Our Vanderbilt Men’s Golf won a huge tourney, The Prestige, a competition played at the Greg Norman Course at PGA West in La Quinta, California.

Our team shot a 14 under 270 score on Wednesday, the final round, to capture the title. We were in first place after day one with a 3 over 287 score on the par 71. After day 2, we struggled with some challenging, windy conditions and shot +27 and fell to sixth place. But on day 3, our stud freshman Gordon Sargent from B’ham shot 6 under 65, Reid Davenport shot 5 under 66, and Cole Sherwood shot 3 under 68. Matthew Reidel chipped in an even par 71. Reid finished 3rd overall, Cole finished 4th, Gordo finished t-16, and Matthew finished t-28. So, awesome showing by Coach Scott Limbaugh and the guys.

We finished +16 on the difficult track defeating 36th ranked Oregon, Golfweek rankings, by 10 shots. We are ranked 14th by Golfweek and 21st by Golf Stat. No. 12 Kansas finished 3rd. No.6 Texas Tech finished 4th, and No.8 Stanford finished 6th, so there was an excellent field. Next up for the team is the Cabo Collegiate in Los Cabos, Mexico on the Ocean Course at Cabo del Sol, which starts Sunday. No.8 Stanford is playing along with SEC teams No.20 Alabama, No. 10 Tennessee, No.7 Arkansas, No. 16 Ole Miss, along with No.6 Texas Tech, Houston, Cal and No.3 Oklahoma State among others competing.

So Coach Limbaugh is really getting our guys tournament tough for the future. This is another step in our goal of playing deep into May and early June,. Big tourney for the guys. So proud for Coach Limbaugh, Assistant Coach Gator Todd and proud of our players. Well done, guys. Will keep you apprised of our performance in Cabo. The Tourney is Sunday through Tuesday, Feb. 27th-March 1st. Come on, guys, let’s keep this momentum going.

Baseball

Our baseball team hosts Army for a weekend series at the Hawk with game one today at 4:30 PM CT on SEC Network+. Saturday’s game commences at 2 PM CT and Sunday’s finale starts at 1 PM CT. Those 2 games will also be broadcast by SEC Network+.

Junior righty Chris McElvain, who pitched superbly last Friday in our opener versus OK State, will be on the hill today. Left handed freshman Carter Holton gets the start tomorrow, and right handed junior Nick Maldonado will start on Sunday.

Senior left fielder Javier Vaz is hitting .429, and started off in sterling fashion. I have a feeling Javy is going to be a critical piece in our team’s success this season. With Javy in left, Enrique Bradfield in center and Spencer Jones in right, that’s a spectacular outfield. Spencer is hitting .417, Jack Bulger is hitting .333 and awesome senior 2nd baseman Tate Kilwyck is hitting .300.

McElvain went 4 last Friday afternoon against the Cowboys, gave up only 4 hits with a walk and 10 K’s. Nick looked pretty solid, and Carter is loaded with talent. We’re still getting a grip on our pitching, who’s starting and who’s coming out of the bullpen. Will see how that piece of our team develops. There is plenty of talent and power arms in our dugout. Will keep you posted on the weekend.

Basketball

Our basketball team absorbed a tough blow on Tuesday Night. Man, that one hurt. But, gotta put it behind us and be ready for Mississippi State tomorrow @ State at 12 PM CT on the SEC Network. Scotty PIppen Jr is averaging 19.7 points per game to lead the league and 21.1 in the SEC to also lead the league in that category. State is 16-12 and 7-8 in conference and we are 6-9 and 14-13. Another major game for us tomorrow as we continue to improve as a team and try to enhance our position in the SEC standings and avoid the Wednesday Night game at Tampa in the SEC Tournament, March 9th-13th. Our goal is still getting to the NCAA Tournament, that hasn’t changed. We’ve got the material, if we can just finish strong and hopefully get our great leader Rodney Chatman back for the SEC Tourney in Tampa.

Tennis

Our Men’s Tennis team is 6-0, and while only ranked 64th in the country according to the ITA rankings, the guys are playing very well. We play at No.13 Harvard today at 4 PM and Sunday at 8 AM CT vs No. 52 Cornell. Both matches will be played at the Harvard courts in Cambridge, MA. So a great opportunity for Coach Ian Duvenhage and the guys. Will let you know how we do.

Our 21st ranked Women’s Tennis team plays Wofford and Belmont on Sunday. We play Wofford at 10 AM CT and Belmont at 3 PM CT at the Currey Tennis Center in Nashville. Our women are 6-1 on the season and playing extremely well. Our only loss is to No.6 Cal-Berkeley on the road. Coach Aleke Tsoubanos has a very nice team in her second season at the helm. Will let you know how our women fare on Sunday, probably on Monday.

So, a lot going down on the West End and for our teams on the road. God Bless, have a super weekend and Anchor Down. I’ll be in touch.

What a game last night at Memorial Coliseum in Nashville as the Crimson Tide outlasted the Commodores 74-72 in a key victory for Bama to move its record to 18-10 overall and 8-7 in the SEC. Vanderbilt drops to 14-13 overall and 6-9. Vanderbilt has its work cut out for itself if it wants to avoid playing in the dreaded Wednesday Night first round game at the SEC Tournament at Amalie Arena in Tampa, March 9th-13th. They are now tied with A&M at fourth from the bottom, but do hold the tiebreaker over A&M by virtue of their victory last Saturday Night over the Aggies. Vandy goes to Mississippi State on Saturday, 12 PM CT SEC Network, hosts Florida next Tuesday, March 1st, 7:30 PM CT SEC Network, and goes to Ole Miss the final Saturday of the regular season, March 6th, at 5 PM CT on the SEC Network. The Crimson Tide is projected by Joey Brackets to be a No.5 seed in the NCAA Tournament as of today and playing North Texas in Portland. Joey B isn’t always right, but he’s pretty accurate. The Tide has games left versus South Carolina this Saturday at 5 PM CT on the SEC Network, Wednesday, March 2nd vs Texas A&M at 6 PM CT on the SEC Network, and Saturday, March 5th at 11 AM CT @ LSU on CBS. The first 2 games are at home.

It was a hard fought, hard hat game. The Crimson Tide was 22 of 25 from the line, 88%, which was huge for them. Jahvon Quinerly had 19 points, he was 6-of-12 from the field, 3-of-3 from trifecta, and 4 of 4 from the line. He played a super game. Point guard JD Davison played a solid game as well. He just keeps getting better and better. He scored 10 points, pulled down 10 boards, and added 5 assists and 3 steals. Vanderbilt’s great point guard, Scotty Pippen Jr., had 26 points on 5 of 13 from the field, 2 of 5 from 3, and 14 of 18 from the stripe. Vanderbilt was 27 of 36 from the line, 75%. Bama won the rebounding battle at 41-37. There were some major plays at the end of the game that decided it. From a Vanderbilt perspective, I was a little disappointed at the block call on Pippen Jr in the last 20 seconds. In 1997, Bobby Knight, after an Indiana-UAB game at the Civic Center, expressed his bewilderment at the block/charge call. He said there was no solid rationale for making the call. He was pretty prophetic. The refs have mostly been calling it a charge when there is a player control foul. Alabama won no doubt, but it appeared Pippen Jr was moving his feet laterally in stable guarding position and the Alabama player, Darius Miles, elbowed him in the chest and knocked him over. The ref called a block. It was close, but as a VU fan, of course I would have liked to have seen that called a charge. But Vanderbilt missed a point blank layup with 12 seconds left and the Crimson Tide made a nice comeback from a halftime deficit and outplayed the Commodores in the second half. I think this Crimson Tide team, if they can get good leadership going forward from Jaden Shackelford and Quninerly, and Davison keeps getting better and better and playing to his potential as a 5 star in the 2021 class, and the guys down low keep playing hard, James Rojas, Darius Miles, Charles Bediako and Noah Gurley, who’s a fantastic player, can make some noise in March. This team is not where last year’s team was at this point, but it does have the talent to reach a Sweet 16 and do even better. The SEC is so stellar this season, Auburn, Kentucky, Arkansas, even LSU and Alabama have a chance to really make some noise deep into March.

Phil Mickelson

Just a lot of controversy surrounding his comments. Rory called Mickelson’s comments, “Naive, selfish, egotistical, ignorant.” Rory tells it like it is and I love it. Billy Horschel called the comments, “idiotic.” Jon Rahm and JT said the same thing. Not one of the big name players is going to the Saudi League. It looks like it’s FIGJAM, Adam Scott, Lee Westwood, Paul Casey and Ian Poulter. Good luck with that Norman. Mickelson has been dropped by KPMG, the accounting firm, and other sponsors are on the verge of doing the same thing. A friend of mine, CO, told me there’s going to be a book coming out about Mickelson later this year that details all of his massive gambling losses. I keep going back to the point of how can a guy who is worth $400 million and makes $25 million a year all from his PGA Tour career and what it’s done for him, complain about anybody else being “greedy and arrogant.” It’s just a bunch of idiotic nonsense. He deserves all the criticism he is getting right now and will receive going forward. Just an arrogant guy, who may very well have ruined his reputation. It’ll be tough to get that back.

Winner this week at the Honda Classic

It will be played at PGA National, Champion Course, in Palm Gardens, FL. It’s a 7,125 yard, Par 70 and one of the toughest courses on tour and features the “Bear Trap” No’s. 15-17. The Bear Trap played a combined 230 over par last year, and 1,604 balls have found the water on that stretch since 2007. A lot of wind and a lot of water. The weather is nice low 80’s, no rain, winds 13 on Thursday, 11 on Friday, 10 on Saturday and 8 on Sunday. So it’ll be riveting on those 3 holes that will make or break the tournament for the contenders. The defending champion is Matt Jones. Last week’s champion at the Genesis Invitational was Joauquin Niemann. The 23 year old from Santiago, Chile finished -19, 2 clear of Collin Morikawa. He earned over $2 million for his victory. Not a bad way to make a living if you’re willing to work for it.

Sungjae Im is the favorite at 14/1. Daniel Berger is 16/1. Niemann is 16/1. Brooks Koepka is 20/1. Louis Oosthuizen is 20/1, Tommy Fleetwood is 20/1. Shane Lowry is 22/1. Billy Horschel is 27/1. Defending champion Matt Jones is 29/1. Matthew Wolff is 34/1. Russell Knox is 41/1. Patrick Reed is 41/1. Gary Woodland is 45/1. I’ll take the 43 year old from Winfield, Illinois originally, by way of Duke University. He’ll be watching with interest tonight as his No.7 Blue Devils are in Charlottesville to take on Virginia. Duke is 23-4 and UVA is 17-10, but 11-6 in the ACC and trying to enhance its NCAA Tournament resume. Duke leads the ACC at 13-3, and the entire Duke nation wants to send Coach K out as a national champion. Virginia went to Duke a couple of Mondays ago and knocked them off, so this should be a stellar game with the intensity high. 6 CT on ESPN. There’s a new book out on Coach K by Ian O’Connor, who wrote a terrific book on Bill Belichick that I read, so looking forward to reading that. I’ll give you a report on it.

With that said, I love what this guy said about the Mickelson controversy. He said for a guy who was broke on the mini tours for 6 years, he doesn’t understand at all what Mickelson is complaining about. This guy has paid his dues. A veteran in Matt Jones, 40 at the time, won last year, so I’ll take this savvy veteran to win at the Champion Jack Nicklaus redesigned course from original designer Tom Fazio. He’s 120/1. I’l take my chances.

Kevin Streelman

Our Vanderbilt Men’s Basketball team is coming off a stellar 72-67 victory over Texas A&M Saturday Night to move to 14-12 overall and 6-8 in the SEC, and now prepares for 24th ranked Alabama in a tremendously important game at Memorial at 8 tonight on the SEC Network.

Scotty Pippen Jr finished with 24 points, and 6 rebounds versus A&M, and was selected co-SEC Player of the week along with Jaylin Williams of Arkansas after SPJ averaged 26.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 3.5 steals last week. What a week for our junior. He posted 29 points, 6 assists and 5 steals against Auburn. He just keeps on excelling. I don’t know if it’ll be possible to keep Scotty after this season, probably not, but we’ll just make the most of the rest of the time we have him on the West End, and there is a lot of basketball left to be played this season with a lot of opportunities for this team, so Scotty will be a Commodore for a while longer, hopefully into the NCAA Tournament. No reason to ever give up hope on that. We’ve got the team to get there. Jordan Wright added 15 points against A&M and our big fella, Liam Robbins, poured in 14 and pulled down 8 boards. Quentin Millora-Brown also pulled down 8 caroms. We sank 20 of 29 from the line and quite a few down the stretch in hitting 69 percent. Scotty was 7 for 9 and was 12 for 14 against Auburn.

So, super effort by the team, and a major test tonight. Alabama is 17-10 and 7-7 in the SEC. They are coming off a 90-81 loss at Kentucky, but there’s no shame in that. That happens a lot for visiting teams at Rupp. The Crimson Tide has defeated No.1 Gonzaga in Spokane, No.14 Houston and No.10 Baylor at home, so they are a high quality team. Jaden Shackelford, a shooting guard, leads them in scoring at 17.3 per game. Scotty leads the conference at 19.5. Jahvon Quinerly is another stellar guard, who averages 12.9 per game. Keon Ellis is a small forward and stellar shooter who averages 11.2. The Tide puts up a lot of 3’s and is only averaging 28.5% from the arc, but can really get hot and be dangerous from 3. Ellis is their leading rebounder at 5.6. They are shooting 74% from the line, and averaging 40 rebounds a game to their opponents’ 39. So we’ll have to shoot it well, Scotty, Jordan, Myles Stute and Trey Thomas need to sink 3’s, really get after them on defense, and match them on the boards. They’re athletic and quick. JD Davidson, their 5 star freshman point guard, is erratic at times, but when he’s going well, he’s a challenge. He’s a pretty good shooter at times and an excellent passer and terrific athlete. Their big guys, Noah Gurley, James Rojas and Darius Miles are highly athletic. Charles Bediako is a 7’er, and he’s come on some. Juwan Gary is another effective big guy for the Tide.

We’ve got our work cut out for us for sure. A victory here would be spectacular for the team and give us such a momentum boost. So let’s Anchor Down tonight and get the job done.

Baseball lost 2 of 3 from now 4th ranked Oklahoma State. We were No.3 and now we’re No.5. There were some concerning things, the strikeouts, some shaky fielding, and definitely some good pitching, but also some guys who need to develop. I would like to see Nick Maldonado go back to his closer role. That’s where Nick shines. Hope Corbs decides to go that route and go with Christian Little as a starter again. Really liked what I saw out of Chris McElvain Friday Night and freshman lefty Carter Holton shows good promise and a super mid to upper 90’s fastball. We just need to develop in these early games. Don’t like losing the series .There’s a lot we can improve on. The game today with North Alabama has been postponed due to the threat of inclement weather in Nashville. Just a lot of rain, nothing severe. We are scheduled to play Evansville tomorrow at 4:30 PM CT on SEC Network+, so hopeful we can get that in. Evansville is 0-3 after having been swept by N.C. State over the weekend. But we need to improve in all 3 facets of the game, at the plate, on the mound and in the field, so we need to lock in and play well. Army, which is 1-2, after defeating Richmond last Friday before losing to Air Force and Ball State, comes to the Hawk for a weekend set with game times 4:30 PM CT Friday, 2 PM Saturday, and 1 PM Sunday. All games will be broadcast by SEC Network+.

Our Men’s Golf Team is tied for first with Oregon at The Prestige Tournament played at the Greg Norman Course at PGA West in La Quinta, California. We are at +3 along with the Ducks. There are 24 teams competing. Reid Davenport is tied for the individual lead at -2. The tourney will commence again tomorrow, Wednesday, and the final round is on Thursday. Will keep you posted.

Will have a recap tomorrow of this crucially important game for the team tonight.

Our No.3 ranked Vanderbilt Baseball team was stellar in all phases of the game last night in a 3-0 victory over No.7 Oklahoma State before 3,802 VU partisans at the Hawk.

Junior Chris McElvain got the start and was superb. Chris went 4, gave up 4 hits, 0 runs with only 1 walk and 10 strikeouts. Chris was hitting 93 with his fastball, and his slider was vicious. He was dominant on the mound. Sophomore Patrick Reilly pitched 4 innings in relief, gave up 1 hit, 0 runs with 4 walks and 7 K’s. If Patrick can get his control down, he’s lights out. He was hitting upper 90’s on the gun. He has all the makings of a terrific pitcher. Just really pleasantly surprised with how McElvain pitched. He was awesome. Thomas Schultz came in and pitched a hitless, scoreless 9th, with 0 walks and a K. Schultz looked excellent as well. He picked up the save.

We had 6 hits, but there were some timely/clutch hits. Our great sophomore center fielder Enrique Bradfield, wow, glad to have him back, walked with one out in the bottom of the third, and advanced to second and third on wild pitches. Designated hitter Jack Bulger drove Bradfield home with a single to left central. Then our great now catcher Dom Keegan, he was at first last year, but came into VU as a catcher, came to the plate. Bulger moved to second on a wild pitch, and Dom doubled to deep right to drive him home. In the bottom of the fourth, another of our great seniors, second baseman Tate Kolwyck, homered over the Green Monster in left just inside the foul pole. Tate also doubled to right central in the bottom of the 6th. Our awesome left fielder Javy Vaz also had a double to left. Those were all the runs our staff needed as they struck out 18, 5 short of the record in a game set in April 21,1970 when we fanned 23 in a 16-0 victory over Chattanooga.

Defense was stellar as well. Our freshman first baseman Jonathan Vastine, whom Corbs is very high on, started a slick, 3-6-1 double play. He fielded a grounder, threw a strike to shortstop Carter Young who relayed it back to Reilly, who covered first perfectly.

So, excellent start for the team. Game 2 is today. Right hander Nick Maldonado gets the start for us. Not determined on Cowboys. Game time is 1 PM CT on SEC Network+. Will give you a recap tomorrow.

VU Basketball in key game today at 5 PM CT

Our bball team dropped a tough one @ No.2 Auburn on Wednesday Night, 94-80. We scrapped, and it was a highly competitive game for a good while, but Auburn is pretty awesome, especially at their place. We still battled. Scotty Pippen Jr. was superb, going for 29 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists. I talked to a couple of Auburn guys, and they were highly complimentary of Scotty. He is phenomenal. Jordan wright added 15 and 6 rebounds. The combination of 6’9”, 220 Jabari Smith, 31 points, and 7’er Walker Kessler, 240 pounds, were too much to handle. Kessler poured in 22, 7 boards and 7 blocks. Those 2 look like top 5 to 7 draft picks in this year’s NBA draft. Some tough news was that our star guard, senior Rodney Chatman is out with a hamstring injury, and not expected back until at least the SEC Tournament. He’s such an important part of our team with his leadership, his toughness on defense and his prolific 3 point shooting. That was a factor not having him against Auburn. Trey Thomas and some other guys, Shane Dezone and Tyrin Lawrence will need to step up in Rodney’s absence. Hopeful will get Rodney back for the SEC Tourney. He’s such a major part of our team.

But we still have a ton to play for. We have 5 games left, need to win them all, and go probably to the finals in the SEC Tournament and maybe win it to make the NCAA Tournament. That’s a big ask, but this team still has the grit to do it. Scotty will do everything he can to get us into the Big Tourney. We are currently 13-12 overall, and 5-8 in the SEC. Five wins would put us at 18-12 and 10-8, which would be terrific. Maybe if we do that, a couple of victories in the SEC Tournament would get us in the Big Tourney. We’ve got it in us.

Gigantic matchup today versus Texas A&M @ Memorial, 5 PM CT on the SEC Network. We are tied with A&M at 5-8 in the conference standings, and if we’re victorious, we would be ahead of A&M, fifth from the bottom of the league, but ahead as far as not having to play in the first round of the tourney at Tampa March 9th, a Wednesday, with the bottom four teams in the regular season standings playing on Wednesday. That would be tremendous. It’s been a while since we haven’t played on a Wednesday Night and a first round bye is crucial. It gives you a shot to go the distance and not have to play 5 games. Four games is tough, but doable. Five games is extremely hard to win against this competition. So this is a major matchup in that regard. Will let you know on our bball team as well. The SEC Tournament is Wednesday, 3-9 through Sunday, March 13th at Amalie Arena in Tampa. Interesting place to hold it. First time in history.

Also, will have a write up on our 2022 football signee class coming up in the next week or two, hopefully this next week. Will try my best to get that out. I know they have been talked about a good bit, but will try to give you a more comprehensive look a this impressive class that Clark and his staff have assembled. Our national rank was 32 by 247 sports, and 33 by Rivals, which is excellent. There have been some changes on our staff. We have a new defensive coordinator, linebackers coach, defensive backs coach, and maybe one more. Will give you more intel on that as well. I like the new coaches. They seem very solid. It’s a real compliment to your program that other programs are going after your staff. Clark knows how to hire good people, so I feel good about the new hires. Will talk about the guys who are returning players on the team as well in a comprehensive football piece. More coming up.

Men’s Golf starts their spring season at The Prestige tournament on Monday, Feb. 21. The tournament runs through Wednesday, 2-23. Will keep you posted on that. Men’s Tennis is 6-0 and Women’s Tennis is 6-1, so good starts for both those programs. Will keep you apprised on those two teams that are excelling so far.

Have a super weekend and let’s get this done today at the Hawk and later this afternoon at Memorial.

Played at revered Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, CA., just outside of L.A. Riviera is a 7,322 yard, Par 71 layout. Grass is all Kikuya except for greens.Pretty thick stuff, but only an inch and a half tall, but 7,500 square foot greens make for challenging 2 putts from distance. Poa Annua greens stimping at 12 1/2.

Defending champion, Max Homa, defeated Tony Finau in a playoff.

Last week, Scottie Scheffler won his first tournament at the Waste Management Phoenix Open sinking a 24 foot birdie putt on the third playoff hole, No.18, to outlast Patrick Cantlay and win at TPC Scottsdale. Wow, what a rowdy place. Once a year is enough of that.

This Super League is shaping up to be a dangerous competitor to the PGA Tour. With the massive money being offered some of these big names, they could defect to the 12 tournament league. If they do, the PGA has stated it will ban those players from playing on the PGA Tour. I agree with that statement. If they’re that greedy to leave the tour and don’t want to play in majors and play for history and legacy along with a really good earnings potential throughout the year and particularly in the Majors and in the Players, the fifth major, then they don’t deserve that opportunity. I hope the PGA will stand by those comments if guys like FIGJAM (ef I’m good just ask me) Mickelson and DeChambeau leave. What’s wrong with the career they have right now? They’ve got better job than 98 percent of the country, a job that pays several of them lavishly. Why would you not want to play in majors and leave a legacy for your family, your kids, your grandkids, your great grandchildren? I know the amount of money this league is offering is tempting, but I like guys who want to be a part of history, not some fly by night league that Greg Norman, one of the biggest chokers in the game, is in charge of. Norman’s bad for the game. I hope players realize the PGA Tour is where they’re supposed to be. It’s a solid, stable job. The Saudi League, while lucrative, is an enigma. Not sure if it’s viable for the future.

Weather this week, low 70’s Thursday through Saturday, winds, 5-10. 69 Sunday, winds, 5-10. Mostly Sunny, so perfect conditions.

19 key competitors, Will Zalatoris, 25/1, Matt Fitzpatrick, 33/1, Francesco Molinari, 100/1, Bubba Watson, 40/1, Max Homa, 40/1, Bubba Watson, 40/1, Brooks Koepka, 33/1 Tony Finau, 50/1, Collin Morikawa, 20/1, Dustin Johnson, 18/1, Cameron Smith, 25/1, Rory, 22/1, Hideki, 25/1, Viktor Hovland, 25/1, Jordan Spieth, 35/1, Xander Schauffele, 22/1, Justin Thomas, 16/1, Patrick Cantlay, 12/1, Jon Rahm, 9/1.

TV

Thursday-Friday, 3-7 PM CT, Golf Channel

Saturday, 12-2 PM CT, GC, 2-6 PM CT, CBS

Sunday, 12-2 PM CT, GC, 2-5:30 PM CT, CBS

Winner

I’ll take the 29 year old from Long Beach, CA. by way of UCLA. He’s been awesome the last 2 weeks finishing tied for 4th at Pebble Beach and runner up last week at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. I like the fact that this is his home turf as well. Give me the 2021 Fed Ex Cup winner. He’s primed for another terrific year in 2022.

Patrick Cantlay

Sleeper

I’ll take the 24 year old from Orange, California. He had the lead going into the 71st hole last Sunday at the WMPO, but bogeyed the 17th, after hitting what looked like a solid tee shot over the green and into the water on the 330 yard par 4. He went on to bogey that hole, and couldn’t close the deal, but he looks capable every week now. He has an unusual swing, but it’s effective. The Pepperdine player won the Haskins Award, the Ben Hogan Award and the Jack Nicklaus Award as the top player in collegiate golf in 2020. This guy is ready to win. I don’t know if he’ s considered an underdog anymore, but he’s 100/1, so I’ll take him as that.

Sahith Theegala

Football looks promising as well.

Tough one last night in Knoxville. Scotty played his heart out as did Myles Stute. who was on fire from 3. Just not enough contributions from the rest of the team. Gotta put this behind us and get ready for Auburn Wednesday &8 pm ct on SEC Network. Another opportunity for our team. My good friend K Sevier and I emailed this AM and we both still believe in the guys. We play teams like Tennessee, KY, even Auburn on a neutral court, we have a shot. If we can be competitive with Auburn Wednesday all the way up till 5 minutes left in the game, we’ll have a shot. We’re going to have to finish out this season very strongly and excel in the SEC tourney to make the NCAA’s. Probably need to 5 of our last 6 and win 3 games in the SEC, or better yet, win it. If we win 5 of 6, we’ll finish regular season out 18-12 and 10-8 in conference. That would at least give us a bye in the first round of Tourney at Tampa, March 9-13. Playing Thursday instead of Wednesday would be huge. The tournament will be played at Amalie Arena. A bye from Wednesday Night gives us a shot to go deep. So, a lot of basketball left to be played and several impactful victories to be had. Our last six game are @Auburn, Wednesday, 2-16, 8 PM CT on the SEC Network, Saturday, 2-19, vs Texas A&M @ Memorial, 5 PM CT, SEC Network, Tuesday, 2-22 vs Bama at Memorial, 8 PM CT, SEC Network, Saturday, 2-26, @ Mississippi State, 12 PM CT, SEC Network, Tuesday, March 1st, vs Florida at Memorial, 7:30 PM CT, SEC Network, and Saturday, 3-5, @Ole Miss, 5 PM CT, SEC Network. So, we control our own destiny and we have the team to be successful the rest of the way. Will be in touch. Enjoy Super Bowl LVI. I have the Bengals 27, Rams 24. Believe in Joe Burrow and this team of destiny.

Tough one last night in Knoxville. Scotty played his heart out as did Myles Stute. who was on fire from 3. Just not enough contributions from the rest of the team. Gotta put this behind us and get ready for Auburn Wednesday &8 pm ct on SEC Network. Another opportunity for our team. My good friend K Sevier and I emailed this AM and we both still believe in the guys. We play teams like Tennessee, KY, even Auburn on a neutral court, we have a shot. If we can be competitive with Auburn Wednesday all the way up till 5 minutes left in the game, we’ll have a shot. We’re going to have to finish out this season very strongly and excel in the SEC tourney to make the NCAA’s. Probably need to 5 of our last 6 and win 3 games in the SEC, or better yet, win it. If we win 5 of 6, we’ll finish regular season out 18-12 and 10-8 in conference. That would at least give us a bye in the first round of Tourney at Tampa, March 9-13. Playing Thursday instead of Wednesday would be huge. The tournament will be played at Amalie Arena. A bye from Wednesday Night gives us a shot to go deep. So, a lot of basketball left to be played and several impactful victories to be had. Our last six game are @Auburn, Wednesday, 2-16, 8 PM CT on the SEC Network, Saturday, 2-19, vs Texas A&M @ Memorial, 5 PM CT, SEC Network, Tuesday, 2-22 vs Bama at Memorial, 8 PM CT, SEC Network, Saturday, 2-26, @ Mississippi State, 12 PM CT, SEC Network, Tuesday, March 1st, vs Florida at Memorial, 7:30 PM CT, SEC Network, and Saturday, 3-5, @Ole Miss, 5 PM CT, SEC Network. So, we control our own destiny and we have the team to be successful the rest of the way. Will be in touch. Enjoy Super Bowl LVI. I have the Bengals 27, Rams 24. Believe in Joe Burrow and this team of destiny.

Sunday

Cincinnati Bengals (13-7) vs Los Angeles Rams (15-5)

SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California, 71,000

5:30 PM CT

NBC

Al, Cris, Michelle, Kathryn, Terry McAuley, Rules Analyst

Lead Ref, Ron Torbert

Rams by 4

It’s super to have two new teams in the Super Bowl. I’m looking for an excellent game that comes down to the wire with an Evan McPherson, from Fort Payne, Alabama, the University of Florida and a rookie who’s gone 12 for 12 in the playoffs, to kick home the game winner and bring the first Lombardi Trophy to the Queen City of the North. Give me Joe Burrow and the Bengals. Burrow is my MVP.

Bengals 27, Rams 24

Our Vanderbilt Commodores moved to 13-10 overall and 5-6 in the SEC with a 70-62 victory over the Missouri Tigers before around 8,000 at Memorial Tuesday Night. Missouri dropped to 9-14, and 3-7, but like every other team in the SEC, they are quality, so that was a nice resume building victory. The SEC is the best basketball conference in the country, so any victory is a good victory.

Scotty started a little slow, but, as usual, played well when it counted going for 19 points and 4 assists. Quentin Milliora-Brown had a terrific game with 10 points and 11 boards. Myles Stute finished with 11 and was 2 for 5 from trifecta. Myles is a terrific shooter. Our great point guard and one of our main leaders, Rodney Chatman, scored 10 and pulled down 6 boards. He’s such an awesome defender, too. I love the way we played defense Tuesday Night. They only shot 41% from the field, 25-of-61, only 5 for 25 from trifecta, 20%, and we out-rebounded them 38 to 31. Our great small/power forward combo player Jordan Wright had 11 points and pulled down 11 boards. Jordan is such a quality player for us. He was also 4 of 4 from the line. Scotty was awesome in the second half. Just bucket after bucket in clutch moments of the game. I thought we did better from the line at the end of the game as well. We’ll need to keep progressing in that area going forward. And Liam Robbins played and gave us some great defensive presence. Our 7’er, 250 pounds, blocked 4 shots. He’s a force in the middle. He and Rodney Chatman make us so much better, because we already had a good team to begin with, and Scotty is a superstar, and those 2 just take this team to another level. Hoping Liam can get into the scoring act starting Saturday afternoon at 5 PM CT versus Tennessee at Knoxville at 5 on the SEC Network. Huge game that if we could pull off would be a major building block for this team getting into the conversation of the NCAA Tournament. So we need to take care of business Saturday. It’s a challenge. They’re No.19 in the country and are coming off a 72-63 victory @ Mississippi State last night. They are 17-6 overall and 8-3 in the SEC. Kennedy Chandler is a really good freshman guard. Santiago Vescovi is a scorer. Chandler had 18 points last night and Josiah Jordan-James also had 18. Vescovi had 11. They are a stellar defensive team, so we need to amp up our defense and take it to the level we showed against Missouri, and, of course, hit shots and rebound and still need to take care of the basketball a little better, 15 turnovers Tuesday Night. And I see us starting to get it at the line. Q was 6 of 10 and sank some key ones. Myles hit 2 clutch free throws in the last minute. Scotty was 5 for 9 from the stripe. Would like to see SPJ be as consistent as he has been in the past at the charity stripe. I know he will and he’ll put in the work to do sol. I know we’re a strong enough team mentally and physically to win in Knoxville. We’re one of the scrappiest teams in the SEC, and now, with Chatman and Robbins, I see us as one of the best teams in the SEC, and we now have a legitimate shot to make the NCAA Tournament if we can keep this up. Believe in the guys. We have Auburn on the road next Wednesday at 8 PM on the SEC Network, but that’ll have to wait. Too big of a game this Saturday. We need to get the job done in Knoxville. The guys definitely have it in them. To get to where we want to be, playing deep into March, we need to handle our “business trip” to Knoxville. I know the guys can get this done. Have a great weekend. Will be in touch.