Baseball, Basketball, Women's Golf on a tear

The 3 major keys to our No.3 team's victory last night, 6-2 over No.5 Louisville, were the pitching of Mason Hickman, A.J. Franklin and Tyler Brown, the stellar defense and overall play by Austin Martin and the clutch 2 run double by Harrison Ray in the top of the 8th.

Hick pitched extremely well going 5.2 giving up 6 hits, 2 runs with 0 walks and 5 K's. Hick is just a strike thrower and when you do that you give your team a chance to win. He's been superb this season. He is 6-0 with a 2.15 ERA with just 13 walks and 79 strikeouts.

A.J. Franklin was just as spectacular in his 2.1 innings of relief. A.J. gave up just 3 hits, 0 runs with 0 walks and 3 K's. He was supremely clutch when we were tied 2-2 and the game was up for grabs. Tyler entered in the 9th and did what Tyler Brown does. He got the Cardinal hitters out 1-2-3 and struck out 2 of them before getting their final hitter to ground out to Austin to end the game.

Austin played another phenomenal game going 2 for 4 and scoring 2 runs. His defense may have been even better. AMart made clutch play after clutch play at third. His charging throw on a bunt to throw out the Louisville runner was sensational. He made the defensive stops when we had to have them. AMart is now hitting .431. That's a wow. What a player.

And Harrison Ray crushed an 0-1 pitch into the right central field gap in the top of the 8th that plated 2 and put us ahead 4-2. We added 2 more in the ninth via the walk. Louisville Coach Dan McDonnell used 9 different pitchers and made 8 different pitching changes. It was pretty close to ridiculous, but I guess he was trying to win the game. Made for a 3 hour and 40 minute contest. But it worked out for us, so no big deal.

We move to 39-9 overall, we're No.3 in the nation by D1Baseball.com by No.2 by the National College Baseball Writers of America (NCBWA), and No.2 by Collegiate Baseball. We have overtaken UCLA as the No.1 RPI (Ratings Percentage Index, which helps the selection committee seed the teams for NCAA Tournament) in the country. 

We are playing terrific baseball right now. That game had a postseason atmosphere to it, so it was huge to come out victorious.

Next up is No.21 Missouri (33-16-1, 12-11-1) this Friday through Sunday at the Hawk. Friday's game is at 6:30 PM CT, Saturday's game is at 2 PM CT and Sunday's game is at Noon CT. All games will be broadcast by SEC Network+ on the computer. 

So some impressive stuff by our baseball team. We've got a team that can go the distance. We always do, but this team is good enough to win it all if we keep up our work ethic. 

Stack got another commitment this time from Notre Dame transfer D.J. Harvey. The 6'6", 185 pound small forward was a 4 star and the No.1 player out of the state of Maryland in 2017. He has played 2 years for Notre Dame and averaged 10.7 ppg and 4.2 rebounds this past season. At DeMatha High School just outside of DC, D.J. averaged 17.3 ppg, 8.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists. I'm very familiar with DeMatha as I went to high school in the DC area, and they are a powerhouse and have always been and sent players to the high level college ranks and the professional ranks. So another super get for Stack. D.J. will have to sit out the 2019-20 season but will be eligible in 2020-21 with 2 years left. D.J. joins 93 4 star Dylan Disu (6'8", 185), 89 3 star point guard Scotty Pippen Jr,  88, 3 star small forward Kenyon Martin Jr (6'6, 195), and 87, 3 star forward Jordan Wright (6'6", 185). And I'm not sure Stack is done. This is all world recruiting by our coach. Really an amazing effort by Stack and the coaches. The future looks spectacular under Coach Jerry Stackhouse.

The Women's Golf team shot -8 today and lead the Auburn Regional by 3 over Florida State. We are presently at -4 overall. Florida State is -1, and Virginia is next at +4.

Morgan Baxendale shot a 5 under 67 with 6 birdies and 1 bogey. Fantastic play by our sophomore. Freshman Auston Kim continues to excel shooting a 2 under 70. Sophomore Louise Yu shot a 1 under 71 and junior Abbey C Carlson shot an even par 70. Senior Courtney Zeng battled and shot a +4, 76. The tournament takes the top 4 low scores.

So incredible stuff from our women.

The top 6 teams in the region advance to the NCAA Championships which will be played at Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Arkansas May 17-22nd, that's a week from Friday when the tournament starts. Gotta finish it out tomorrow, but superb work by our women so far. 
 

Baseball keeps cranking out the victories, Stack doin serious work, Football, Women's golf, women's tennis, men's golf, men's tennis

Our baseball team completed a sweep of South Carolina by taking both games of a doubleheader yesterday at Founders Park in Columbia.

After winning Friday, 22-11, we defeated the Gamecocks 9-3 in the first game and 6-2 in the nightcap yesterday. Both games were 7 innings. We moved to 38-9 overall and 18-6 in the SEC. Arkansas is next at 17-7. We are now ranked 3rd in the country by D1 Baseball and 2nd nationally in the Collegiate Baseball poll. UCLA and Stanford are ahead of us in the D1 poll, while UCLA is ahead of us in the Collegiate Baseball poll by a point. They have 495 points and we have 494. We are also 2nd in the RPI, the Ratings Percentage Index, which measures the top teams the country out of all the teams that play college baseball on the Division 1 level. UCLA is No.1. The RPI is a key factor for selecting the tournament in college baseball and basketball.

There ware a couple of milestones yesterday in the 2nd game, but I’ll discuss the first game first off.

After falling behind 2-0 in the 1st, we came back and took a 3-2 lead in the top of the 3rd on a grounder by Ethan Paul that got past the SC first baseman allowing 2 runs to score. Philip Clarke put us in front with an RBI infield single, a shot up the middle that the second baseman fielded but had no play on.. Austin Martin, who was 3-for-3 in the game, stroked a 2 run single in the top of the 7th and JJ Bleday, who was 2-for-2 in the game, hit a 2 run triple that opened things up for us at 9-3. AMart hit a ground rule double earlier to score Stephen Scott who had singled.

Kumar Rocker pitched a very fine game. Kumar went 5.2, gave up 3 runs, with a walk and 7 strikeouts. He just keeps on putting up great performance after great performance. Tyler Brown closed it out with 1.1 innings of no hit ball walking 2 and striking out 2. Kumar moved to 6-4 with a 4,36 ERA. His ERA keeps coming down. Tyler recorded his 10th save of the season and has an ERA of 2.70. Kumar has walked 14 and struck out 58 in 53.3 innings, while Tyler has walked only 7 and K’d 42 in 30 innings.

In game 2, Patrick Raby became Vanderbilt’s all time career wins leader with his program best 30th victory breaking a record set back in the early 70’s. Rabes was sharp going 5.2, giving up 5 hits, 2 runs, both unearned with 1 walk and 4 K’s. Hugh Fisher came in an got an out in the 6th to close out that inning and Tyler finished it off in the 7th. He didn’t get the save, but as usual, got the job done. Tyler’s extremely valuable.

JJ set the all time single season home run record at VU launching his 23rd of the season breaking a tie with Pedro Alvarez. It was an important home run too as we were only leading 4-2 going into the top of the 7th when JJ blasted his over the right central field wall. Ethan Paul backed JJ up with a homer over the right field wall, Ethan’s 6th of the season.

Defense was solid all weekend. Pat DeMarco made a tremendous catch in the right central field gap on Friday and JJ made a spectacular grab yesterday on a liner that was dropping for at least a single. It was a diving catch to our left hander’s right. JJ is now leading the country in homers. At 23, he’s 2 ahead of Tulane’s Kody Hoese. AMart, hitting .429, is second in the country to New Mexico State’s Nick Gonzales, who is hitting .451. JJ is also 8th nationally in RBIs with 61. Two guys from New Mexico State and a guy from Wake Forest lead at 72. We are 4th in the country in fielding percentage at .981. Xavier is 1st, followed by Omaha and Cal State Fullerton. Xavier has a .983 % so we’re right there.

We are leading the SEC in batting average (.321), State is next at .315, Slugging percentage, On base percentage, Runs scored, hits (531, State next at 530), RBI’s, 379, Arkansas next at 364, triples, 15, Ark at 14, and tied for the league lead with South Carolina at 66 homers. Our team earned run average is 3.93, which is 6th in the conference, A&M leads at 3.09 And we of course lead the conference in fielding percentage. Georgia is next at .980 behind our .981.

So superb stuff coming out of our baseball program. Up next, a major challenge.

We go to 6th ranked Louisville for a 6 PM CT first pitch tomorrow in a game that will be broadcasted by ESPNU. I’m pretty positive Mason Hickman will be on the mound for us. Hick is 6-0 with a 2.05 ERA with 13 walks and 74 strike outs. He’s been terrific this season. He will probably face Louisville freshman right hander Jack Perkins, who has been their midweek guy, and is 5-0 with a 2.70 ERA. Louisville is 39-9 and 18-6 in the ACC, so this is a highly formidable test. We’ll have to be playing our best baseball tomorrow night in order to win the “Battle of the Barrel,” the moniker given to this game. Louisville has won 3 in a row, so it’s time to change that.

Stack keeps’em coming

New men’s basketball coach Jerry Stackhouse has made quite a splash in recruiting. After getting 4 star forward Dylan Disu (6’8”, 190) and high 3 star point guard Scotty Pippen Jr to stick with us, he secured a commitment and a signature from high 3 star guard Jordan Wright and just yesterday got a commit from high 3 star small forward Kenyon Martin Jr.

Disu is from Pflugerville, Texas and averaged 23.4 ppg and 11.1 rebounds as a senior. He’ll be a big help to our inside game as we lost Yanni Wetzell and Simi Shittu. Yanni transferred to San Diego State and Simi is trying out for the NBA draft in June. Not sure that’s the best move for Simi, but so be it. Disu will team up with Clevon Brown, Matthew Moyer and Ejike Obinna for out frontcourt. Dylan is ranked 112th in the 247 player rankings. Out of 247 players.

Martin, Jr. averaged 16.4 ppg and 9 boards as a senior. He is out of Sierra Canyon, California high school, which just won its second consecutive state championship. Martin is 6’6” 195 and is the son of former University of Cincinnati and NBA star Kenyon Martin. The elder Martin was a beast on the floor and on the glass. Martin Jr., according to his coach, has that same type of energy and athletic ability.

Wright, a 3 star guard out of Baton Rouge, is 6’6”, 200, and averaged 19.1 points, 8 boards and 6 assists at the Dunham School. He looks like a great addition along with Pippen Jr to our backcourt with the great Saben Lee, the terrific Aaron Nesmith, and the improving Maxwell Evans. Pippen Jr and Martin Jr were teammates at Sierra Canyon. Pippen, a 6’0”, 160 pound point guard, he’ll add muscle at VU, averaged 15 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.1 steals. Really like the NBA genes for Pippen Jr and Martin Jr. Both fathers were phenomenal players.

So amazing work by Stack and his staff. D.J. Harvey, a 6’6”, wing player who transferred out of Notre Dame recently, was a 4 star in high school, and averaged 10.7 ppg and 4.2 rbg at Notre Dame last season, and was on campus yesterday and was having a blast according to reports. Could be a transfer to look for. D.J. would have to sit out a year, but would be another super get for Stack and the staff..

There are some other ‘19 prospects and 2020 recruiting is in full swing as well. Really liking these early results from our new coach.

Some stellar running backs looking at VU

I usually don’t like talking about players who are “interested” in Vanderbilt, but these 3 running backs are so impressive, I have to mention them.

Tajh Brooks is a 5’11”, 198 pound running back out of Manor, Texas. A solid 3 star, this kid is awesome. Watched his tape and it was superb. Tajh is fast, tough, just takes it to the house with any hole and outruns any pursuer on a very consistent basis. Love this player. He’s No.1 on our running back recruiting board for 2020 and I can see why. He’s a Tulsa commit but hoping Coach Mason and the staff can convince Tajh to come our way. The other 2 backs are 5.7, 3 star Elijah Green, a a 5’11”, 190 back out of Blessed Trinity High School in Roswell, Georgia. Impressive film as well. The third is Ahman Marshall, a 6’1”, 200 pound solid 3 star. Great size, fast and physical. All 3 would work. Two of them would be spectacular.

Women’s Golf

Our No.6 ranked women’s golf team leads the Auburn Regional at -1 after day one of the tournament, which has 2 more days left of 18 holes each day. There are 18 teams in the regional and the top 6 finishers qualify for the NCAA Championships at Blessings Golf Course in Fayettville, Ark. May 17th-22nd. No.3 Duke is second at +2, while No.11 Florida State and East Carolina are tied for 3rd at +3. Freshman superstar Auston Kim shot a 2 under 70, while senior Courtney Zang shot a 1 under par 71. Junior Abbey Carloson and sophomore Louise Yu each shot 73.So awesome first day. Need to keep it cookin tomorrow.

Also some super news, Auston KIm qualified for the 74th U.S. Women’s Open which will be played May 29th-June 2nd in Charleston South Carolina. Auston did it pretty dramatically, birdieing her 34th and 35th holes out of 36 to force a 2 person playoff which she won with 2 pars. That’s some super exciting stuff coming from Auston. Excited to see Auston at the Open. But first things first. Let’s win at Auburn and take it from there. Just gotta keep up the solid work tomorrow.

Women’s Tennis

Our No.8 Women’s tennis team advanced to the Sweet 16 with 2 victories over the weekend at the Currey Tennis Center on the West End with consecutive 4-0 victories over Miaimi of Ohio and Georgia Tech. We now face No. 18 Texas A&M this Saturday at 1 PM at the Currey Center. It’ll be good to be playing at home as the women aim for yet another trip to the NCAA Championships, May 16th-19th in Orlando. Senior Fernanda Contreras, junior Christina Rosca, freshman Georgia Drummy and the rest of our women’s team are doing exceptional stuff once again under our great coach, Geoff McDonald. Excited for what’s ahead. Big test Saturday as A&M upset No.9 Texas at Texas yesterday, 4-1. They’re a solid team. We lost to them March 15th in College Station, 4-2, so we’ve got our work cut out for us.

Astra Sharma is now ranked No.98 in the WTA rankings, the world rankings for women’s professional tennis. She reached the finals of a tournament in Bogota, Columbia where she lost in a close one in 3 sets. Astra has qualified for the French Open and Wimbledon. The French Open at Roland Garros will commence Sunday May 26th and go through Sunday June 9th, with the women’s final Saturday, June 8th, and the men’s final Sunday, June 9th. So it would be phenomenal to see Astra competing both at Roland Garros and at Wimbledon. The Championships at Wimbledon will be played Monday July 1st through Sunday, July 14th. As Geoff said, it’s a tremendous accomplishment for someone in their first year out of college to be playing in the first 3 Slams of the year as Astra competed in and won at match at the Australian Open. Will keep you posted on Astra’s progress.

Men’s Golf in action next Monday

Men’s Golf begins play at the Athens (GA) Regional next Monday, May 13th. We are the No.1 seed in the regional and need to get in the top 5 of the 13 team regional to qualify for the NCAA Tournament which will also be played at the Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville from May 24th-29th.

Senior Patrick Martin was a captain’s pick for the Palmer Cup team. The Palmer Cup is an annual amateur Ryder Cup-style competition against the best amateur players from Europe. It will be played June 7th-9th at the Alotian Club in Little Rock, Arkansas. Great honor for Patrick, who’s had a stellar career at VU, one that I hope continues on until the end of May. Like our team. Just got to get off to a good start next Monday.

Men’s Tennis

The Men’s tennis team lost to No.1 Ohio State, 4-0 on Saturday. We get some guys back for next year and had a solid season this year with a victory in the NCAA Tournament.

Wednesday

I’ll have Louisville recap, where our women’s golf team is standing at the Auburn Regional and our MLB guys. Several of our former players are excelling once again in the big leagues.

No.4 Dores in Columbia to face South Carolina

Our Vanderbilt Commodores had another huge night at the plate Tuesday Night, pounding out 21 hits, scoring 21 runs hitting 4 homers in a 21-10 victory over Tennessee Tech Tuesday Night at the Hawk. Freshman center fielder Isaiah Thomas had a huge night at the plate with 2 homers, 5 Ribeyes and 4 hits in 5 plate appearances. Those were his second and third homers of the season. Our stellar freshman is getting playing due to injuries by Cooper Davis and last week to Stephen Scott. Their status is unknown as Tim Corbin doesn’t disclose injury information. But Isaiah is getting his shot and making the most of it.

The awesome Austin Martin hit a 3 run shot, his 5th of the season and now has 26 Ribbies and is hitting a spectacular .413. Ty Duvall cranked a 2 run shot, his 3rd of the season. Ty is a super backup to Philip Clarke behind the plate. He’s a highly valuable player for us. Mason Hickman went 4 as he had pitched last Thursday in relief of Drake Fellows, and gave up 4 hits, 1 run, with 0 walks and 7 K’s. Mason just keeps producing. He’ll be a crucial piece to us in May. We face No. 6 Louisville next Tuesday, at 6 PM CT on ESPNU, so we’ll need Mason to keep up his stellar work.

But we’ve got a series with South Carolina to tend to first. Tonight’s game is a 6 on SEC Network+ with Drake Fellows (9-0, 3.67) squaring off with Gamecocks right hander Daniel Lloyd (3-3, 7.43) Tomorrow’s game takes place at 7 PM CT and will be broadcast by ESPNU. Kumar is on the hill for us (5-4, 4.31) and he’ll face Carolina righty Reid Morgan (3-4, 3.63) Sunday’s game is at 12:30 PM CT on SEC Network+ with Rabes going for us (7-1, 2.77) and South Carolina’s starter to be determined.

So big weekend for us. We are now 35-9 and 15-6 in the SEC and we are tied with Arkansas for the SEC lead. South Carolina is 24-20 and 5-16 in the SEC, but we HAVE to be ready to play. There are no gimmes in the SEC.

Will have more on our team tomorrow along with our Major Leaguers, our men’s tennis team defeated Penn State today, 4-3 at the Ohio State Regional in the NCAA’s Great job men. Our women’s team is playing Miami of Ohio now. Women’s golf starts play this Monday in the Auburn Regional, and our Men’s Golf team is the No.1 seed in the Athens Regional and begin play Monday, May 13th.

Will have more tomorrow.

Kentucky Derby prediction

The awesome Run for the Roses, the fastest 2 minutes in sports, commences tomorrow with post time at 5:50 PM CT with NBC telecasting.

Here are the latest odds on the horses with post positions.

2. War of Will, 18-1. Post positions changed with favorite Omaha Beach and and Haikal scratched.

3. Tax, 42-1

4. By My Standards, 14-1

5. Gray Magician, 31-1

6. Improbable, 9-2

7. Vekoma, 25-1

8. Maximum Security 5-1

9. Tacitus, 9-2

10. Plus Que Perfect, 49-1

11. Cutting Humor, Mike Smith now riding, multiple triple crown racing winner. Won Triple Crown with Justify last year. 25-1

12. Code of Honor, 11-1

13.Win Win Win, 15-1

14. Master Fencer, 55-1

15. Game Winner, 6-1

16. Roadster, 9-1

17. Long Range Toddy, 45-1

18. Spinoff, 59-1

19. Country House, 71-1

20. Bodexpress, 99-1

Prediction

I felt really good about Omaha Beach this week and was going to pick him, but when he had to drop out, another opportunity. was presented That’s what makes this so electric, the unpredictability of it and the excitement it creates.

The horse I’m predicting has seen his odds drop from 5-1 this morning to 9-1 this afternoon. But I watched him win the Santa Anita Derby coming from behind and using incredible closing speed to capture that race on April 6th on a 1 1/8 track. I like him on this 1 1/4 Churchill Downs track as well which will be muddy from rain in Louisville tomorrow.

Justify won the Santa Anita Derby last year and I’d say he had some success after that to the tune of a Triple Crown. This is a Bob Baffert horse. Baffert trained Justify and American Pharoah, triple crown winners in 2018 and 2015. Thirty two year old Frenchman Florent Geroux will be on the mount.I think he knows what he’s doing after watching Santa Anita.

I watched this horse run six furlongs last Friday at Churchill Downs in a warmup and loved his speed. I love the look of this horse too. A ton of power in the body and especially in his legs. He’s in post 16 which has won the Derby 4 times out of 47 horses that have run out of this position, with the last winner being Animal Kingdom in 2011. I’m just going to go with this horse. I love his look and when Bama Golf and I went out to the Birmingham Race Course a pretty good while ago, we watched the horses in the paddock and loved the look of a thoroughbred named Full Focus. We picked him and he was a winner. I feel the same way about this thoroughbred. I’m going to take a road trip tomorrow afternoon with:

Roadster

I’m riding this stud, Roadster, in the Kentucky Derby

Wells Fargo Championship

With 2 weeks to go before the second major of the season, which is pretty fantastic that there are 2 majors this close together, the 101st PGA Championship at Bethpage Black on Long Island, NY, the tour heads to Charlotte and Quail Hollow Club for the Wells Fargo Championship.

The defending champion is Jason Day who shot 69,67,67, 69 for a -12 finish and a 2 shot victory over Nick Watney and Aaron Wise last year. Day was slugging along at even par on the first 15 holes and Wise caught him at -10. But Day birdied 16 and 17 and hung on for the victory. the 12th of his career. That victory last May has been his most recent win.

Quail Hollow is a 7,554 yard, par 71 layout. Holes 16, 17 and 18, the Green Mile, though technically it’s only 3/4 of a mile, is the toughest 3 hole stretch in golf since 2007, with players averaging almost a stroke over par on those holes. The scoring average is 0.884. No.’s 8,9, 10 on Pebble Beach are next at 0.684. PGA National’s, 15,16 and 17, the Bear Trap, is next at 0.671. Muirfield Village, where the Memorial is played, is next at 0.633 with holes 16, 17 and 18. Fifth hardest is Torrey Pines South, holes 16,17 and 18 with an 0.619 scoring average.

Rory McIlroy won at Quail Hollow in 2010 as a 20 year old, 2 days before his 21st birthday (May 4th). He shot 62 on the final day for his 1st PGA Tour victory. He also won here in 2015 with a 3rd round 61. He has won 15 times on tour now, and has 4 majors on his resume, the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland, the 2012 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, SC, the 2014 Open Championship at Royal Liverpool in England, and the 2014 PGA at Valhalla in Louisville. But it’s been a while since he’s won a major. Still can’t get over the hump at Augusta National and complete the career Grand Slam. But he’s playing well now and will be a factor this weekend and in 2 weeks at Bethpage Black. Rory will be 30 on Sunday.

Tiger Woods had originally committed to play in this event, but bowed out after winning the Masters. I see 2 sides to this. He’s 43, his back has had all kinds of surgeries and problems, he’s still enjoying his victory at the Masters, his 15th major championship and 81st PGA career win, so I got all that. But I do like when players play at least 2 weeks in advance of a major. A lengthy layoff from competition can lead to rust, so I’m not sure if he’ll be super sharp at Bethpage. But the way he played at Augusta, you gotta have him in your top 5 favorites at the PGA. Geoff Shackelford and Matt Adams discussed it on the Alternate Shot segment of Golf Central last night, and both thought it’s no problem for Eldrick. I’m not going to say it’s no problem, but he is on fire. Still would like to see a player play in this event, a key event on tour, to prepare for the PGA. But I do understand why he’s skipping it. I see him in the hunt at the PGA at the end and possibly winning it. I’ll let you know what I really think 2 weeks from today.

Rickie, Fowler, the 2012 Wells Fargo champion, where he defeated Rory and D.A, Points on the first playoff hole with a birdie on 18, is in the field. Fowler, now 30, has been somewhat of an underachiever on tour. He has only won 5 times, and doesn’t have a major championship on his resume, so he needs to be able to close at least one deal in a major. He gets close a lot, but can’t seem to finish the job.

Phil Mickelson, world No.2 Justin Rose (Dustin is No.1), Sergio (cry me a river) Garcia, and Patrick Reed are also in the field. 2014 winner J.B. Holmes, who won at Riviera in February at the Genesis Open, is also in the field. So a good group competing for this championship.

No.18 is a beast. A 494 yard, par 4 with a creek running down the entire left side and a bunker 280 on the right that requires 302 to clear. Paul Casey was telling the Golf Channel that he aims for the grandstands behind the green in the right central part of the hole. A player can either take it at the creek and cut it or aim at the bunker and draw it, or look at the grandstand like Casey does and crank it. The second shot challenges the competitors with the creek running on the left side of the green, and a massive green itself. A lot of dramatic shots have happened on this hole. Justin Thomas won the 2017 PGA here. He’s injured right now with a sore wrist. He plans to play at the PGA in 2 weeks, but his status is uncertain at this time.

Winner

I’m going to take the 33 year old from Raleigh, North Carolina who now lives on the Quail Hollow course. He’s won 5 times on tour including the 2012 U.S. Open at Olympic Club in San Francisco and the 2018 Players Championship. This is his home course and while he finished tied for 21st here last year, I like him to use the home field to his advantage.

Webb Simpson

Taking Simpson at Quail Hollow (Photo, Spokesman-Review).

Sleeper

Harold Varner III

Baseball keeps cookin, MLB guys, Stack gets '19 commit, our now NFL guys, Men's golf prepares for the NCAA's, women's, men's tennis

The now No.4 Vanderbilt Baseball team (D1Baseball.com rankings) just swept the Auburn Tigers with some more stellar hitting and excellent starting pitching in a 9-5 victory before 3,625 fans at Hawkins Field on Saturday.

We moved to 34-9 overall and 15-6 in the SEC and are tied with Arkansas for the co-lead in the conference. If we ended up tied with the Razorbacks in the standings, we would win the tiebreaker by virtue of our head to head matchup in which we won 2 of 3. Georgia, Mississippi State and Ole Miss are each at 13-8. Texas A&M is next at 11-9-1. In the national rankings, UCLA is ranked No.1 (34-7), Stanford is No.2 (31-7), Oregon State is No.3 (31-10-1) Arkansas is No.5 (34-11), Mississippi State is No.6 (36-9)and Georgia is No.9 (33-12).

We pounded out 15 hits against Tigers pitching on Saturday. The sensational JJ Bleday connected on his 21st homer of the season. A two run shot over the right central field wall to score Austin Martin, who reached after being hit by a pitch. JJ is once again tied Kody Hoese of Tulane for the national lead with those 21 homers. Pat DeMarco was 4 for 5 with an RBI and his average keeps climbing. It is now at .276. It was .230 about 2 weeks ago, so Pat, after his hamstring injury that kept him sidelined for a month, is back to being the awesome Pat DeMarco. Harrison Ray was 3 for 4 with an RBI and a triple. He also made a terrific head first slide at home to beat a throw to the plate on a sac fly by Julian Infante. Ethan Paul, Philip Clarke, and Ty Duvall each collected 2 hits on the afternoon. It was an awesome performance by the bats once again. We are now batting .317 as a team. Austin is hitting .405 with 11 doubles, 4 triples and 6 stolen bases, Ethan is hitting .353 with 15 doubles, 5 homers and 49 Ribeyes, JJ is hitting .343 with 21 homers and 56 Ribbies, Philip is hitting .325 with 11 doubles, 2 triples, 6 homers and 48 RBIs, Stephen Scott, who got injured Friday Night sliding into the left field wall trying to catch a fly ball in foul territory and missed Saturday’s game, is hitting .323 with a team leading 15 doubles, 6 homers and 34 RBIs. Harrison Ray is batting .286 after his big day on Saturday, and has 6 doubles, 2 triples and is 13 of 16 in stolen bases. We stole 3 bases Saturday with DeMarco getting 2, his 3rd and 4th on the season. Ethan Paul stole his 6th base of the year. We did some more running on Saturday. This program has a tradition for stealing bases, and we’ve looked more aggressive on the base paths lately. We made a couple of running miscues this past weekend we’ll need to make sure we don’t let happen again. We are 45-of-61, 74%, in stolen bases. Our opponents are 27-of-40, 68%, so that’s a weapon to our advantage.

Patrick Raby put together another terrific start on Saturday, with our third stellar start in a row against Auburn. Rabes went 6.1 innings, gave up 5 hits, 1 run with 4 walks and 8 K’s. The home plate umpire had a pretty tight strike zone, so some of those walks came on very close pitches. Jake Eder came in and got hit around some, but Ethan Smith came in for the 9th and closed it out. Rabes moved to 7-1 on the season with a 2.77 ERA. Mason Hickman who came in relief of Drake Fellows on Thursday Night and pitched 4 solid innings, is 5-0 with a 2.04 ERA. Mason has been primarily our midweek guy. He’ll probably get the call tomorrow night against Tennessee Tech with first pitch at 6:30 at the Hawk with SEC Network+ broadcasting. Drake has been superb going a nation leading 9-0 with a 3.67 ERA. He had to battle Thursday Night through some incredibly challenging weather conditions, it was pouring and hard to grip the ball, but he recorded another victory to his and his team’s resume. Kumar Rocker was sensational again and is now 5-4 with a 4.31 ERA. But he has walked only 13 and struck out 51. His last 4 starts have been spectacular. He has lived up to his billing as one of the top recruits in the country in 2018. Our bullpen, besides Tyler Brown, Ethan Smith and most of the time Hugh Fisher, has struggled. We need to keep solidifying that group so we can be really a strong team heading into May. Great stuff from this baseball team though. Defense is very solid fielding at a .982 clip, 2nd in the conference and top 5 in the country. Our opponents are fielding at a .970 percentage.

We play @ South Carolina this weekend with Friday’s game at 6 PM CT on SEC Network+, Saturday’s game at 7 PM CT on ESPNU, and Sunday’s game at 12:30 PM CT on SEC Network+.

MLB guys

Dansby Swanson

Dans is hitting .250 for the Braves with 5 homers, 22 Ribbies, 5 doubles and 2 triples. He’s also stolen 2 out of 3 bases. Would like to see Dans get on board and run some more because he’s so fast. He was 1 for 3 yesterday with an RBI double in the Braves 8-7 victory over the Colorado Rockies at Sun Trust Stadium in Atlanta. The Braves are now 13-14 and 2 1/2 games back of the Phillies in the NL East. The Phils are 16-12. The Mets are 2nd at 14-13 and the Braves are 3rd. The Braves have been playing pretty well this season, just need some more consistency with the pitching. Bats are excellent. The Braves play the resurgent San Diego Padres in a 4 game series starting tonight at home. First pitches for tonight through Wednesday’s games are at 6:20 CT. Thursday’s game is at 11:10 AM CT. Then the Braves will head to Miami to play the Marlins over the weekend.

Bryan Reynolds

Bryan has gotten off to a blazing start for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The 24 year old rookie is hitting .429 with 9 hits in 21 plate appearances. Bryan has collected 4 doubles. He got a hit as a pinch hitter yesterday in a 7-6 loss to the Dodgers. Bryan is playing center for the Pirates. The Bucs are 12-14 and 4 1/2 games back of the NL Central leading St. Louis Cardinals, which are 17-10.

Tony Kemp

Tony has gotten off to a slow start this season for the Astros hitting only .184 but had a homer and a triple in the past week. He’s playing exceptional defense in left field as always. Would like to see Tony get that bat going because he is certainly capable of putting up stellar hitting numbers and he always plays outstanding defense and can steal bases with his gazelle like speed. The Astros are tough once again at 17-11 and leading the AL West by a 1/2 game over the Seattle Mariners, which are 18-13.

Curt Casali

Curt is hitting .306 with 0 homers and 5 RBIs for the Cincinnati Reds. Curt had a big game Friday Night versus the Cardinals in a 12-1 Reds’ victory. He was 3 for 5 with a double and 4 Ribeyes. He’s been doing an awesome job backing up the Reds starting catcher, Tucker Barnhart. The Reds are struggling a little at 11-18, but only 6 back of the Cards and have played some good baseball at times this season.

Sonny Gray

Sonny, of the Reds, lost a tough one to St. Louis yesterday, 5-2. Sonny pitched 5, gave up 3 hits, 2 earned runs, with a pair of walks and 5 K’s. He’s pitched well this season, but has no victories to show for it. Sonny is 0-4 with a 3.64 ERA and an 0.98 WHIP (walks +hits per inning pitched). The ERA is good and the WHIP is excellent. Anything under 1.10 is very good. Anything under 1.00 is terrific. If Sonny keeps pitching like this, good things are going to happen for him and his club.

Mike Minor

Mike, who has been awesome this season, was once again awesome Saturday Night going 7, giving up only 3 hits, 1 earned, a homer, with a walk and 13 K’s. Mike threw 111 pitches with 76 for strikes against 35 balls a better than 2:1 strike to ball ratio which is the baseline ratio of what you need to be successful. Mike is now 3-2 with a 2.88 ERA, an 0.91 WHIP and a .179 batters average against him, which is sensational. He has walked 12 and struck out 39. Mike has been phenomenal this season. The Rangers are playing solid baseball at 14-13 and only 2 1/2 back of the Astros in the AL West.

David Price

David took a hard luck loss Saturday, 2-1 to the Tampa Bay Rays. Dave went 6, gave up 4 hits, 2 earned, with 3 walks and 7 K’s. He gave up one homer to Tommy Pham of the Rays. David has pitched well. In 5 starts, his record is only 1-2, but his ERA is 3.60 and his WHIP is 1.07. Opponents batting average is .220 against him which is excellent. He has walked 8 and struck out 37. The Sox have dug themselves a hole. They lost 2 of 3 to the Rays at Fenway over the weekend to drop to 11-17 on the season. They’ve had some injuries to key players, but they need to get it together right now. They are 7 1/2 back of the Rays in the AL East. The amazing Rays are 18-9 and lead the surging Yankees (17-11) by a game and a half.

Walker Buehler

Walker has struggled some this season for the Dodgers though the team is doing well. Walk is 2-0, which is good, but has a 5,25 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP, Opponents are hitting .230 against him which is solid. He’s walked 8 and K’d 18. I think Walker is still dealing with an injury he sustained in spring training. Not the Walker Buehler we’re used to yet, but I’m sure he’ll get it crankin soon. Walker pitches tomorrow night @ the Giants. The Dodgers are 19-11 and lead the San Diego Padres by 2 games in the NL West..

Drew VerHagen

Drew is hanging tough with the Detroit Tigers as he is 1-0 with a 7.71 ERA. He has 7 walks and 7 K’s,. Needs to pick it up a little bit to play a more important role in the Tigers’ prospects this season. The Tigers are playing decent baseball at 12-14 and 4 1/2 games back of the Minnesota Twins in the AL Central. The Tigers are in 3rd. The Cleveland Indians are 2 back and in 2nd place at 15-12.

Stack lands commit for 2019

Vanderbilt Basketball Coach Jerry Stackhouse landed a third player to this 2019 class as 6’6”, 200 pound 87, 3 star small forward Jordan Wright committed to VU on Friday. Jordan is from Baton Rouge, LA, and chose us over offers from Georgia Tech, Houston, Texas A&M, TCU, Virginia Tech and Minnesota among others. Jordan was an all state and all metro selection by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association and helped his school Dunham win the Division III championship in 2018.

This season, he averaged 19.1 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists and was named first team All State in Louisiana by USA Today. According to the Baton Rouge Advocate in his senior season, Jordan scored a 30 on his ACT.

Jordan is the third pledge to the class joining 93 4 star power forward Dylan Disu (6’8”, 210) and 87 3 star point guard Scotty Pippen Jr., a 6’1” point guard. Both Disu and Pippen Jr have signed. Expecting Wright’s signature soon.

Stack may not be through with this class. There could be another commit-signee from high school and a transfer. We lost 4 star small forward Austin Crowley when Bryce Drew was fired and Yanni Wetzell and Matt Ryan appear to be transferring and Darius Garland and Simi Shittu going pro, but we have a pretty solid nucleus assembled for next season. With these 3 additions and maybe 1 or 2 more to go along with Saben Lee, Ejike Obinna, who is 6’10” and coming off a redshirt season, Aaron Nesmith, our great shooting guard, Maxwell Evans, who has good talent, 6’ 9” Clevon Brown and 6’9” power forward Matthew Moyer, we’ve got potential. Another player or 2 would help. Good stuff from Stack and the program. Will keep you posted.

New NFL guys from our program

As reported earlier, Joejuan Williams was selected in the second round by the New England Patriots joining established Patriots defensive tackle Adam Butler from VU. Justin Skule was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the 6th round. He’ll join Jordan Matthews in the Bay Area. JMatt signed a deal with the 49ers in the offseason. Kyle Shurmur signed as a free agent by the Kanas City Chiefs. Maybe Kyle can develop out there and if Patrick Mahomes has any injury issues, Kyle can get a shot. Running back Khari Blassingame signed as a free agent with the Minnesota Vikings joining Vanderbilt standout and Vikings starting defensive end Stephen Weatherly in MInnesota. Center Bruno Reagan will join Kyle in Kansas City as a free agent. Defensive end Dare Odeyingbo signed as a free agent deal with the Tampa Bay Bucs. Josh Smith, an excellent linebacker for us, signed with the Green Bay Packers where he will join Oren Burks, who is trying to make his way in Green Bay. Louis Vecchio, who had a very solid year for us as a graduate transfer from Penn, signed a free agent deal with the Philadelphia Eagles. Didn’t see anything on Jordan Griffin, which was surprising. Hoping Jordan can get picked up as well. He was a tackling machine for us last year and a total leader on his team.

Men’s Golf

The Men’s Golf team fell heartbreakingly to Arkansas in the quarterfinals of the SEC Championships on Saturday. We lost the Match Play match 3-2 to the Razorbacks. We had a 2-1 lead with 2 matches left, but Reid Davenport and Harrison Ott were defeated in 19 holes. Tough one. But we’re in the NCAA field which will be announced this Wednesday at 8 PM CT on Golf Channel’s Golf Central program. Play will begin on Monday, May 13th. Will let you know where we go. There are 81 teams and 45 individuals that will be selected to the 6 regional sites. The 45 individual players are from teams that don’t qualify for the NCAA’s. Thirteen teams and 10 individuals will qualify at 3 sites and 14 teams and 5 individuals will qualify at the other 3 sites. The host sites are Palouse Ridge Golf Club in Pullman, Washington, Stanford Golf Course at Stanford, CA., TPC Myrtle Beach in South Carolina, University of Louisville Golf Club in Kentucky, University of Georgia Golf Course in Athens and University of Texas Golf Club in Austin. The top 5 teams for each regional advance to the NCAA Championships at Blessings Golf Course in Fayetteville, Arkansas, May 24th-29th.

Disappointing finish for our team, but Arkansas did win it all, so we gave them everything they wanted and it was probably a good learning experience for our team heading into the NCAA’s. Will let you know on where we go after it’s announced Wednesday.

Women’s, Men’s Tennis

The Men’s and Women’s Tennis selection show is today at 5 and 5:30 PM CT. The Men’s Field will be announced at 5 PM CT and the Women will be announced at 5:30 PM CT.

The Women finished the season at 16-7 overall and 10-3 in the SEC’s falling to South Carolina in the semifinals of the SEC Championships after winning their quarterfinal match over Kentucky. But the women had a super year and Fernanda Contreras and Christina Rosca were named first team All SEC and freshman Georgia Drummy was named second team All SEC and named to the all Freshman team. We’ve got a great team and have a shot to go plenty of distance in the NCAA’s which we always do under Geoff McDonald. We are presently ranked 7th in the country..

The Men finished the season 34th in the country and Cameron Klinger was selected 2nd team All SEC. Cameron is ranked 87th in the country. We finished the season 15-11 and 4-8 in the SEC and lost to Kentucky in the second round of the SEC Tournament after winning in the opening round over Kentucky, 4-1.

So exciting stuff for both teams. Will let you know where our teams are headed. The women will most likely be hosting, while the men will probably have to travel.

Women’s Golf

Our No.7 Women’s Golf team has been selected to play in the Auburn Regional. There are 18 teams in 4 regional sites. The top 6 teams from each regional advance to the NCAA Championships at Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The Auburn regional will commence next Monday, May 6th and continue through Thursday, May 9th. The NCAA Championships will take place May 17th-22nd. Abby Carlson is ranked 2lst in the country and Austin Kim is 27th. In our regional, No.2 Duke is competing, No.9 Florida State, No.13 Auburn, No. 17 Virginia No. 26 Furman, No. 29 Clemson and No. 36 Alabama amongst the 18 team field.

Kumar terrific Friday Night to lead No.5 Dores, Men's Golf in quarters at SEC Championshop

Kumar Rocker was sensational last night in leading the No.5 Commodores to a 5-2 victory over Auburn in game 2 of the series before 3,534 fans at Hawkins Field.

Our hard throwing freshman right hander went 7, gave up 6 hits, 2 runs, with 1 walk and 10 ringups.
Kumar was dominating only allowing a run in the 4th and a run in the 5th. His fastball was hitting 91-93 and he had complete command of it and his breaking ball and change up were un-hittable. Kumar moved to 5-4 with a 4.09 ERA. He has been lights out the last 4 games he's pitched and is showing why he was such a highly coveted recruit that Corbs somehow lured from the MLB draft. His father and mother were in attendance cheering him on. Kumar's dad, Tracy, was the great defensive tackle for Auburn in the late 80's and is a stellar veteran assistant football coach now at Tennessee, unfortunately.
 
Stephen Scott gave us the bulk of our runs with a 3 run shot in the first inning over the right central field wall. That was Stephen's 6th homer of the season, and his 32nd, 33rd and 34th Ribeyes.

Ethan Paul and Harrison Ray also added RBI'S.

Austin Martin was 3 for 5 and is now hitting .416. That's a wow and is leading the SEC. A Mar is on fire. Philip Clarke was 3 for 4 with 2 doubles and raised his average to .323. Philip has been spectacular at the plate and behind the dish. Ty Duvall was also 2 for 4.

Hugh Fisher pitched the 8th and the 9th and got into a couple of bases loaded jams in both innings, but pitched out of them to record his 3rd save of the season. Hugh has a 2.16 ERA.

The Commodores moved to 33-9 and 14-6 in SEC play and now lead the SEC standings overall. No.4 Georgia lost to No.8 Mississippi State at State last night, 19-3, to fall to 13-6 in conference play. No.9 Arkansas is leading the west at 13-6.

So big game 3 today at 1 PM on SEC Network+. Patrick Raby takes the hill for us. Rabes is 6-1 with a 2.94 ERA and pitched well last Sunday at Alabama. Rabes will face Auburn lefty Brooks Fuller, who is 2-1 with a 3.78 ERA. Would be huge to get a sweep over a pretty good Tigers team.

Men's Golf at the SEC's

The Men's Golf    
team finished 2nd to Auburn at the SEC Championship stroke play yesterday to qualify for the 8 team match play today.

Auburn shot -24 and we finished -8 in a tough day for scoring with a lot of wind and difficult pin placements.

We just started teeing off against Arkansas in the quarters. The quarterfinals and semifinals are today and the finals are tomorrow at Sea Island, GA. with the SEC Network televising the finals tomorrow at 6:30 AM CT. Need a big performance from Will Gordon, Patrick Martin, Johnny "Clutch" Augenstein , Harrison Ott and Reid Davenport. We've got an awesome team. As Coach Scott Limbaugh said yesterday, we hope to get a lot of fans out to the Seaside Course supporting our team. Huge day for golf. Will keep you posted today on both teams.

Joejuan Williams

Our superb cornerback was selected by the New England Patriots in the 2nd round as the 45th pick. Huge stuff for the man. Adam Butler is already a key member of the Pats. Bill Belichick likes Vanderbilt football players. Can’t wait to see Joejuan and Adam compete next year for the 6 time Super Bowl champs.

Kyle Shurmur, Justin Skule, Bruno Reagan, Jordan Griffin, LaDarius Wiley, Josh Smith and Dare Odeyingbo still on the board. Hope all of them get drafted, but if not, get signed as free agents and have a chance to make their respective teams. Will keep you posted on all our guys’ prospects.

Dores pound out 13 hits, 12 runs in victory over Auburn, Scotty Pippen Jr. Men's Golf

Austin Martin was 3 for 4 with 3 Ribeyes, 2 stolen bases and 2 runs scored to lead the No.5 Commodores to a 12-6 victory over No. 25 Auburn last night at Hawkins Field.

The great Austin is now hitting .409 on the season and leading the SEC in hitting. Ethan Paul, Philip Clarke, Stephen Scott and Pat DeMarco each had 2 hits. Scott belted his 5th homer of the season and 22nd in his career over the right central field wall in the 2nd inning part of a 3 run 2nd. The Dores scored 4 times in the 3rd, 4 times in the 6th and added a run in the 7th. Julian Infante had a 2 run single and Paul, Clarke, Harrison Ray, Scott and DeMarco each had an RBI.

Drake Fellows started and performed pretty well in challenging pitching conditions with a hard rain going on in the first 3 innings of his start. It was tough to grip the ball. Auburn starter Tanner Burns had trouble as well and there were wild pitches and hit batters. There was a stoppage of play in the 3rd due to the weather. But Drake hung tough like he always does and got through 5, giving up 6 hits, 4 earned with 1 walk and 4 K’s. Mason Hickman, who has been sensational in mid week games this season, pitched the final 4 frames, giving up 4 hits, 2 earned with 2 walks and 8 K’s. Both Drake and Mason are strike throwers. That is such an asset in pitching. The fielders know to be alert because the pitcher is always going to be around the plate. Drake moved to a nation leading 9-0 and has a 3.67 ERA. Mason picked up his 3rd save and is now 5-0 with 3 saves and a sparkling 2.04 ERA.

We moved to 32-9 overall and 13-6 in the SEC. We are now tied with Georgia for the SEC East lead and both us and Georgia lead the conference overall with our 13-6 records. Arkansas leads the west at 12-6 . No.4 Georgia plays at No.9 Mississippi State this weekend and No.8 Arkansas hosts No. 20 Tennessee for a weekend set with both series starting tonight.

We face Auburn again tonight at 7 on the SEC Network. Freshman Kumar Rocker (4-4, 4.61 ERA) gets the call for us and Kumar will square off with Auburn righty Richard Fitts (3-2, 4.55 ERA).

Great stuff happening with the team. Need to keep it cookin.

Scotty Pippen Jr.

SP2 has now signed with Stack and Vanderbilt. That gives us 2 signees for this 2019 class along with 6’8” 4 star power forward Dylan Disu. SP2 is a high 3 star point guard with a ton of skill. He could step in right away next season and allow Saben to move over to the 2 which would be huge for us as Saban could dominate at the 2 spot. We are going to lose Simi Shittu to the draft and Matt Ryan and Yanni Wetzell are most likely transferring, but Coach Stackhouse is still out recruiting hard for players in this 2019 class and for 2020. There are some quality guys left and Stack and assistant David Grace are working hard to secure another player or 2 for this class and for players in 2020. Like what Stack is doing. He’s an awesome guy, and with his credentials, he can land some big names. Next year will be interesting. We won’t have a ton of depth underneath, but we’ll have enough, and a good backcourt, so we can be very competitive and have a shot at the tournament. And I like the way Stack is shaping this program up for the future. SP2 is a 6’1”, 165 point guard. He needs to put on some more size, but he is highly skilled and can give us supreme quickness with Saben in the backcourt. He is also Scottie Pippen’s son so those genes are spectacular.

Men’s Golf 2nd at SEC Championship

Our golf team is 2nd at the SEC Championship at Sea Island, GA. We are at -8 and Auburn leads at -22. Auburn is going off. The top 8 teams after today’s 3rd round of stroke play will square off in the match play starting tomorrow. Hoping we can finish strong and solidify 2nd and gear up for tomorrow. Georgia is 3rd at -5 and the next team is Tennessee at +1, so if we can play a steady round and maybe get it explosive on the remainder of the holes we can have a lot of momentum heading into tomorrow’s first round of match play. We are on holes 6-8 as is Auburn.

Raby, Bleday lead team in sweep of Alabama

Patrick Raby was electric yesterday at Sewell Thomas Stadium in Tuscaloosa and JJ Bleday just keeps hitting bombs and playing like the best player in the country.

The No.5 Commodores rode those 2 studs along with some other contributors to a 2-0 victory over the Crimson Tide and a sweep of the series. We moved to 31-9 overall and 12-6 in the SEC, a half game back of Georgia (13-5) in the SEC East. Alabama fell to 24-17 and 4-14. Alabama may not have a stellar record, but they’re a growing, developing team and got some solid pitching yesterday, but we did just enough at the plate to support an outstanding performance from Rabes, Hugh Fisher and closer Tyler Brown who were all 3 spectacular.

Rabes went 6, gave up only 2 hits, 0 runs, with 4 walks and 8 K’s. I know he wants to get the walks number down, but he was around the plate and the home plate umpire was calling it tight, so the 4 walks could have been 1 walk. Really liked what I saw out of our senior leader of the staff. Rabes moved to 6-1 on the season with a 2.94 ERA. He was hitting 93 with his fastball, and his changeup and curve were dynamite. Rabes has gained some more velocity on his fastball. Shows how hard he works on his craft. Hugh Fisher came in for the 7th and hit a batter, but struck out 2 with his 95-97 MPH fastball and performed well. Tyler Brown closed it out in another stellar performance going 2 innings giving up just 1 hit, 0 runs with 0 walks and 1 K. Tyler earned his 9th save of the season.

And the awesome Bleday did it again at the plate going deep to left field for his 20th homer of the season, tied with Tulane’s Kody Hoase for the national lead. JJ has 53 Ribeyes as well. Philip Clarke drove in the other run with an RBI single that scored Ethan Paul who had doubled right before Philip. Philip was 2 for 3 with the RBI single and a double and Stephen Scott was 2 for 2.

Austin Martin didn’t get a hit yesterday, but is still hitting .400. JJ is hitting .363, Ethan is hitting .348 with 5 homers and 36 Ribbies along with 14 doubles, Stephen is hitting .313, with 4 homers, 30 RBIs and a team leading 15 doubles. Philip has been on a tear and is now hitting .307 with 6 homers and 47 Ribbies. Pat DeMarco is back in center and it’s awesome to have him back from injury. Pat’s average has climbed to .247 and he’s been hitting well the past 2 days after being out for a month with injury. Harrison Ray is hitting .271 and gives us quality performances at the plate and at second base. We committed 1 error yesterday, Austin committed it on a tough chopper to third, but we’re still fielding at a .982 clip which is tied for tops in the conference with State and 2nd nationally along with MS State.

Our average as a team is .311. Our team ERA is 3.70, pretty solid and getting better after a strong weekend of pitching. If we can do all three of those things like we did this weekend, we’ve got a shot to go some serious distance in late May and June.

We have no mid week game, and will face Auburn this weekend starting Thursday Night at the Hawk. We open at 6:30 PM CT on Thursday on ESPNU. Drake will be on the hill. Friday, our game is at 7 PM CT on the SEC Network with the surging Kumar Rocker taking the mound. Saturday’s finale will be a matinee at 1 Pm with Rabes on the hill. SEC Network+ will broadcast. I’ll have the Auburn hurlers later in the week.

So great stuff from our baseball team. Corbs is a day to day guy and all he cares about right now is having a good day of practice on Tuesday as I expect the team to be off today. Another huge test this weekend against No.25 Auburn. Like where the team is trending though.

David Price

Dave pitched a heckuva game yesterday. He went only 5 throwing 100 pitches, 64 for strikes against 36 balls, but allowed 5 hits with 2 earned, 2 walks and a season high 10 K’s. The Red Sox ended up winning in the 11th over the Tampa Bay Rays, 4-3, so David didn’t get the victory. He is now 1-1 with a 3.75 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP, walks and hits per inning, which is outstanding. Anything under 1.05 is exceptional. David has been a stopper for the Sox, which have been struggling but just swept the AL East leading Rays at Tampa, to move to 9-13, 5 back of the 14-8 Rays. David pitches again at Fenway on Friday versus the very good Charlie Morton and the Rays. Red Sox look like they could be heating up. They need to.

Mike Minor

Mike pitched a classic last Tuesday at Globe Life Park in Arlington for the Texas Rangers. Mike pitched a complete game shutout going the distance, giving up just 3 hits, 0 runs, with 2 walks and 7 K’s. Mike is hitting 95 with his fastball this year and his changeup, cutter and curve are electric. Mike is now 2-1 on the season with a 2.60 ERA and an 0.94 WHIP, which is unreal good. Love where MIke is right now. The Rangers are playing good ball at 12-8, 1 1/2 games behind AL West leading Seattle which is at 16-8. The Astros are at 13-8, so good stuff from Mike and the Rangers.

Sonny is pitching very well for the Reds, he’s had a resurgence in Cincinnati. Walker has been Walker for the Dodgers which is superb as always. They pitched against each other last Wednesday with Walker collecting the victory, 3-2, but both pitched very well. Dans hitting .258, and had his average up over .300, so would like to see that get back up, but he’s playing solid as usual for a very solid Braves team that is 11-10 after taking 2 of 3 from Cleveland over the weekend. Bryan Reynolds was 3 for 4 for the Pittsburgh Pirates yesterday playing center field. Bryan could have had the game tying RBI as he doubled with a man on first, but the runner was thrown out at home. Bryan looking like he’s going to stick with the Pirates. Tony Kemp and Curt Casali still playing key roles on the Astros and Reds respectively. Will have more on our MLB guys later in the week.

Stack

I’m starting to really like this out of the box hire by AD Malcolm Turner. Stack was very impressive in his interview with Joe Fisher. I like that he talks about toughness and defense and playing uptempo. He played at North Carolina under Dean Smith, so you know Jerry Stackhouse can coach offense as well. Stack has named 3 assistants and he’s kept 6’9” 4 star power forward Dylan Disu, which is huge. Now if he can just get Scotty Pippen JR to stick with us and keep Matt Ryan and Yanni Wetzell on the team we can be a pretty solid team next year. Like what we have in Stack. He’s going to do an excellent job.

Joejuan Williams

Joejuan is getting ready for the draft on Thursday and Friday. ESPN NFL draft experts Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay have Joejuan going in the third round. Kiper has him going to the Carolina Panthers. Would love to see the man even go higher. He had an awesome career at VU and want him to excel on the next level and also hope he can finish out his degree at VU in the 2020 offseason. Justin Skule, Jordan Griffin, Bruno Reagan, Josh Smith and LeDarius Wiley are some others who could be drafted and at least be free agents with shots to make their respective teams. Will keep you posted.

Men’s Golf

Our men’s golf team will be competing in the SEC Championship in Sea Island, GA beginning Wednesday. There will be 3 rounds of stroke play followed by 2 days of match play. The top 8 teams out of 14 will qualify for the match play out of the stroke play. Scott Limbaugh’s team is ranked No.4 by Golfstat and looks to add another SEC title to their resume. We won it 2 years ago. Then we’ll prepare for the NCAA’s. Will Gordon, Patrick Martin, John Augenstein and the guys are a formidable unit, so I expect another stellar performance out of our team this week and beyond that. I’ll keep you updated on our men.

Women’s tennis

Geoff McDonald’s team fell to South Carolina on Saturday in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament. We’re ranked in the top 10 in the country and start NCAA Regional play Friday, May 3rd. We’ll more than likely host the first 2 rounds. We’ve got a solid team. Would really like to see Fernanda Contreras and the team continue the stellar tradition of our program under the guidance of the great McDonald.

I’ll have more stuff coming up later this week and next including a look at our 2020 football commits, there are 3 of them, high 3 star quarterback Ken Seals, solid 3 star receiver Logan Kyle and solid 3 star O lineman Bradley Ashmore Watched tape on all 3 and really liked what I saw. Much more to come on football. I need to go over the 2019 class which is a solid group. And general thoughts on the team. Thanks.

The Masters Tournament preview, prediction

Tough hole No.11 the start of the famed Amen Corner, 11-12-13 will lead to high drama on Sunday. (Photo, Golf.com).

The 83rd Masters

Key holes

The Backside at Augusta National will be sizzling on Sunday afternoon on CBS

No.10: Par 4, 495 yards

A long hole that can play shorter if the drive catches the slope in the fairway. The second shot is critical here as the player hits to a green that is sloping right to left. Short right is in the sand trap and is a difficult up and down for par. T

No.11: Par 4 505 yards

The beginning of Amen Corner (holes 11-13), this hole is a difficult, long par 4, that puts a premium on your approach shot. If the competitor misses to the left of the green, he is in the water. A lot of players will bail out to the right and try to get up and down for par. Par is a good score here.

No.12: Par 3, 155 yards

This hole always tests a player's focus and resolve as there is almost always a prevailing wind that is either in the players face or at his back. Club selection and mental calmness under the storm are at a premium here. Fred Couples caught a huge break in 1992 on this hole when his ball held up on the bank and didn't go into Rae's Creek off his tee shot. That would have been devastating for Freddie. He got up and down and went on to win his only major title, though he also won 14 other times, including the 1996 Players Championship, the players' fifth major. Still, this was Fred's crowning achievement in golf.

No.13: Par 5, 510

An accurate tee shot to the center of the fairway sets up a player to go for it over a tributary of Rae's Creek that fronts the green. The second shot is another under the gun, clutchness challenge. There are four bunkers behind the putting surface. Short can be devastating on Sunday, as you're going swimming. Long can make for a difficult up and down for birdie. Birdie can be pretty critical here on Sunday for the players chasing, and for the player who is leading. One of the key moments in Masters  history was Phil Mickelson's six iron out of the pine straw and through the trees to four feet in 2010. He missed his eagle putt, but he birdied, which helped Phil clinch his third Green Jacket.

No.14:  Par 4, 440 yards

This is the only hole on the course without bunkers, but players must avoid trees on the left and right off the tee. The green is severely contoured and feeds the ball to the right. Phil holed out for eagle here on Saturday in 2010 during an eagle-eagle-birdie stretch that helped him get into the final group on Sunday in his victory that year. Bernhard Langer and chairman Billy Payne had an argument over 14 at a champions dinner several years ago. Langer got up and said there should be some changes to the 14th hole. Payne immediately interrupted and said, "This is not a place for this discussion. This dinner is over with." You don't mess with Augusta National. 

No.15: Par 5, 530 yards

A cluster of pines on the right side of the fairway is coming into play so accuracy, hitting it down the pipe, is critical off the tee. The green can be reached in two with a good tee shot, but there is a pond in the front guarding the green and a bunker on the right side of the green. Even for those players laying up, the third shot requires a precision wedge. Tiger Woods was one shot back of the lead in 2013 when his wedge hit the flagstick and caromed into the water. He went back and dropped but there was a controversy on where he dropped the ball. He made bogey, but his incorrect drop was not discovered until after the round. He was allowed to stay in the tournament because of a committee error. Woods finished tied for fourth that year.

No.16: Par 3, 170 yards

The hole plays entirely over water and eventually bends to the left. Two bunkers guard the right side of the green and the green slopes significantly from right to left. The pin on Sunday is typically back left and on the lower shelf, so pars from the top shelf of the green are rare. Tiger Woods' amazing chip in 2005 in which his ball took a U turn and rolled toward the hole taking two seconds before dropping in the cup giving him a two shot lead over Chris DiMarco and the eventual victory is one of the more memorable shots in Masters history, but there have been so many on this hole.

No.17: Par 4, 440 yards

The tee shot is easier because the Eisenhower tree was lost to an ice storm in 2014. The green is protected by two bunkers in front. Jack sank his final birdie from 12 feet in 1986 to secure his 18th and final major at age 46. "Yes Sir!"

N0.18: Par 4 465 yards

One of the most demanding finishing holes in golf, this uphill dogleg right is protected off the tee by two deep bunkers down the fairway to the left about 280-285 yards out. The drive is through a chute between two sets of trees on the player's right and left sides. A middle iron is required on a highly tension filled approach shot. There is a bunker in front and on the right side of the green. Adam Scott birdied here in 2013 from 25 feet and Angel Cabrera followed him up with a birdie from four feet to set up a playoff which Scott won on No.10, the first playoff hole. It was a clutch city performance by both players. Should be an electric finish.

Observations

The 83rd Masters Tournament has an interesting plot this year. There are no clear cut favorites. There are a lot of very good players in the field with this crop of talent in the game today, but I’m not seeing closers amongst this group. I’m not seeing Nicklaus, Palmer, Player, Watson, Trevino, Ballesteros and Faldo amongst these guys.

Dustin Johnson has terrific physical talent, but doesn’t seem to have it upstairs when it counts. Any time he’s the favorite, and even when he’s got the lead in a major after the second round like last year in the U.S. Open and looked unstoppable, he fails to close the deal

Rory is that kind of player as well. He seems to not get it done when you think he is going to.

Justin Thomas is a great player, but hasn’t proven that he can win more than 1 major.

Jordan Spieth is a little out of sorts right now, so you don’t know what you’re going to get from him either.

Jason Day, I don’t see him winning.

Brooks Koepka has been great at the U.S. Open the last 2 years and also won the PGA last year, but he hasn’t really ever been a factor at Augusta.

Rickie Fowler, Don’t see him as a closer in majors.

Justin Rose, possibly, but not a super track record at Augusta either.

Tiger Woods, possibly, he’s a 4 time winner in 1997, 2001, 2002 and 2005, so he’s got a shot and he was definitely a closer for a long time. But I’m not exactly bullish on him.

Patrick Reed , the defending champion, pretty critical of his teammates at the Ryder Cup, which I’m not sure wasn’t warranted, but he’s not playing that well either.

Phil, Not out of the question.

So, I’m going to take the 36 year old from Turin Italy. He won the Arnie and his performance at the Open Championship last year was beyond spectacular. Give me:

Francesco Molinari

Like Molinari to capture his second major in a year (Photo, Golf Digest).

Sleepers

Tony Finau

Tommy Fleetwood

TV coverage

Thursday-Friday, 2-6:30 PM CT, ESPN

Saturday, 2-6:30 PM CT, CBS

Sunday, 1-6 PM CT, CBS

Weather

Thursday-great, high 83, winds 10-16 MPH, so wind a factor

Friday-pretty good, 84, chance of a shower, winds 9-13

Saturday, Mostly cloudy, 84, winds 6-10

Sunday, Chance for Strong T storms, hopefully not on Sunday at Augusta, Winds 13-18.

NBA Champion

Playoffs start Saturday on ESPN, TNT and ABC

The Warriors are the favorites once again, but I’m seeing a soap opera out there. Kevin Durant is a bitter, disgruntled player right now, and with Draymond Green, who knows what’ll happen with him and how many technicals he’ll accumulate and maybe cost his team. I see them getting through the west and defeating James Harden, who hasn’t ever proven it in the playoffs, and the Rockets, but I like Milwaukee and the “Greek Freak” Giannis Antetokounmpo, a superb basketball player, who I like as MVP over Harden, to win out in the east over the Toronto Raptors and Kawai Leonard, and with the home court advantage in the championship series, I like Giannis and the Bucks to upset the Warriors. Like the Milwaukee Bucks to hoist the Lawrence O’Brien Trophy in June, the first time Milwaukee has done that since 1971 (48 years) when Kareem Abdul Jabbar was there and was unstoppable and was named Lou Alcinder at the time. Giannis is a force.

Bucks over Warriors in 7

UVA is national champs after a terrific performance; Stanley Cup predictions

What was expected to be a defensive slugfest turned into an outstanding offensive game with some stellar defensive play mixed in.

De’Andre Hunter poured in 27 points including a game tying trifecta with 12 seconds left in regulation on a tremendous dish by Ty Jerome and the Cavaliers sank 12 of 12 free throws in overtime to capture their first national championship in school history, 85-77, over a hard fighting Texas Tech team.

Kyle Guy, the hero of the semifinal victory over Auburn and the Final Four’s Most Valuable Player, added 24. Hunter was 4 for 5 from 3 while Guy was 4 for 9. Hunter added 9 boards and Ty Jerome played a tremendous floor game scoring 16 points and dishing out 8 assists.

Virginia just kept making clutch shot after clutch shot to win the national title. Mamadi Diakite kept the Cavaliers hopes alive in the Elite Eight by sinking a 12 foot jumper as time expired in regulation to send their game with Purdue into overtime where the Cavaliers won 80-75. Then Guy had his heroics on Saturday versus Auburn, and Hunter came through in a hugely clutch way last night.

After getting shocked by Maryland-Baltimore County in the first round last year, the first time in the history of the tournament a No.1 seed has lost to a 16 seed, the Cavaliers were not going to be denied this year.

Well done, UVA.

Stanley Cup Predictions

The electric Stanley Cup playoffs commence tomorrow night and the Tampa Bay Lightning, which won 62 games this season, tying the NHL record set by the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings along with 128 points, fourth most in NHL history, 4 short of the record held by the 1976-77 Montreal Canadians, will try to buck an interesting playoff statistic. Of the 14 teams that have won the President’s Trophy for the best regular season in the NHL since the salary cap era has been in existence (Tampa Bay was 62-16-4), only 2 of those teams have won the Stanley Cup, the 2007-08 Red Wings and the 2012-13 Chicago Blackhawks. So history seems to be against the Lightning winning it all.

There is great talent throughout the playoffs. Alexander Ovechkin of the defending Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals led the league once again in goals with 51. “The Great 8” has led the NHL in goals 8 times, which is the most in NHL history. The 33 year old from Moscow, Russia is hungry again as is his team, a charismatic, passionate, exciting group to watch. So much heart on that team.

Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov led the league in points with 128. He scored 41 goals, good for 6th in the league and dished out 87 assists, best in the league by 12 over second place Connor McDavid of Edmonton, who had 75.

Tampa Bay also led the league in goals per game at 3.89. Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevsky tied for 6th in save percentage at .925. Ben Bishop of Dallas led the league at .934.

So can the Lightning buck this unusual trend with regular season champions not succeeding in the playoffs? Here are my predictions.

Eastern Conference Final

Tampa Bay over Washington in 7

The defending champs play with a ton of pride and heart, but just come up short to the powerhouse Lighting. It’ll be a war.

Western Conference Final

Calgary over Nashville in 7

The Flames had the best record in the west at 50-25-7 and finished with the most points in the west with 107. Like them to outlast the Preds in a hard fought series as well.

Stanley Cup Final

Maybe that stat has the odds stacked against Tampa winning it all, but I trust the 25 year old from Maykop, Russia, Kucherov, the 24 year old Russian, Vasilevsky and the great Canadian 29 year old Steven Stamkos along with a loaded roster to bring Tampa home its first Stanley Cup.

Tampa Bay over Calgary in 5

Like Nikita Kucherov and the Lighting to bring home the Cup in June (Photo NHL.com)

TV

NBC Sports Network, CNBC, USA and NBC will televise the playoffs. They start tomorrow night. NBC will broadcast the Stanley Cup Final in June with the great “Doc” Emrick on the call.

Virginia vs. Texas Tech in the National Championship game

The Virginia Cavaliers slipped by Auburn Saturday, 63-62, in heartbreaking fashion for the Tigers. After Auburn had taken a 4 point lead, 61-57, on 2 clutch free throws by Anfernee Mclemore with 17 seconds left after coming back from 57-47 deficit with 5;24 remaining, Kyle Guy sank what looked like an impossible 3 pointer with 9 seconds left. Jared Harper was fouled with 7 seconds left and sank 1 0f 2 free throws.

Auburn had fouls to give and fouled Virginia twice. On the second one, the replay showed that Ty Jerome had actually double dribbled, but the referees didn’t see it. On the inbounds with 1.5 seconds left, Guy got a three off just as the buzzer was close to sounding. Samir Doughty was defending and fouled Guy on the shot. It was very close, but was a foul. According to the rule, Doughty impeded Guy from completing the shot as he came down on him as Guy was finishing his shot. It was a tough call to make at the end of the game, but it was a legitimate foul. Down 62-60, Guy, an 81% free throw shooter, calmly and courageously sank all 3 free throws.

It was tough for Auburn fans to take. It was heartbreaking. But the call was accurate even though it looked like Auburn had won the game when Guy’s shot missed its mark.

Texas Tech soundly defeated Michigan State, 61-51, with their suffocating defense.

This should be quite a defensive battle tonight. Here are the details.

No.1 South Seed Virginia (34-3) vs. No.3 West Seed Texas Tech (31-6)

U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, (66,655)

8:20 PM CT

CBS

Jim, Grant, Bill, Trace

Studio: Ernie, Clark, Kenny, Chucksedo

UVA by 1

UVA has the top scoring defense in the country only allowing 55 points per game while the Red Raiders have the best defensive efficiency team in the country. UVA features superb shooters in Guy, Ty Jerome and De’Andre Hunter. I like Guy, Jerome and Hunter to be the difference here in an intensely fought game with defense and 3 point shooting at a premium. Jarrett Culver, Matt Mooney and the underrated explosive Red Raiders’ offense and superior defense will give Virginia everything they want, but I like Guy and company to sink one more bucket and earn UVA their first national championship in program history.

Virginia 62, Texas Tech 60

Number 5 Dores take opener in Athens in 11

Walker Grisanti cranked his first home run of the season last night in Athens. It couldn’t have come at a more opportune time.

Walker, batting for Julian Infante with one out in the top of the 9th with the Dores down 2-1, cranked a pitch over the right field wall to tie the game at 2 in dramatic fashion. Then in the top of the 11th, shortstop Ethan Paul went yard to right to put us up 3-2 and then Tyler Brown shut down the Dawgs in the bottom of the 11th to lead our No.5 Commodore baseball team to a dramatic 3-2 victory over the No.4 Georgia Bulldogs in Athens.

Drake Fellows got the start and pitched fantastically well going going 7, giving up 5 hits, 2 earned with a walk and 6 K’s. Superb performance by our stud junior. Lefty Zach King came on in the 8th and pitched 2 scoreless innings giving up just one hit, 0 runs with a walk and 2 K’’s. Then Tyler Brown came on in the 10th and pitched 2 scoreless running into a little trouble in the 11th with a runner on 2nd and 1 out getting a strikeout and a fly ball to JJ Bleday in right to close out the game.

It was one terrific baseball game and a huge win for us. We moved to 24-6 overall and 7-3 in the SEC. Georgia dropped to 25-6, 7-3. We are now tied with Georgia for the Eastern Division lead in the SEF. LSU leads the west at 7-3.

Righty Patrick Raby (5-0, 1.22 ERA) goes for us today against Georgia’s LHP C.J. Smith (2-1, 2.49).

First pitch is at 1 PM and will be broadcast by SEC Network+. Another huge contest for us. Hopefully, Rabes, the defense and bats get us over the hump again.

Will give a report tomorrow. Monday, Stack hire, baseball, football and MLB report.

Sonny pitched a brilliant game last night for the Reds going 6.2 innings, giving up 3 hits with 0 walks and 7 K’s. Sonny looked like Sonny. Unfortunately, the Reds lost 2-0 to the Pirates.

Mike Minor pitched a gem Wednesday Night at Arlington going 7 innings, giving up 5 hits, 0 runs with 2 walks and 7 K’s in a 4-0 Texas Rangers victory over the Houston Astros.

‘David (vs Dbacks) , Walker (vs Rockies) and Kyle Wright (Braves vs Marlins) in action tonight. Dansby and the Braves have been playing well winning 4 in a row to move to 4-3. Dans hitting .316. Tony getting action for the Astros. Will have more on him and Curt Casali as well on Monday.

Final Four Predictions

Minneapolis is this year’s host for the 2019 Final Four with an interesting quartet competing for the ultimate prize in college basketball. This group of teams is an inspiring lot. No traditional blue bloods, though Michigan State boasts 10 Final Fours and national championships in 1979 with Magic Johnson and with Coach Tom Izzo in 2000 to its resume. UVA has been to 3 Final Fours now, but it’s been a while. The last 2 were in 1981 and 1984. The Cavaliers have not won a national championship. Auburn and Texas Tech have never been to the Final Four, but they are talented, experienced teams.

All 4 are blue collar outfits. Michigan State can defeat you with stellar defense and their amazing point guard, Cassius Winston, and some nice complimentary players. Texas Tech is another outstanding defensive team that can sink 3 pointers and wear you down. Virginia is another standout defensive group that plays pack line defense taking away most of the scoring in the paint with their aggressive close downs in the middle of the lane and with their length down low. Auburn is an electric offensive team led by their tremendous guards, Jared Harper and Bryce Brown. Harper scored 26 and Brown poured in 24 in a 77-71 Elite Eight overtime victory over Kentucky. Losing Chuma Okeke in the Sweet 16 against UNC was painful, but this Tiger team is a resilient group that can play pressure packed defense that causes multiple turnovers they can turn into points. They’re fast, athletic and can really knock down threes.

Here are predictions for this unique Final Four on Saturday.

Record since Sweet 16: 8-4

No.5 Midwest seed Auburn (30-9) vs. No.1 South seed

Virginia (33-3)

U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, MN. (66,655)

5:09 PM CT

CBS

Jim “Hello Friends” Nantz, Bill Raftery, Grant, Trace

UVA by 5 1/2

The Auburn Tigers have been the hottest team in college basketball for the past month. In order to come out victorious against a tough UVA defense and some pretty clutch 3 point shooters in Kyle Guy, Ty Jerome and DeAndre Hunter, the Tigers will have to make double digit 3’s. I see them putting up 30 or more. If they can sink 12 to 15, I very much like their chances. I like the Tigers to do that, get past UVA barely and move on to Monday Night.

Auburn 77, Virginia 74

No. 3 West seed Texas Tech (30-6) vs. No.2 East Seed Michigan State

(32-6)

7:49 PM CT

CBS

Jim, Bill, Grant, Trace

MIch State by 2 1/2

Like Auburn and UVA, these 2 teams are highly resilient. Michigan State battled through injuries to key players this season with their 2 constants being Tom Izzo on the bench and Cassius Winston on the floor. Chris Beard has done a phenomenal job in Lubbock and his team is aggressive and confident. These are 2 shutdown defensive teams. This is a tough one as the line shows. I like the Spartans to come out on top, but in a supreme battle like Auburn-Virginia. Cassius Winston and his lunch pale teammates get the job done slightly over a tough, hard nosed Red Raider team.

Michigan State 58, Texas Tech 56

Elite Eight predictions

Sweet 16 Record: 5-3

Seed Numbers in front of teams

Today

West Region

No.3 Texas Tech (29-6) vs. No. 1 Gonzaga (33-3)

Honda Center, Anaheim, CA. 18,336

5:09 PM CT

TBS

Gonzaga by 4 1/2

I picked against Gonzaga in the Sweet 16 opting for Florida State, but I missed that one. They played some terrific defense against the Noles and they really know how to score. The Red Raiders bring some serious defense to this game, but so does Gonzaga, and they’re a better on offense than Tech. Going with Bama Golf, who has Gonzaga winning it all. He could be right.

Gonzaga 65, Texas Tech 60

South Region

No.3 Purdue (26-9) vs. No.1 Virginia (32-3)

KFC Yumi Center, Louisville, KY. 22,090

7:49 PM CT

TBS

UVA by 4 1/2

Purdue is quite an offensive juggernaut with the great Carsen Edwards, who scored 29 points on Thursday in a 99-94 overtime victory over Tennessee. But maybe the bigger story was the shooting of Ryan Cline, who was 7 of 10 from 3 and scored 27 points before fouling out. Cline connected on big shot after big shot. It was miraculous shooting really.

With that said, I’m still bullish on this UVA team. Kyle Guy, Ty Jerome and De’Andre Hunter are 3 of the top trios in college basketball. And UVA plays some serious defense. I like the Cavs’ defense to hold Purdue enough in check and for Guy, Jerome and Hunter to make the shots to get Virginia to the Final Four, finally, after years of having excellent teams that fall just short.

Virginia 70, Purdue 64

Sunday

Midwest

No.5 Auburn (29-9) vs. No.1 Kentucky (30-6)

Sprint Center, Kansas City 18,972

1:20 PM CT

CBS

Kentucky by 3

I doubted Auburn yesterday mainly because I picked UNC to win it all.I knew it would be a hard fought game and Auburn would be tough to defeat. Auburn proved they were hard to defeat and then some laying it on the Tar Heels, 97-80. Auburn is a phenomenal team. Even with the loss of Chuma Okeke, who is out for the rest of the tournament with a serious knee injury suffered last night after he was dominating scoring 20 points and pulling down 11 boards, I still believe in this team. Okeke is definitely a blow, but the depth of the talent is still there. Danjel Purifoy, Austin Wiley and Anfernee McLemore filled in admirably and played terrifically well. The whole team did. Okeke’s loss is very tough because not only is he a spectacular player, but he’s also such an awesome teammate and person. The team loves him. Bruce Pearl was visibly upset after the game in saying that Okeke’s knee injury was most likely serious.

But sometimes that works to a team’s advantage. They play even harder for their injured teammate. I see the Tigers playing inspired ball. J’Von McCormick played some awesome minutes coming off the bench for the Tigers finishing with 12. Samir Doughty is an awesome player. Malik Dunbar is as well. And, of course, Jared Harper and Bryce Brown give some supreme marksmanship from trifecta, along with a lot of the other guys. But those guys are gunslingers and they’re accurate from deep and very deep.

Kentucky is an excellent team, they’ve already beaten the Tigers twice this season including a shellacking at Rupp. But it’s extremely hard to defeat a team 3 times in a season, and I’m ridin with the Tigers to move on to the program’s first Final Four. Like Auburn to go to Minneapolis.

Auburn 78, Kentucky 76

East Region

No.2 Michigan State (31-6) vs. No.1 Duke (32-5)

Capital One Arena, DC, 20,356

4:05 PM CT

CBS

Duke by 1 1/2

Duke has been getting by barely by the skin of their teeth in the round of 32 versus Central Florida, 77-76, when a tip in by UCF as time expired rolled around the rim and impossibly fell out. Then against Virginia Tech last night, an inbounds play in the last seconds gave VA Tech a tip in opportunity as well, but it just missed too which would have sent the game into overtime,. Duke won 75-73.

I see Duke’s luck running out here. Tom Izzo and stellar point guard Cassius Winston knock the Blue Devils off.

Michigan State 68, Duke 66

Baseball sizzling, MLB guys, basketball coaching search, football spring game Saturday

Our baseball team is doin some serious work right now. Last weekend at the Hawk, we swept No. 22 Florida, winning Thursday Night, 5-0, behind the stellar pitching of Drake Fellows, who was named SEC pitcher of the week this week. Then we won Friday, 15-2, and Saturday, 14-2. This past Tuesday Night, we defeated Lipscomb, 15-1 at First Tennessee Park in Nashville. Here are the details.

Last Thursday Night, Drake pitched a complete game giving up only 5 hits, 0 runs, with 3 walks and 8 K’s. He threw 116 pitches with 68 for strikes against 48 balls. Not the greatest ball: strike ratio, but Drake battled and pitched very well. He’s doing superbly.

Right fielder J.J. Bleday had an RBI double, 2nd baseman Harrison Ray drove in a run with a single and left fielder Cooper Davis was 2 for 4 and scored 2 runs.

On Friday, Saturday and this past Tuesday, the bats were cookin. Friday, we pounded out 19 hits and scored 15 times. Shortstop Ethan Paul was 5 for 6 with 6 Ribeyes. Ethan almost hit for the cycle with 3 singles, a double and a triple. He’s been spectacular this season as have a lot of our guys. Stephen Scott was 4 for 4 and scored 3 runs. DH Ty Duvall was 3 for 3 with 4 Ribbies including 2 doubles. Patrick Raby went 6, gave up only 1 hit, 0 runs, with 6 walks and 7 K’s. Like the strikeout total, but not the walks. Rabes threw 102 pitches, with 56 strikes against 46 balls. Would like to see our control keep improving on the mound. Jake Eder struggled in an inning giving up 2 hits, 2 runs with 3 walks, but I still believe Jake can help us. He throws it 95, and was electric at the beginning of the season. Hoping he can get that back. Ethan Smith and AJ Franklin closed out the game pitching scoreless innings in the 8th and 9th respectively.

Saturday, we did it again scoring 14 runs on 12 hits leading to a 14-2 victory. Stephen Scott had another big game in left field going 2 for 4 with 4 RBIs. Stephen hit his 3rd home run of the season. Harrison Ray was 2 for 4 with 2 Ribbies. Third baseman Austin Martin was 3 for 5 with 2 RBIs, and JJ Bleday cranked his 7th homer of the season. Freshman Kumar Rocker was very good on the mound. Kumar went 6, gave up 5 hits, 2 earned, with 2 walks and 6 K’s. Kumar threw 106 pitches with 61 for strikes against 45 balls. It was a really solid outing. Kumer looks very probably to be our Sunday guy if he can keep this up. He’ll be our Sunday guy this weekend. Tyler Brown didn’t have his best stuff but Tyler has been superb this season. Tyler gave up 2 runs in 3 innings on 3 hits with a walk and 4 K’s. Really like Tyler out of the bullpen though.

On Tuesday, we crushed Lipscomb, 15-1. Bleday hit 2 home runs, a 3 run homer in the third and a 2 run homer in the 7th. First baseman Julian Infante also homered, which is great to see. Pat DeMarco is injured right now and out indefinitely in left field so Scott has moved out there and Julian is at 1st. He’s got a lot of talent, he just really struggled at the plate last year, but he looks like he’s coming closer to playing like he did as a sophomore when he hit .310 and hit double digit homers and drove in 50 or 60 runs. Would love to see that because Corbs says what an awesome guy Julian is. Ethan Paul was 3 for 5 with 2 RBIs including a double, Austin Martin was 2 for 4 with a pair of Ribbies, catcher Philip Clarke was 2 for 5 with 4 driven in and Harry Ray was 2 for 5 with an RIbeye.

Mason Hickman has really been spectacular this season. Mason went 6, gave up 1 hit, 0 runs, with 1 walk and 8 K’s. We’ll need Mason to keep being good for middle of the week starts and possibly weekend starts if one of the other 3 struggle. He’s doing extremely well. A.J. Franklin gave up a run in an inning and Hugh Fisher and Zach King finished it off.

So, we’re on fire right now. Austin Martin still leads the team in hitting at .437. Just one heckuva baseball player, like many of our guys are. Ethan is having a huge senior year hitting .404 with 3 homers and 37 Ribeyes. Stephen Scott is hitting .385 with 3 homers and 24 Ribbies. Cooper Davis is hitting .360, JJ is hitting .357 with 9 homers and 29 Ribbies, that’s phenomenal, and Harrison Ray is hitting .314 and is 8 for 8 in the stolen base department. Philip is hitting .267, but he’s getting back to being the kind of hitter Philip Clarke is. He’s hit 4 homers and driven in 30. Feel really good about Philip. He’s awesome and doing a terrific job behind the plate and working with the pitchers. We’re hitting .324 as a team

Our team ERA is 3.66 and our opponents’ ERA is 7.79. Rabes is 4-0 with an 0.57 ERA. Hick is 3-0 with a 1.50 ERA and Drake is 5-0 with a 3.68 ERA. Tyler Brown has 5 saves on the season and a 2.12 ERA. Kumar has a 4.43 ERA, but he’s been pitching much better and getting adjusted to the college game. He’s getting it and the arm talent is off the charts good.

We’re fielding at a .982 clip and our opponents are at .964, so we’re doing well on defense after a little bit of a slow start.

Overall, really like where our team is right now. Tennessee this weekend. We’re 20-5 and 4-2 in the SEC. We are ranked 6th nationally by D-1 Baseball, which has UCLA first, Mississippi State 2nd, Georgia 4th, Arkansas 8th, A&M 10th, Auburn 15th, Florida 23rd and Ole Miss 24th. That’s like wow. Tremendous conference once again. Tennessee is 2-4 in the SEC and 20-6 overall, so they’ve played well. Friday Night’s game is at 6:30 and will be streamed by SEC Network+. Saturday’s game is at 8 PM and will be broadcast by the SEC Network. Sunday’s game is at 2 PM and broadcast by the SEC Network. Drake goes Friday Night, Rabes Saturday and Kumar Sunday in all likelihood. Need to keep this incredible momentum going.

Exciting stuff for our MLB guys

Dansby Swanson is the starting shortstop for the Braves, Tony Kemp is a key piece in the Houston Astros outfield and 2nd base when Jose Altuve takes a night off, and Curt Casali is a valuable backup catcher for the Cincy Reds. All 3 of those guys are important pieces of their respective teams.

What’s just as exciting is we have 5 pitchers starting today and this weekend in the majors. Mike Minor started for the Texas Rangers today at 3:05 PM today as they host the Cubs. Saturday, Sonny Gray will debut with his new team, the Cincinnati Reds, as they host the Pittsburgh Pirates. Great to see Sonny have a fresh start with the Reds. Sunday, Walker Buehler, who was my world series MVP in my baseball preseason predictions column yesterday, will start for the Dodgers at home versus the Arizona Dbacks Sunday at 3 PM CT. And Kyle Wright gets the start for the Braves Sunday Night at Philadelphia against Jake Arrieta. That game will be on Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN at 6 CT so super excited to see Kyle make his debut for the Braves in a pressure cooker in Philly against a usually top flight pitcher.

David Price will take the hill on Monday at Oakland with a 9:07 PM CT start. That’s a late one, but will catch up on it Tuesday morning and have a report for you on all our players Tuesday or Wednesday along with our college team. DP had an unspecified illness in spring training, thus the reason for him starting at the bottom of the rotation for the Red Sox. Dave will be there when it counts. It counts Monday at Oakland.

So, some really exceptional stuff going on for our college team and our guys in the bigs. We have a massive amount of guys in the minor leagues. Will work on keeping up with as many guys as I can to report here on the blog.

Basketball

While I was disappointed in the firing of Bryce Drew, it’s time to move on and find a new coach. Bryce is an awesome person, was dealt a bad hand when Darius Garland went down in game 5 with a season ending meniscus injury in his knee, and our team just couldn’t recover. Saben is one of my all time favorites because he’s got so much heart and a ton of talent, but he’s a 2 guard, not a point guard. We just never recovered from losing Darius. Sorry Bryce had to lose his job over some really unfortunate circumstances. He’ll do well somewhere else, I’m sure of that.

For our candidates for the job now, Johnny Dawkins of UCF has gotten a lot of traction recently. He may be the guy, not really positive because there are so many different reports/rumors come in. Last weekend it was John Thompson III. Russell Turner of UC Irvine is a candidate. There are others. Dawkins has done an excellent job at UCF after doing a pretty solid job at Stanford, where it seems to be pretty tough to win as the latest coach, Jared Haase, is finding out. Johnny was a great player at Duke in the 80’s, played in the NBA and just took his Central Florida team to a 24-9 record this season and a tough, incredibly hard fought loss to Duke last Sunday in the round of 32, in which Duke benefited from some friendly officiating and a tip in by UCF to win the game almost impossibly rimmed out. Would be very happy if Johnny was offered and took the job.

JTIII is a pretty good coach. He took Georgetown to 7 NCAA Tournaments in 12 years and even to a Final Four in 2007. So he’s been good.

Turner has been at UC Irvine 9 years and led them to a 31-6 record and a victory over No.5 seed Kansas State in the first round of the tournament last Friday before falling to Oregon last Sunday Night. Looks like a pretty decent candidate.

Heard the coaches from UNC Greensboro, Northern Kentucky and Murray State are in the mix along with others. I don’t want to give out any bad information, so I’m not going to speculate. Would be very happy with Dawkins. He’s a former Duke player, he’s coached at Stanford, so he knows the culture you need to have at an elite school. I would say he’s my personal favorite. His son, Aubrey, is one heckuva player too, so it would be awesome to have them both though Aubrey may choose to go to the NBA as he’s a redshirt junior.

The other guys are good candidates. Would like to see Malcolm Turner make a decision pretty soon, and, of course, get the right guy. We’ve already lost one signee who has opted to get out of his National Letter of Intent. Austin Crowley, a 4 star shooting guard, has gotten out of his NLI. Four star power forward signee Dylan Disu and high 3 star point guard commit Scotty Pippen look to be in a holding pattern right now to see who our new coach will be.

Matt Ryan and Yanni Wetzel are entered into the transfer portal. That doesn’t mean they are transferring, it just means they’re weighing their options.

So we need to get the right guy in pretty quickly.

Football

The spring game is Saturday at 11 AM on the SEC Network. Deuce Wallace was taking the first team reps at quarterback, but he has a slight infection under his arm, so they’re keeping him out right now. Coach Mason wasn’t sure if he’d play Saturday or not. Riley Neal, our transfer from Ball State, will play a good bit as will 3rd stringer Allan Wallace, who I still like a lot along with our other guys at quarterback. We have quite a bit of talent at that position. Hope Deuce can play. He needs to as he’s missed a lot of playing time.

Offensive line will be interesting to watch as we lost a couple of key starters off the front, but there is good talent and size returning. Ke’Shawn Vaughn is going to be spectacular if he can stay healthy. Same for Kalija Lipscomb and Jared Pinkney. We have a lot of weapons at our skilled positions. Ke’Shawn has good backups led by Ja’Veon Marlow, who is hurt right now and out for the spring, but I’m really excited about Marlow. We have Jamauri Wakefield too and some talent coming in in the freshmen class. Wide receiver and tight end have some exceptional talent.

Defense is a competition for jobs. I’m excited to see Alston Orji this season. The 4 star redshirt freshman linebacker can be a force for us in the inside linebacker position along with the super Dimitri Moore, who was all over the field at the end of last season. We’ve got good size and talent on the defensive front, like our linebackers, and our secondary has a lot of good players. So our defense can be very solid and we have playmakers there who can get a lot of turnovers.

We can have a good team this year. What that translates into victories, I’d say 6, 7 would be very good and 8 would be outstanding. Hoping to win them all of course, but playing Georgia in game 1 and LSU in game 3, though they’re at home, is tough. Florida, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Tennessee are also on the road. Kentucky, Missouri, UNLV, Northern Illinois and East Tennessee State are at home. We play on the road the second game of the season @ Purdue. That’s sandwiched between Georgia and LSU, so we’ll need to do well at West Lafayette.

Will have more on our football team coming early next week with a progress report on the team after the spring game and a look at our incoming freshman.

Also, will stay locked in on our basketball coach search, our awesome baseball team and our phenomenal players in the big leagues. Thanks.

Late Note, Brandt, Luke

Brandt defeated Tiger Woods today 2 &1 at the Dell Technologies Match Play Championship at Austin, TX. Luke List defeated Matthew Fitzpatrick of England 2 &1 as well. That means Brandt and Luke led their opponents by 2 holes, won 2 more holes, with only 1 left to play so it’s impossible for their opponents to come back. Awesome stuff from Brandt and Luke.

Sweet 16 predictions

Last year’s record Sweet 16 on: 10-5

Today

West Region

No.4 seed Florida State (29-7) vs. No.1 Gonzaga (32-3)

Honda Center, Anaheim, CA.

6:09 PM CT

CBS

Gonzaga by 8

I like the Seminoles to pull off the upset. Like their athleticism over the Zags.

Florida State 71, Gonzaga 67

South Region

No.3 Purdue (25-9) vs. No.2 Tennessee (31-5)

KFC Yumi Center, Louisville, KY.

6;29 PM CT

TBS

Tenn by 2

Going with the Vols in a very hard fought game. Carsen Edwards scored 42 for Purdue last Saturday Night vs Nova, and he’s a tremendous player. But I’ll take the Vols who I have in my Final Four. Grant Williams, Admiral Schofield and company outlast the Boilermakers.

Tennessee 82, Purdue 78

West

No.3 Texas Tech (28-6) vs. No.2 Michigan (30-6)

Honda Center, Anaheim

8:39 PM CT

CBS

Michigan by 1 1/2

This is another tossup game, but I’ll take Texas Tech barely in a hard fought defensive game with some pretty good shooting as well.

Texas Tech 68, Michigan 66

South

No.12 Oregon (25-12) vs. No. 1 Virginia (31-3)

KFC Yumi Center, Louisville

8:57 PM CT

TBS

UVA by 8 1/2

Oregon has been impressive so far in blasting Wisconsin and then blasting UC Irvine. They are highly athletic and play excellent defense. But so do the Cavs. Like the favored team here.

UVA 67, Oregon 56

Friday

East Region

No.3 LSU (28-6) vs. No.2 Michigan State (30-6)

Capital One Arena, Washington, DC

6:09 PM CT

CBS

Michigan State by 6

LSU’s had a super season this year, but losing their coach to suspension has got to catch up with them at some point. I like all world point guard Cassius Winston and the Spartans to advance here. But I like it close.

Mich State 72, LSU 68

Midwest Region

No.5 Auburn (28-9) vs. North Carolina (29-6)

Sprint Center, Kansas City, MO.

6:29 PM CT

TBS

UNC by 5

Like Chapel Hill to advance over the Tigers. Luke Maye, Cameron Johnson, Coby White and the Heels will be too much for the Tigers, but I expect another close game.

UNC 82, Auburn 78

East

No.4 Virginia Tech (28-8) vs. No.1 Duke (31-5)

Capital One Arena, DC

8:39 PM CT

CBS

Duke by 7

The Blue Devils barely escaped Central Florida with some friendly officiating on a clear charge by Zion Williamson for a basket that cut the UCF 3 point lead from 3 to 1, then on the free throw miss, there was a clear push off by R.J. Barrett that lead to a basket to put Duke up by 1. UCF had the last shot and the floater barely missed and the tip in impossibly hit the rim, floated around it, and fell off. Duke was very fortunate, but I guess that’s what it takes sometimes. VA Tech is a quality team, but I like the Blue Devils to come away with the victory in a hard fought game.

Duke 81, VA Tech 78

Midwest

No.3 Houston (33-3) vs. Kentucky (29-6)

Sprint Center, KC

8:59 PM CT

TBS

UK by 3

The major question is whether Kentucky star power forward P.J. Washington will play. He’s been out with a sprained foot, but took his protective boot off yesterday, so it’s about 65-35 that he will play. I like Kentucky either way, but in another outstanding game. Houston’s guards are excellent. They’ll give the Wildcats everything they want.

Kentucky 62, Houston 60

MLB preview, predictions

The Dodgers are bullish on Justin Turner as well as their leader this season. (Photo, MLB Trade Rumors).

The big news in major league baseball so far this year was the free agent signings of Bryce Harper and Manny Machado and the massive contract that Mike Trout signed with the team he’s been with for 8 years, the Los Angeles Angels.

Harper inked a 13 year, $330 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. He’ll make over $25 million a year. Great player. Will see how he does in Philly on a team that is banking on making a deep run in the postseason this year. Machado signed a 10 year $300 million contract with the San Diego Padres, another team trying to step it up and be a World Series contender. Not sure they’re ready yet, but with Machado and some other talented veterans, and the best farm system in baseball, they could get there next season and be very competitive this year.

Finally, Trout, the best player in baseball, signed a blockbuster, inking a 12 year, $426.5 million contract, which will pay him $35 million a year. He’ll be the highest paid player in baseball.

Machado and Harper are 26 and Trout is 27. They are some of the major faces in baseball right now.

To give an example of Trout’s talent, he hit .312 last year with 39 homers and 79 RBIs on a team that has struggled to make the playoffs, making it only 1 of Trout’s previous 8 seasons, because there is not enough talent around him. His WAR, wins above replacement value, which is a key metric now in baseball that measures a starters’ winning games number over a replacement player with a lesser contract and value, was 10.2, which is excellent. Only the Red Sox Mookie Betts had a higher WAR at 10.4. Trout has had a WAR of 10.5 twice. In 2012, he hit 30 homers and drove in 83 runs and stole 49 bases to lead the American League. In 2016, when his WAR was 10.5 also, he hit 29 homers, drove in 100 runs and stole 30 bases in 37 attempts. His OPS last year, on-base plus slugging percentage, was 1.088. Over .900 is considered outstanding, so that’s off the charts good.

He’s the epitome of a classic 5-tool player that all teams want; he can hit, he can run, he can hit for power, he can hit for average and he’s got a cannon for an arm. So in these days, where it’s an arms race to get the best player, LA secured their stud. Now they just need to add some more pieces around him.

This season should be terrific with so many teams in the hunt for the World Series title. The Yankees are loaded with bats, the Red Sox have everybody back from their World Series winning team, the Houston Astros are angry, talented, and ready to prove that 2017 wasn’t a fluke. In the NL, the Nationals lost Harper, but they have a strong team returning with Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasborg and Patrick Corbin, who came over from Arizona after a terrific season in 2017, anchoring their staff along with excellent position players. The Phillies will be a factor with Harper and the Braves have pretty much everybody back. The Cubs will try to recapture some magic from 2016, The Milwaukee Brewers, fresh off their NLCS appearance last season where they fell to the Dodgers, have everybody back. The Cardinals signed superstar first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and look impressive on paper. The Dodgers are back with superstar shortstop Corey Seager healthy. The Dodgers will be very formidable.

With that said, here are my predictions for the 2019 season.

National League

Division winners

NL East: Washington Nationals

NL Central: St Louis Cardinals

NL West: Los Angeles Dodgers

Wild Card

Phillies, Cubs

American League

AL East: Red Sox

AL Central; Cleveland Indians

AL West: Astros

Wild Cards

Yankees, A’s

Wild Card games

NL: Phillies over Cubs

AL: Yankees over A’s

NLDS

Dodgers over Phillies in 4

Nationals over Brewers in 5

ALDS

Red Sox over Indians in 5

Astros over Yankees in 4

NLCS

Dodgers over Nationals in 7

ALCS

Astros over Red Sox in 6

The Fall Classic

The Dodgers knocked on the door 2 years ago, losing to the Astros in 7, then knocked on it again last year, losing to the Red Sox in 5. This year I like them to knock it over behind 3rd baseman Justin Turner, shortstop Corey Seager and a staff led by Clayton Kershaw, who will be on the 10 day DL to start the season, but is throwing well according to reports, and Walker Buehler, the 98 mile per hour hurler, who has developed a very good change up to go with his heat and a stellar curve ball.

Dodgers in 7 over the Astros

The Dodgers have the best record in baseball and grab home field winning their 7th world championship, but first since 1988. That’s 31 years. The Dodgers end the lengthy drought with excellent pitching and outstanding position players.

MVP AL: Mike Trout

MVP NL: Justin Turner, Dodgers

AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander, ‘Stros

NL Cy Young: Max Scherzer

World Series MVP

Walker Buehler, Dodgers

I like 24 year old Walker Buehler to play a big part in getting the Dodgers their first World Championship since 1988 (Photo, Dodger Blue).

Tomorrow: Sweet 16 Predictions

2019 MLB pump up video

Alabama Basketball

The Crimson Tide has hired Nate Oats as their next head basketball coach.

Oats replaces Avery Johnson. Oats, 44, coached Buffalo for 4 seasons compiling a 96-43 overall record and 3 NCAA appearances. His last 2 teams have advanced to the second round of the tournament, defeating Arizona last year and Arizona State this year before falling to a highly talented Texas Tech team on Sunday in the second round.

Looks like a good hire to me.

Winner at the Valspar Championship

I’m going to take my man from Vanderbilt University. He finished T-5 last week at the Players 3 shots back of Rory, who finished -16. The 38 year old shot 69, 72, 65, 69 for -13. I like the way he’s trending.

Brandt Snedeker

Darkhorse

Ollie Schniederjans

Give me Sneds on the Copperhead Course in Tampa (Photo, Golf Digest).

2019 NCAA Tournament Bracket

After months of exhaustive research and development, multiple hikes coupled with deep thinking at Oak Mountain State Park, interviews with sports psychologists throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico, transcendental meditation for total relaxation and focus, and conferences with my pastor about these tremendously difficult decisions, here is my 2019 NCAA tournament bracket.

Will the Blue Bloods prevail or will a team like that nun team last year, Loyola-Chicago, pull off a Cinderella Story and bust up brackets.

Enclosed are White’s World’s predictions for this spectacle in March called March Madness.

Bracket 2019