The LPGA hosts its first major of the 2022 season starting today at the Chevron Championship at Mission Hills Country Club, Dinah Shore Tournament Course, the 6,763 yard, Par 72 track. The big names are all out there in this stellar competition.

The defending champion is Patty Tavatanakit of Bangkok, Thailand. The then 21 year old, who was born on Bama Golf’s birthday, a little bit later in time, October 11, 1999, shot -18 to capture the title and take the plunge into Poppie’s Pond.

The par 5 18th is the most famous hole on this terrific course. The green is contoured and difficult to read.

Here are the odds,

Jin Young Ko, 4/1, Lydia Ko, 11/1, Danielle Kang, 12/1, Lexi Thompson, 16/1, Minjee Lee, 16/1, Inbee Park, 20/1, Xiyu Lin, 20/1, Atthaya Thitkul, 25/1,Leona Maguire, 28/1, Jessica Korda, 33/1, Charley Hull, 40/1, Nanna Koerstz Masden, 40/1.

First place pays out $750,000, second, $465,000, 3rd, $337,500

Weather, Today, 85, Sunny, wind NNW 10 MPH Humidity 33%. Friday, 89, Sunny ESE 10 MPH, Humidity, 27%. Saturday, 89, E 7 MPH, Humidity 30%. Sunday, 86, NW 13, Humidity, 34%.

There will be some challenges with the wind, and warmer there, but humidity levels are low, so shouldn’t be a problem.

TV

Today, 11 AM-3 PM CT, Golf Channel, 6-8 PM CT Golf,

Friday, 11 AM-3 PM CT, Golf Channel, 6-8 PM CT Golf.

Saturday, 4-8 PM CT, Golf Channel,

Sunday, 4-8 PM CT, GC.

Nelly Korda will not be playing as she developed a blood clot in her arm a couple of weeks ago. Hoping for Nelly’s return very soon.

Winner

How do you go against the favorite? This 26 year old South Korean phenom has won 6 of her last 11 starts. She’s a combined -157 in those last 11 starts, she has 16 straight rounds in the 60’s, an LPGA record, and she has 34 straight rounds under par, which is also an LPGA record. Next is Anika Sorenstam at 29 in 2004, and Lydia Ko at 29 in 2014-15. Last year in the majors she didn’t fare as well with her best 2 finishes tied 7ths at the Chevron and the U.S,. Women’s Open at Olympic Club in San Francisco, but at the end of the season she went on a tear and won the CME Group Tour Championship and the CME Globe title, the Fed Ex Cup for the women. She’s continued that hot streak this season with a victory at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore in early March. She’s played 114 consecutive holes without a bogey. Tiger Woods’ best was 110. Give me this stallion all day.

Jin Young Ko

Valero Texas Open

TPC San Antonio, Oaks Course, 7,438 yards, Par 72

Defending champion, Jordan Spieth. That was his first victory since the Open Championship in 2017.

Odds

Rory, 7/1, Spieth, 14/1, Hideki Matsuyama, 18/1, Corey Conners, 18/1, Abe Ancer 22/1, DeChambeau, 25/1, Gary Woodland, 35/1, Adam Hadwin, 35/1, Chris Kirk, 35/1, Keegan Bradley, 35/1, Maverick McNealy, 35/1, Si Woo Kim, 35/1, Tony Finau, 40/1, Jason Day, 45/1, Jhonattan Vegas, 45/1, Kevin Streelman, 45/1, Luke List, 50/1, Patton Kizzire, 50/1, Russell Knox, 50/1, Brendan Steele, 65/1, Ryan Palmer, 65/1, Rickie Fowler, 65/1.

Weather, Today, 86, winds ESE 8, Humidity, 30%, Friday, 87, Winds ESE 15, Humidity, 37%, Saturday, 88, winds ENE 10 MPH, Humidity 67%, Sunday, 89, Winds SE 13 MPH, Humidity 59%.

Wind will be a factor and the humidity will be up on Saturday and Sunday, so that could be a factor with fatigue for some players. Everybody has to deal with it though.

TV

Today-Friday, 3-6 PM CT, Golf Channel,

Saturday, 12-2:30 PM CT, GC, 2:30-5 PM CT, NBC.

Sunday, 12-1 PM CT, GC, 1-5 PM CT, NBC.

First place pays out $1.386 million.

Winner

I’m going to take the 30 year old from Listowel, Canada (Eh?). He won at TPC San Antonio in 2019 as a Monday qualifier, his only PGA Tour victory. He finished in third place last weekend at the WGC Match Play in Austin “dusting” Dustin Johnson 3&1. Scottie Scheffler continued his tear with his third victory this season following his victory at the Waste Management in early February and the Arnie in early March. He’s not playing this week as he’s gearing up for Augusta National.

But this guy is a hot golfer too and ready to break through again on a course that he’s a horse for.

Corey Conners

Sleeper

I’m going to take the 49 year old Englishman who made the round of 16 last weekend at the Match Play. He HAS to have this to make it to Augusta National next week. I like this vet to be in the hunt on Sunday.

Richard Bland

Saturday, The Final Four from the Big Easy, Predictions

Next Wednesday, Preview/ Predictions for the 86th Masters

Both events will be epic. National Championship Game Monday Night also at 8 CT on TNT. Will preview and predict that as well. Talk about Blue Bloods in the Final Four, Villanova vs. Kansas, and Duke vs North Carolina. Doesn’t get any better than that.

Sweet 16 record

5-3 Overall

6-2 Against the Spread

Today

South Region

No.5 Houston (32-5) vs. No.2 Villanova (29-7)

AT&T Center, San Antonio

5:09 PM CT

TBS

Houston by 2 1/2

Nova has that championship pedigree with national titles in 2016 and 2018 and they’re a relentless, veteran team. But how do you go against this Cougar squad? Talk about relentless. They personify relentlessness. Give me the Cougars to move on to the Caesar’s Superdome.

Houston 74, Nova 71

(Mr.) West (for Theodopolis purposes)

No.4 Arkansas (28-8) vs. No.2 Duke (31-6)

Chase Center, SF

7:49 PM CT

TBS

Duke by 4

Duke is really going to have to work hard to survive the Hogs. Arkansas is another relentless team. But I like Paolo Bachero, Duke’s 6’10” 250 power forward from Seattle, whom I consider the best player in college basketball and the player who should be selected No.1 in the NBA Draft in June, to lead his team to victory, outlast a rigorous test from Arkansas, and extend Coach K’s magical farewell tour all the way to N’Awlins.

Duke 76, Arkansas 73

Sunday

Midwest

No.10 Miami (26-10) vs. No.1 Kansas (31-6)

United Center, Chicago

1:20 PM CT

CBS

Kansas by 6

Duh U is another relentless team, and I like that quality to be the reason they move on to the Final Four next Saturday.

Canes 68, Jayhawks 66

East

No.6 UNC (27-9) vs. No.15 Saint Peter’s (22-11)

Wells Fargo Center, Philly

4:05 PM CT

CBS

UNC by 8 1/2

Carolina has such an advantage in talent here that this appears to be a blowout on paper. But these Peacocks are like Douglas C. Nedermayer Marines. They’re hard-nosed, lock down on defense, superbly clutch and undeniably courageous. Friday was National Peacock Day. This phenomenal outfit makes it National Peacock Weekend.

Peacocks 64, North Carolina 60

Baseball is @ South Carolina tonight through Saturday. Tonight’s game commences at 7 on ESPN2. Junior right-hander Chris McElvain is on the hill for us. Chris is 3-0 with a 2.49 ERA with 7 walks and 37 K’s. He’ll face Gamecock junior right hander Noah Hall, who is 0-3 with an 8.55 ERA.

Friday’s first pitch is at 6 PM CT streaming on SEC Network+. Stellar freshman left hander Carter Holton is on the mound for us. Carter is 4-0 with a 2.10 ERA with 6 walks and 45 K’s. Carter will face South Carolina sophomore right hander Will Sanders, who is 3-1 with a 3.64 ERA.

On Saturday, a 1 PM first pitch on SEC Network+, our starter is to be determined, possibly Nick Maldonado or Patrick Reilly versus freshman left hander Matthew Becker, 1-1, 2.65. We’re on the road in the SEC, so we need to bear down.

Basketball blew a 9 point lead with 6 minutes left to lose to Xavier, 75-73. This very well may have been Scotty Pippen Jr.’s last game in a Vanderbilt uniform. If so, what a storied career. Scotty finished with 28 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists. He will be missed and hoping Scotty has a terrific career in the NBA like his father did. He’s certainly got the tools to be successful.

Men’s Golf is now ranked third in the country by Golfstat.com. Next up is the Mason Rudolph Championship April 1-3 at Vanderbilt Legends Club in Franklin. Love the way this team is progressing. Coach Limbaugh has one of his best teams yet in his spectacular tenure as VU’s head man.

Men’s Tennis defeated Indiana 4-0 yesterday, and play Kentucky at home at 4 PM CT tomorrow and Alabama Sunday at 12 PM. We are 13-5, but just 1-4 in the SEC. Need some conference victories. We are ranked 41st in the ITA Rankings.

The VU Women’s Tennis team plays @ Kentucky Friday at 11 AM CT. That’s the only match this weekend for the ladies. Next match after this one is versus South Carolina at the Currey Tennis Center next Friday, April 1.Women are 9-6 and 1-4 in the SEC. Another one of our teams that needs to buckle up and start doing better. We are 47th in the ITA Rankings.

The women’s basketball team plays @ Middle Tennessee tonight at 6:30 in the third round of the WNIT. Big game for the ladies.

Will have baseball recap along with VU Women’s Basketball tomorrow.

After the first weekend of electric college basketball in the NCAA Tournament, the quest for the Final Four and the National Championship continues in the Sweet 16 tonight and tomorrow night. Sixteen teams will lock down and attempt to advance into the Elite Eight Saturday and Sunday. Once the Sweet 16 is complete on Friday Night, I will preview and predict the Elite Eight on Saturday.

The bracket is OK. At 78% in my ESPN bracket, 3.9 millionth place out of 17.3 million entrants. Need Duke to keep advancing. Come on, K.

Here’s a look at tonight’s and tomorrow night’s games and which teams White’s World likes to survive and advance into the Elite Eight. The Final Four will take place at the Caesar’s Superdome in N’Awlins a week from Saturday, April 2nd, with the first game starting at 5:09 PM CT and the second semifinal to follow at 7:49 PM CT. Both games will be broadcast by TBS. TBS is 247 on DirecTV and 780 on Charter. The National Championship Game is Monday, April 4th, at 8:20 PM CT on TBS. Hopefully, New Orleans is OK after the EF 3 tornado plowed through. They’ve been through a lot down there and they are resilient people.

Here’s a look at tonight’s and tomorrow’s contests along with predictions.

All times Central

Today

West Region

No.4 seed Arkansas (27-8) vs. No.1 Gonzaga (28-3)

Chase Center, San Francisco, 19,500

6:09 PM

CBS

Zags by 9

Arkansas is quite an explosive team. JD Notre was second in the SEC in scoring at 18.4 points per game behind Scotty Pippen of Vanderbilt. Jaylin Williams, a 6”11, 240 center, averages 10.5 points and 9.8 rebounds. He’ll have his hands full with Gonzaga’s Drew Timme, 6’11, 240, 18.2 ppg, 6.7 rebounds and freshman Chet Holmgren, 7’0”, 195, 14.2 and 9.8 rebounds. Andrew Nembhard is a senior guard, who is the floor leader. He averages 12 points and has dished out 181 assists this season, 6 per game. Holmgren was a 1.000, 5 star as rated by 247 Sports. I’ve seen a lot of highly rated 5 stars, but never a perfect 1.000. He’ll have his hands full with Williams though.

Gonzaga 82, Arkansas 80

South Region

No.11 Michigan (19-14) vs. No.2 Villanova (28-7)

AT&T Center, San Antonio, 19,217

6:29 PM

TBS

Nova by 5

Hunter Dickinson, a 7’1”, 260 sophomore, almost single handedly defeated Tennessee going for 27 points and 11 boards in a 75-68 Wolverines’ victory in the second round last Saturday. Nova is led by 6’3” 195 graduate senior guard Collin Gillespie, who averages 16 points per game and has dished out 118 assists this season, 3.3 per game. Graduate senior 6’7”, 230 forward Jermaine Samuels is averaging 10.7 ppg and 6.4 rebounds. And junior Justin Moore, a 6’4”, 210 guard, is averaging 15 points per game. Gotta love this experience factor on Nova. Could very well take them a long way, though they’ll be in a tussle tonight.

Villanova 76, Michgan 74

West

No.3 Texas Tech (27-9) vs. No.2 Duke (30-6)

Chase Center, SF

8:39 PM

CBS

Texas Tech by 1

Texas Tech holds opponents to 60.2 points per game and 30% shooting from the field and 31% from trifecter. But I’ll take K and the youngsters here with 6’10”, 250 pound freshman Paolo Bachero, 17 points, 8 boards, and his younger teammates to survive and pull off the slight upset.

Duke 66, Texas Tech 65

South

No.5 Houston (31-5) vs. No.1 Arizona (33-3)

AT&T Center, San Antone

8:59 PM

TBS

‘Zona by 1 1/2

‘Zona is averaging 85 points per game and pulling down 42 rebounds, while Houston leads the country in field goal defense and gives up only 59 points per game, while averaging 76 on offense. The Cougars get 39 rebounds per game. Wildcats center Christian Koloko is a hoss at 7’1”, 230, averaging 13 points and 7 boards. But I’ll take junior 6’2”, 195 guard Marcus Sasser (17.7 points per game) and sophomore 6’1” 190 guard Jamal Shead, 9.8 points along with 213 assists this season, 6 per game, and a stellar defense to slightly upset the Wildcats.

Houston 65, Zona 64

Friday

East

No.3 Purdue (29-7) vs. No. 15 Saint Peters (21-11)? Are you kiddin me?

Wells Fargo Center, Philly, 20,478

6:09 PM

CBS

Boilers by 12 1/2

This seems like a possible blowout, but I like the Peacocks (best nickname left) to keep it close. Guard Doug Edhart, a junior who looks 35, averages 9.7 points and is 43 percent from 3, 45-of-106, and 89 percent from the line, 77-of-87. He’s been stellar in the tournament. Purdue guard Jaden Ivey is excellent also averaging 17.6 points. He’s a 6’4”, sophomore. I’ll take the Boily’s in a close one. The Peacocks are overflowing with heart.

Purdue 72, Peacocks 67

Midwest

No. 4 Providence (27-5) vs. No.1 Kansas 30-6)

United Center, Chicaago, 23,500

As former Chicago Bull, Michael Jordan, once said, “the ceiling is the roof.” Whatever that means.

6:29 PM

TBS

Kansas by 7 1/2

Providence has put together a really fantastic year and are led by massive 6’11”, 260 center Nate Watson, a graduate senior. He averages 13.5 points and 5.3 rebounds. Kansas counters with senior guard Ochai Agbaji, who averages 19 points and 5 rebounds. Six foot seven junior Christian Braun averages 14.6 and 6.4 rebounds, and 6’10”, 250 senior David McCormick averages 10 points and 7 boards. I’ll take the Jayhawks to advance but barely survive.

Kansas 81, Providence 79

East

No.8 North Carolina (26-9) vs. No.4 UCLA (27-7)

Wells Fargo Center, Philly

8:39 PM

CBS

UCLA by 2 1/2

Carolina upset Baylor last week in a mostly impressive performance though they almost blew it at the end. Six ten, 240 junior center Armando Bacot is another load in the middle. Bacot averages 16.4 points and 12.5 boards. Guard Caleb Love, a 6’4, 195 sophomore, average 15.3 per game, and Oklahoma graduate transfer Brady Manek, a rough looking 6’9”, 230 guy, averages 15.1 points and 5.8 rebounds.

UCLA is led by 6’7” junior small forward Johnny Juzang who averages 15.7 per game. They have several players returning from their Final Four team last season where they lost in the Final Four to Gonzaga on a last second 3. Tyger Campbell, their stellar 5’11” junior point guard, averages 11.8 points and has dished out 135 assists, 4 per game. Carolina averages 40 rebounds a game to UCLA’s 36, but the Bruins are holding opponents to 64 points per game. I’ll go with the guys from the left coast.

UCLA 64, UNC 60

Midwest

No.10 Miami (25-10) vs. No.11 Iowa State (22-12)

United Center

8:59 PM

TBS

Miami by 2 1/2

The Cyclones play hard-nosed, Big 12 defense giving up only 66 points per game and are led in scoring by 6’4”, 198 senior guard Izaiah Brockington, who is averaging 17.1 points and 6.8 rebounds. Miami sixth year senior Charlie Moore, one of the best, most humble kids you’ll ever hear talk, finished with 15 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists in the Canes’ 79-61 victory over Auburn last Sunday Night. He’s the team leader. I’ll take the Fightin Larranaga’s.

Miami 66, Iowa State 62

Not to be confused with Gladys Knight and her former outfit, but Scotty and the Pips played a superb game Sunday to advance in the NIT with a 70-68 victory over Dayton before 8,200 at Memorial.

The great Scotty poured in 32 points going 9-for-24 from the field, 3-for-9 from trifecta and 11-of-13 from the stripe. Scotty also added 7 assists. Just a terrific game from our super junior.

Rodney Chatman added 9. Quentin Millora-Brown-Brown and Liam Robbins were highly instrumental in helping us secure the victory against a very good Dayton team. Q had only 6 points, but pulled down 6 boards and had some key offensive rebounds and a bucket late before fouling out. Then Liam took over and scored a key bucket and swatted away a shot any the end of the game that clinched it.

The great Jordan Wright, who was honored yesterday as one of ten nominees for the Arthur Ashe Award which goes to a player who excels on and off the court. It is a national award, Jordan is superb on the floor and in the classroom, finished with 5 points and 6 boards.

Scotty also had 3 steals. Stack was really pumped after the game. We moved to 19-16 and go for win No.20 tonight @ a very good Xavier team at 8 CT on ESPN. Dayton finishes its season at 24-11.

Dayton has 5 double figure scorers with 6’11”, 240 pound Jack Nunge leading the way at 13.4 ppg. Nunge also averages 7.4 boards. Paul Scruggs, their excellent point guard, injured his knee in their game Sunday against Florida, a 72-56 victory, and will be unavailable tonight. Tough blow for Paul, but they’re still a formidable team even without their quarterback. Hoping he can return to action at full strength in the near future.

Colby Jones from Mountain Brook High School in Birmingham is a 6’6″ small forward who averages 11.1 and 7.4 rebounds. Really high basketball IQ player and tremendous athlete. Nate Johnson is their top 3 point shooter. He averages 10.3 and shoots 38 percent from 3, 64-of-168. He’s a guard. 6’11” Zach Freemantle averages 10.1 and pulls down 5.7 caroms. They’re a tough team and it’s on the road, so we’ll need our blue collar, hard-nosed mentality in order to be successful in Cincy. Full report tomorrow. Interestingly, Stack had a Zoom call with reporters yesterday and I asked him if he wants to have a certain amount of 3’s per game like some coaches and analysts talk about, particularly Dickie V. Stack said he likes 3’s of course, but he wants to get closer, high percentage shots at the basket and make free throws most importantly. Stack was an 81 percent career free throw shooter in his NBA career, so he knows how to get it done at the stripe. With the experience we’ve had this year in hostile SEC gyms, we should be battle tested at the stripe late in this game tonight and execute at the line. Scotty has been getting better and better and Jordan is an 80% shooter. Just need the other guys to step up there as well. Will have a full report tomorrow. The winner of tonight’s game goes to Madison Square Gahden in NYC for the NIT Final Four next Tuesday Night. Would be a tremendous achievement for our team.

Baseball has now won 16 in a row after sweeping Missouri over the weekend. We’ve got a lot of hot guys at the plate as we’re hitting .327 as a team, and our pitching and defense have been spectacular. Playing Belmont right now at First Horizon Park in Nashville. We’re tied 3-3 in the bottom of the fifth. Freshman left hander Devin Futrell has pitched 5 innings, giving up 5 hits, 3 runs with only 2 earned with a walk and 3 K’s. Devin is 3-0 with a 1.50 ERA coming into today. He has issued 4 walks and struck out 22 already this season including today.. Left handed freshman Carter Holton is a phenom at 4-0 with a 2.10 ERA with 6 walks and 45 K’s. He’s our Saturday guy. Junior Chris McElvain is pitching well on Friday’s. He’s 3-0 with a 2.49 ERA with 7 walks and 38 K’s. Still kind of figuring out our Sunday hurler. Nick Maldonado is a little banged up right now, but he could be the guy. Nick is 1-1 with a 1.50 ERA. Freshman Patrick Really is pitching very well at 2-0 with an 0.95 ERA. Patrick throws it 95-97, so love that velo. Patrick has walked 10 and struck out 27. With Patrick, it’s all about control. When he’s got his control down, he’s a stud. Christian Little is another piece in the puzzle. Christian is 0-0 with a 2.89 ERA with 4 walks and 14 Ks. Another flame thrower who brings it 95+.

We’ve really been defending well lately also. We’re fielding at a .972 clip. Really have improved there. Dom Keegan is leading us at the plate at a scorching .426 with 5 homers and 22 Ribeyes. Dom has made the switch to catcher this season and is doing an excellent job behind the dish. Our senior is doin serious work. Stellar freshman third baseman Davis Diaz is hitting .392 with a homer and 10 Ribbies. Right fielder Spencer Jones is hitting .348 with 3 long ones and 14 ribbies. Just an explosive, electric player. He’s 5 for 5 in stolen bases. Our outfield with Spence in right, Enrique Bradfield in center and Javy Vaz in left is as good as you’re going to get in college baseball. Our senior second baseman and one of the main leaders on our team, Tate Kolwyck is hitting .348 with 6 homers and 20 ribbies. Tate is having a spectacular season. The great Enrique B is hitting .336 and is 13-for-13 in stolen bases including one today. Our stud center fielder just keeps on delivering. And our outstanding shortstop Carter Young is hitting .313 with 3 homers and 14 RBI’s. Good to see Carter get the bat going again this season. He had a dislocated left shoulder at the end of last season and that really hampered his hitting. But he’s healthy now and playing like an All American.

So, we’ve got another tremendous team under the great Tim Corbin. We are 17-2 and 3-0 in the SEC and ranked 4th nationally. Ole Miss is No.1, Texas is No.2 Arkansas is No.3 and then us. No team is hotter than us though. We’re at South Carolina this weekend. More on today’s game and the weekend set in Columbia tomorrow. Gotta get it done today. Will send out a quick blast/tweet on the outcome today.

Our Men’s Golf team is in a tussle with Georgia at the Linger Longer Invitational at the 7,438 yard, par 72 Great Waters Course, a Jack Nicklaus Course, at Reynolds Plantation in Georgia. We are now -24 and trail Georgia by a shot. Georgia is -25. Florida is third at -15. We are now on holes 12-14 as is Georgia. We are -4 today, GA is -5 Would be superb for Coach Limbaugh and the guys to win their third straight tournament after capturing the Prestige in California and the Cabo Collegiate in Mexico featuring multiple top 10 teams. We are currently No.6 in the country, Georgia is No. 10 and Florida is No.19. North Carolina, also in the field, is No.4, but they are just +2 for tourney. Sophomore Cole Sherwood is tied for second overall in the individual competition at -8. The leader, Jacob Bridgeman of Clemson is -14. Cole is tied with Fred Biondi of Florida. Bridgeman has played 15 holes and our sophomore has played 12 as has Biondi. Super freshman Gordon Sargent is tied for 6th at -6 through 13 holes. Will let you know how we fare. Would be a gigantic victory for the team if we can pull it off as we continue to put ourselves into elite status nationally. We already are, but this would cement it even further. Will let you know later this afternoon.

Our women’s basketball team is playing extremely well in the Women’s NIT after emerging victorious in the second round last night with a 71-45 victory over Liberty at Memorial. We now advance to the third round where we’ll face Middle Tennessee at Murfreesboro Thursday night at 6:30 CT. Iyana Moore poured in 25 points for us last night and Sacha Washington added 17. We moved to 16-18 overall. MTSU is 25-7 and defeated us earlier this season, 55-46, but that was on November 15th and we’re much improved now in March. So will keep you posted on our great first year coach Shea Ralph and her ladies. The Final Four will be at the respective campus sites of the higher seeded teams. If we win Thursday, we are in the quarters.

Check back with you later this afternoon on baseball and golf. Thanks.

After hours upon hours of work with my sports psychologists, the BIllastrator and Joey Brackets, months of meditation on Saturday Nights after watching a full day of round ball, swims in Locust Fort just to clear my head, and intense sessions of acupuncture while singing Kumbaya, here’s my Bracket for 2022. Looking at some upsets, but also liking some heavyweights. Should be terrific.

This is like going to Fort Knox as it is the Gold Standard for Brackets. Take it to the bank. Walter and Bama G, you will be making your respective deposits on Tuesday, April 5th, the day after the national championship game by trusting this process.

The Final Four will be held at the Caesar’s Superdome in New Orleans, Saturday April 2nd and Monday, April 4th. Good luck. Trust me, this is the bracket you want.

Bracketology

Tough loss, but what an effort, 77-71, UK.

Scotty didn’t have his best game by any means going 2-of-17 from the field, but he played so hard throughout the season. He may have been a little worn out, but he sure kept fighting through the game. I could see him testing the draft and if it doesn’t look like first round/early second, I could see him coming back next season. We’re going to have a really fine team next year if we keep the nucleus alongside adding this stellar freshmen class next year with 3, 4 stars and a high 3 star with a 6’9″, 240, 95 4 star center in Lee Dort, 2 power forwards, 6’8, 200 4 star Collin Smith and 89, 3 star 6’7″ 190 Malik Did, along with Dort’s teammate, stud 4 star point guard 6’2″, 175 Noah Shelby. Then you throw in the great Jordan Wright, who was superb last night going for 27 on 10 of 12 from the field including 5 of 6 from trifecta and 2 of 2 from the line to go along with 6 rebounds, what a performance by our SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year. Jordan worked so hard on his game in the offseason and it really paid off and showed last night in our biggest game of the season. Excited to see what Jordan can do next year, his senior season. He’ll be a real leader for us. Then you thrown in marksman Myles Stute, who has unlimited range from 3, our stellar 2 guard, Trey Thomas, who is just a winning player with key 3’s and key plays. We’ll have our 2 bigs back next year, Liam Robbins and Quentin Millora-Brown. Shane Dezonie and Tyrin Lawrence should be much improved and they were 4 star players out of high school. Tyrin will be a junior and Shane a sophomore. Terren Frank and Jemaine Mann are sophomores this season and will give us quality depth down low. Hopefully, the guys will all stay. Rodney Chatman and Drew Weikert are seniors. Rodney’s in his sixth year, so we’ll lose him. If Rodney and Liam could have been available the entire season, we could very well be going to the NCAA’s. Drew may be able to come back next season, I’ll check on that. He’s a valuable player. Stack likes him a lot. I like him a lot. Just a total team guy and helps us out on the floor.

Maybe we get Dylan Disu back. There was talk about a month ago that he might come back to VU. I don’t think he’s happy at Texas. I’ll keep you posted on that. Wow, would that be quite a coup for our program.

That out of bounds ball with 20 seconds left in the game last night, which looked pretty clearly off Kentucky, if that had gone our way, we’re just down 4 and we get the ball, and you never know. I was so proud of the team though, their fight, their never backing down. Kentucky is so good from the mid range, that killed us. Tshiebwe is really outstanding. They have a terrific team. They’ve got a shot to win not only the SEC Tourney, but also the NCAA Tourney. Of course, they have a tough test in Tennessee today as well.

But our team sure played some superb basketball these last 3 nights. We should be going to the NIT, which is huge for getting our guys some more games and experience, giving Scotty, Rodney and Drew some more games, and hopefully winning a championship. That would be so rewarding to an outstanding group and it would be huge for recruiting as well. It would mean so much for this team. We finished the season 17-16, and the way we played, that should get us in the NIT. I know the guys want to keep playing together and I know we all want to keep watching them.

Will keep you posted on what’s next for our fine basketball team.

Baseball won its nightcap, 13-0, so playing very well. Going to delve a lot more into baseball going forward and keep you totally informed on both basketball and baseball.

Football spring practice is coming up later this month. Our spring game is at 1 PM CT, Saturday, April 16th. The SEC Network will most likely televise. I know I need to write about our 2022 recruiting class. I’ll get to that in the near future. Our class was 32nd in the country, may have been last in the SEC, but with the guys we got, and more to come in 2023, we can win several games next season and the years after that. Love this class. I can see us making a bowl in the upcoming 2022 season and building from there. A lot to talk about with football too.

Our baseball team is looking stellar. More on our Vandy Boys on Monday.

Men’s and Women’s Tennis lost yesterday, the men on the road to A&M, 5-2, and the women to Arkansas at home, 4-3. Men play Drake at home tomorrow at 9 AM at Currey. We are 9-3, so still doing well. We’re 1-2 in SEC.

Women are 8-4 and 0-3 in the SEC and play Missouri tomorrow at the Currey Center at 12:30 PM CT. Need to get it going on the women’s side.

Baseball with a nice 12-5 first game victory over Wagner today at the Hawk. Playing a DH today with weather coming in later tonight and tomorrow. Patrick Reilly pitched well and earned the victory. Spencer Jones, Dom Keegan and Tate Kolwyck with big days at the plate. More specifics on today’s games tomorrow. We’ll be off tomorrow due to weather, some snow, and play the finale on Sunday at 1 PM CT on SEC Network+. Game 2 is today at 4:30 PM on SEC Network+. Really like the way we’ve been trending lately. Starting to get the bats going well, and pitching and defense have been solid. We just need to continue to get reps and keep matriculating successfully through the non conference schedule. Will keep you apprised of the team’s progress tomorrow.

Basketball with a tremendous challenge versus Kentucky tonight at approximately 7:30 on the SEC Network. Scotty, Myles, Jordan, Q, Liam, Shane, everybody has to be ready to compete tonight. It’ll take a Herculean effort to emerge victorious, but I’m not putting anything past our scrappy, courageous group of players and our coach.

As John Belushi said in Animal House, “Did we quit when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?” Heck No!”

Just having a little fun, but very serious about the guys’ chances. Know we have it in us. Fatigue, the opponent, all that stuff is true, but it doesn’t matter, we’re capable and we’re confident. Let’s pull of the Miracle in Tampa. And it wouldn’t be necessarily a miracle because I trust our team and their abilities. They can certainly get this done. Have a super night and Go Vandy and Anchor Down! Will give you an update tomorrow or later tonight after the game. We might very well be missing our great guard, Trey Thomas, who suffered a hamstring injury last night, and we’ll miss him if he is indeed out tonight. Trey epitomizes our team, just pure heart and courage. But, like has happened all year, guys like Shane Dezonie, Tyrin Lawrence and our hustling and very capable guard Drew Weikert will need to step up. I expect them too. Thanks.

Our Vanderbilt Men’s Bball team played extremely well on both ends of the floor in an impressive 86-51 victory over Georgia in the first round of the SEC Tournament at Amalie Arena in Tampa.

With the victory, we move on to tonight’s second round game versus Alabama at approximately 7:30 CT on the SEC Network. We are now 16-15 overall with postseason hopes clearly in our line of sight. Georgia fell to 6-26 after a tough season. Could be tough for Tom Crean to keep his job, but he faced a lot of adversity this season when his best two players were lost for the year with injuries before the season even started. Seems like he’d get a pass for that. Still think he’s a good coach.

Scotty Pippen Jr. finished with 14, Myles Stute and Jordan Wright added 11 and freshman Shane Dezonie chipped in 10. It was just a complete team effort. It was awesome to have point guard Rodney Chatman back in the lineup. Rodney finished with 8 points. He just makes us more effective with his presence and his leadership. We out-rebounded them 43-31 and committed only 9 turnovers. Not superb offensively in the first half, but we were superb on the defensive end. Stack was very pleased with the first half defense when he spoke to Alyssa Lang of the SEC Network at halftime. We kept up the strong defense in the second half. They only shot 30% from the field for the game, 14-of-47, and 2-of-17 from trifecta, 12%, so spectacular effort on the defensive end. And we started canning some 3’s in the second half. We finished with 16 trifectas on 41 attempts, 39%, so well done. We were 11-of-21 in the second half. The first half we were only 5-of-20, so it took us a minute to get settled down, but once we did, we were knock your socks off good from deep. We were 6 of 9 from the line, so not bad. Not many opportunities. Georgia was 21-of-27, not sure why there was such a discrepancy in free throws. We were lock down on defense, I know that. Myles was 3-of-7 from 3, Jordan was 3-of-4, Trey Thomas was 2-of-6, and Shane Dezonie was 2-of-3. Shane played a terrific game, his best game in his young Commodore career. Trey was very active as always. Trey always helps in a big way when we’re successful. I thought Tyrin Lawrence played well, also. Tyrin had 7 points and a couple of boards. Our great senior, Drew Weikert, came off the bench and hesitated a little bit from behind the arc, but then drained a trifecta. Drew is a valuable player for us when he gets the opportunity. Jordan pulled down 7 boards and Myles added 5.

The Crimson Tide is 19-12 and finished 9-9 in SEC play. We were 7-11 in SEC play. In our first matchup with them at Memorial a couple of weeks back, it was a hard fought battle in which the Tide sank 22 of 25 free throws and came back from a 5 point deficit at halftime to win, 74-72. It was a heartbreaker for our team, but we have a new opportunity tonight to prove that we’re a postseason team. Jahvon Quninerly scored 19 for Alabama in our game with them and Scotty had 26 and 8 assists. Liam Robbins added 16. Jaden Shackelford leads them in scoring at 16.3 per game. Quinerly is next at 13.8. Keon Ellis adds 12 points per game. They have some physical inside players, so Liam and Q will need to play well. They out-rebounded us 41-37 in the last game, so that was pretty even. We were 27 of 36 from the line in that game, 75%, so we shot it pretty well from the stripe. When I talked to Stack about free throw shooting on our team Monday,he said he’s trying everything he can think of. A friend of mine, CK, looked up Stack’s free throw shooting percentage in his illustrious career in the NBA. Stack shot 82%. So you know Coach Stackhouse is trying everything to get the guys’ confidence at the stripe. I feel like we’ve been through the SEC wars and are battle tested now and will respond at the line in big moments.

Big game tonight for the team. I feel like we’re going to play well. Tough assignment, but we’ve got a lot of momentum.

The Men’s Tennis team pulled off a tremendous victory at the Currey Tennis Center yesterday in defeating No.19 Northwestern, 6-1. What an effort. Siim Troost and Michael Ross won in doubles, 7-5, and George Harwell/Max Freeman clinched the doubles point with a 6-3 victory.

In singles, Joubert Klopper won at No.2, No.3 Michael Ferreira won his match, at No.4, Freeman won also, at No.5 Jeremie Casabon won and at No.6 Troost won. Harwell fell in his match to No.67 Steven Forman, 6-4,6-2. Harwell is ranked No. 39, but still got us a doubles point and has been playing very well this year. We moved to 9-2 on the season and are ranked 41 by the ITA Rankings.

We now go to No.28 Texas A&M Friday at 6 PM CT for a huge matchup. If we can pull that off, we are really in business. Love what Coach Ian Duvenhage is doing with the guys. Sunday we’ll play Drake at 9 AM CT at the Currey Center. Drake is not presently in the top 75 rankings.

Will give you a recap of our major contest tonight in Tampa and more on the teams tomorrow and through the weekend. Anchor Down!

This is the 48th year of the “Fifth Major” and the 40th edition at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra, FL. headquarters of the PGA Tour. One of the big storylines is the weather. Thursday it’s 72 with an 89% chance of T-storms and winds SW 11. Friday, 70, 87% chance of T storms, wind ESE 8. Saturday, AM Wind/Rain, 93% chance, wind WNW 23. Sunday, Mostly Sunny, Wind NE !3. It’s tough, but there’s a $20 million purse, up from $15M a year ago, and $3.6 to the winner, up from $2.7 M last year, so as the band Yes said in 1983, “You’ve got to work to succeed.”

Forty six of the top 50 players in the world are competing. The only ones missing are DeChambeau, with a wrist injury along with being a total head case, Figjam Mickelson, lightning rod on tour and in the sports world right now, so not playing, Harris English and Kevin Neh.

The defending champion is Justin “JT” Thomas. Interestingly, JT played a practice round with Coach Saban at TPC Sawgrass in late February on media day for the Players. JT asked S about defending a championship. S, who knows a lot about that, said “Don’t defend, go out and have fun.” Justin gets a lot of wisdom from Coach Saban as they’ve played together several times. Justin is a rabid Crimson Tide fan and particularly Alabama football and was asked by Todd Lewis of the Golf Channel if he watches Alabama games with a group of friends. He said no that he’s by himself in a hotel room because he’s such an obnoxious fan. He’s being hard on himself. Nothing wrong with a little passion. Justin said he’s not defending the Players because no-one is going to take the trophy from him. He’s just trying to win again. Sounds like an excellent attitude.

He has multiple victories at 4 places, the former CIMB Classic in Malaysia, the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawai’i, the CJ Cup and the WGC-FedEx St. Jude. He has won 14 times on the PGA Tour including the 2017 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, and last year’s Players. He’s a hard worker. As a great football coach said one time, “if you work hard, good things are gonna happen.”

So an interesting possibility in JT.

Last week’s winner at the tremendously challenging Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill was the young 25 year old superstar Scottie Scheffler. He won at 5 under par in a torturous test of golf. Scheffler also won at the Waste Management Phoenix Open 3 weeks before. He’s a hot player.

Odds of winning.

JT 14/1, Collin Morikawa, 14/1, Rahm, 14/1, Rory, 18/1, Voktor Hovland, 20/1, Scheffler, 25/1, Patrick Cantlay, 25/1, Xander Schauffele, 28/1, Hideki Matsuyama, 30/1, Dustin Johnson, 30/1, Daniel Berger, 30/1, Cameron Smith, 33/1, Brooks Koepka, 35/1, Shane Lowry, 35/1, Matt Fitzpatrick, 35/1, Jordan Spieth, 40/1, Sungjae Im, 40/1, Sam Burns, 40/1, Will Zalatoris, 40/1, Billy Horschel, 40/1, Joaquin Niemann, 45/1, Tyrrell Hatton, 45/1, Louis Oosthuizen, 50/1, Corey Conners, 50/1, Adam Scott, 50/1, Talor Gooch, 50/1, Tony Finau, 55/1, Paul Casey, 60/1, Webb Simpson, 66/1, Max Homa, 66/1.

TV

Thursday-Friday, 11 AM-5 PM CT, Golf Channel. Saturday-Sunday, 12-5 PMN CT, NBC.

Interestingly, the top 5 players in the Official Golf World Rankings are all under 30. In order, Jon Rahm is 27, Collin Morikawa is 25, Viktor Hovland is 24, Patrick Cantlay is 29, and Scottie Scheffler is 25. The young guys come out on the tour ready to compete and win. There’s still room for veterans as well, it’s pretty unpredictable who’ll win week to week.

But White’s World will keep grinding it out. Last week, my pick Gary Woodland took the lead on 16 with an eagle to move to -6, one up on the field. But then he found the trap on the difficult par 3 17th and took 2 shots to get out of the sand and doubled it. He bogeyed 18 to finish tied for 5th at -. Walter had a good pick with Tyrrell Hatton, who finished tied for 2nd at -4.

Winner this week at Players

The weather will make this a survival of the fittest tournament and nothing’s wrong with that. Jon Rahm said he likes it like Bay Hill was instead of what he called a putting contest at the American Express in California where the winner, Hudson Swafford, shot -23. Cameron Smith shot -34 to win at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, so hard is good. The rough is 3 1/2 inches deep, which is challenging, but, more importantly and difficult for the players, it’s extremely dense, so staying in the fairway is at a premium. The Bermuda greens will be stimping at 13, but the PGA may slow them down if wind conditions persist as expected. It’s going to be quite a weekend in Ponte Vedra Beach. 16, the par 5, the famous Island Hole, the par 3 17th, and one of the toughest and most underrated holes in golf, the par 4 18th, with water running down the entire left side and rough, mounds and trees on the right, will determine the winner on Sunday. Sunday’s conditions will be a lot better, so should make for major drama.

I’ll take the 25 year old graduate of Cal Berkeley and native of Los Angeles. Already a 2 time major winner at the 2020 PGA at Harding Park in San Francisco and the 2021 Open Championship at Royal St. George’s in Sandwich England, I like this young stud to break through and win a Players. There has never been a repeat winner in the 48 year history of the tournament. That’s a fascinating stat. The only multiple winners of the Players at TPC Sawgrass are Hal Sutton, 1983 and 2000, Steve Elkington, 1991 and 1997, Davis Love, 1992 and 2003, Fred Couples 1984 and ‘96, and Eldrick, 2001 and 2013. The gap in years that each of the 5 players who have won the tournament is, on average, 11.6 years apart.

I’ll take this young Gun.

Collin Morikawa

Sleeper

Adam Scott