other five-man because they can't step out and guard him."

Harris joins a four-man class that includes Malik London (Chillicothe, Ohio), Bryn Forbes (Lansing, Mich.) and Junior Lomomba (Montreal, Ontario), who all signed with CSU on the first day of the early signing period.

Tom Mieskoski is a Contributor for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand.

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The win was impressive in that the Irish played without starters Tim Abromaitis, Eric Atkins, and Joey Brooks.  They dressed only seven scholarship players.

Delaware State is not the same team that went to the NCAA tournament back in 2005, but they did come into the game with some firepower. The other night the Hornets played Georgia Tech tough in a 70-52 loss. They trailed just 30-23 at halftime and showed they had a couple of players in G Tahj Tate and F Marques Oliver.

In fact, Delaware State led the Irish 15-11 before a 23-3 spurt gave Notre Dame command. With three starters out Coach Brey again got to evaluate players to see who can contribute this season.

Let's take a look at five things learned from the win over Delaware State.

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The Gaels, now 1-1 on the year, were led by senior forward Kyle Smyth who finished the afternoon with 24 points and seven rebounds. Smyth connected on seven three-point shots of 13 attempts. He was eight of 14 from the floor on the day.

Senior point guard Scott Machado had another strong game with 17 points and 15 assists. The assist total equals Machado's career best set against Albany in 2009. 

Smyth commented about the strong play of his teammate, “Scott Machado, definitely impressive, not the first time I’ve seen it. He’s trying to find the hot hand, to assist and it is great to play with him. It’s not just about the shots."

For the second game in a row, Iona scored 90 or more points and all five Iona starters finished with double-digit scoring. Junior Ra'Shad James contributed 14 points, junior Taaj Ridley had 13 and senior Mike Glover added 12 points. Glover was a perfect five of five from the field. Former Arizona player Lamont Jones had 10 points for the Gaels.

"I was really happy for like 20 minutes with our defense. Scott Machado just gets everyone involved and Kyle Smyth hitting shots from the bleachers," commented Iona Coach Tim Cluess after the game. 

The second-year Iona mentor added, "We were playing small at times tonight. It was good defensively, but not so good offensively. We will work on a few things that went poorly today."

Commenting on the early season play of his team Cluess added, "I give my guys a decent amount of freedom, and we have to learn to make good decisions. It’s my job to get them better in the decision making and we know it’s a process and we are working on that.”

The Gaels will now play Maryland of the Atlantic Coast Conference at 2 p.m. EST Sunday, a game which can be seen on ESPNU.

Ken Kraetzer covers Iona basketball for WVOX 1460 in New Rochelle, New York. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand.

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That's not to say that Fine is necessarily innocent or guilty in the matter or that Boeheim is entirely wrong to back him if he believes in Fine's innocence as vehemently as his comments would suggest. As Boeheim told ESPN (h/t USA Today):

"I know this kid (Davis), but I never saw him in any rooms or anything. It is a bunch of a thousand lies that he has told. You don't think it is a little funny that his (relative) is coming forward? He supplied four names to the university that would corroborate his story. None of them did…there is only one side to this story. He is lying."

If Boeheim's words are supported by the police investigation, then he and the university, at least for the most part, will be no worse for the wear.

However, if the claims put forth by Bobby Davis and Mike Lang hold up, then Boeheim and Syracuse will come off as doubly ignorant and, as such, that much more condemning.

After all, the only thing worse than committing crimes of these nature is enabling such atrocities to occur, and the only thing worse than that is to deny the possibility so strongly.

There is some reason for suspicion in regard to these shocking allegations, which come just a week after the Jerry Sandusky child rape accusations rocked Penn State.

Outside the Lines, ESPN's sports news magazine, investigated the accusations put forth by Davis back in 2003 but declined to air the story when the claims could not be corroborated. It is now being reported because Davis' stepbrother, Mike Lang, has come forward.

The Syracuse Post-Standard also looked into the matter and brushed the story aside as well.

Ultimately, this potential fiasco figures to be much trickier to figure out than its Penn State counterpart. As of yet, there is no Mike McQueary, no third-party witness to lend credence to the claims being investigated.

If anything, though, the fragility of the matter should be even more reason for Boeheim to measure his words carefully. He is to Syracuse what Paterno was to Penn State and, as such, whatever he says or does could have dire consequences for the university as a whole.

There is no winning for Boeheim and Syracuse in this situation, even if they are found innocent or, rather, the case is too flimsy.

As such, all parties involved would be best served to keep quiet and let the facts of the investigation speak for themselves.

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Titles.

These are accomplishments that mark success no matter how small they are, which is especially important when you are trying to re-build program.

Alabama basketball has an opportunity to capture a championship in only its fifth game of the season.

Yes, it’s just the Puerto Rico Tip-off, but when you want to get where many other programs are you enter a tournament to win it and that’s exactly the position Anthony Grant and company are in.

It started Thursday night with a dominating performance against Maryland.

Alabama defeated the Terrapins 62-42 with their strong defense, holding the Terps under 27 percent from the field.

The Tide continued things Friday evening by avenging their NIT loss to Wichita State and defeating the Shockers 70-60.

The shining star in this tournament has been Tony Mitchell. He’s averaging 21.5 points in the first two games and really took over against Maryland, while JaMychal Green spent the majority of that contest on the bench due to foul trouble.

Ultimately it doesn’t matter who is getting the points for Alabama, as the Tide come with relentless defensive effort no matter who has the hot hand scoring.

Their opponent in Sunday’s Final? Purdue.

A team that has scored 91 and 85 points in their wins over Iona and Temple.

So what will give? Alabama’s defense or the Boilermaker’s potent scoring attack? Whoever it is walks away with some early season hardware and nice step up in this very young college basketball season.

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