The NCAA tournament is set, and the road to Omaha will go through Oxford --- at least for one weekend. Ole Miss has its big weekend coming up on the football recruiting front. The Rebels' 2014 signing class --- at least a good bit of it --- is on campus and ready to begin its college career. The SEC meetings get underway Tuesday in Destin, Fla., and the Spurs-Heat NBA Finals rematch is drawing nearer (or is it?) My thoughts on those topics and more follow here in this version of 10 Weekend Thoughts presented by Grenada Nissan.
1. Ole Miss opens the NCAA tournament Friday evening in Oxford against Jacksonville State (there's a Houston Nutt joke there somewhere, but I'll resist). Washington and Georgia Tech round out the Oxford Regional. If Ole Miss wins and the tournament follows chalk, the Rebels will travel to Lafayette, La., next weekend to face ULL in an NCAA Super Regional. The Ragin' Cajuns must first get through a regional this weekend that features No. 2-seed Mississippi State. One eye will be on Lafayette all weekend, but the Rebels must first survive their own regional. In my opinion, they will, though I think the back end of the pitching rotation is a bit of a concern at this point.
Before the season, there was a school of thought that this was a host-or-else season for Mike Bianco and the Rebels. Well, they're hosting. Huge crowds will be in Oxford all weekend, justifying the investment the UM administration has made in baseball. Now the Omaha-or-else crowd is in full throat, and they're not ever going to be quiet until and unless Bianco breaks through and gets the Rebels to the steak capital of Nebraska. Just remember one must catch a break or two in the next couple of weeks to get there. Perhaps this is the year luck is on Ole Miss' side. Regardless, postseason baseball is returning to Swayze Field, and after a four-season drought, no one should take it for granted.
2. Alvin Moore and Calvin Moore arrived in Oxford Monday, ready to begin their college careers. The twins from Bassfield, Miss., joined several of their 2014 signing class mates already in Oxford, ready to begin classes and get started in Paul Jackson's offseason strength and conditioning program. It's not as star-studded a class as the 2013 class that featured Robert Nkemdiche, Laremy Tunsil, Tony Conner, Laquon Treadwell and Co., but program insiders expect this class to do big things in their 4-5 years in Oxford.
Breeland Speaks, at least in my opinion, is going to be an impact player on Ole Miss' defensive line. The Moore twins add considerable speed to the defense. Speaks' high school teammate, offensive lineman Rod Taylor, has a huge upside. Cornerback Kendarius Webster could help immediately. Victor Evans, Demarquis Gates and Garrald McDowell have program insiders excited about their futures. Markell Pack is viewed by some as another Donte Moncrief. The list goes on. Because of the hype heaped --- justifiably, I might add --- on the 2013 class, this group has flown under the radar. Just don't be surprised if one day history views this collection of prospects one that played a major role in the reversal of Ole Miss' football fortunes.
2b. There are more far-too-early bowl projections out this week, this time from ESPN.com college football reporters Brett McMurphy and Mark Schlabach. Mark's a good friend, a fellow Cubs fan and now a New York Times best-selling author (He's co-authored several books with the Duck Dynasty guys), but I think he's underselling Ole Miss. Schlabach forecasts Ole Miss versus Texas Tech in the Liberty Bowl. McMurphy, meanwhile, is high on Ole Miss. He has the Rebels in the Outback Bowl against Wisconsin. Personally, I think I could thread the needle between those picks and find accuracy, but if I had to predict when ESPN.com reporter will be more clairvoyant about the Rebels, I'd go with McMurphy.
3. Prospects will roll into Oxford this weekend for the Rebels' first major camp of the summer. We'll bring names to you this week as we get them. Columbia, Mo., four-star wide receiver Alex Ofodile visited Ole Miss Monday, and the Rebels are very much in the mix for him. Bassfield, Miss., four-star defensive back Jamal Peters and Brandon, Miss., quarterback Gardner Minshew are expected in Oxford June 6, a couple of weeks after Adams put the Rebels in his top five.
While we scour for names of visitors, look for wide receiver and offensive line to be critical areas of focus for the 2015 class. The Rebels are also in the mix for elite wide receiver DaMarkus Lodge, among others. Again, we'll bring recruiting nuggets to you this week as we get them. Summer has become arguably the most decisive period of the recruiting cycle, as prospects have begun to bunch unofficial trips together during their summer break.
4. BleacherReport.com recently ranked the top 20 transfers of the college basketball offseason. Ole Miss guard Terence Smith, who transferred from Tennessee-Martin, was ranked No. 12. Smith averaged 14.6 points per game and shot 43.8 percent from three-point range for UT-Martin last season. He also shot 82.2 percent from the free-throw line and finished second on the team in rebounds and assists.
BleacherReport.com opined last week that Smith "and Jarvis Summers (42.3 percent three-point shooter last season) just might become the deadliest backcourt in the country. Smith joins Tennessee State transfer M.J. Rhett and JUCO transfers Roderick Lawrence and Stefan Moody to give Andy Kennedy arguably the best class of 2014 transfers. If Dwight Coleby and Sebastian Saiz can improve in the paint in their sophomore season, Ole Miss will be a difficult team to beat."
Throw in a bounce-back season of sorts from Ladarius White and more consistency from Aaron Jones, and I tend to agree with BleacherReport.com. Get a strong jump in production from Anthony Perez --- no sure thing, mind you, but possible --- and the Rebels could be dangerous in what looks to be a watered-down SEC (with the obvious exception of Kentucky).
5. There's not a lot on the agenda at the SEC meetings this week in Destin. SEC commissioner Mike Slive, however, recently told CBSSports.com he thinks his league --- and college athletics in general --- are on the precipice of a monumental development.
"I consider this period of time one of the historic moments that all of us are witnesses to ? an evolutionary change where we put the student-athletes first and we build our philosophies on the student-athlete rather than the so-called level playing field," Slive told CBSSports.com. "I don't know how this comes out, but I'm optimistic the evolution will continue."
The SEC's meetings, like so many others across the country, will focus heavily on what autonomy means for the five major conferences if, as expected, the Division I Board of Directors in August allows them to provide unprecedented benefits and resources. Slive told CBSSports.com's Jon Solomon schools this week will start to think about details they want included in new rules. But the most significant discussion in Destin will be about the process.
"The question to be determined is, assuming the board approves the (governance) structure, we have to develop within the 65 schools of the five conferences our own process for initiating, considering and passing legislation that relates to this," Slive said. "We really haven't focused on the details (of benefits to athletes). The right forum for that is when all of us are together. Hopefully this will pass in August and from August to January (before the NCAA convention) we would then work to develop legislation for the five conferences."
The current proposal to create new legislation calls for two-thirds of the 65 power-conference schools and four of those five conferences. The power conferences want a simple majority and they want their league offices to be the ones to interpret those new rules.
Providing athletes with a cost-of-attendance stipend is one of the most prominent benefits being discussed this week in Destin. Slive told CBSSports.com the SEC must first determine for itself how it feels cost of attendance --- the value of attending college beyond what's covered in a scholarship --- should be calculated. Then once the 65 schools from the power-five conferences meet, one of the next questions becomes whether conferences mandate that their schools provide cost-of-attendance stipends and to which athletes.
Pac-12 presidents sent a letter last week to their colleagues at the other four major conferences calling for sweeping changes to the NCAA model and autonomy for those leagues. One of the 10 proposals is a return to freshman ineligibility. That proposal, I'm here to tell you, has no chance.
Slive oversees the meetings in Destin this week on the heels of some heavy criticism. From Solomon:
"Boise State president Bob Kustra made noise last week with a scathing criticism of NCAA reforms. He said the NCAA has 'ranged far afield' from the traditional amateur model because the five major conferences have hijacked the system to create "phony arguments about student welfare when the real goal of some of these so-called reformers is create a plutocracy that serves no useful purpose in American higher education.
"Kustra specifically said Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany and Slive are 'calling the shots for the others."
"Said Slive: 'There have been five conferences from the very beginning. From day one, we've said as part of our vision we want to be in Division I, we want to make sure we're all in the championships, we want to make sure the revenue distribution doesn't change, and we just need to be able to develop legislation we think is in the best interests of our student-athletes."
6. Kendarius Webster had some interesting comments in an interview the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last week. Webster said Florida State led throughout the process and would have matriculated to Tallahassee had then-FSU defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt remain with the Seminoles. When Pruitt left for Georgia, however, Ole Miss moved to the lead
"Pretty much if Georgia knew which coaches they were going to have a little sooner before signing day, they would've had a great shot at me," Webster told the AJC. "They came after me pretty hard. But Georgia's new defensive staff got there late, and I already had made up my mind where I was going. I fell in love with Ole Miss during my official visit, and it was too close to signing day to mess things."
Interestingly, but not surprisingly, Webster said there was "a lot" of negative recruiting, with much of it directed at Ole Miss.
"A lot of coaches were saying 'Ole Miss is this, and Ole Miss is that,'" Webster told the AJC. "Some other colleges were talking bad about Florida State. And then a bunch of them were saying, 'Don't go to Georgia' and listed all of these reasons. There was a lot of negative recruiting going around. I guess everybody was just doing their job with trying to get me to go to their school. That's all I can really say."
Specifically, Webster said, other schools said Ole Miss was "racist." More interestingly, Webster said Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze had "a conversation" with Georgia coach Mark Richt near the end of the recruiting process.
"I'm not going to say Coach Freeze got mad, but they had a conversation," Webster said. "I'm not sure exactly what they talked about it, but I heard it had to do more with Laremy Tunsil. He had switched from Georgia to Ole Miss (the year before)."
If Webster's account is correct, Georgia appears to still be a bit obsessed with Ole Miss' landing of Tunsil. More than a year later, there is no indication the Rebels did anything untoward in beating UGA and Alabama for the big left tackle. More than a year later, feelings are apparently still sensitive. I'd take a shot at Richt here, but I get it. Tunsil is good --- like No. 1 overall in the draft good. When a target like that gets away, you don't ever really get over it.
7. Tiger Stadium at LSU has been undergoing an expansion that will push its capacity beyond the 100,000 mark, and always quotable LSU athletic director Joe Alleva has a plan for those new seats.
At the final stop of the LSU "Tiger Tour," Alleva told fans that those brand new upper deck seats will be reserved for Alabama fans when they make the trip to Baton Rouge.
"When Alabama comes, (their fans) will be at the top of the new stadium seats," Alleva said, per the Daily Advertiser. "They're going to need telescopes to see the game."
Alleva told Yahoo.com the renovation project will be completed by the time the Tigers' home opener rolls around on Sept. 6 against Sam Houston State. The Crimson Tide won't make its trip to Baton Rouge until Nov. 8 --- LSU's final home game of the season. That will give Alleva plenty of time to pick out the perfect seats for their SEC counterparts.
Meanwhile, in Lexington, Ky., UK officials are distancing themselves from the planned $350 million renovation of Rupp Arena. UK president Eli Capilouto sent a scalding, three-page letter to the head of the project, Lexington Center Corporation chairman Brent Rice, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal.
Rice had asked for public support from Kentucky, but Capilouto fired back with exactly the opposite.
"At this time, there is not sufficient public support for committing over $350 million in state, city and other funds to a basketball arena and convention center when there are so many well-recognized educational, economic, retirement, and health care needs across Lexington and the Commonwealth of Kentucky," Capilouto wrote to Rice in letter obtained by the Courier-Journal.
Rice had sent Capilouto a letter on April 25, also obtained this past Thursday by the Courier-Journal, in which he urged him to come out in support of the project. Rice wrote that the project's leaders had sought that backing "on many occasions and the request was declined." He continued: "Simply put, the University's lack of public support and legislative advocacy significantly compromised our chances for success."
Rice then asked again and ended his letter by giving Capilouto a deadline: "Please let us know your intentions by May 23, 2014."
In his own letter sent Tuesday ? three days early ? Kentucky's president did just that.
"Because of the lack of enthusiasm for the current plan among various constituencies (including the Kentucky General Assembly), the lack of firmness of the $350 million financing plan, and the approaching expiration date of our lease (following the 2017-18 season), it is important to explore all potential options," Capilouto wrote.
Capilouto wrote to Rice that the Wildcats, primary tenants of Rupp, would prefer to continue playing their home men's basketball games there, but "under the right lease conditions." His letter indicates UK was willing to commit $10.7 million annually for 30 years to support the project but Capilouto wondered aloud where the rest of the money would come from, especially after the Generally Assembly recently shot down a request for $80 million.
UK's president, who also expressed disappointment at the project's leaders privately and publicly criticizing the school for a lack of support, wrote that the financial plan "seemed to shift numerous times and often without perceptible due diligence."
8. Lance Stephenson decided to talk trash this weekend about LeBron James. That, predictably, didn't work out well. Stephenson is a fine player, but poking an angry snake is never a great idea. James is motivated enough this time of year; he doesn't need help. In the process, the Indiana Pacers have put themselves in a horrible spot --- down 3-1 to the Miami Heat with a Game 6 in American Airlines Arena looming in the event the Pacers can protect home court in Indianapolis.
In the Western Conference, meanwhile, Serge Ibaka returned from a calf injury to lead Oklahoma City to a Game 3 win San Antonio and within a Tuesday night victory at Chesapeake Energy Arena from tying the series at 2-2 and sending the Spurs back home later this week wondering if they're athletic enough to hold off the Thunder.
Other thoughts from the NBA:
A. Ray Allen is hinting at retirement, but he's still got a sweet stroke from the 3-point line. NBA history will show Allen might go down with Reggie Miller and Larry Bird as one of the greatest shooters in modern basketball history.
B. Scott Brooks did more than put Ibaka into his lineup on Sunday night. Brooks, deservedly criticized for his stubbornness, removed Thabo Sefolosha and replaced him with Reggie Jackson, who scored 15 points in Game 3. Brooks also gave long, athletic guard Jeremy Lamb 15 minutes and he turned to rookie center Steven Adams for lengthy stretches. In so doing, the Thunder made the Spurs look old --- if only for a night. Whoever wins Tuesday is winning the series, at least in my opinion.
C. The Memphis Grizzlies have been tough to figure out recently, but there appears to be a mutual desire to sign forward Zach Randolph to a contract extension. Per Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, citing league sources, Randolph, 32, has until June 30 to trigger a $16.5 million player option on the final season of his contract and already had begun preliminary discussions on a long-term extension with Memphis. The Grizzlies, as Wojnarowski wrote, are working their way through an awkward, tumultuous power struggle that resulted in the firing of CEO Jason Levien and the near loss of head coach Dave Joerger, so the apparent consensus on Randolph is a welcome sign of stability.
D. I'm still not certain, from all I've read and heard, that Joerger won't end up in Minneapolis with his hometown Timberwolves. It's hard to imagine a scenario where he's allowed to interview and then returns to Memphis and survives a losing streak of any length. Surely he knows that, too.
E. Speaking of Minnesota, it's becoming more and more apparent that Kevin Love is going to get out between now and the NBA draft. NBA.com's David Aldridge reported Sunday that the Washington Wizards have emerged as a "stealth candidate" for Love, adding that the All-NBA power forward has a "soft spot" for the franchise his father, Stan, played for in the early 1970s. Golden State, the Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago, Phoenix, Boston and Houston have also been linked to Love. Washington likely couldn't land Love without dealing guard Bradley Beal.
F. The Lakers are set to interview former Memphis coach Lionel Hollins. Just my opinion, but he'd be a phenomenal hire. I felt like the Grizzlies missed him this season.
G. The Clippers, per report, are going to bring at least $1.8 billion in a potential sale. That's billion, with a B. The NBA is obviously healthy.
9. For his 100th birthday, Louis Reinhart was offered a chance to deliver the game ball to umpires at Wrigley Field on Opening Day. It seemed a once-in-a-long-lifetime opportunity, and Reinhart could hardly believe how his years of devotion to the Cubs were being repaid.
Then Chicago's traffic intervened, delaying the Metamora, Ill., farmer's trip and causing him to miss the pregame festivities. The Cubs, a franchise with one eye perpetually on the future, won't make Reinhart wait until next year.
The team has asked Reinhart to deliver the game ball before the Cubs play the Marlins on June 8. His family has accepted the invitation, provided that Reinhart's health allows for the trip.
"We wanted to make sure that he gets the opportunity," Cubs spokesman Julian Green told the Chicago Tribune.
The Cubs learned of Reinhart's fandom earlier this year, when his daughter Julie Harper contacted the organization to see if it could send him a ball or other souvenir for her father's milestone birthday. The team responded with a birthday letter from owner Tom Ricketts and, a few days later, invited him to participate in the Opening Day ceremonies on April 4 as the club began Wrigley's centennial year.
Joined by a group of family and friends, Reinhart was expected to arrive at Wrigley at noon. But the group hit terrible traffic as it approached the city, easily erasing the hour cushion built into the trip and making him about 30 minutes late getting to the park.
By the time the group parked and pushed his wheelchair to the designated gate, it was already 12:30 p.m. ? the time he had been slated to deliver the game ball to the umpires. With all the carefully orchestrated Opening Date events, there wasn't enough time for Reinhart to fulfill his role, Green told the Tribune.
Instead, a Cubs representative showed Reinhart and his companions to their seats and later brought him a game ball. Reinhart seemed content to just be at the Wrigley Field again, his daughter said. He hadn't been to a game in nearly 20 years ? when he was in his 80s ? and he had doubted he would ever see the park again.
"He has not really said he was disappointed," Harper told the Tribune. "He had a smile on his face the entire game. I kept asking him if he wanted to leave early, and he said he wanted to stay."
Reinhart, who normally goes to bed around 6 p.m., stayed up past 9 that night because of all the excitement. He didn't even seem that bothered by the Cubs' 7-2 loss to the Phillies, reflecting the optimism that's needed when one has been supporting the Cubs for 100 years.
"He's always disappointed when they lose," Harper told the Tribune. "But then says 'Well, you can't win them all.'"
Harper has not told her father about his second chance on June 8 because she doesn't want him to worry about it. Reinhart has enough to fret about anyway, as he deals with the reality of yet another season without a championship on Chicago's north side.
"He's still hopeful they can win a pennant," Harper told the Tribune. "I hope he's around to see it."
Me too, Mr. Reinhart. Me too.
10. Monday was Memorial Day, a day in which we honor and remember the men and women who fought to make this country the greatest democracy on earth. I can't say anything others haven't. I'm grateful for and appreciative of those who serve and protect. I try not to take them for granted; their sacrifice is humbling.
I always think about an August 2004 flight I took from Atlanta to Milwaukee. I was headed to Green Bay, Wis., to work on a story about then-Packers quarterback Brett Favre, who was preparing for his first full season since the passing of his father, Irv Favre.
I was going to Milwaukee a couple of days early to see the Cubs and Brewers at Miller Park. The Cubs appeared to be destined for the National League wildcard, and they had just traded for Nomar Garciaparra a couple of weeks earlier.
Anyway, as the flight to Wisconsin progressed, a plan began to slowly move through the plane to allow a servicewoman on our flight to get off the plane first once we landed. She was seated, in full uniform, near the back of the aircraft. When we landed, everyone stayed seated as she grabbed her bag and began moving to the front exit. The applause started, and by the time she was to the exit rows, most of us were on our feet giving her a standing ovation.
There weren't many dry eyes in that plane. Minutes later, I saw the soldier in baggage claim. She was hugging her little boy --- he couldn't have been more than 3 years old --- oh-so-very-tight. An older couple --- her parents, I presume --- were standing a few feet away, holding a welcome home sign and openly crying tears of joy.
I've rarely been moved like I was that afternoon. That was a happy homecoming. The little boy was getting his mom back and she appeared to be completely healthy. Not every soldier returns to America able to say the same. Others pay the ultimate price for our freedoms.
To those of you who have served, thank you for your service. You're heroes. Happy Memorial Day.
