Hope everybody is hanging in there, and most importantly staying healthy in these challenging times. I wish I could give you some sports news, but without sports, it’s tough to do. But I do have a couple of thoughts I wanted to run by you.

1. I was thinking about this, this morning and emailing with a friend of mine about it. Bo Nix versus Mac Jones or Bryce Young in Bryant-Denny in late November should be spectacular. Both teams should be excellent. Alabama has Najee Harris, Dylan Moses, the great DeVonta Smith and the powerful Alex Leatherwood back along with superb talent, including a sophomore class that learned so much from last year’s playing experience and is supremely talented. Linebackers Christian Harris and Shane Lee should be forces along with Moses. Auburn lost some players, but returns a lot. Seth Williams is back for Bo Nix and so is Anthony Schwarz, Cartavious “Tank” Bigsby, the 6.0, 4 star from Georgia, will be a stud at running back. There will be some more talented skill players. There will be some new players on the offensive line, but there is size, physicality, depth and talent there. I always like the defense under Kevin Steele. Sets up for a classic Iron Bowl Saturday, November 28th with CBS televising and time most likely at 2:30 PM CT. We’re not sure when college football season will start, but when it does, the blog will be ready to break it down with you and get us back to having a blast. Georgia, LSU, Florida and Tennessee should have outstanding teams next season as well. I’m looking forward to watching Kiff ( Ole Miss) and Leach (State) roam the sidelines. Missouri will have a new coach in Eli Drinkwitz, who came over from App State, where he had massive success in his first year, South Carolina is going to be better. Will Muschamp has recruited well the last couple of years and I like quarterback Ryan Hilinski coming back for his sophomore season. Kentucky will be solid once again under Mark Stoops. Mark is doing a super job in Lexington and they’re climbing their way up to the upper echelon of the SEC, certainly in the East. He recruits very well and can really coach’em up. Arkansas is still rebuilding now with first year coach Sam Pittman, the former offensive line coach at Georgia where he was highly successful, takes over. Seems like a solid man who can really recruit so he can possibly get that program going back in the right direction. I’m hopeful my Vanderbilt Commodores can get to a bowl game and build from there. Derek Mason has hired a new offensive coordinator, Todd Fitch from LA Tech, who has had good results at LA Tech and sounds really sharp. Mason also hired Ted Roof as defensive coordinator. Roof, a savvy veteran who was at Auburn for the 2010 national championship season, is coming off a year at App State as DC where his defense was the 18th ranked scoring defense in the country. Mason hired 3 or 4 new coaches as well. So he’s trying his best to turn it around. I’m just going to be supportive. He’s a good guy and I want him to succeed.

   So, when the season gets started, it’ll be spectacular. Clemson, of course, with Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne and Justin Rogers back on offense, the talent there, and the No.1 recruiting class in the country coming in, will, along with Alabama and some others, not counting out AU either, be the favorites to be in the playoff and win it all. Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State and Oklahoma will be powerhouses. I like Minnesota as a sleeper nationally. P.J, Fleck proved with his convincing victory over the Auburn Tigers in the Outback Bowl, 31-24, that his program is for real. So the season will be electric when it gets cranking. UAB under Bill Clark will be a potentially excellent team with a lot of players returning from last year’s 9-4 squad which was considered a rebuilding year by many in the program. Believe in what Bill is doing on the Southside and it’s just going to keep getting better.

2. Really would have been an exceptional NCAA Basketball Tournament this year with so many contenders. My Final Four was Duke, Gonzaga, Dayton and Michigan State, with Gonzaga over Duke in the championship. Watched Mark Few’s team in the West Coast Conference Tournament, which is a very solid conference, and was very impressed. We’ll get back to it next season. Pearly has the Tigers positioned for greatness and pulling for Nate Oats to do the same for the Crimson Tide. UAB hired Andy Kennedy as its next coach. Andy has got an awesome personality, he’s hilarious on the SEC Network, he’ll be able to recruit well though the recruiting competition in this state and around the state will be fierce. But he’s learned a lot from his previous jobs at Ole Miss and Cincinnati and he’ll put the Blazers back on the map as a tourney team which is where the program belongs.

3. I was disappointed that college baseball was cancelled but there was no choice for NCAA President Mark Emmert. Would have liked to have seen my Commodores try for a back to back national championships though the competition would have been very intense. Alabama had really improved and looked to be a solid team and Auburn has had it going for a while and looked primed for a big season. Then you have Florida, which was No.1 when the season was cancelled and won it all in 2017, Georgia was a top 10 team, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and LSU were outstanding teams. Would have been quite a tussle in the always brutal SEC to see which team could emerge as the SEC champion. There were probably going to be 10 teams from the conference make the NCAA Tournament. When MLB starts, I’ll have my preseason preview and predictions. Like what I’m seeing from the Atlanta Braves. Bravos should have a shot to win it all this season. The Yankees are back and stacked this season. The defending champion Nationals will give the Braves everything they want in the NL East. The LA Angels have added former Nationals stud third baseman Anthony Rendon to go along with the phenomenal Mike Trout, so they should be highly relevant. The NL East also has the Phillies with Bryce Harper and a ton of talent and the Mets have great arms. Of course, the Dodgers will be loaded after adding Mookie Betts and David Price in the offseason. The Astros, if they can handle the fan abuse, which may not be much after this crisis we’ve gone through and it shouldn’t be, are super talented and always have a shot. So MLB will also be electric. The NBA playoffs should be spectacular, and if you’ve never watched the NHL playoffs, I highly recommend it. It will have you on the edge of your seat. The blog will preview and predict both when they return.

4. The PGA Tour is on hiatus right now. We’ll have the majors at some point. They’re talking about the Masters taking place in October, and I can live with that and will be just as pumped. Gotta figure out the other majors. The PGA Championship has also been postponed and the U.S, Open and even the Open Championship could be in peril. Also, hoping the 43rd Ryder Cup will be played at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, a classic course. The PGA Championship is scheduled for Harding Park in San Francisco, the U.S. Open is at Winged Foot and the Open Championship is scheduled to take place at Royal St. George’s in England. The U.S.Open is June 18-21, and the Open Championship is July 16-19. The Ryder Cup is scheduled to take place Sept. 25th-27th. Really want to see these events take place, but know this is an extraordinarily unusual time, so will have to be patient and know that peoples’ safety comes first. It’ll come back next year and we’ll get some of it in this year most likely.

5. The Kentucky Derby has been pushed back to September. Not sure about Preakness and Belmont. Will keep you posted on those and preview and predict all 3 as 3 year old thoroughbreds Run for the Roses and attempt to win the Triple Crown.

6. Finally, a movie I know you’d enjoy that I watched yesterday is called Full Count. It’s the story of a young boy who wants to make it in the majors and works with his dad on a farm in Watkinsville, GA. Incredibly entertaining and inspirational movie. Highly recommend it.

Will check back in as soon as I have more. Take care of yourself and your family. God Bless.

The 45th Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL has all the drama you can find in golf and is the closest thing to a major on tour. It’s not a major, but it’s thrilling to watch. The par 3 17th, 137 yards, the Island hole with water on all 4 sides of the green, is where as Coach O says, “dreams come to die.” It’s not like who’ll win it on this hole, it’s who’ll pull gag central and lose it. Contenders who don’t gag have a real shot of winning, provided they can navigate the difficult 18th, really one of the best closing holes in golf, and my personal favorite 18th hole. It’s a 445 yard, par 4 with water running down the entire left side of the hole. There’s not a lot of room on the right either with mounds and rough and trees on that side. So accuracy is at a premium. Just when the contender thinks he’s made it after surviving 17 with a par or miraculously making birdie, 18 puts the clamps down on their excitement and relief. It’s quite a hole in and of itself. The drama will be through the roof good.

The defending champion is Rory and he’s been trending really well lately. He’s No.1 in the world, he has 7 top 5 finishes in his last 7 starts including a victory at the WGC-HSBC in Shanghai. I’m sure he was glad he was there in October and not December. I think the reaction is a little out of hand right now with COVID-19 and I’ll expound on that with my basketball comments below. It’s a serious issue, but people are taking it to the extreme, particularly Mark Emmert and the NCAA.

Jon Rahm, World No.2, is a serious contender, but he can lose it emotionally at the wrong times. He’s gotten better with his temperament, but don’t see him controlling his emotions well enough to earn the win the Players. World No.3 Brooks Koepka is kind of a mess with his game right now. His knee problems are causing him fits on the course. He’s out of sorts.

Some other guys to consider are Mr, Integrity, Patrick Reed (what a disaster guy, though he’s a heckuva player), Hideki Matsuyama, I guess, he never putts well enough in key moments. Rickie Fowler, I guess, his game has tanked recently and I don’t trust him. When is he ever going to win a major? Time to step it up, Rick. The young guys, Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa and Matthew Wolff all 22 and younger have all won in the last year. I don’t see one of them winning this year. Not experienced enough. Sunjae Im is possible. The winner at the Honda 2 weeks ago and tied third at the Arnie last week. What ever happened to fit Asians? It went out the window after super athlete Y.E, Yang defeated Eldrick at the 2009 PGA Championship. Guy was a fitness guru. Now you have Asians on the PGA Tour and the LPGA Tours who are complete out of shape heifers. The LPGA Tour is almost unwatchable because of the size of some of the Asian players. Women’s golf can be pretty good at times, but when you get those world heavyweights on screen, it’s change the channel. Hard to watch.

Justin Rose isn’t using his Homma clubs anymore. That turned out to be a major mistake after he won the Fed Ex Cup in 2018, then tanked in 2019. Now he’s back to Taylor Made clubs. May make a difference but I’m not buying him at Sawgrass. Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia, that’d be a negative.

So that leaves me with world No.4. Has been up and down some this year but won the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges in Korea in October and the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii in January. I’ll take the 26 year old from Lexington, KY and product of the University of Alabama.

Justin Thomas

Weather: very good, some significant wind. Thursday, 77, partly sunny, wind 7-14, Friday, 80, sunny, 7-12, Saturday, Sunny, 76, 7-10, Sunday, 77, 7-12. No.17 will be really interesting on Sunday, figuring out which club to hit because short, long, right or left, you’re wet and probably out of contention.

TV: Thursday-Friday, 12-6 PM CT, Golf Channel, Saturday, 1-6 PM CT NBC, Sunday, 12-5 PM NBC.

SEC Tournament

The NCAA has decided to disallow fans from attending the entire tournament. No fans for any of the games. That’s a little severe. I’ll watch it of course, and maybe, but not likely, get used to it. But couldn’t they wait till Friday even Sunday before deciding this. I’m not belittling the Coronavirus threat nationally, but taking fans away from the tournament could ruin it, at least it will this year. NCAA Chairman Mark Emmert overreacted again, and it’s really inept to do this. People have to go on living, and they need entertainment to get them away from this depressing news. I understand the caution needed, but come on Emmert, give it a chance to die down before making this decision. There’s got to be a better way. Maybe having people sit five seats apart from each other at these arenas. I read that, that seemed reasonable. Emmert, like he does everything else, is ruining the tournament. When’s he ever going to go after Bill Self, Sean Miller, Will Wade and Bruce Pearl among others for the paying players scandal. He just can’t seem to get anything done right. This is a mistake. I’ll watch it, but it looks disastrous.

But the SEC IS having fans attend its tournament and it’ll be a blast. Here are my predictions for the tournament which has already started at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville with Georgia squaring off with Ole Miss (6 PM CT) on the SEC Network. Vanderbilt plays Arkansas in the nightcap. All 4 games tomorrow will be on the SEC Network starting at noon. Friday’s first 2 games will be on ESPN starting at noon and Friday Night’s games beginning at 6 PM CT will be on the SEC Network. Saturday’s semifinal games, starting at noon, will be on ESPN. And the championship game will be Sunday at noon CT on ESPN. All these times are central.

Here are predictions

Tonight

6 PM CT SEC Network

Georgia 65, Ole Miss 60

8:30-45 PM CT SEC Network

Vanderbilt 72, Arkansas 68

Thursday, all on SEC Network

Noon

Bama 74, Tennessee 72

2:30 PM

Florida 68 , Georgia 64

6 PM

A&M 55, Missouri 52

8:30 PM approximately

Vanderbilt 70, South Carolina 68

Friday, quarterfinals

first 2 games on ESPN, night matchups on SEC

Noon

Kentucky 76, Bama 70, sorry Walter, Bama G and Pony

2:30 PM

Florida 78, Miss. State 74

6 PM

Auburn 68, A&M 64

8:30 PM

LSU 80, Vanderbilt 72

Saturday,semis

Both games on ESPN

Noon

Florida 72, Kentucky 70

I always have thought Calipari chokes. Not sure he shouldn’t be a part of the paying scandal either.

2:30 PM

LSU 80, Auburn 76

That’s a strong *** offer, I mean, game.

Championship Sunday

Noon

Florida 84, LSU 80

SEC Champion: The Gatuhs

Enjoy this week-weekend of b-ball and golf. Not sure what to expect next week and for the rest of March. Hopeful it will work out and the games are still interesting.

Scotty Pippen Jr. poured in 21, including 15 of 16 from the free throw line, where he had been experiencing some troubles but showed what kind of free throw shooter he can be along with an exceptional player overall, Maxwell Evans added 20, Saben Lee poured in 19, and freshman Dylan Disu added 14 in our 83-74 victory over South Carolina at Memorial on Saturday. We were 43% from the field, 23-of-54, 6-of-25 from trifecta, 24%, but 31-of-40 from the line, 77.5%. We got after it on defense as well. The Gamecocks, which fell to 18-13 overall and 10-6 in the SEC, shot 43% from the field, but were only 1-of-13 from triple, 7.7%, and they were 19-of-25 from the line, 76%.

Our defense has improved tremendously over the last month under Stack. We’re getting after the offensive players, getting steals. We collected 9 on Saturday and forced 18 SC turnovers. They had 8 steals and turned us over 15 times. But we were closing fast and challenging SC’s three point shooters, really hustling and playing tough, physical defense, and we held our own on the boards. SC pulled down 38 rebounds and we countered with 36 pulls. Ejike Obinna yanked down 12 boards, 9 on defense and 3 on offense. Ejike is another one of our players who keeps getting better and better.

I really like the state of our basketball team right now heading into the SEC Tournament which starts in Nashville tomorrow (Wednesday) night at Bridgestone Arena. We are now 11-20 overall and 3-15 in the SEC and we are the 14th seed in the tourney. And we just keep on getting better and better and just gaining so much confidence heading into this electric tournament.

We will play 11th seeded Arkansas at around 8:30-8:45 PM CT tomorrow. The first game pits the No.13 seed Georgia Bulldogs versus No.12 Ole Miss. That game tips off at 6 PM CT and our game will be 25 minutes after that game so around 8:30-45 PM CT on the SEC Network.

Arkansas is 19-12 overall and finished 7-11 in the SEC. They were an NCAA tournament team up until later in the season, but they’ve fallen off a bit. They defeated us 75-55 at their place on January 15th, but this is a completely different basketball team they’re facing. Saben is leading us in scoring at 18.2 ppg. SPJ is at 11.9, Max Evans is at 8.4 and Dylan Disu is at 7.3. Saturday’s effort was an overall exceptional performance. Arkansas’ leading scorer is Mason Jones at 22 ppg,. Isaiah Joe averages 16.8. Jimmy Whitt Jr. is at 14.1 and Desi Sills is at 10.3. Jones leads them with 5.4 rebounds per game. They’re averaging 75 points per game. They average 31.5 rebounds per game, They get 16 turnovers per game against their opponents. That’s their ticket, fast paced, turn it over on you, so we’ll have to really take care of the ball. We are averaging 72 points per game and 32 rebounds, we turn it over 13 times per game and turn our opponents over 13.9 times per game. They’re shooting 44% from the field and 33 % from 3, while we are at 43% (field) and 34% from 3.

Opponents are averaging 69 points against the Razorbacks and we’re giving up 74 points per game.

So we’ll have to bring our hard hats and lunch pales tomorrow night and dig in to get this victory. But if we play like we have been playing in the last 3 weeks, save for the Ole Miss game on the road, I like our chances. Should be fun. I’ll give the rundown on Thursday hopefully after a tremendous victory. The winner of our game versus Arkansas plays 6th seeded South Carolina. We’ve got confidence against the Gamecocks having just defeated them. I just see us as having a lot of confidence period right now.

Stack and the team have really hung in there and kept believing and it’s paying off. Can’t wait for 8:30-45 PM Wednesday Night. We have a lot of developing players on this team and 3 talented transfers who will all play next season and a talented freshman coming in with maybe more to come, so next season can be even better. But hopeful we can get on a run tomorrow night. Saben and Aaron Nesmith are not done deals for the NBA. Saben is certainly not and Aaron’s an awesome kid and will carefully consider his decision. He is projected as a first round pick right now, but he’s an intelligent young guy and really loves his teammates at VU. The 2 keys for those guys are they love playing for Stack and they love Vanderbilt. With them particularly, 2020-21 could be spectacular. Even if we keep Saben and lose Aaron, we’ll be very competitive with a chance to play deeper into March in the big tourney. But let’s take care of business tomorrow night and keep this train rolling.

Baseball

Our baseball team had a somewhat disappointing weekend in the Southern California Baseball Classic in LA, but salvaged a game Sunday by defeating then No.22 TCU, 4-3. UCLA defeated us Friday Night, 3-2, and USC defeated us Saturday, 2-1. We got some good pitching though Kumar struggled some Friday Night but Sam Hliboki came in and pitched 5 innings of shutout ball in relief of Kumar. The freshman is a total stud. Saturday, Jake Eder and Tyler Brown pitched well, but we could only muster 1 run against USC, a first pitch leadoff home run by Tate Kolwyck. Looks like we’re kind of figuring things out. Austin Martin is banged up and did not play this past weekend, so that’s hurts a lot. Austin is battling a hamstring injury. Mason Hickman is also struggling with an oblique injury and didn’t start Friday and both of their statuses are uncertain. We just need to keep the ship upright until they return. I’m not sure Kumar is 100%, as a matter of fact. He’s had some arm soreness, so that could have been the problem Friday Night. Freshman sensation Jack Leiter pitched Sunday and did a pretty sound job. Tyler Brown pitched well Saturday and Sunday which is an awesome sign.

We’re now 12-5 overall and ranked 6th by D1Baseball.com, the premiere college baseball ranking service and site. They are always the first service out with rankings every week and stay completely on top of college baseball. So I trust their judgement. It’s 2 guys who were at Baseball America, Aaron Fitt and Kendall Rogers. They’ve been doing this for about 4 or 5 year and are very experienced college baseball writers. Florida is still No.1, Louisville 2, Georgia 3, Texas Tech 4, and UCLA 5.

Our next game is at home Wednesday at 5 PM vs Toledo, then we host Kentucky for a weekend set. Game 1 Friday is at 6:30 PM CT, Saturday’s middle game is at 2 PM CT and Sunday’s finale is at 1 PM CT. Kentucky is presently 10-6 overall and Toledo is 3-11. All 4 games will be broadcast by SEC Network+ on the ESPN app on your phone or your Smart TV.

Need a good week and an awesome start to the SEC season. Wow, there are some serious clubs in this conference. We’re a developing team with a lot of young players, but under Corbs, we always keep improving and are always peaking in May. I expect the same to happen this year. We might take a few lumps along the way, but we just need to trust the process.

Men’s Golf Victorious Desert Mountain Intercollegiate

John “Clutch” Augenstein shot 63, 70, 68 for a score of 15 under on the Desert Mountain Outlaw Course in Scottsdale, AZ. to lead his team to a victory at the Desert Mountain Intercollegiate Tournament. John was the low medalist at the tournament on the par 72 course. John’s an absolute stud and the unquestioned leader on our team as a senior. John did make the finals of the U.S, Amateur last summer, so he’s playing tremendous golf right now. We finished 22 under as a team, 24 shots clear of second place Mississippi State, which finished at +2. Northwestern was third at +11. So we ran away with it. Harrison Ott also had a good tourney finishing tied for 7th at -4. Reid Davenport was tied for 11th at +2. There were 12 teams competing in the tournament. Though there weren’t any top 25 teams, I just like the way we performed. Coach Limbaugh seemed very pleased with the performance. Our next competition is the highly competitive Valspar Intercollegiate in Palm City Florida, March 17th-18th, next Tuesday and Wednesday. I will have more on that later this week or early next week. Coach Limbaugh, like Corbs, always has his team peaking come SEC Tournament time and I expect nothing different this season. John and the boys are starting to jell. We are presently ranked No.10 in the country by Golfstat, the premiere site for college golf. Pepperdine out of California is No.1. We’re the highest ranked SEC team.

Women’s Tennis excels over the weekend

Our 17th ranked women’s tennis team (ITA rankings) defeated Alabama 4-3 in a tightly contested match on Sunday where our singles players really came through in the clutch. We had also defeated Auburn 4-1 on Friday. We are now 7-3 overall and 3-1 in the SEC with our lone loss coming to LSU at the Currey Tennis Center surprisingly. Sunday, we dropped the doubles point, but came back with victories from 18th ranked (nationally) Christina Rosca, 28th ranked Georgia Drummy, Marcella Cruz and the match clincher by Dasha Kourkina. Alabama dropped to 12-5. They are a good team so it was an excellent victory for the women.

Next up for us is Friday @ Arkansas at 5 PM CT and Sunday at 1 PM CT @Missouri. Geoff McDonald always has our ladies peaking come SEC Tournament time. North Carolina is No.1 in the country and Georgia is the only SEC team ranked ahead of us at No.7 . We host Georgia on March 29th at the Currey Tennis Center. That’s a Sunday at 1 PM CT.

Will have more later in the week, certainly Thursday after our hopeful victory. Thanks for reading.

Bay Hill Club & Lodge Orlando, 7,454 yards, par 72

Defending champion; Francesco Molinari

2018 Champion Rory

Winner’s Share: $1.6 million+

Both in the field along with world No.3 Brooks Koepka, Rickie Fowler, Bryson DeChambeau, Jason Day, 2017 champ and 2020 Farmers champ Marc Leischman, Phil, who won here in 1997, Patrick Reed, a winner at WGC Mexico 2 weeks ago, 2014-15 Arnie champ Matt Every. Henrik Stenson, Ian Poulter, Adam Scott, who just won at the Genesis Invitational in LA 3 weeks ago, Viktor Hovland who won at Puerto Rico 2 weeks ago, Tony Finau and Justin Rose among others.

TV: Thursday-Friday, 1 PM-5 PM CT, Golf Channel. Saturday, 11:30 AM-1:30 PM CT, Golf, 1:30-5 PM NBC. Sunday, 11:30 AM-1:30 PM CT Golf, 1:30-5 PM NBC.

Weather: Very windy. Thursday, 89 winds 16-26 chance of t storm. Friday, 74, nice, winds 13-17. Saturday, 65, partly sunny, 15-22. Sunday 74, pleasant, 14-18.

Winner

I’ll take the 40 year old from Portrush, Northern Ireland. He just won the Saudi International a month ago and I like the way he’s trending. He’s an Orlando native and knows the course well. Give me,

Graeme McDowell

Sleeper

I like this 24 year old from Mobile, AL. by way of the University of Alabama to make some noise this week and be there at the end. He finished tied for 11th last week at the Honda. A ton of talent.

Robby Shelton

Saben Lee put on probably the most remarkable performance in Vanderbilt basketball history last night . The heart and soul of a young team that has been getting better and better and looks promising the rest of this season and next year, our phenomenal junior point guard scored 38 points on 14 of 20 from the field, including 6 of 7 from trifecta range, he added 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks, one a critical block with us up 78-73 and 2:42 left in the game, as we defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide 87-79 in Tuscaloosa.

This was our first road victory since March 3, 2018 and moved us to 10-20 overall and 2-15 in the SEC. That may not seem super, but the way we’re getting better and better with Saben dominating and Scotty Pippen Jr, Dylan Disu, Ejike Obinna, Maxwell Evans, Braelee Albert and Oton Jankovic all improving rapidly as players, I feel like we have a good shot Saturday with South Carolina visiting and we can do some damage in the SEC Tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashvegas starting next Wednesday, March 11th.

Saben put the team on his back, but Dylan was 5 of 10 from the field and 4 of 9 from triple for 14 points and added 8 boards and 1 blocked shot. Our freshman is going to be a terrific player for us. So is Scotty Pippen Jr. SPJ. added 13 points, 3 assists and 4 rebounds. He was also 6 of 9 from the line, so he’s back to being a good free throw shooter which he should be. Would like to see him make all 9 or 8 of 9. We’ll need him to going forward. But he’s showing signs of his dad’s game though he’s a point guard and his dad was a small forward. But he has his dad’s talent. Scotty Pippen Sr is at all home games. SPJ has the heart of a champion and has a very bright future on the West End. He’s really been trending well as a player and his potential is unlimited. Max Evans added 8 points and 3 boards and was 2 of 3 from trifecta. Obinna and Jankovic contributed too with buckets and boards. Braelee Albert is becoming a really solid player for us. Stack went small late in the game using Isaiah Rice, so we had a quicker group out there. We made some key free throws at the end.

We were 30 of 54 from the field, 56%, a sizzling 15 of 28 from 3, 54%, wow, and 12 of 16 from the charity stripe, 75%, which was solid. We held Alabama to 41% from the field, 33% from 3, 12 of 36, they were 15 of 21 from the line, 71%, and we out-rebounded them 35-33. We turned it over 18 times to their 12, so we need to polish that up for Saturday.

Amazing stuff from Stack, Saben and this young, dramatically improving team. Who knows what can happen for us going forward this season, our trajectory is outstanding right now, and we’ve got a shot to do well going forward. Next season looks extremely promising if Saben comes back, the great Aaron Nesmith decides he wants another year with Stack, and this young core, along with some excellent transfers, keep matriculating the way they have this season, we’ve got a shot to make the tournament and then all bets are off, you’ve got a chance to go the distance. I think we’re close to being back. Stack has us positioned well for the rest of this season and the future. Saben lit it up last night in Coleman Coliseum and gave this team the boost they needed for the rest of this season and continuing on into 20-21.

Saturday at Memorial hosting the South Carolina Gamecocks, a bubble team for the NCAA Tournament, 11:30 AM CT on the SEC Network.

Baseball a winner again

Six Vanderbilt pitchers combined to stymie the Central Arkansas bats in a 10-2 Commodore victory yesterday at the Hawk.

DH Ty Duvall had 2 hits and 2 Ribeyes, left fielder Cooper Davis had a pair of hits and an RBI, center fielder Tate Kolwyck was 2 for 2 with 2 Ribbies filling in for Austin Martin at the end of the game, shortstop Carter Young was 2 for 4 with an RBI, and 3rd baseman Parker Noland drove in 3 runs.

Ethan Smith got the start on the mound but struggled, but freshman Michael Doolin pitched 2 innings, gave up 1 hit with a walk and 5 K’s. Our great freshman Jack Leiter, pitched an inning, gave up 0 runs and struck out 2. Nick Maldonado, another freshman arm, pitched 2, gave up 0 runs with a walk and a K. Luke Murphy, a redshirt frosh, pitched and inning, gave up 1 hit with a walk and a pair of K’s, and Chris McElvain, another frosh, pitched an inning, giving up 1 hit with 0 walks and 2 K’s.

Just a workmanlike performance from our team. There were 3,182 fans at the Hawk cheering the team on after a traumatic night in Nashville. We were 10-1 on this homestand.

Corbs and the Boys head out west for games against UCLA, USC and TCU in LA. The UCLA game is Friday at 8 PM CT and will be streamed on vucommodores.com . Saturday’s game with USC is at 4 PM CT and will also be streamed live on vucommodores.com . The game Sunday versus TCU at 12 PM doesn’t have streaming as of now, but if we get a stream, I will sure let you know.

We’ll see if Mason Hickman can start Friday. Want to be careful with him though this is an important weekend for us with some excellent competition. Kumar should be able to go Saturday and I wouldn’t mind seeing Jack Leiter get the call on Sunday. If Mason is unable to go, Kumar might get the ball Friday, Jack Saturday, and to be determined on Sunday. SEC play starts at home next Friday versus Kentucky coming in for a weekend set. We’ll host Toledo on Wednesday. More information on those next week after this important weekend series against 3 stellar teams.

Men’s Golf excels in Mexico

Our 20th ranked men’s golf team finished 3rd in a loaded field at the Cabo Collegiate in Los Cabos, Mexico. We shot -10 as a team. No.9 Arizona State won it at -20 and No. 6 Texas A&M finished 2nd at -12. We finished ahead of No. 14 Arizona and No. 13 Baylor among other high quality teams in this 15 team field.

John “Clutch” Augenstein shot 68 yesterday, -3, and Reid Davenport was -1. Harrison Ott was +2 and William Moll and Matthew Riedel were at +4. The tournament takes the 4 lowest scores from each team as it does in all collegiate tournaments. We were +2 yesterday after shooting -2 the first day and -10 the second day. So very good showing for the guys. Harrison Ott finished tied for 10th at -3, John was tied for 14th at -2, Reid was tied for 19th th at -1, and William Moll was tied for 22nd at Even par.

Next up for us is the Desert Mountain Intercollegiate this Saturday and Sunday in Scottsdale, AZ. Then we’ll go to the Valspar Collegiate Championship on Palm City, Florida March 16th and 17th, a Monday and a Tuesday. That’s always a loaded field so we will be tested.

Coach Scott Limbaugh said we needed our senior, Johnny Clutch, to lead us, and Coach Limbaugh said John did a fantastic job of that. He said we’re not where we want to be yet, but he’s seeing progress and thinks we can be a possible championship caliber team with continued hard work, discipline and improvement.

The SEC Championships are in Sea Island, GA. April 23rd-26th, and the NCAA Regionals are May 18th-20th at a site to be determined. The NCAA Championships take place in Scottsdale, AZ, May 29th-June 3rd. A lot of work to do and tournaments to play in to get ready for those. We’re used to being at the NCAA Championships and doing very well there. The expectation is still the same this year.

I’ll talk to Scott soon.

Women’s Tennis

The Women’s Tennis team is now 5-3 after defeating Mississippi State in Starkville last Sunday, 4-3, in a dramatic comeback victory by our team. We are now ranked 17th in the the ITA Rankings. We’ve got another excellent team and Geoff McDonald will have us peaking in April and May. Will talk to Geoff coming up in the next week or so.

Football stuff

We are on spring break but have had a week of spring practice. We have new coordinators in OC Todd Fitch who comes from Louisiana Tech where he led prolific offenses. Really excited about Todd. Ted Roof takes over the defense and he has a very accomplished resume. He was most recently at App State in 2019 where he led his defense to the 18th best scoring defense in the country.

Coach Mason and Coach Fitch will need to find a starting quarterback. Freshman Ken Seals, a 5.7, 3 star and junior college quarterback Jeremy Moussa along with junior Jack Bowen are getting the reps right now. Jeremy is banged up I understand, but should be good to go either later in the spring or in August. Four star Mike Wright is coming in this summer as is junior college transfer Danny Clark, who started his career at Kentucky and recently played at Copiah-Lincoln Community College. Deuce Wallace transferred as did Alan Walters, and Mo Hasan had to quit football due to concussions. But I like our options for next season and like what Coach Fitch can do with these guys.

We got a huge breakthrough on February signing day when 4 star safety Donovan Kauffman signed with us. Huge get for Coach Mason and the staff. Donovan had committed to us but decided to look at test the waters instead of signing with us in December. We battled it out with Florida State and Ole Miss and landed Donovan in the end. He said he felt most comfortable with Coach Mason, the staff, the players and the campus and liked the world class education component as well. Awesome stuff by Coach Mason and the staff hanging tough and landing Donovan.

I will have more on the signing class in a later post. Our class was ranked 47th by Rivals. It was a solid class.

We have a lot of very good players, just need to develop them. I sent a direct message by twitter to Running Backs coach Tim Horton and he’s excited about his material but says there’s a lot of work to be done to get to where we need to be as a running back corps.

Our spring game will be Friday, April 3rd at 7 PM CT on the SEC Network. Will be interesting to see how the guys execute in front of a national audience. We’ve got talent back. Offensive line will need to jell, but I like our material there. Wide receiver looks excellent and defense, we’ve got some really good d linemen and I like our linebackers and secondary.

Our first game is Saturday, Sept. 5th vs Mercer at Vanderbilt Stadium. Time is to be determined. Then we’re @ Missouri, Sept. 12th, @ Kansas State, Sept. 19th, versus Colorado State, Sept. 26th, @ Georgia, October 3rd, vs Ole Miss, Oct. 10th, @ Kentucky, Oct.17th, open date Oct. 24th, versus South Carolina, Oct. 31st, vs. Florida, Nov. 7th, @A&M, Nov. 14th, vs. LA Tech, Nov. 21st, then vs Tennessee, Nov. 28th.

So a lot of work to do in preparation for the season. We just need to start with having a good spring. Will keep you updated.

The tragic events in the early morning hours in Nashville with tornadoes striking the city and causing, as of now, 19 fatalities, is felt throughout the Vanderbilt community. Just know we’re with you Nashvilleans and you are in the forefront of our thoughts and prayers. This is not an insensitive piece at the present time, but I thought you might want something happy and positive in this difficult time. Vanderbilt baseball and Coach Tim Corbin always bring Vanderbilt fans together and this piece is for the people of Nashville. We’re with you and you will get through this. I’m very sorry for your losses, please accept my condolences for this terrible tragedy. Hopefully, Corbs and baseball will bring some happiness into your lives.

Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin has entered his 18th season with an exciting, young, exuberant team that has so far posted a 10-3 record with some stellar freshmen, excellent sophomores, quality juniors and 2 super seniors left from the 13 players drafted last season in the MLB draft. It’s a group that is hungry to make its own mark. Tim Corbin always says a team is its own entity every year, and this year’s team is writing the next chapter in the illustrious Vanderbilt program that Tim Corbin has built. Last year’s 2019 team was spectacular, posting a 59-12 record, an SEC record for victories, winning the SEC regular season outright, dramatically winning the SEC Tournament championship in Hoover, AL. as the team came back from a 9-1 deficit to win the game 11-10 in the bottom of the 9th on a Philip Clarke RBI single. The phenomenal performance by Kumar Rocker in the super regional game against Duke on a Saturday Night after we had lost the first game of the series by a landslide was nothing short of remarkable. Kumar came out, with all the pressure on the 18 year old freshman, and pitched like a Major League Hall of Famer, throwing a no-hitter and striking out 19. It was beyond extraordinary. We clinched a spot in the CWS the next day and moved on to our fourth College World Series of the decade. The championship series with Michigan was dramatic and nerve wrecking. We lost the first game, but Kumar gave us another outstanding performance to lead us to a game 2 victory and Mason Hickman pitched a gem in game 3. And with some help from the bats and Jake Eder, we won our second national championship. It was so surreal in 2014 that we had won it all, and 2019 was very spectacular as well. The team just accomplished every goal it set out to achieve. Ethan Paul, Stephen Scott, Julian Infante, Patrick Raby, Walker Grisanti, Kiambu Fentress and A.J. Franklin will go down as a heroic senior class that came back to Vanderbilt and had suffered through the horrific tragedy of losing teammate Donny Everett 3 years before, fought through it, and became national champions. They were already champions for what they had persevered through, but they earned what they got, winning it all. Those 7 along with the younger guys who moved on to the pro ranks, guys like Clarke, Pat DeMarco, Drake Fellows and JJ Bleday are etched in Vanderbilt lore. Guys like Harrison Ray, Kumar, Mason Hickman, the great Austin Martin and Ty Duvall are part of that history and will be creating their own legacy this season.

Corbs is now 750-357-1 as head coach at VU, a 68% winning percentage. As noted earlier he’s been to 4 College World Series, 9 Super Regionals, 14 consecutive Regionals, an SEC record. He’s had 15 players drafted in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft including overall No.1 picks David Price in 2007 and Dansby Swanson in 2015. He has 15 players on Major League rosters, whom I will write about in the near future, and it could be 50 or more in professional baseball. He was just elected into the Tennessee Hall of Fame. The culture is the best you’ll find in sports. My good friend and commenter, H. Lamar, said last year after we won it all that we’re the Alabama of college baseball. I wrote back to H that Alabama is the Vanderbilt of college football.

The train keeps cookin down the track as this 2020 team will write their own chapter of this storied college baseball program. And this group looks to be primed to keep getting better and better as our young players keep gaining valuable experience. There are several studs on this baseball team.

Sophomore Isaiah Thomas provided another dramatic finish at the Hawk on Sunday versus a very good Hawaii team. We split the first 2 games with the Rainbow Warriors and on Sunday they took a 2-0 lead against us. Isaiah crushed a 422 foot homer to left central to cut the margin in half in the 4th. We fell behind in top of the 11th, 5-3, but Austin Martin coaxed an RBI single to cut the margin to 5-4, and with 2 runners aboard and 2 outs, Thomas crushed another majorly deep ball that easily cleared the left central field wall for another dramatic victory, 7-5. We now are 10-3 and face Central Arkansas today at 4:30 PM CT (SEC Network+) at the Hawk before setting off for the west coast, Los Angeles, Friday through Sunday to face UCLA, Friday Night @8 PM CT, USC, Saturday at 4 PM CT, and TCU, Sunday at 12 PM in 3 important games as we prepare for the challenging SEC schedule we’ll face. The game with USC Saturday will be streamed live on the vucommodores.com website. I’ll try and get information on the other 2 games if there is any streaming. Then we’ll face Toledo March 11th, a Wednesday, at home at 6:30 PM CT, and we’ll start the SEC schedule with Kentucky coming to town Friday March 13th through Sunday, March 15th. Friday’s game is at 6:30 PM CT, Saturday’s game is at 2 PM CT and Sunday’s game is a 1 PM CT first pitch. All 3 games will be streamed on SEC Network+.

We are currently ranked No.2 in the country by D1Baseball.com. Florida (11-0) is ranked No.1. Louisville is No.3, Georgia is No.4 and Texas Tech is No.5. UCLA is No.6 and other SEC teams in the top 25 include No.9 Ole Miss, No.13 Arkansas, No.18 Mississippi State, No. 19 Auburn, No. 20 Tennessee and No.21 LSU. TCU is No.22. USC is not ranked at present. We will play at Florida, Thursday, May 7th at 6 PM CT on ESPNU, Friday, May 8th at 5:30 PM CT on the U, and Saturday, May 9th, at 1 PM CT on the SEC Network.

We’ve got 12 televised games this season. The Florida series, the final 2 games of the @Tennessee series, March 21st and 22nd, with the Saturday March 21st game at 11 AM CT on the SEC Network and the Sunday, March 22nd game at 11 AM CT on the SEC Network. Thursday Night, April 2nd, at 6 CT we’ll be @ LSU and that game will be on the SEC Network followed by a Friday contest, April 3rd, at 7:30 PM on the SEC Network. Saturday’s game, April 4th will begin at 3 PM CT and will be televised by ESPNU. The Battle of the Barrel, the annual game with the always highly ranked Louisville Cardinals will be broadcast Tuesday, May 5th at 6 PM CT on ESPN2. That game will be at home. Our April 12th game, a Sunday, versus South Carolina at home at 11 AM CT, will be televised by the SEC Network. And our April 25th and 26th games @ Alabama, Saturday, the 25th at 7 PM CT and Sunday, the 26th at 2 PM CT will both be televised by the SEC Network. The rest of our games will be on SEC Network+ on the computer or your smart TV, the ESPN app, and there could be a few wild card games that we’ll appear on in the latter part of the SEC season. I’ll keep you apprised.

Our pitching staff is once again paced by the greats Mason Hickman and Kumar Rocker. Mason is 2-0 with an 0.48 ERA with 3 walks and 26 K’s. He pitched last Friday in our victory over Hawaii and got the victory himself, but he slightly injured his oblique muscle, which Corbs doesn’t think is serious, but his availability this Friday at UCLA is questionable I will say. Will keep you posted. Kumar is 2-0 with an 0.75 ERA with 4 walks and 21 strikeouts. He’s better than ever. He did not pitch Saturday as he was having some arm soreness but Corbs does not see that as serious. Hopefully we’ll have Kumar for the USC game, if not we’ll rest him and Mason for the Kentucky series the next weekend though would like to see those guys pitch against good competition to ready themselves for the SEC battles. Freshman Jack Leiter has been spectacular for us. He was a critical recruit, like Kumar in 2018, who shunned the Major Leagues to play at Vanderbilt. He has lived up to his top 15 recruit billing. Jack is 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA with 4 walks and 16 strikeouts. Jack’s dad, Al, was a long time very good major league pitcher and pitched for a couple of World Series champion New York Yankees teams in the mid 90’s. Jack brings the heat like Kumar and has a super curve and change up. He is a stellar addition to this staff. He may end up being a weekend guy for us this season. Jake Eder is back and pitching on Sundays now. He’s 1-0 with a 3.86 ERA with 6 walks and 19 K’s. The great Tyler Brown is back. Tyler has had some early season struggles, but hopefully he’ll become the Tyler Brown who was so phenomenal last season and a key piece of our national championship team. Ethan Smith is back for his sophomore season and is pitching well as a midweek starter along with Leiter. Ethan is 2-0 with an 0.00 ERA with 3 walks and 17 Ks. Ethan has superb stuff. Another freshman who’s lighting it up for us is Sam Hliboki who also has an 0.00 ERA in 10.2 innings with 1 walk and 13 K’s. We’re really going to like Sam. He’s come in in high leverage situations and has pitched superbly well. There are some other stellar freshmen who will be key pieces to the bullpen. Our team ERA is 1.67 right now. We’ll be tested this weekend on the west coast and we’ll be tested today versus Toledo at 4:30 PM CT at the Hawk on SEC Network+. Ethan will get the start. We have the makings of a terrific pitching staff.

We’re hitting .281 as a team led by our fantastic center fielder Austin Martin, who’s back for his junior year and hitting .364 with 3 homers and 9 Ribeyes. Austin also has 3 stolen bases in 4 attempts. The ultra aggressive left fielder for us Cooper Davis is hitting .327 with 3 stolen bases in 3 attempts. Shortstop Carter Young, another stellar freshman, is hitting . 327 with 10 Ribbies. Our great catcher Ty Duvall is hitting .324 with 7 RBIs. Another outstanding freshman, catcher CJ Rodriguez, is hitting .314 with 8 Ribbies. CJ and Ty have been giving us stellar play behind the dish as well. Ty has thrown out all 5 baserunners that have tried to steal on him. CJ plays exceptional defense as well. Isaiah Thomas is hitting .271 with 4 homers and 11 RBIs. He’s looking like he’ll have a terrific season for us. Isaiah, a sophomore, made a tremendous catch a week ago Sunday against Illinois-Chicago to preserve a 5-2 victory with a running catch where he reached up, hit the wall and held onto the ball to help secure the victory. He’s a very positive, motivated player for us. Like his demeanor. We’ve got another stellar sophomore first baseman in Dominic Keegan, who is hitting .385 in 3 games started. He started over the weekend. Dominic is an amazing story. He had blood clots in his body last year and a broken rib and there was a good chance he’d never play baseball again. But the ultra tough Massachusetts native is playing this season and doing phenomenally well. Justyn Henry Malloy, another sophomore, is showing signs of being a good player for us at first. His defense has been very good, just needs to get the bat going a little. And, of course, there’s super senior Harrison Ray at 2nd. Harry is hitting .255, but making key play after key play for us both on offense and on defense. Like the leadership Harry Ray and Ty bring to this team as our 2 seniors. We have stolen 23 bases in 24 attempts. Last year we had a power hitting club as we belted an SEC record 100 homers. We may need to do more base stealing and bunting this year to manufacture runs though we’ve got guys who can hit it out.

We are fielding at a .970 clip. We’ve got a lot of good defenders. Some more reps and we’ll be extremely solid. Austin Martin in Central Field is exciting. Another guy I wanted to mention is freshman third baseman Parker Noland. He’s hitting .261, but looks to have major talent. He throws overhanded from third, a little unorthodoxed, but looks to be good at the plate and getting better and better in the field.

So, we’ve got quite a group this season with a chance to do sensational things. Gotta take care of business today, and hoping for a super weekend in LA, a solid game against Toledo next Wednesday and then it’s the SEC battles. Should be an electric season for our team once again. This team’s got a shot to be special, just need to focus day to day like Tim Corbin, one of the best coaches in all of sports, likes his teams to to do. The SEC is rugged, but we’re capable of doing well and mounting another deep run in the postseason. CWS? Yes. Winning it all? Certainly within the realm of possibility. This is a young, growing team that might take some lumps at times, but will keep improving and be ready for April, May and June.