February 9, 2012

USC’s Archie will apply for sixth year of eligibility

Darrin Horn hopes to see Archie on the floor next season

Darrin Horn hopes to see Archie on the floor next season

USC senior forward Dominique Archie confirmed today that he will seek a sixth year of eligibility from the NCAA. Archie suffered a season ending knee injury in the Gamecocks fifth game of the season against Miami.

Dominique Archie discusses his injury and his future plans

Archie 3-1

Now the question is if the NCAA will grant Archie another season of eligibility. Darrin Horn and his staff are already working on a case to send to the NCAA. Horn said they are going over hundreds of cases similar to Archie’s to help build a solid argument for another year for Archie.

Darrin Horn on the Archie situation

Horn 3-1

From what we are hearing Archie’s case is anything but a slam dunk. In fact, you could argue that the odds are stacked against him getting another year of eligibility. The main issue is Archie’s redshirt year. He redshirted his first season for playing time reasons, not because of injury. He confirmed today he didn’t have any major injury his freshman year. That doesn’t bode well for his case.

It isn’t uncommon for a player to get a sixth year of eligibility from the NCAA, but almost always that happens only if the player was forced to miss two years because of an injury. Since that was not the case in Archie’s first season the NCAA may not be inclined to give him another year.

Horn refused to speculate on Archie’s chances of getting the sixth year, but the fact that Archie will be honored with the other seniors Wednesday night against is a pretty good indication they know there’s a better than slim chance the NCAA is not going to rule in their favor. Then again, this is the NCAA, so you never really know what is going to happen.

Archie stands tall in USC victory

Archie dominates Eagles

Archie dominates Eagles

USC senior forward Dominique Archie recorded a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds Monday night to lead the Gamecocks past Georgia Southern 90-66 at the Colonial Life Arena in Columbia.  Archie was 5-7 from the floor and hit all three of this three pointers.  The Gamecocks led by just seven points at halftime but scored the first 16 points of the second half to break open the game.  Four other Gamecocks scored in double figures.  Devan Downey had 14 points and six assists, but he also turned the ball over seven times.  The Gamecocks committed 24 turnovers.  The teams combined for 45 turnovers and 48 personal fouls.  The Gamecocks are now 2-0 and will play LaSalle Thursday night in the first round of the Charleston Classic. 

AUDIO:  Darrin Horn post game news conference  (7:15)

AUDIO: Dominique Archie  (2:30)

AUDIO:  Brandis Raley-Ross   (2:57)

Box Score

USC takes exhibition game in Columbia

The USC basketball team played its exhibition game against Kentucky Wesleyan Thursday night in Columbia and as expected cruised to a 78-55 victory.  Five Gamecocks scored in double figures led by Sam Muldrow with 17 points including a pair of three pointers.  The Gamecocks’ top scorer from a year ago, Devan Downey, managed just six points on 1-7 shooting, but he did have seven assists and three steals.  The Gamecocks open their season at home November 13th against Alabama A&M.

Darren Horn post game news conference: (5:48)

Dominique Archie audio:  (1:33)

Final Stats:

Archie out of draft, back to school

Dominique Archie

Dominique Archie

South Carolina men’s basketball player Dominique Archie announced on Thursday that he has withdrawn his
name from the 2009 National Basketball Association’s draft pool and will return to school for his senior season in 2009-10.Archie, a rising senior for the Gamecocks, averaged 10.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.2 blocks per game during the 2008-09 campaign. For his efforts, Archie was named to the All-SEC Second Team and the All-Defensive Team by the league’s coaches and was also named to the Associated Press All-SEC Honorable Mention squad.

Through his first three seasons as a Gamecock, Archie is  just 59 points shy of 1,000 points for his career (941 points, 10.1 ppg), while he has collected 531 career rebounds (5.7 rpg).  Archie has started all 93 games during his time at Carolina.

“We’re very glad that Dominique was able to go through the process of working out with teams and gaining the feedback from NBA personnel,” South Carolina head men’s basketball coach Darrin Horn said. “We look forward to having him back as a Gamecock for one more season.”

“Going into the process I fully expected to come back to school, but it was good for me to get insight and feedback throughout the workouts,” Archie said. “I’m very excited about my senior season and the direction that our team is headed.”

Decision looms for Downey, Archie

Devon Downey

Devon Downey

With less than a week for underclassman to pull their names out of the NBA draft and return to school and there is still no word on what USC juniors Devon Downey and Dominque Archie plan to do. Both players worked out for a couple of NBA teams in Houston Monday and Downey reportedly has another workout scheduled for later this week. 

Neither player is projected to be drafted in the first round and some analyst say it is a long shot that either would be picked in the second round. However, both could also consider looking at a potential contract with a European team. That has become a viable option with players such as Clemson’s Terrence Oglesby and Florida Nick Calathes signing lucrative pro contracts overseas.

Players have until June 15th to pull their names out of the draft and return to school. The NBA draft is June 25th.