As previously noted, A'Trey-U Jones has made it to the 2nd round of the Name of the Year Tournament. Voting in the 2nd round opened last night and Jones has already fallen far behind an Australian Rugby player named Solo Alone. THIS CANNOT STAND!
With the removal of Auburn from the postseason thanks to a .500 record and the 2-and-out performance by Miss. St,. LSU's postseason hopes are only getting better this week. Rooting interest in the SEC Tourney remains hoping for a 2nd loss by UGA, which would also give them a .500 record.
The post season isn't going well for the rest of the notable LA teams. SELA got bounced early from the Southland tourney, where Nicholls St. is currently leading, damaging their bubble resume. Tulane's loss to ECU effectively ended their season, but due to the weirdness of pool play, they will play a meaningless game against Houston today. USL opened Sun Belt pool play with a loss to South Alabama that got their coach ejected.
Mikie Mahtook was the only Tiger named to the 1st team All-SEC. Mason Katz made the 2nd team and JaCoby Jones and Ty Ross made the All-Freshman team.
BBCOR bats are lowering HR totals in the ACC too. (I'm still working on a breakdown of LSU's regular season stats. You'll see it here soon)
The Men's team returns from Italy this evening after going 6-0 on their trip. Not much to glean form the abbreviated recaps, but at least we didn't lose and nobody got hurt.
The Men's team's 4-year APR average is still below the NCAA required level (a lasting hangover from the Brady days) but we are on track to acceptable levels and as we took the scholarship penalty last season, the team will be at full strength in the coming year.
Iowa St. transfer Justin Hamilton should add good value to the roster this season coming off the wait year.
The charge circle is coming to college basketball next year, along with a few other rule changes about flagrant fouls.
Coaches By The Number, a stats site that focuses on, well, coaches, thinks Kragthorpe's success at Tulsa may have been more due to his DC who eventually replaced him, Todd Graham.
The Bustle Hustle has boogied it's way down Burbon St. to join the Greenies as a QB coach. I guess there weren't any HS coaching jobs available.
Ole Miss has announced plans to make their stadium "not suck." While admirable, it still doesn't account for how the locals will deal with the coming bear-pocolypse.
South Carolina, SEC East Favorite?
After a process that has lasted more than 5 years, the NCAA's investigation of USC has come to an end after the final appeal was rejected yesterday. USC penalties include forfeiture of the 04 season, loss of postseason eligibility (including next year's Pac-12 champ game) severely reduced scholarships, and penalty free transfers for the current seniors.
Big East members are calling shenanigans on BE Comish Marinatto after things start to look a little less rosy with their on-going TV contract negotiations.
Along with the hipster country fest this weekend, where Les Miles will get another shot to do what we all know needs to be done, there will also be a lot of recruits on campus this weekend for a camp. Saturday Night Slant has a good rundown of who might attend.
There is a great stat in this other SNS article about how awesome Spencer Ware is.
As a head coach, Les Miles has produced eleven 1,000 yard rushers since 2000, which ranks second in the nation to Nevada's Chris Ault, who has 12.
EDIT: Turns out the above is completely wrong, see the comments below.
For all the ribbing I give it, Y'all have fun at the SuperFest if you are going. If nothing else, it's an opportunity to be in Death Valley with a near capacity crowd in the middle of the offseason.
99 days to go.