It’s down to cases now as the Denver Nuggets and the great Nikola Jokic square off with “Playoff Jimmy” and the Miami Heat as the teams compete for the Larry O’Brien Trophy, which goes to the NBA Champion. O’Brien, who passed away at age 73 in 1990, was commissioner of the NBA from 1975-1984 and oversaw the merger of the NBA and the ABA in 1976. He was also a member of the John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson administrations.

Jokic has been spectacular in the postseason for the Nuggets. In 15 games, he has averaged 29.9 points, 13.3 rebounds and 10.3 assists. He wasn’t selected the Most Valuable Player in the NBA this season after having won the award in 2021 and 2022. Joel Embid won the award, but will be sitting at home watching the NBA Finals on ABC with most of the rest of the country as Jokic and Denver play for their first Larry O’Brien Trophy in their 47 year franchise history.

Jamal Murray is a terrific player as well. He has averaged 27.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6.1 assists, and 1.7 steals. The 26 year old from Kitchener, Canada native, by way of the University of Kentucky for one year, is a phenom just like his 28 year old Serbian teammate, Jokic.

Jimmy Butler has been superb in the postseason. With star shooter from Kentucky, Tyler Herro, out with a broken hand, the 33 year old Butler from Houston by way of Marquette has put the team on his back averaging 28.5 points per game, 7.5 rebounds and 5 assists. He’s also averaged 2.1 steals in 17 games. Bam Adabayo, the 25 year old also from Kentucky basketball, is averaging 16.8 ppg, and 9.2 rebounds. Caleb Martin has been stellar doing the playoffs averaging 14.1 per game and shooting 43 percent from trifecta. Herro is expected back in this series at some point and that should give the Heat a big boost and help Butler immensely. The Heat have won 3 NBA Championships in 2006, 2012 and 2013. Denver’s Coach is 51 year old Mike Malone, in his 8th season in Denver. Miami’s coach is 52 year old Eric Spoelstra in his 25th year at the helm of the Heat. Wow, that is some serious longevity, and Spo has proven himself to be an outstanding NBA coach.

TV

Game 1

Thursday, June 1. 7:30 PM CT. ABC

Heat @Nuggets, Ball Arena, 18,000, 5,280 feet above sea level, A Mile High

Game 2

Sunday, June, 6. 7 PM CT. ABC

Heat at Nuggets

Game 3

Wednesday, June 7. 7:30 PM CT. ABC

Nuggets @ Heat, Kaseya Center, 16,500

Game 4

Friday, June 9. 7:30 PM CT. ABC

Nuggets @ Heat

Game 5 (if necessary)

Monday, June 12. 7:30 PM CT. ABC

Heat @ Nuggets

Game 6 (if necessary)

Thursday, June 15. 7:30 PM CT. ABC

Nuggets @ Heat

Game 7 (if necessary)

Sunday, June 18. 7 PM CT. ABC

Heat @ Nuggets

Prediction

The Heat have lost 6 straight to the Nuggets and 11 of the last 13 dating back to 2016-17. They lost both regular season matchups this year.

Jokic, Murray and the Nuggets are too much for the Heat.

Nuggets in 5

MVP

Nikola Jokic

Stanley Cup Finals Prediction

Florida Panthers vs. Las Vegas Golden Knights

TV, All games on TNT, TBS and TruTV

Game 1

Saturday, June 3, Panthers at Vegas

7 PM CT

Game 2

Panthers @ Vegas, Monday, June 5

7 PM CT

Game 3

Vegas @Florida, Thursday, June 8.

7 PM CT

Game 4

Vegas @Panthers, Saturday, June 10

7 PM CT

Game 5 (if necessary)

Panthers @ Vegas, Tuesday, June 13

7 PM CT

Game 6 (if necessary)

Vegas @Panthers, Friday, June 16

7 PM CT

Game 7 (if necessary)

Panthers @ Vegas, Monday, June 19

7 PM CT

Prediction

The Panthers defeated the Boston Bruins, which finished with the best regular season and points total of all time. I’ll take the underdog here. Vegas is -135 and the Panthers are +135, so not a major underdog for sure. They do play that role well.

Panthers in 7

Conn Smothe Trophy. MVP of Stanley Cup Playoffs

Panthers Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky

The 34 year old from Russia has been phenomenal in goal. I expect him to do that once again as the Panthers hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup on Monday, June 19th.

Our SEC Champion Vanderbilt Commodores Baseball team has been awarded a No.6 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and will host Eastern Illinois, Oregon and Xavier starting Friday at the Hawk.

Our team is 41-18 on the season and we will facet No.4 seed the Eastern Illinois Panthers, which are 38-19, Friday at 8 PM CT on the SEC Network. The first game will pit the No.2 Oregon Ducks, which is 37-20, versus the No.3 seed Xavier Muskateers, which comes in at 37-23. That game commences at 1 PM CT on ESPN+.

I’ll have more information on each team in the coming days and preview our matchup with Eastern Illini on Wednesday. As expected, Wake Forest is the No.1 seed, Florida is No.2, Arkansas is No.3, Clemson is No.4, LSU is No.5, then us at No.6, Virginia is No.7 and Stanford is No.8.

Should be electric at the Hawk this weekend. Hoping, we can get a fully rested Hunter Owen pitching this weekend. That would be a big boost to the staff and the team. Unclear on Carter Holton. I would love to say he’s healthy, but, as of right now, not sure. That could change this week. Holton has arm soreness.

But our pitchers were very good at Hoover, and our bats and gloves were even better. Just need to get an even better pitching performance this weekend and then we’ll have a shot to advance. Just gotta lock in on the Panthers Friday Night. More in the next couple of days.

Men’s Golf

Our Men’s Golf team is battling to get in their customary position on an annual basis under Scott Limbaugh as they play for a spot in the Match Play today. We are at +12 overall for the first three days and made the top 15, with the final 18 holes today contested for the top 8 spots that will compete in the quarterfinals Tuesday.

We have just exploded and are at -4 for the day through holes 0-3. We are now tied for 7th with Arizona State at +9 overall and four shots back of 6th place Stanford, which is at +5. Stanford is through holes 1-3. Matthew Riedel has two birdies already on his first hole, No. 10, and on No.12. Gordon Sargent birdied 11 and William Moll birdied 10. So, excellent start for the guys.

Huge day today. Need to play well to get into the quarters tomorrow. Will keep you apprised. Golf Channel will broadcast the final stroke play round today from 4-8 PM CT.

Anchor Down, fellas.

I didn’t like what our Vanderbilt Baseball team did this week at Hoover. I Loved it. Big hits from Parker Noland, a long three run shot by Troy LaNeve, and a tremendously clutch three run double by Calvin Hewitt in the bottom of the 8th, coupled with some solid pitching and superior defense, particularly from Jonathan Vastine and Parker Noland, and our Commodores took care of business and captured the SEC Championship with a 10-4 victory over Texas A&M today before 8,728 fans at the Hoover Met.

With the victory, we moved to 41-18 for the season. This team just came into its own at Hoover this week, particularly starting Friday Night against Alabama, then yesterday against the Gators and today over the Aggies.

Just a superior effort by the team. We will be hosting a regional and super regional without a doubt now, and our path to Omaha is better with the Hawk having our backs the next couple of weeks, assuming we can capture the Regional next weekend. Love where this team is at. Very exciting.

It was a nice pitching job by Sam Hliboki, Patrick Reilly, Bryce Cunningham, Thomas Schultz, who was excellent, and Maldo, who finished it off with a game ending 6-3 double play with Vastine and Noland taking care of that, as that was appropriate as both were stellar on defense. Vastine making a couple of superb stops and throws and Noland digging out those throws out of the dirt to secure the outs.

We ended up with 15 hits. Noland was 3 for 5 with 2 runs scored and an RBI, Chris Maldo was 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored. RJ Austin was 2 for 3 with 2 runs scored and an RBI. And LaNeve was 2 for 4 with 3 Ribeyes, including his bomb to right over the trees it looked like. Man, that was a mammoth shot. Love that we have Troy’s bat in the lineup. Calvin’s, too. Could be a super platoon in left. When we face a lefty, we go with Hewitt, and when we face a righty, we go with LaNeve.

EBJ was 2 for 4 with a run scored, an RBI safety squeeze bunt, which was huge, and a long double to deep left central. He later scored on a wild pitch. Bradfield Jr. is our catalyst. Wish he was still a freshman. On the TV show Friday Night Lights, the players on the high school Texas football team would say, “Texas forever,” to each other. With Enrique, I wish we could say, “Freshman forever.” Man does that young man have quite a future in the game. But he first wants to capture a national championship before he starts setting his sights on the Big Leagues.

The pitching was pretty solid. All the guys who pitched had pitched earlier this week, so the arms could have been a little tired. I was most impressed with Schultzie. He’s got the magic back that he had from last year. Thomas can be a tremendous boost to this baseball team in the postseason. Nick got’er done as always. I thought Patrick did some good things. Sam was pretty good, and Bryce didn’t have his best, but we’ll need him going forward. Several wild pitches we need to watch out for, but our staff still was good enough. Today was more about our hitting and our defense. Pitching was fine, thought Schultz was awesome, and Maldo got the key DP to close it out. Hoping Nick gets plenty more opportunities going forward because that means we’ll be leading most likely, and you gotta feel good with Nick coming in for the 9th with a lead. Of course, if Nick didn’t pitch a lot that would be a good thing, too, meaning we might have a big lead and not need him. But, we’ll need Maldo regardless. We need his talent AND his leadership.

Sometimes when a lockdown closer comes in for the 9th and has more than a one or two run lead, he may not be as focused because he really likes the high pressure situations and responds to those situations better. Nick excels when we have to have him. I know he’ll keep doing that.

So now, the Committee will select the top 16 teams that will be hosting their respective regionals. It will be announced at 7:30 ish CT today, in about 5 minutes. D1 Baseball had us at No.6 this morning and comfortably one of the top 8 seeds to host throughout the Regionals/Supers. But they have LSU as a four. I like us to pass over LSU. Clemson is No.5. I’d take a 5 seed and call’er a day. Clemson can have 4, that’s cool. But we should be ahead of LSU. They have Wake Forest at No.1 Florida at No.2, Arkansas at No.3, we should be ahead of them, Clemson at No.4, LSU at No.5, us at No.6, Stanford at No.7 and Virginia at No.8. I like us to be ahead of Arkansas and LSU, since we took 2 out of three from the Hogs last weekend at the Hawk. Clemson won the ACC Championship, so go with 1. Wake, 2. Florida, 3. Clemson and 4. Vanderbilt. That makes sense to me. The Clemson coach is Erik Bakich, who was the great coach at Michigan and a coach under Corbs at VU. Bakich and his Michigan team played us in the MCWS (Men’s College World Series) championship series in 2019, which we won. He’s a class act and a heckuva baseball coach.

So, that’s my take on it. We’ve proven we’re at least a top 4 national seed. But we’ll take it wherever they put us. It would help if we got to the MCWS and had the lowest seed possible for home team purposes. Always like to bat 2nd in an inning. So a 4 over a 6 is preferable for home field in games at Omaha. Nonetheless, what a showing by our team. We won our fourth SEC Championship and we’re cookin going into the NCAA Tournament. I like our chances.

Still gotta stay locked in as we prepare for the Road to Omaha. I’ll send out a quick tweet/email when I find out our seed. Have a great night and rest of your Memorial weekend. Anchor Down!

Another phenomenal performance by our baseball team on Saturday at the Hoover Met as we blasted Florida, 11-6. We moved to 40-18 on the season and keep boosting our resume for the NCAA Tournament as far as our national seed status is concerned. We were a 6 yesterday by D1Baseball.com, so we’ll see what happens after today. The top 8 host a Regional, and if that team wins, a Super Regional. It’s by far the best path to Omaha.

But, we’ve got one more challenge to hurdle. The Texas A&M Aggies are our opponent today at 2 PM CT on ESPN2 in the SEC Championship Game at the Hoover Met. They are 35-24 overall and finished 14-16 in the SEC. We finished 19-11 in the conference. They are a No.10 seed and we’re No.4.

Yesterday, our young freshman JD Thompson gave us just what we needed. He wasn’t overwhelming, but outstanding in that he gave us some good innings. JD went four against that ferocious Florida lineup, gave up 8 hits, 5 earned, with 2 walks and 6 K’s, JD’s fastball was excellent. It’s low to mid 90’s, but his location was superb. Coach Corbin calls JD, an “Old Soul.” I remember he called guys like Carson Fulmer, Dansby and Yaz that because they were such mature competitors and just tremendous people. Corbs thinks that way of JD. He’s going to help us going forward.

Grayson Moore came in and pitched 2.1, gave up 3 hits, 1 run, with 0 walks and 2 K’s. Jack Anderson struggled walking the first two hitters he faced to start the eighth inning, but the great big brother, Nick Maldo, came in and shut the door in the 8th and got them 3 up, 3 down in the ninth with 0 walks and 2 K’s. Feel really good about Maldo coming out of the pen with us in front in the 8th or 9th going forward. He only threw 25 pitches, so in an emergency situation in the 9th today, Maldo could pitch. But we Must be careful with him. Ryan Ginther hurt his arm throwing in the bullpen yesterday, so we won’t have him. Really hopeful we can have Ryan back for the Regional next week at the Hawk.

Alan Espinal has emerged for us, and was terrific behind and at the plate yesterday. Alan made a game changing play in the first inning when Florida second baseman Cade Kurland tried to steal second with the ball bouncing in front of Espinal, But Alan grabbed it and fired it to 2nd baseman RJ Austin who applied the tag for a huge out number one. JD got them out in the first. Just a tremendous play by our junior. Love what Alan can do for us today and going forward.

Espinal hit a homer to right central in the second and was 3 for 4 with two runs scored and a Ribeye. RJ Schreck had a run scoring single, and the other great RJ, Austin, had a 2 run double in the first that somehow found a way to stay inside the foul pole in left. What a player RJ Austin is, and Shreck is once again heating up. The younger Maldo, Chris, posted two hits, including a run scoring double to right, a key one at that, and added 2 RBIs. Love that family. Hoping we can get more Maldos in the future.

EBJ was superb again. He drove in a run with a single to right, he scored twice and stole his 37th base of the season. Bradfield Jr. is now 37-of-44 in stolen bases. But his main impact on the game came on defense. Enrique ran down a ball in left central and another in right central that not too many Major Leaguers can. They were huge outs and kept us comfortably in front. EBJ is just a total stud. Senior first baseman Parker Noland had a pair of hits. Love what Park is doing for us. He made some nice pickups at first from some tougher throws to field.

It was just an exceptional performance by our team.

Now, we’ve got the championship matchup today. I’m pretty positive sophomore right hander Greyson Carter will start for us today. Greyson is 2-1 with a 4.08 ERA. In 28.2 innings of work, he’s walked 28 and struck out 23. He has given up 1 double, 0 triples and 3 homers. Opponents are hitting .190 against him. I’m not positive about Greyson, Coach Corbin and Coach Brown surprised me yesterday and were stellar in that decision, but it would make sense that Greyson gets the ball today. Maybe Thomas Schultz can throw some, David Horn, Jack Anderson, maybe Bryce Cunningham, though that’s doubtful, and then possibly, maybe Nick for closing it out in a low pitch count, though we want to win this.

For them, and this is definitely a guesstimate but I went over their pitchers used for the week, looked at their stats, checked their Rivals and 247 Boards, checked A&M’s twitter, and looked at our twitter, and saw where Wyatt Tucker and Will Johnston haven’t pitched. Tucker is a junior righty, who is 0-0 with a 3.00 ERA. He has started 4 games. Unclear if he’s healthy. Tucker has thrown 12 innings with 10 walks and 6 K’s. He’s given up 3 homers.

The other option is lefty Will Johnston, who is 3-3 with a 5.16 ERA in 5 starts. In 45.1 innings pitched, he’s walked 29 and struck out 68. He’s given up 6 doubles, 8 homers and opponents are hitting .240 against him. Opponents are hitting .250 against Tucker.

Can’t guarantee above. This is a band aid pitching match-up, though our guy, Greyson, is capable of giving us some good innings. Greyson is a mid to high 90’s thrower with a nice curve and change. Have confidence in GC.

So, let’s get the job done once again and leave Hoover with our 4th SEC Championship Trophy and third under the great Coach Corbin. What a Coach. We’ve won the trophy in 1980, 2007,with the great David Price, Pedro Alvarez and Mike Minor team, along with our national champion 2019 team. In that championship game against Ole Miss in 2019, we were down 10-1 early in the game and came back and won it. it was magical.

In 2007, Beth and I went to the semifinal game at the Hoover Met against Ole Miss and we were down 10-6 in the 10th to the Rebels. At the end of the Rebels half of the inning, I said to Beth, “Let’s go.” But my wife, being the eternal optimist that she is, told me to “let’s see what happens.” Sure enough, that great 2007 team scored 5 in the bottom of the 10th, and won it majestically. We went on to the championship game where we disposed of Arkansas. Thought that was our year to win it all with David, Pedro, Mikey and Ryan Flaherty among a stellar group of players. That was a tough loss in the Regional to Michigan on a Monday Night. But it was an amazing team. I’ll never forget them. They laid the foundation that led to the superior success we’ve had as a baseball program under Tim Corbin.

Let’s put one more brick in the cement today and continue this amazing legacy of Vanderbilt Baseball. Have an awesome day and Anchor Down.

Roland Garros in the City of Lights, Paris, hosts the 127th French Open.

No Rafa Nadal this year, the 14 time champion, wow, as he’s battled so many injuries. Unfortunately, the 36 year old’s 2024 season will be his last. Hoping he can get another French title in 2024 and maybe another. Undermined about his availability for Wimbledon or the U.S, Open. It looks a little precarious for Wimbledon, but U.S, is possible. Rafa turns 37 on June 3rd.

So the men’s side is more open. Young stars like Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz will challenge 22 time Major champion Novak Djokovic. Djoker and Rafa are tied for most majors of all time, so Novak aims to capture the all time record setting 23 majors at Roland Garros. The just turned 36 year old native of Belgrade, Serbia is still quite a factor in majors. He turned 36 last Monday, May 22nd.

On the Women’s side, the great 21 year old Iga Swiatek aims to win her third French Open and 4th major as she also won the 2022 U.S. Open. She won the 2020 and 2022 French Opens.

Here’s look at the competition and which players I like to emerge victorious come Saturday, June 10th in the Women’s, and Sunday, June 11th in the Men’s.

TV

Tennis Channel starts coverage tomorrow, Sunday, from 4 AM-3 PM CT. NBC/Peacock handles it from 11 AM- 2 PM CT.

Tennis Channel and NBC/Peacock will have coverage throughout the May 28th-June 11th fortnight in Paris.

Women’s Final, Saturday, June 10th on NBC and Peacock from 8 AM-1 PM CT

Men’s Final, Sunday, June 11th, on NBC and streaming on Peacock from 7 AM-1 PM CT.

Men’s Semis

Seeds listed in front of names

No.3 Djoker over No.1 Alcaraz, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5

No.2 Daniil Medvedev over No.4 Casper Ruud 7-5, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4

Finals

No.2 Medvedev over No. 3 Djoker, 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 7-5

The 27 year old Moscow Russia native, not our favorite place but he’s cool, will win his second major over the great champion in a classic. Medvedev has also won the 2021 U.S. Open. He just won the Italian Open in Rome, so that’s a pretty good case for his chances at Roland Garros.

Sleeper, Arthur Fils:

The 18 year old Frenchman just won the Lyon Open in Lyon, France today. he looks to be a major factor.

Women’s Finals

No.1 Iga Świątek over No.2 Aryna Sabalenka 7-5, 4-6, 6-4

I like Iga, from Warsaw, Poland, to capture her third French Open title and for the 21 year old to keep her illustrious and still emerging career cookin over a superb effort from the 25 year old from Minsk, Belarus. Going chalk here.

Sleeper, Sloane Stephens:

I like the 30 year old from Fort Lauderdale to make a nice run in Paris.

What a victory for the team last night as we played, quite possibly, our most complete game of the season in a 9-2 victory over Alabama at the Hoover Met. We moved to 39-18 on the season.

In the top of the first, we scored 5, highlighted by an RBI double by RJ Schreck and a two run shot to deep left by RJ Austin. That got us going. We added some insurance later as Chris Maldo hit one out to left central and RJA had another RBI with a double double. Austin was 3 for 4 with a two run shot, an RBI double and a single. As starter Devin Futrell said, “I thought he was going to hit for the cycle.”

Little brother Maldo was 2 for 3 with 2 Ribeyes. Junior catcher Alan Espinal was 2 for 4. Davis Diaz seems to always hit the ball well and had a hit last night. J Vastine didn’t have a hit, but hit it hard 2 or 3 times. The left side of our infield has been strong towards the end of the season both at the plate and in the field. Love what Davis and Jonathan are doing at 3rd and short respectively.

And how about our freshmen? RJ is slick at second and Maldo is a weapon at the plate. Great to see our vet RJ Schreck get it going with the bat. We need that from him today and going forward. Left fielder Matthew Polk had a huge two run single as well. EBJ didn’t have a hit, but always leads the team and he WILL show up today as a force for us. Parker Noland always plays well and I love his focused intensity. You can tell Parker is laser focused out there. We have excellent leadership from Corbs, to Coach Scott Brown, to Coach Mike Baxter and the players. We really put it together last night.

And the pitching was superb. Devin said in the postgame he didn’t have his best stuff, but he battled. Dev went 5, gave up 4 hits, 2 earned with 3 walks and 2 K’s. He got out of some serious jams. I liked what he did. Devin really battled. As I said yesterday, Futrell is a warrior.

And Thomas Schultz was superb. Thomas was stellar for us last season and can now really help us after a confidence building, stellar performance last night. Thomas went 4, gave up only 1 hit, 0 runs, with a walk and 4 K’s. Awesome job by our senior.

So today it’s the Gators once again. Ryan Ginther is a little dinged up, but is expected back next week for the Regional. I’m looking at sophomore Greyson Carter, 2-1, 4.08, 28.2 innings, 28 walks, 23 K’s, 13 doubles and 4 homers allowed. Greyson is a mid to high 90’s thrower, so if he can control it and keep them off balance with some change of pace, I like what he can do. Opponents are hitting .163 against Carter.

The other option, and these guys will probably both be used today, is Grayson Moore, our junior right hander, who is 0-0 with a 3.60 ERA. In 20 innings, Moore has issued 10 walks and 30 K’s, and has given up 4 doubles, 3 homers and opponents are hitting .190 against him.

We can probably use David Horn, JD Thompson and, of course, Maldo late with a lead.

I expect them to start sophomore left hander Jac Caglianone, who is 6-2 with a 3.96 ERA. In 61.1 innings, he has issued 44 walks and K’d 71. He has given up 8 doubles, 5 homers and opponents are hitting .174 against him.

We need to keep BT Riopelle, Caglianone, Wyatt Langford and Josh Rivera from hitting it out of the park with runners aboard. Our pitching needs to be stellar, we need to play superior defense and the bats just need to replicate what we did last night.

I’m ready to beat these guys. Have had enough of them. We need to show them who we really are.

Come on guys. Anchor Down!

Men’s Golf

Our team is +10 for the tournament and in 12th place at holes 16-18.. We are +8 for the day. Hoping we can finish strong and get in better position for tomorrow. Not our best today so far. It’s hot out there, low to mid 90’s, but the wind isn’t that bad at 5-7 MPH. Illinois is at -2 and leading. The course is a tough one. If we can finish with some birdies, and get hot tomorrow, we can be right where we need to be in the top 15 going into Monday. Come on fellas. Let’s get it going.

Stack, 2023 class

Coach Stackhouse finished off an impressive recruiting class by signing 5 players and adding 3 transfers in the 2023 class.

Stack’s signees are, Isiah West, who is a 90, almost 4 star player, and would have been a 4 star had he not gotten hurt last season. Isaiah is a 6’2”, 190 combo guard from Goodpasture School in Madison, TN. Love what we’re getting with Isaiah.

2. Carter Long: Carter is a 6’9”, 220 center from St. Anne’s-Belfield in Cville, VA. Carter is another 90, high 3 star, and adds size, rebounding and scoring.

3. JaQualon Roberts, Roberts is a 6’7”, 195 power forward who is an 88, 3 star. JaQualon is from Bloomington North, Bloomington, Indiana. Another excellent addition.

Yesterday 2 more signed.

4. Jason Rivera-Torres, Jason is a 6’6”, 170 shooting guard from John Marshall in Richmond, VA. Stack likes his stroke. He’s an awesome addition as well. JRT is a 90, 3 star.

5. Malik Presley, Malik is a 6’6”, 170, 90, 3 star from San Marcos High School in San Marcos, Texas.

I think Stack loves this class. Size, shooting and defensive prowess.

Here are the transfer additions.

1.Tasos Kamateros, 6’7”, 240 Center. Not much known on Tasos, but will find out this week and tell you more. Like the Euros for sure.

2.Ven-Allen Lubin, a 97 4 star in high school, transferred from Notre Dame. Ven-Allen is a 6’8”, 220 power forward. Stack is very high on Ven-Allen.

3. Evan Taylor, an 85, 6’6”, 205 small forward, Evan came to us from Lipscomb.

Add that to 6’9”, 240 C Lee Dort, who is going to have a breakout season this year. Lee showed signs of that last year and he was a 95, 4 star out of high school.

Along with stellar Colin Smith, who’s going to be terrific for us. Colin was outstanding towards the end of this past season and is a former 94 four star. Colin is 6’8”, 200 and a power forward. Sure he’s added some weight and muscle.

And Paul Lewis, our 6’2”, 170 scrappy point guard who can really light it up.

One of the main pieces of this team will be our extraordinary point guard from this past season Ezra Manjon returning. Love what the man can accomplish this season.

And the final piece, and a really important one, is the status of Tyrin Lawrence. Two weeks ago, it looked like Tyrin might transfer to Auburn or Georgia, or even Texas Tech. But things have changed dramatically and we have a very good chance of getting Tyrin back. I’d put our chances at 75-80%. If we can keep Tyrin and our veteran players in the back and front courts can get even better, which I expect them to under Stack, as our players always do, and our transfers play well along with contributions from the freshmen, we’ve got a chance to be special. NCAA Tournament and take if from there is absoulutely attainable. With Stack’s coaching and the material, there is no reason we can’t excel in 2023-24. I’m expecting us to.

Come on T Lawrence. We need you.

Let’s Anchor Down today over those hated Gators, get golf going again, and there is a lot of excitement with our basketball program. I promise I’ll get to football in the next couple of weeks or so. Like the material Clark has assembled and is developing. See us having a strong team in 2023, Team 3.

We play Alabama for the right to make the semifinals tomorrow and play Florida in the SEC Tournament. The first game, LSU versus Texas A&M starts at 3 PM CT on the SEC Network. We’ll be on 30 minutes after that game, guessing, without extras, probably 6-6:30 ish. on SEC Network.

Last night was a tough one. We’ve had problems keeping the opposing team from knocking it out of the park in this tournament. I thought Hunter Owen did a good job, David Horn was pretty decent, and Bryce Cunningham pitched well set aside one mistake. Bryce could help us in the Regional next weekend. Still think we’re going to be a national seed and earn a Regional and Super Regional at home. Like us at No.7 or No.8 of the top 8 seeds that host throughout the Regional and Super in order to get to Charles Schwab Field in Omaha. But winning today is important.

Today, left handed sophomore Devin Futrell will start for us. Devin has been solid, but has been hit at times by the better hitting teams we’ve faced. He’s a warrior though and will be ready. Futrell is 6-3, with a 3.54 ERA. In 73.2 innings, he’s walked 17 and K’d 63, and has allowed 12 homers, so he needs to keep it in the park today. Only one solo shot today max. Hopefully less. Our offense, led by EBJ, Jonathan Vastine, Davis Diaz and Parker Noland, our best hitters right now, needs to show up and be more aggressive at the plate. Those four are hitting it well. The other guys need to follow their lead. As usual, we need Enrique to get on base and make something happen like he always does. He stole two bags last night and is now 36 of 43 on the season. Really need RJ Schreck to get his bat going. Need his run producing ability. He’s absolutely capable. Need more from Jack Bulger as well at the plate. RJ Austin has been playing well, so no problem with our stellar freshman second baseman.

We haven’t expended a ton of arms, so if Devin can give us 5 or 6, we’ve got Greyson Carter, Grayson Moore, Ryan Ginther and Maldo. JD Thompson, too. Thomas Schultz if necessary as well. I just think we need to do everything we can to win this game to secure a national seed. Very important contest for us.

Alabama will start graduate senior Jacob McNair, most likely. He’s a right hander, who is 6-1 with a 3.39 ERA. In 66.1 innings, he’s walked 14 and struck out 66 and given up 10 doubles, 0 triples and 5 homers.

They hit .299 as a team. Right fielder Andrew Pinckney is stellar, hitting .349 with 16 homers, 54 Ribbies and he’s 7 of 8 on stolen bases. He’s an excellent defensive fielder with a cannon for an arm. He’s a five tool player with speed, defense, hitting, deep ball hitting and run producing. Can’t remember exactly what the 5 tools are, but that’s pretty accurate and he’s got’em.

Their leading hitter is left fielder Tommy Seidl, who hits .364 with 9 long ones and 42 Ribeyes. He’s stolen 8 of 12 bases. Their fielding at a .978 clip. We are hitting .273 as a team, our staff ERA is 4.33 and we’re fielding at .980.

Their staff ERA is 3.90. They took 2 of 3 from us back in early May in Tuscaloosa. They won Thursday, 11-2, we won Friday, 4-1, and they defeated us Saturday, 2-1. They’ve got good pitching, defense and they can hit. We’ve got our hands full.

Golf starts today at 1:30 PM at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona for the Men’s NCAA Championships. We’re playing with UNC and Illinois. Need to get off to a good start today. Hoping Gordon and company can excel.

Patrick Reilly pitched pretty brilliantly last night in relief of Sam Hliboki, who gave us four solid innings in our 6-4 victory over Auburn at the Hoover Met that finished up pretty late in the early Thursday AM.

Tremendous victory for the guys. Sam went 4, gave up 3 hits, two runs, both solo shots by Auburn, with 2 walks and 3 K’s. That Auburn can blast some long ones, so having nobody on base when they launched their shots against Hliboki was big. Patrick came in and pitched 5 superb innings with just one hiccup. Reilly allowed 2 hits, 2 runs, a 2 run shot in the 9th, with a walk and 8 K’s. Patrick was on fire with his 96-98 MPH heat, and his curve and slider were extremely effective. We hit enough, though we still need to hit it better with runners in scoring position. Davis Diaz and Jonathan Vastine had a couple of big run scoring singles for us. Davis drove in two runs with 2 singles. Enrique didn’t get a hit, but affected the game with 2 stolen bases, two runs scored and a nice catch in central field, in which he covered a massive amount of territory to track a liner down for the third out of the second inning. Just need RJ Schreck, Parker Noland, Jack Bulger and RJ Austin to be the run drivers in guys that they are. I can see them doing that tonight. I love what Coach Corbin has done inserting Troy LaNeve into the DH spot. Troy gives us good hitting and definitely the long ball threat.

Florida tonight at 9 ET/8 CT. Hunter Owen will get the ball tonight, which is tremendous. Hunter is back after spending time on the IL with some shoulder tightness. He’s a stud and we’ll need him to be against the rival Gators. Hunter is 4-0 with a 3.16 ERA. In 57 innings pitched, he has posted 16 walks and 67 K’s. He’s allowed 7 doubles, 0 triples and 6 home runs. Florida is a home run hitting team as they cranked a three run shot in the bottom of the 11th to defeat Alabama, 7-6. Alabama had scored three runs in the top of the 11th to go up, 6-3, and looked to be in good shape. But the Gators were not going to be denied.

For Florida, it’ll be junior right hander Brandon Sproat, who is 7-3, 4.85, 35/100, 11 homers given up.

Glad we have Hunter on the hill. We’ve got a rested bullpen also with Reilly eating up 5 innings last night, so that’s huge. The bullpen has really picked it up lately. We’ll have Ryan Ginther and Maldo late if needed. In between, we have Bryce Cunningham, Greyson Carter, David Horn, Grayson Moore, and Thomas Schultz. If Thomas could just find the rhythm he had last season, he can really help us.

Hopefully, we can have Carter Holton for the Regional, or, possibly, this weekend for a few innings, if possible, though not likely.

Men’s Golf, Gordon Sargent

Our No.1 ranked Vanderbilt Men’s Golf Team (Golfstat and Golfweek rankings) will tee it up tomorrow at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, AZ for the NCAA Championships.

We are the top seed in the Championship and tee off alongside North Carolina and Illinois on the 7,289 yard Par-70 course. We go off the 10th tee on Friday at 1:30 PM CT as we begin our journey in hopes of winning the our first national championship in program history. Saturday, we tee off at 8:10 AM CT. Sunday’s tee time is to be determined.

Friday through Sunday is 54 holes of stroke play amongst the top 30 teams that qualified with the top 15 teams after Sunday’s round qualifying for Monday’s final stroke play round. After Monday’s round, the top 8 teams will qualify for the Match Play. The quarterfinals and the semifinals will be held Tuesday, 5/30, and the championship match is Wednesday, 5/31. Monday’s 4th round stroke play will be on the Golf Channel at 5 PM ET/4 CT and will run till 8. Tuesday’s quarters will run on the Golf Channel from 11 AM-1:30 PM CT, and the semis are from 4-8 PM CT. The Championship match will be broadcast from 4-8 PM CT on Wednesday, 5/31.

So, awesome opportunity for the team. Gordon Sargent is a finalist for the Nicklaus Award, another one of the most prestigious awards in college golf along with the Haskins Award and the Ben Hogan Award, which Gordon is also in contention for. Gordon is superb, so he’s highly deserving of one if not all those awards. He’s the defending individual national champion and has posted a stellar 2023 season with several individual victories. We just need him, William Moll, Cole Sherwood, Matthew Riedel and Reid Davenport to be clutch in the NCAA Championships. We certainly have the material to excel this weekend and next week at Grayhawk. Just need to lock in.

Will be in touch. Anchor Down.

I’ve gotten some intel from a good friend and reliable source that Sam Hliboki will start tonight against Auburn

Sam, our right handed senior, is 3-3 with a 5.40 ERA with 9 walks and 42 K’s. Sam’s a talent, so I trust him for three innings or so. Patrick Reilly has been very effective coming out of the ‘pen, so he’ll be available. Don’t believe Holton is available. Corbs trying to rest him for the Regional. Maybe saving Hunter Owen for the next game. After Reilly, you’ve got Greyson Carter, David Horn, Thomas Schultz, of course, Ryan Ginther, Bryce Cunningham and Maldo to finish it off in the ninth. 

For Auburn, I’m looking at Chase Allsup on the mound. The sophomore right hander is 1-1 with a 5.95 ERA with 28 walks and 40 K’s, He’s given up 6 homers. That’s a guesstimate. Auburn can really hit the ball, but their pitching is a little suspect, so hoping we can take advantage of that. 

The prolific SEC Baseball Tournament commences Tuesday at the Hoover Met with the best baseball in the country being played in the Met this week.

National seedings in the NCAA Tournament are on the line. The top 8 national seeds host throughout the Regionals and the Super Regionals. It’s the best path to Charles Schwab Field in Omaha and the College World Series, Friday, June 16th- Monday, June 26th. It’s also an ability to win a conference championship, which is always a goal for SEC teams. Florida won the SEC regular season. Here are the National rankings according to D-1 Baseball, the premier ranking service in the country. I’ve listed the top 10 nationally and the other SEC teams in the Top 25.

No.1 Wake Forest. No.2 Florida. No.3 Stanford. No.4 Arkansas. No.5 LSU. No.6 Clemson. No.7 Coastal Carolina. No.8 Vanderbilt. No.9 Connecticut. No.10 Oregon State. Tennessee is No.13. Auburn is No.19. Alabama is No.24. And Kentucky is No,25.

Here are my predictions for this sensational tournament. All games will be televised by the SEC Network except for the Championship game at 2 PM Sunday, which will be broadcast by ESPN2. All times listed below are Central.

Here are the final records for the top 12 teams in the SEC Tournament.

1. Florida 20-10, 42-13

2. Arkansas 20-10, 39-15, Florida wins tiebreaker

3. LSU, 19-10, 42-13

4. Vanderbilt, 19-11, 37-17

5. Auburn 17-13, 33-19-1

6. South Carolina, 16-13, 38-17

7. Tennessee, 16-14, 38-18

8. Kentucky, 16-14, 36-17

9. Alabama, 16-14, 38-17

10. Texas A&M, 14-16, 32-23

11. Georgia, 11-19, 29-26

12. Missouri, 10-20, 30-23

Here are my predictions for this terrific event in college sports. All games will be televised by the SEC Network except for the Championship game at 2 PM Sunday, which will be broadcast by ESPN2. All times listed below are Central.

Tuesday, 5/23, Single Elimination games.

Tournament seedings listed before each team.

9:30 AM

#6 South Carolina 10, #11 Georgia 1

12-12:30 PM unless there is a rain delay or extras in the first game.

No.7 Tennessee 7, No.10 A&M 2

4:30 PM

No.9 Alabama 4, No.8 Kentucky 3

7:30 PM ish

No. 5 Auburn 10, No.12 Missouri 2

Wednesday, 5/24, Double Elimination games

9:30 AM

South Carolina 6, No. 3 LSU 4

12 PM ish

UT 9, No. 2 Arkansas 6

4:30 PM

No.1 Florida 5, Alabama 3

7:30-8 PM ish

No. 4 Vanderbilt 5, Auburn 4

Thursday, 5/25, Double Elimination games

9:30 AM

Arkansas 7, LSU 6, LSU eliminated

12 PM

Auburn 8, Alabama 4, Alabama eliminated

4:30 PM

UT 9, South Carolina 5

7:30 PM

Vanderbilt 5, Florida 4

Friday, 5/24, Double elimination

3 PM

Arkansas 8, South Carolina 6, South Carolina eliminated

6:30 PM

Florida 9, Auburn 8, Auburn eliminated

Saturday, 5/25, Single elimination

12 PM

Tennessee 10, Arkansas 9

3 PM

Vanderbilt 6, Florida 5

Championship Game, Sunday, 5/26

2 PM ESPN2

Vanderbilt 10, Tennessee 8

SEC Champion

Vanderbilt Commodores

Top 8 National seeds from SEC.

Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Florida, Arkansas, LSU

Top 16 seed from the SEC. Host a Regional.

Auburn