Evolution of the Cup

With the Cup on the verge of turning a whopping one year old, we have joined the illustrious SBNation.

Behold, The Red Cup Rebellion begins today. Update your bookmarks (that means you, Gonzohog).

Rebels fall in Game 3 of series

As The Ghost of Jay Cutler has already informed you, the Rebels took the series from Vanderbilt in Nashville.  The Rebels again put together a nice offensive performance, and they took the first game of Sunday’s double-header 6-1.  Philip Irwin battled hard as he pitched a complete game (7 innings) and only allowed a run.  However, game 2 was not as good for the Rebels.  Mike Bianco started the third game of the series against Vanderbilt off with a grave error:  letting Aaron Barrett pitch.  I’m not sure if Mike is watching the same guy pitch that I am, but he is starting a guy in the SEC rotation that has an 11.20 ERA. 

The issues of the second game:

First, our starting pitching was atrocious.  Secondly, I feel bad for Scott Bittle.  He came in to record the final out of the 5^th inning, and he accomplished that.  He did not allow a hit in 2.1 innings, but he gets the loss due to an unearned run.  That drops him to 1-2 on the season, and it isn’t looking like he will have the same impressive stats as last year.  We still have 9 weeks to go, but I am worried that he isn’t the same shut-down pitcher from last year. 

We scored 6 runs, and that is satisfactory, especially against Vandy pitching.  We have to find a way to string it all together. 

All in all, we cannot be disappointed with the Rebels showing in Nashville this weekend.  I am very impressed with started the season 2-1. 

The Rebels return to action on Tuesday in Jonesboro against Arkansas State.  Wednesday, the Jort Nation comes to Oxford when the Memphis Tigers make the drive from the Bluff City.   

Rebs take the series against 'Dores

Brian Walker's Elbow will bring you more this evening when the doubleheader is complete, but the Rebs have topped the 'Dores in game one of their Sunday doubleheader by a score of 6-1.

In other news: After a poorly officiated game which magnificently spread the misery around (like Socialism!) the Mississippi State Bulldogs have won the SEC Men's basketball title. The game was characterized by a bunch of wacky threes, generally sloppy ball, and something like four turnovers in one second (literally). All of that aside though, the win was legitimate. Y'all know I'm no State fan but a punched ticket to the dance is nothing to make fun of. Also, Jarvis Varnado is the best defensive player the SEC has seen since Shaq, hands down.

We're never going to hear the end of this. "LMAO We Я dAnCiN' and Ole PISS ain't BITCH!!! RATTLERATTLE!!"

Friday the 13th? I mean, we just beat Vandy in Nashville

The Rebels and Commodores got together in Nashville, TN tonight to determine their identities. Really, neither team knows who it is. This is what the teams showed tonight:

Ole Miss:

We've now got a Friday night guy in Drew Pomeranz. He had a solid night tonight going four innings and only giving up two runs. My only concern is the five walks he issued tonight. McKean went three innings and gave up a run. Morgan and Barbeck both worked one inning and only allowed one hit a piece.

So, I'd say our bullpen is solid. We did commit two errors, but I will give the defense a pass due to the awful weather.

As far as our offense is concerned, we are impressive. We got to Mike Minor tonight which is something no team has done this year. He started really strong by only allowing one hit through 19 batters faced, but he lost control and ended up getting the loss. Tyler Hill was impressive in relief, and he had 8k's.

We scored 9 runs on 12 hits, and that production came mostly in bunches. We scored 4 in the 4th, and 3 of those came on a Travis homerun. We scored 3 more in the 6th on a bases loaded, two-out double from Logan Power. This season, Power is batting 1.000 with the bases loaded. CLUTCH

Vanderbilt:

They are a different team from last year. They haven't shown the power they have had in the past without Flaherty and Alvarez in the line-up. The want to play small ball, but they cannot string the hits together.

Their pitching has had a solid season until tonight, but I bet they get it together by the next game.

My thoughts:

Ole Miss showed some guts tonight by getting the first one under the belt against Vandy. I personally think the game tomorrow will be postponed due to weather, and we can expect a double header on Sunday. As someone commented on a earlier, free streaming video is available through the Vanderbilt site. If you feel I left important information out of this post, feel free to comment and add one.

I'm overstepping my boundaries here...

Though I am not the blogger of choice for anything but baseball (and I'm not even the blogger of choice for that), I stumbled across these stories today on the intra-webs.


We all know how much we loved trouncing Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl. The Rebel fans that attended the aforementioned trouncing probably noticed how weird (but really nice) the Texas Tech fans were. Some were dressed as pirates and wore eye patches, and all of this is part of Mike Leach's ploy to get a role in Pirates of the Caribbean 3: The Quest for the Big XII South. Anyway, the Pirate's Guild recently named Mike Leach as the coach "most likely to be run through with a sword and be fed to the sharks."


The guild is trying to send the same message the Texas Tech administration was trying to send a month ago: we don't want you either.


In other news, the never ending search for the 12th game for THIS fall's football season was thought to have found some new life. Chris Low reported earlier this week that some schedule shuffling had freed up September 12th for Colorado, and that would have been a perfect match for Ole Miss. I was initially writing this post to encourage Pete Boone to book the game because of this article I found that shows the QB position for Colorado is still up for grabs and will be until August.


As I sit writing this post, Lowe has made another report...

Colorado not a likely foe for Ole Miss.


Dang't Pete Boone. Dang't.

Could scheduling a 12th game really be that hard?

Houston Nutt Reacts to Middle Eastern Scenes

As you all know, Houston Nutt will soon be visiting the Middle East to deliver his own special brand of rah-rah to our nation's fighting men and women. In an effort to prepare coach Nutt for this noble trek, the Cup sat down with him to show him the types of scenes he may encounter. What you see below are the images we showed him. Clicking them will allow you to see his reactions as documented by our crack staff of internet wizards.







As you can see, Houston Nutt is a very spiritual, sensitive, and emotional man. Godspeed, Houston.

Rebel Tennis Weekend Preview

The #3 Ole Miss Men's Tennis Team is on an SEC road-trip this weekend, visiting #23 Alabama today and Auburn on Sunday. Chadwick's team is rested and ready, since their last action, a 6-1 decision over then-#5 Tennessee.

Alabama Crimson Tide
Today, 2:00

The Tide boast a gaudy 11-1 record thus far, but have not played the type of competition Ole Miss has faced. Of Alabama's competition that has even sniffed the top twenty-five, they beat Miami (4-0) and lost to Pepperdine (3-4) at the Malibu Qualifier for ITA Nationals. Since then, Alabama has slain a row of baby kittens, except for their reasonable wins at Indiana (4-3) and Clemson (5-2), neither of which, though, is particularly good. To open up SEC play, they beat Arkansas 6-1 and #44 LSU 5-2. All three of the Tide's doubles teams are ranked in the Top 80, a claim not made by Ole Miss, who generally fields strong doubles. And Junior Syketh Myeni is currently the #66 player in the nation.

The rankings would seem to indicate that the Rebels might struggle at doubles, however, earlier in the season the Rebels dominated the doubles point against Florida, who currently boast 3 teams in the top 60. My gut feeling is that our #2 and #3 teams (Britton/Vorster and Norber/Sauer) just have not been together long enough for the ITA to take notice, especially of Norberg and Sauer, who have been business-like in their winning ways, as of late.

The X factor is the forecast of rain in Tuscaloosa. Ole Miss is, usually, a better team outdoors. The difference, though, is slight, and will unlikely be enough to make up for Alabama's talent gap against the Rebels.

Prediction: All Day Rebs 4-1 with wins at doubles and by Norberg, Britton, and Thiemann.

Auburn Tigers
Sunday, 1:00

The Tigers are currently #20 in the nation, 7-2 overall, and 2-0 in the conference. Their loss against #1 Stanford is certainly understandable.

I'd say more, but it's time to go to the match.

Ole Miss vs. Vandy: Weekend baseball preview

Basketball season is over for the Rebels. Any of you die hard, face painted, wig wearing, AK's Army generals can come on over to Swayze now. Don't get me wrong, I love basketball, but it just wasn't our year.

This weekend the Rebels load up the Callahan charter buses and head to Nashvegas for a weekend series with Vandy. Just looking at Vandy's overall record(10-4) they seem to be a solid baseball squad yet again. Last season they won 41 games and choked miserably during the Tempe Regional losing to OU twice in a few days.

Ole Miss was 4-1 against Vanderbilt last year sweeping the 'Dores in Oxford and then knocking them out of the SEC tournament. I would hate to say there's any animosity between the two teams, because while Vandy knows the meaning of the word animosity and can probably give you a dozen synonyms, they've never given me a John Cohen type of feel. "NICHOLLS STATE, GET OFF YOUR DAMN BUS AND PLAY US! FINE! WE WIN!"

Vandy has only lost one game at home to powerhouse University of Illinois-Chicago. As a team, they are batting .334 and holding opponents just above the Brashear line at .248. Aaron Westlake is batting .500 with a .550 OBP after 52 PA. Just walk him.

Ole Miss has only played one game on the road, losing to South Alabama in extra innings. I would wager that if they get all three games in, this will be the greatest test our team has faced all season. Kevin Mort is batting over .400 with Logan Power and Matt Smith batting .364 with a combined 5 HRs and 28 RBI.

PITCHING MATCHUPS
Friday:
Drew Pomeranz: Soph. LHP
Mike Minor: Jr. LHP

A battle of Southpaws with Minor sporting a 2.21 ERA with a 1-0 record. Pomeranz has an almost identical 2.58 ERA with a 1-0 record. Bianco made the right move taking Aaron Barrett out of the Friday position. He had three mediocre starts and didn't seem to be improving. Pomeranz has pitched in big games before, but this is the biggest stage: SEC Friday night baseball.

Saturday:
Phillip Irwin: Jr. RHP
Caleb Cotham: Soph. RHP

Cotham has a microscopic 1.29 ERA with a 3-0 record whilst Irwin has compiled a 1.72 ERA with a 2-0 record. I don't think their ERAs will continue to stay this low in SEC play. They've both had great seasons thus far, but it's just not possible to get out of conference play with an ERA like this. Up until now, Irwin gave us our best chance to win, and I'm going to stick with that opinion until he proves otherwise.

Sunday:
Aaron Barrett: Jr. RHP
Nick Christiani: Sr. RHP

This should be one of Barrett's last chances to make the weekend rotation. He's got an ERA over 9, and surprisingly Bukvich has been more serviceable this season. Christiani has a 3.71 ERA with a 2-0 record. He's struck out 21 in 17 innings while only walking three. The Rebels should be ready to swing. Fans have been clamoring for THE BITTLER to start, but I'd rather have a 99 percentile bullpen with Bittle. If he starts, who comes in at the end of the game? It's a question Bianco wouldn't have a comfortable answer for.

Predictions:
Friday: Vanderbilt 5 Ole Miss 2
Saturday: Ole Miss 6 Vanderbilt 4
Sunday: Vanderbilt 8 Ole Miss 7

Keeping Tabs: What Are Your Favorite Rebels Doing for Spring Break?

There are a couple of things in which we here at the Cup have always taken great pride - our strong journalistic credibility, non-medically-enhanced manhoods, and multi-continent singing tour are just a few of them. It takes a special kind of trust and work ethic to offer you the absolutely factual look into the real lives of Ole Miss scholar athletes - a term I use with equal seriousness - that has become a hallmark of our little operation. So, we hope you will appreciate the great sacrifices we made to publish for you this annotated list of the spring break plans of some of your favorite Rebels combined by our sources deep inside the athletics department for whom you may mourn in your own way.

Jerrell Powe, in a compromise with Tracy Rocker, is taking his motor scooter down to Panama City Beach for one of those old-fashioned motorcycle parades. Rocker insisted, though, that it be this particular parade - the 14th Annual Mark Mangino - Little Debbie West Florida Obesity Awareness Ride. Said Powe, "I haz an appetite ... for the open road."

Dexter McCluster is in the unfortunate position of having to complete a research project over the break. Not for school, though. McCluster is flying out to Los Angeles to view an advance showing of X-Men Origins: Wolverine in order to gain more information on something called an adamantium skeleton.

Jevan Snead, always the responsible one, has taken a job babysitting a kid for an old friend who is really busy next week.

Greg Hardy is going to wall-paper his room at home with his Sports Illustrated cover picture. And then tear them all down as a sign of his angst. And then wall-paper his room at home with his Sports Illustrated cover picture. And then tear them all down as a sign of his angst. And then wall-paper his room at home with his Sports Illustrated cover picture. And then tear them all down as a sign of his angst. And then wall-paper his room at home with his Sports Illustrated cover picture. And then tear them all down as a sign of his angst. And then wall-paper his room at home with his Sports Illustrated cover picture. And then tear them all down as a sign of his angst. And then wall-paper his room at home with his Sports Illustrated cover picture. And then tear them all down as a sign of his angst. And then have coffee. And shame.

It's Spring Break at Oxford High School, as well, so Coach Houston Nutt has decided to take the wife and daughter Haven on a trip to Fayetteville to visit some old friends and plan ways to sabotage the lives of his former players as part of his grand scheme to ruin the University of Arkansas, leading, inevitably, to the collapse of the Natural State and its annexation by Generalissimo Chuck Norris of the Republic of Texas. Oops! Kinda let the cat out of the bag on that one.

Marshay Green will attempt to recreate the excitement of his most recent football season by telling everyone that he is going to Cancun, but spending most of the break bathing in the cool, brown waters of lovely Galveston, before actually showing up in Cancun at the end of the week and being so hot that he hooks up with fifty Spanish chick and buys MTV.

And, finally, Rebel-to/may-be Jamar Hornsby will be exactly where you guessed - on tour with Dent May and his magnificent ukulele.

RSC SEC Tournament LiveBlog

Kentucky Preview

Well, it's Mississippi day at the SEC tournament again. The Rebels play the Wildcats, and the Bulldogs play ... the Bulldogs.

Ole Miss won the regular season game against Kentucky, due primarily to holding Jodie Meeks to 2-13 shooting until the game was out of reach. We were unable to keep Patrick Patterson in check, and he made us pay going 8-12 from the field and 8-9 from the charity stripe. The Rebels will have to contain Patterson in order to win today, but I think that's possible.

Malcolm White has emerged as a legitimate player since that game. Against Kentucky, Malcolm was also 8-12. While no one would argue that Malcolm is the player that First-team All-SEC selection Patrick Patterson is, he has been a good presence of late, playing great defense and putting the ball in the hole (though inconsistently). Malcolm scored 20 points against a Mississippi State team that boasts the best interior defender in the country. I think that Malcolm will provide the post presence needed to match up against Patterson in the zone. Of course, they don't really play the same position since Patterson is more of a 4. So a power forward will have to step up as a defender against Patterson. That's why I'm hoping Kennedy puts Murphy on Patterson.

While Patterson has three inches on Holloway, we don't have a player on our team that plays the game harder than Murphy. He will fight for every ball and come down with a load of rebounds regardless of who he's paired against. I can't comprehend why he isn't starting games right now. He leads our team in double doubles and is a force coming off the bench. He's our second best interior defender, and he's a good offensive threat as well (leading our team in field goal percentage by ten percent). I want Murphy Holloway on the court for 30 minutes a game. Not 22.

In the end, I think that Kentucky is a pretty good matchup for us. They have no depth whatsoever and only have two players who are serious scoring threats. If we can contain either of those, we've got a good shot of winning. If Zach Graham can hold Meeks to 2-13 shooting again, it's in the bag. That's a big if though.

Anyone else think this guy got juked out of his shoes?

Prediction:

Ole Miss 75 - Kentucky 78

Baseball Schadenfreude

So, you think losing to Mercer, South Alabama, and TCU before cancelling a doubleheader due to weather is bad, huh?

Well, yeah... it is.

But, don't worry, we're certainly not the only ones who have had to endure early-season baseball embarrassment. Behold, my quickly compiled list of shitty things that have happened to 2009 SEC baseball programs thus far.


Alabama
Dropped 2 of 3 to Southeast Missouri
Two games against Illinois-Chicago cancelled
Lost to Troy

Arkansas
Lost to Kansas
Two games against Western Illinois cancelled

Auburn
Dropped 2 of 3 to Elon
Game against Florida State cancelled

Florida
Swept by in-state rival Miami
Lost to FAU

LSU
Dropped 2 of 3 to Illinois (during the new Box's opening weekend)

Mississippi State
Lost to Northern Illinois
No contest against Nicholls State
Dropped 3 of 4 to Hawaii

South Carolina
Game against Clemson cancelled

Tennessee
Game against Oregon State cancelled
Lost to Austin Peay
Game against FIU cancelled
Lost to USC upstate


There are plenty of losses I've left out, but they're not so much embarrassing (losing to Coastal Carolina, Long Beach State, Oregon State, and other "baseball schools.") Keep it all in perspective, Rebels. Few SEC teams have gone through this still young season without a few "omgwtf's."

Buk for Sunday?

Tonight's pitching preformance by Brett Bukvich (0 runs, 2 hits, 6 k) has left this blogger and the rest of the Rebel Nation wondering, "Why isn't Brett Bukvich a weekend starter?" Yes, I'm kidding.

Anyway, I really have decided that we should give Brett a look on Sundays. He couldn't be any worse than Barrett, and the Left, Right, Left weekend rotation would be kind of cool.

The whole deal that started this debate was the 3-0 Rebel victory that was acheived by signature Bianco style of play: pitching and defense. Buk only allowed two hits in six innings, and Barbeck and Goforth combined in three innings only allowed one hit. Goforth struck out the side in the ninth.

Believe it or not, the same team that struggled in Mobile and at home with TCU is now on a six game win streak heading into the weekend stint with Vandy in Nashville. One Man to Beat will no doubt have a weekend preview for you, and I will provide you with game recaps.

By using the comments function, let the debate begin on who should be our Sunday starter. I vote Bukvich for now (let your commenting occur in a vacuum, meaning do not take into account that the six innings pitched by Buk tonight hindering him from starting on Sunday).

Walk it Out

Last night, David Phillips slapped a solo shot walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to notch one for the good guys against Austin Peay 8-7. The move to insert Phillips in the ninth was a strong one by Bianco. He wanted out of that game that inning, and that was the best way to do it.

I'm confused about why a guy with such power is sitting on the bench while Mike Snyder, batting a whopping 0.125 is batting as much as he is (only two more at bats than Phillips, but still). Let's give Phillips a legitimate shot in the order and see what he can do. I like Mike Snyder as much as the next guy, but maybe this year isn't his year.

At this point in the season, headed into SEC play, I want our order to be as follows:

1. Jordan Henry CF
2. Tim Ferguson 2B
3. Matt Smith 1B
4. Logan Power RF
5. David Phillips DH
6. Kevin Mort SS
7. Zach Miller 3B
8. Taylor Hashman LF
9. Brett Basham C

All nine of those batters are batting over 300. I don't see a glaring weakness in the order. What do you all think?

BTW, if any of you are planning on calling me out for the baseball recruiting article I did almost a year ago that mentioned David Phillips would get lost in the shuffle because of Mike Snyder, please don't. Being wrong makes me cry.

Something Confirmed; Something Unconfirmed

I have confirmed from publicly released sources that the Ole Miss Men's Tennis Team has moved up to #3 in the country. The full rankings are available at the ITA website.

This is great, right? No this is bullshit.

We remain ranked behind Stanford, simply because they have only dropped one match. However, that one match was to Georgia, who, you might have noticed, we beat. Our schedule has been demonstrably more difficult. And we just came off a crushing defeat of the #5 team in the country. Their only claim to the #2 spot over the Rebels would be their win over USC, to whom we lost. Of course, we had the stomach flu. Anyway, Virginia is the top-ranked team in the country, and that is legitimate. But, Stanford, I have my eye on you.

On the unconfirmed front, I have it on pretty good authority that a member of the Ole Miss Men's Tennis team will be named the SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year. The criteria for the award are pretty straight-forward - be super-smart, good at your sport, and a senior. This means that the recipient is almost certainly fellow blogger Bram ten Berge.

Every year, each SEC school nominates a male and female athlete. One previous from Ole Miss is Calvin Thigpen, the All-American Track Athlete who was elected president of the student body and awarded a Rhodes Scholarship. I say "nominee" because Thigpen - again, Rhodes Scholar - was passed over for Kentucky's Jeff Zurcher because, altogether now, "We are Ole Miss."

Sour grapes aside, if this rock-solid rumor does not turn out to embarrass me, Bram deserves it because he is the man.

Rebs to host Gardner-Webb... Wow.

The oh-so-wackily elusive 12th opponent on our 2009 football schedule will almost certainly be Gardner-Webb. Who/What exactly is Gardner-Webb? They're a Division II school from Boiling Springs, North Carolina. Their athletic teams are the Runnin' Bulldogs which is a creative stupid twist on the all too popular canine mascot.

Run, Bulldog, Run!

This is, of course, a damned embarrassment. We shouldn't ever play two Division II (do NOT comment with the whole "omg it's FCS now u dumb@$$lmao" bit) teams in one season. Ever. Ever, ever, ever. The blame for this can be placed at the feet of two groups:

1. Our athletics administration (who's shocked by this one?). This should have been taken care of months, if not years ago.
2. TCU, UVA, Indiana, and other puss-ass schools who didn't want to schedule the Rebels despite having similar open-dates and scheduling issues. I'm especially tiffed with you, Horned Frogs, with your whole "BCS Buster" persona. If you want to "bust" the BCS you should schedule a team that's worth a damn. Some "people" may scoff at this notion, but those teams were simply viewing a matchup with the Rebs as a probable loss and didn't want that on their schedule.

Anyway, the game is slated for September 12 and should see Nathan Stanley completing a touchdown pass to a wide open Richie Contartesi at least twice.

This just in....

The new weekend rotation for the Rebel Baseball team will be:

Drew Pomeranz on Friday
Philip Irwin on Saturday
Aaron Barrett on Sunday


The Rebels will take on the Governors of Austin Peay at 6:30 on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Huertas, White Honored by League Coaches

Terrico White and David Huertas are members of this year's All-SEC Team (second-stringers, but who's counting?), and White was selected as the freshman of the year and one of three unanimous selections to the All-Freshman Team.

The release from the league indicates that each team, except the all-defensive team, had eight players on it - which takes a little of the honor out of being the sixth-man of the year, I suppose. Feel free to offer your dissenting opinions or contradictory observations, but it seems silly to me to expand the all-league teams to eight. This expansion means that five of the first teamers were unanimous selections.

Georgia has all the shame. With just one selection - Trey Thompkins is a member of the freshman team - has not as much reason for optimism as their congratulatory release will likely indicate.

In the SEC Coach of the Year race, Trent Johnson was able to edge out Billy Gilli ... Gilli ... Gilletmejustdiebeforeimissthetournament as SEC Coach of the Year. Upon winning, basically by default, Johnson said, "Someone please remind me why I left Palo Alto to coach in the Sun Belt Conference?"

For their outstanding valor in being so awarded, and because we at the Cup bestow the distinction of "Rebel of the Week" irregularly and have space on the rolls - Huertas and White are, even on Tuesday, proclaimed the preeminent Rebels of the seven-day period beginning Sunday and concluding Saturday.
Justified.

Who Exactly Is This Person?

Remember how that first year in Oxford was a particularly perilous time for you with regard to responsible decisions while consuming alcohol? Well, Andre Sterling, who the Cup has yet to confirm is actually a member of the Ole Miss Football team, feels your pain.

In his defense, Sterling claimed that he had to drive to pick up Ryan Mallet, who, somewhere, was way more trashed.

A DUI is an awful petty offense for consideration on the All-Perilloux Team. I will be opposing his admission into that august group. But, if this nameless, faceless Hargrave graduate is, in fact, on the team, then his greatest (which is to say, his last and his only) achievement for the Rebels will be the recognition we deserve in the gold standard of intercollegiate delinquent reporting - the Fulmer Cup. Huzzah!

Rebel Roundup: A Slow Monday Afternoon

Rebs Best the Dawgs and Vols, Few Notice - Ivory Tower, as soon as he steps down from his aptly named feat of engineering, will likely fill you in on how all of this went down. Suffice it to say, we could be a shoe-in for the overall SEC title.

Terrico White Named SEC FotW, Again - Despite the agonizing home loss to the LEGhumpin//BULLFRAUDS, Terrico put in another solid slew of performances to earn his third SEC Freshman of the Week award.

We Swept Vermont - Whoooooooo.... I guess. Thanks for the maple syrup, ice cream, and zany liberals, Vermont. You're really holding your own up there.

SEC Tournament Bracket Announced - My prediction: TOURNAMENT CHAMPS WHOOOOO HFT Y'ALL!!!

Jamar Hornsby Arrested

Well dammit.

I wanted to give the guy a chance. After hearing all about the Florida credit card scandal and his subsequent dismissal from the Gator squad, I thought that perhaps Hornsby was just a stupid kid who got caught in a bad situation. No, I didn't think him to be malicious or an overt troublemaker, just careless and lacking of foresight.

I don't so much think that anymore.

Jamar, what in the hell were you doing in Starkville? Were you looking to purchase cheese (you can do that online now, dawg)? Were you looking for some of that sticky kush? I just don't get it.

And anyway, regardless of the reason for your visit to the "jewel" of Oktibbeha County, what made you think starting trouble there would end in a fashion other than "very poorly?" Do you think the cops in fucking STARKVILLE will respond nicely to "hey I'm a highly rated newcomer to the Ole Miss Rebel football team who was/is expected to contribute to the team this fall who decided to visit your fair hamlet to beat up a guy and steal some shit?" I mean, wow...

"Innocent until proven guilty" and all of that stuff, yeah, sure whatever. But still. You're on the All-Perriloux team now, Jamar. Enjoy it.

Oh, Cup fans, click that link above for the Clarion Ledger story if you haven't already. Peruse the comments if you've got low enough blood pressure to survive it. State fans are just as obsessed with Ole Miss as ever.

Cupper Throws Down with Catamount

How much confidence do the Catamount players have in themselves?  Enough to where one of them met up with some friends of the Cup and TOTGA to get dranked last night.  I won't reveal his name/position, I thought about it, but the guy was actually pretty cool so I don't want to ruin his transfer hopes.

Other than being wowed by the women of Ole Miss, sucking at pitcher pong, drunkenly reiterating how he wants to transfer to Ole Miss, trying to freestyle rap and calling all the girls around us "broads," he was pretty tolerable. 

He had plenty to say about the baseball team too.

First, he wanted to be clear how bad he thought Aaron Barrett was for a Friday night SEC starter.  They were shocked how easy it was to hit off of him and how poor his stuff was.  Those were his quotes, not mine.  I still think AB can contribute and is simply trying to adjust from JUCO baseball.  

The Catamounts didn't think too highly of our fans.  Their back up catcher was told by their coach to go to the bullpen and his response was, "Coach, please don't make me go back out there." The students were hurling dip cans, dip spit, dip, beer cans and insults at whoever was in the Vermont pen.  According to Vinny Vermont, when they were in the bullpen they sat as close to the backside of the wall as they could to avoid the projectiles.  Good job, right field fans.

Despite the treatment of the student section, the Catamounts loved the ball park and Oxford. Although they had to stay "at the fucking stank ass Super 8 Motel." 

Couple of notes about the Vermont team:  The reason their short stop sucks so much is because they are using their back up third baseman at the position.  The starter broke his wrist the series before their trip to Oxford.

They also do not mind traveling down to get waxed by SEC teams.  They think it will do help the program as they prepare to go back to the MEAC "and play those fucking high school level teams."

They were very grateful to have not faced The Bittler too, because apparently when you go up against him "it's ovah."

I can also verify that not all people from Vermont enjoy chugging maple syrup.

Vermont Game 2 Recap

I didn't think I could see anything more comical on a baseball diamond than last night's attempted pick off at first base.  In case you weren't there or too inebriated to remember (like most of my friends) the Catamounts attempted to pick off the runner on first, but there was one problem.  No one was covering first base.  So, the ball went on down the right field line and we got two free bases out of the deal.  It was hilarious.

Then there was today's game.  Zach Miller gets caught in a pickle between third and home.  The Vermont catch has the ball and is chasing Miller back towards third.  Miller gets ready to break back towards home as the catcher sends the ball to the third baseman, unfortunately for Vermont the catcher air mailed the third baseman and the ball went out into left field.  He would have air mailed the backup if he had been there too.  That play will probably sum up the rest of Vermont's baseball season.  

I really do not have much more to say about this series/scrimmage.  The final was 15-3 and Vermont had another ungodly amount of errors.  

It was nice to see Matt Smith hit a home run.  It was then even nicer to see him hit another.

Hopefully the rain holds off and we can play the third game, and Vermont can go back to chugging maple syrup and taking road trips to Canada.  

Basketball 2009-2010

I know this basketball season isn't over; We could still make the NCAA tournament if we... blah blah blah. Anyway, since this season is over...

I know that everyone is excited about next season, and I wanted to talk about the hopes that I place in our players. I'm going to break down all 13 scholarship players (sorry scrubs).

PG:
Chris Warren - We all know everything about Warren. If he can return from his knee injury at 100% (a big if), there is no doubt in my mind that he will steal primary PG duties back from Terrico. Terrico's really good, but Chris is a more complete player (as far as skill set) to man the point. Some of you may have forgotten that Chris was tearing it up at the beginning of the season and well on his way to being named first team All-SEC at point guard. He's a phenomenal player who can be counted on in the clutch.

Will Bogan - We saw him have a good game against Arkansas, but I'm still not convinced that wasn't just an anomaly. Kennedy says that he saw things in that game that told him Will was adjusting to SEC play and starting to actually come into his own. That is to say, Kennedy didn't think it was too big of a fluke. Next year, Bogan's minutes will be very limited, but it will be good to have someone capable of coming off the bench and holding onto a lead.

SG:
David Huertas - Some of you may have simply glanced over my recent post about Dahveed and think I don't want him on the team. That couldn't be further from the truth. As I stated in the article, if we don't have to rely so heavily on him to create, David is a great player. It's no coincidence that he played so exceptionally when Chris Warren was still healthy. With Warren there, David had someone else to draw pressure who was capable of passing off shots to Huertas who hit a lot of open threes before Warren went down. The Chris Warren/David Huertas chemistry was evident from the beginning of the season, and hopefully it will continue to next season. Huertas is our second or third best perimeter defender, and it's great to have a player who is so good offensively and defensively.

Terrico White - Terrico White can walk on water. Some people have said that White has only scratched the surface of his ability. I'm not sure that's the case, since his game is pretty great all around. Still, I would love to see him improve his free throw percentage. For a player who can drain threes with a hand in his face, he sure can't make uncontested, stand-still shots.

Trevor Gaskins - Rumors surfaced during the off-season that Gaskins had developed his shot to the point that Kennedy was considering starting him over Huertas. I don't know if that was the case. I was never too enthusiastic about Gaskins as a freshman due to his inability to handle the ball efficiently, but Gaskins is a pure shooter with great form. I'll describe him as a "barely-under-poverty-level man's David Huertas." While I haven't seen him play in a year, I remember suspect defense from Gaskins which he'll have to improve if he wants to see any significant minutes with the competition he faces

SF:
Eniel Polynice - I think that a lot of our fans have forgotten just how good Polynice was on defense and in shot creation. Granted, much like Terrico, Polynice suffered from the charity stripe, but his on ball defense is unmatched on our team. Polynice shut down a lot of great players as a sophomore, and it's exciting to know that we'll have him for two more years.

Zach Graham - Graham is a player about whom I was very excited last season. He didn't get the minutes that he deserved, and it resulted in a lack of significant progression over the course of the season. This year, he is playing with a partially torn ligament in his knee and shutting down opposing teams' best players. Graham has become what Polynice was last year. Oh, and he can shoot free throws.

PF:
Murphy Holloway - Alright. I know that Murphy is only 6'5" or so, but he plays like he's a lot bigger than that. Holloway leads the SEC in offensive rebounds. I could have put him at the 3, but I think that taking him away from the basket limits his ability to best contribute to the team. Murphy Holloway plays like you wish everyone would play. Reckless abandon, unyielding effort, and spectacular ability with the ball in his hands.

Terrance Henry - Henry has shown the ability to contribute to the team, but he's going to have to bulk up to be a presence down low. It's great to have a player who's 6'9" and can be the main cog in the press, but Henry is obviously disadvantaged by his size. He is unable to fight for rebounds. It's exciting to have a player with his ball skill down low, and I think that his potential thusfar has been relatively untapped due to sheer lack of bulk. If he can gain ten or fifteen pounds in the offseason, he can really contribute a lot to the team next year.

Reggie Buckner - Buckner plays the 3 for his high school and in AAU, but I think it's safe to say that his future is at the 4 spot. At 6'9", he would have to prove himself as a phenomenal ball-handler in order to be utilized at the 3. Buckner is probably the most highly touted basketball recruit in our program's history. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but he's four players away from a five star rating on rivals. Buckner is a force down low and holds the Memphis record for career blocked shots. The short video on ITG (I assume it's still there after they went premium) showcases his ability to block shots, dunk, rebound and handle the ball. I think he's going to be exceptional at Ole Miss.

C:
Malcolm White - Malcolm has used the immense amount of minutes he has seen this season to evolve into the player that many had hoped for. In case you missed it, Malcolm had 18 rebounds against Auburn. Obviously, Malcolm still has a lot to work on in terms of consistency, but since SEC play started, he has been a solid player.

DeAundre Cranston - Cranston is probably out of position at the 5 spot, but he's the second best player we have at the position. Like Murphy, Cranston goes hard after every loose ball. I've been really surprised with how helpful he is to the team. At the beginning of the season, he seemed like a slow and bumbling oaf on the court, but he has really stepped up his game and is a very important part of the team now.

Kevin Cantinol - I think that if we can sign another big man (Demarcus Cousins), Cantinol is the odd man out. I know. A crazy prediction seeing as Cantinol doesn't even see minutes now that we have eight healthy players (not including white guys not named Bogan) on roster. I haven't even really had an opportunity to evaluate Cantinol, but there's no chance that he'll graduate from Ole Miss in my opinion. He's just too mediocre to take a scholarship for five years.

Prediction:

I know that it's early to make a prediction for what will happen over a year from now, but there's just so much hope in next season. If we don't make the NCAA tournament, it will be because half of our guards had their knees chopped off again. I don't think we have any realy chance at a championship or final four appearance, but I also don't think we'll be one and done in the big dance. I'm saying we'll go to the Sweet 16. Coupled with my football prediction (which doesn't come until the summer), it's going to be a prosperous year for "money" sports.

Vermont Game 1 Recap

I'll go ahead and apologize in advance for yet another TOTGA post.  So, Aaron Barrett is not that good.  It started out poorly for AB and he never could his act together as the Catamounts touched him for four runs on seven hits in only three innnings.  He can't expect to be successful when he can only throw fastballs over the plate.  He either needs to fix his offspeed problem, but a better solution is Bianco removing  him as the Friday starter.  

-Vermont or not, the bullpen did a great job the rest of the game.  They held the Catamounts scoreless and only allowed four or five more hits.  Speaking of the bullpen...Rory Mckean has to change his warm up song.  

-I'm officially on the Bittle for Friday bandwagon.  Previously, I was in favor of keeping him in the pen but we desperately need another weekend starter.  Pomeranz and Irwin look to be fine as the other two, but AB and Corrigan are not ready yet.  Bittle must have some more damage to his arm than originally thought, or Bianco is just being very stubborn.  

-Kevin Mort is good?  If he can get some momentum from his performance last night we may need to scrap that tag.  Not only did he have a great night at the plate, but he looked really good at short.  I also thought Zach Miller had a good game at third.

-Jordan Henry got it done at the plate tonight.  His average rose from .211 to around .280 after his game last night.  While the average may not be like in past years, he is still getting on base and making things happen.

-Ole Miss closed the game with 17 unanswered runs.

-Vermont's defense is pathetic.  I couldn't tell if I was watching Oxford Middle or collegiate baseball at times.  They had four errors when I stopped paying attention to the scoreboard.   The squeeze bunt attempt was comical as well. 

-I couldn't figure out their strategy of playing with their outfielders so shallow.  The Rebels had a couple of doubles that should have been outs, but because of the Catamounts defensive alignments some of our bench players slugging percentage rose a few points.  They may have been trying to keep that runner from second from scoring on a single, but when you are down twelve runs you should probably worry about preventing another extra base hit.

State Preview

Mississippi State is fresh off a senior night victory against Florida on Wednesday that has kept the NCAA Tournament hopes alive.  While the Rebels only beat Arkansas, they did so in impressive fashion playing with seven players.  The Rebels have a chance to play spoiler for State's NCAA Tournament hopes and improve their own post-season stock at the same time.  

With a victory tomorrow, the Rebels will all but seal a spot in the NIT (huzzah!).  A win also clinches a .500 finish in SEC play, a stat that has to look good to the NIT selection committee (It pains me to fein interest in this tournament).  I just pray we do not demean ourselves and accept an invite to the College Basketball Invitational.  Don't worry if you have never heard of that tournament, I didn't even want to acknowledge its existence.  Its championship game last year consisted of the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes and the mighty Bradley Braves.  

Keys to the game:

-David Huertas needs to perform.  We made it through Arkansas without him, but that was Arkansas.  He is telling people he is set to play Saturday and his MRI on Monday came back negative so there shouldn't be any surprises.  Who knows what Huertas is going to show up?

-Terrico White.  Nuff' said.

-Keep Varnado quiet.  Varnado is nearly averaging a double-double on the season and is still the prolific shot blocker that he was a year ago.  Malcolm and company need to attack JV early and often to limit his impact.

-Perimeter defense.  MSU loves the three ball and it seems that teams love hitting their threes against Ole Miss.  

Prediction:

I have the Rebels pulling this one out tomorrow.  I think it will be a close game, but the Rebels hit some FTs down the end to win 74-69.

RSC Quiz

What's more atrocious than Aaron Barrett's curve ball, Vermont's defense and the idea of Sean Stuyverson returning to man third base?  

The answer is in the comment section.  Let us know if you got it right.

Kalle Norberg Powers Rebs To Victory

Lyon Chadwick, son of coach Billy, primarily uses two words to describe points that go the Rebels' way - "good" and "tough." A winner is "too tough" or "so good." When netters accomplish a string of "good" or "tough" things, Lyon will recognize their consistency by exclaiming his faith that they can continue to do the same "all day." And when our players are not playing particularly "good" or "tough," Lyon implores them to "go to work" or, alternatively, to "make them (the opposing players) work."

Kalle Norberg was so good that it was almost too tough to watch the way he went to work on some jerk from Georgia.

And his did it all day.

Norberg won 6-4, 6-4 to clinch for the Rebels after they had already taken the doubles point and won at #4 with Bram ten Berge and at #6 with Marcel Thiemann. He was all over the court, exhibiting his unique quickness that allows him to always be in the right position.

At doubles, Norberg and Otto Sauer won 8-6 and Devin Britton and Tucker Vorster won 8-4; Jonas Berg and ten Berge went down 6-8.

The importance of beating Georgia to open up the SEC Season is difficult to overstate. The intensity of Norberg and Berg was palpable. They clearly remembered the Elite Eight match with the 'Dogs in 2008. Their passion fueled a fairly raucous (all things are relative) crowd that frustrated Georgia players all afternoon. The crowd may or may not have influenced ten Berge's workmanlike style or Norberg's furious court-coverage, but it clearly assisted Thiemann in his 6-2, 6-2 win.

If the Rebels can take down Tennessee - I'm no eight ball, but I like our chances - and emerge from this monstrous weekend unscathed, they will be the clear early frontrunner for another SEC Championship.

More Gifts for the Obamas

After seeing the piece of luggage gifted to then-Senator Obama by our beloved university and how much our President appreciates it (see: just enough to actually use it) I decided that we should all pitch in and snag a few of the following for the Obama family:

For Michelle, a lovely set of bed linens and drapes. Trust me, Madame First Lady, they look much better with the lights off. ;) ;) :P
For Sasha and Malia, a pair of terrific backpacks! Now you can carry all of your schoolbooks in style! Whoah! Slow down there girls, don't fight over 'em! There are plenty of backpacks to go around!
And for Barack we'd like to gift a t-shirt to commemorate the weekend of the Presidential Debate at Ole Miss!

Send any and all thank you letters stimulus checks to Andy Kennedy's defense team.



P.S. - Damn, I hate our marketing department.

Bram ten Berge Is So Tough Right Now

Senior Rebel Netter Bram ten Berge is no slouch, academically. A classics major and member of Phi Beta Kappa, he is, basically, the "model" - it's funny because he looks like Nordic scientiests genetically engineered him based on a picture they saw in an Abercrombie & Fitch catalogue - of a scholar-athlete.

He put his smarts to use yesterday in the latest contribution to REBELOG, a look inside the life of Ole Miss student athletes that, except for when penned by ten Berge or Jason Cook, is pretty much the definition of daytime firework. What is Bramey blogging about? The Rebels big weekend hosting Georgia and Tennessee, of course.

The best part, though, is how ten Berge attempts to introduce soon-to-be-fans to, perhaps, the best thing about the men's tennis team - its utilization of cheesy nicknames:

Fellow senior All-American Jonas “the Ice” Berg (or Jompa for the insiders) and I “10-B”, started the year as the No. 1 ranked doubles tandem in the nation.
...
In addition to [Devin] Britton, the Rebs can count on 52nd-ranked junior Kalle Norberg or “Fresh” and freshman Otto “Otto-matic” Sauer, former top-ranked junior players in Sweden. The rock-solid German twins Chris “Hansi” Thiemann and Marcel “Fritzy” Thiemann, and last, but not least, Tucker “the Dragon” Vorster, round out the talented squad.

Get in on the inside jokes this afternoon. Doubles matches kick off at 2:00 at the Palmer-Salloum Tennis Center. I am guessing we will see Berg/ten Berge at #1 doubles, Britton/Voster at #2, and Norberg/Sauer at #3. As far as singles go, I expect to see Jonas Berg, Devin Britton, Bram ten Berge, Kalle Norberg, Marcel Thiemann, and Otto Sauer in that order.

Introducing the All-Perrilloux Team!

To pass time over the Summer, The Cup will be documenting the inevitable slip-ups and mishaps of our conference's football stars. This shouldn't be too tough because, as we all know, the SEC is rife with interesting, daring souls. After pondering as to how one should document the, umm, accomplishments of our student-athletes, I decided that an exciting SEC offseason should be able to fill a starting lineup consisting entirely of criminals.

Thus, the All-Perriloux Team was born. In a way, this will be like EDSBS' Fulmer Cup except for being conference specific and devoid of any "competition."

Why the "All-Perriloux" team?

Did you seriously just ask that? Eesh, well, alright... As a highly-recruited offensive starter for one of the conference's strongest programs, Ryan Perrilloux had everything one could look for in a Southeastern Conference ruffian. When considering his problems with weed, counterfeiting money, weed, screaming at people in strip clubs, weed, fighting people to defend the honor of his pregnant girlfriend, weed, skipping team meetings, weed, and parking violations, it becomes apparent that no other person could lend their name to such a prestigious organization.

To be a part of this team, a player must meet two simple criteria:

• Be on an SEC team
• Get caught doing something illegal (no prosecution necessary!) ED: during the 2009 offseason

Innocent until proven guilty? Who came up with that bullshit!? Anyway, below the pretty poor totally badass MSPaint drawing you'll see the foundation upon which this all-netherworldly team will be built. Presenting:


OFFENSE
QB - Arkansas' Ryan Mallett for gettin' dranked in public
HB -
WR -
WR -
WR -
OL - Florida's Carl Johnson for stalking and raping
OL -
OL -
OL -
OL -
TE -

DEFENSE
DT -
DT -
DE -
DE -
LB -
LB -
LB -
CB - Mississippi State's Maurice Langston for slangin' herb
CB -
S -
S -

SPECIAL TEAMS
K -
P -


If you've got any submissions to the team, send them in.

Weekend preview: Ole Miss vs. Vermont

I don't know much about Vermont. They make maple syrup, they usually have one of those "BraCKetBUSter!!!" teams in basketball. I've heard there's a great place to get ballin' lasagna near the university (Bove's...do it).

Vermont is ending their baseball program at the end of this season. It's polar bear ass cold there, so it makes sense. Apparently, the athletic department was going to be operating at a $1.1 million deficit, so they had to cut the programs. Just throwing it out there, do they have a football team that's open for Sept. 12? We'll help you out with that little deficit.

The Catamounts are 0-3 this year after getting slammed by Vandy last weekend(7-2, 14-3, 14-1). Vermont is forced to do what many teams above the Mason-Dixon do: come to where it's moderately warm and play against superior teams. We need the sweep, and we should get it unless temperatures drop and snow becomes imminent. Surely that only happens once a year.

Pitching match-ups:
FRIDAY
Aaron Barrett- Jr. RHP
Joe Serafin- Sr. LHP

Serafin pitched 6.1 innings against Vandy allowing four runs, three earned and ten hits. He induced eight ground outs and seven fly outs. In my opinion, this means Vandy was knocking the ball around pretty good, but just didn't get it to the gaps for extra base hits. Barrett has a great chance to prove some consistency to the bright spots he's shown so far.

SATURDAY
Drew Pomeranz- Soph. LHP
Justin Albert- Sr. RHP

Pomeranz only has action against Arkansas State, so it's hard to say if he has progressed from last season. He got a couple innings in, and even a mediocre effort should keep us in the game. Albert let up six runs, five earned in five innings against Vandy. It looks like he had some control issues with four walks, one wild pitch and one hit batsman. "Throw it in the dirt" chant may not be needed.

SUNDAY
Phillip Irwin- Jr. RHP
Keith Rakus- Sr. RHP

Irwin hasn't walked a batter all season and has nine innings of solid work giving up only two earned runs. If Barrett continues to struggle, Bianco might have to move Pomeranz or Irwin to the big timerz Friday role. On the flip side, Keith Rakus has only 4 outs to his credit this season with an ERA over 20. Wow,

Predictions
Friday: Ole Miss 8 Vermont 4
Saturday: Ole Miss 11 Vermont 5
Sunday: Ole Miss 13 Vermont 3

Does Shep Smith work for TIME now?

Barack Obama's bag luggage was carried off of Air Force One today.

I bet the recruits are going to come to Ole Miss now!!1LOL!!! You can't BUY that type of publicity!!!

...I hate our fans...

The Local Voice #75

Check out the PDF by clicking the image. Our nitwitted bit is in text below. If you grab a paper copy in Oxford or download the PDF you'll see that Michael Ikea Chandler (to our surprise) completed our column with an illustration.

Repent, Rebels! Repent!

Being an Ole Miss fan will make you a religious person.

Sure, if you’re a member of the Rebel congregation you are likely a product of the nation’s most religious region and are likely to frequently darken the door of your local house of worship, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m not talking about that religion with all of the stories about Israel, guilt, and fancy Renaissance paintings. I’m talking about whatever religion the "sports gods" are the deities of.

"Sports gods?"

Yes, sports gods. The group of immortal, amorphous beings who strive to bring justice, balance, and heart-twisting irony to the fields of athletic combat.

I don’t know what to call it, but this religion has it all: legends/myths/tales, rituals, reverence, confusion, and congregational behavior. If you, the sports fan, do not find what we all see every single Saturday from September to January to be a spiritual experience of sorts, then you’re just not paying attention.

Oh yes, there is something magically ethereal about all of this, and the roller coaster of emotions that we Rebels are experiencing right now offers more evidence to support this than any cleverly written apologetic (that way too many people have as one of their “favorites” on Facebook) could ever hope for.

Consider the following: It is certainly an incredibly exciting time to be an Ole Miss football fan. We have All-American caliber talent on the field. We have a well organized, dynamic, and accomplished coaching staff. ESPN loves us. And, most importantly, we are winning football games...You know, against other teams!

Of course, with this joy must come the soul-crushing agony of Ole Miss Basketball and Baseball. Once favored to compete for the top divisional spot in each, both of these teams simply haven’t shown that they’re as good as many would have hoped. With basketball, we lost three of our team’s most significant players to injury, suffered through the embarrassment and speculation caused by our head coach’s behavior, and then did silly things like beat Kentucky and Tennessee before losing to Alabama and Auburn. Our football success was too much for the sports gods, and our basketball team was made to suffer.

In seeing this, we naturally turned our attention to the young baseball season. Having grown accustomed to seeing competitive, relevant baseball teams take Swayze Field during the spring and early summer, we were all hoping for great things. Ticket sales skyrocketed, our preseason press was as good as it has been, and a great majority of Oxford/University Stadium’s renovations had been completed. Baseball season was on and we were anxious to see our Rebels make us proud once more.

Then they lost to Mercer and South Alabama. At least the sports gods had the decency to cash in a few favors upstairs and have somebody drop snow all over our TCU series to spare us the embarrassment.

Let’s be frank, this could become the most disappointing season we’ve seen on the diamond in several years. As Rebels, this is the price we must pay for football success. Baseball and basketball have become the sacrificial lambs upon the altar of Cotton Bowl victories.

I’m sorry, Rebel faithful. This is just karma or something. We’re just not deserving of simultaneously successful sports programs. We can’t be a part of the Florida/Texas/LSU/USC group of schools who field a good team in EVERY sport just yet. We’ve still got some debts to pay, it seems. Maybe our history has something to do with it. Or maybe our uninformed and lackluster fans have something to do with it. Or maybe it’s the ability of our women to cause other fan bases to commit the horrible sins of coveting and entertaining impure thoughts that has something to do with it.

Regardless of whatever it may be, we’re damned guilty and the sports gods are enacting their swift, painful wrath.

Will Bogan Hatches from Starchy Cocoon

Get it? He's from Idaho.

Will Bogan, the Gem State* native and subject of much ridicule, grew a sack last night and played some damn ball. Bogan scored 16 points and tallied 7 assists in the overtime road victory against the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Yes, I know, the Razorbacks aren't necessarily "good" at basketball and their "defense" doesn't so much stop the other team from scoring but Bogan wasn't his usual, sheepish self. He needed a game like this to get adjusted to NCAA-level speed and find his comfort zone on the court.

This could either be a flash-in-the-pan type of moment or an indicator of things to come but let's all hope it's the latter. Bogan may end up being pretty solid afterall. Of course, he's no Terrico White but, shit, who is? That kid is too damn good. How Calipari and Pearl let a Memphis product like that elude their grasp confounds me.

Next season, if Bogan, Warren, and T. White can attack the lane, get the ball to the open shots, and/or excel as outside shooters, our backcourt will be one of the conference's best.

Here's to you, Will Bogan. Welcome to big boy basketball.

*You thought it was "The Potato State," didn't you? Bigot.

What Eats Coaches and Spits Them Out More Viciously Than the ACC?

With Kentucky's loss to Georgia, coming on the heels of increasing anxiety in the Bluegrass State about Billy Gillispie, I'd like to take a moment to discuss whether or not we in the SEC are too tough on our basketball coaches; treating them with the level of scrutiny more suitable for offensive coordinators and athletic directors.

Considering its status relative to the Big East, ACC, Big 12, Big 10, and Pac-10, the Southeastern Conference treats its basketball coaches as if they were executing some athletic endeavor that fans actually cared about.

For all you sergeant majors in A.K.'s Army, refrain from getting hot and bothered - your face paint will run. I do not mean to relegate anyone to second-class fan status. It is, however, a widely-accepted fact that the conference's claim to football superiority (however credible or dubious) is not translatable to its basketball arenas. The SEC will never be anything but a second-fiddle in basketball and, some years, is not even in the band.

This year, we don't even seem to be at the concert.

Of course, if memory serves me correctly - and, by "memory," I mean "Wikipedia, which does - the supposed 2006 down year for the conference turned out okay. Success is not foreign to SEC basketball programs, but neither is it expected at practically every school, as it is in our football programs. Only two SEC basketball programs expect to win a national championship every now and then (Florida being a recent addition to the club). No fewer than seven football programs expect - I mean not to say ought to expect - a national championship (I'm looking at you, Razorbacks).

Despite these lowered expectations, our basketball programs still have a way of turning our head coaches into lunch meat. We certainly hope you enjoyed the ride Dennis Felton and Mark Gottfried. That's a mighty fine national championship you have there, Nolan Richardson, but we think we'll go with Stan Heath John Pelphrey. Thanks for taking that Minnesota job, Tubby; saved Kentucky a consult with the EEOC.

Billy Donovan, at the ripe old age of 43, is the dean of SEC basketball coaches, followed closely by "Slick" Rick Stansbury, who is celebrating his practically geriatric eleventh season in Starkville. Vanderbilt is the only other conference school that hired their current coach in the 1990's. Since Donovan's hiring in Gainesville, eight SEC schools have parted ways with at least two head coaches.

Even the rough and tumble ACC has at least a few head coaches with notable tenures (Gary Williams' 19 seasons at Maryland, Al Skinner's 12 at Boston College, and then there's Coach K). No one doubts that Kentucky keeps their pitchfork handy, but John Brady got fired two years after going to the Final Four. Mark Gottfried got fired because Ronald Steele couldn't keep his legs healthy.

The exception to the rule is Auburn and head coach Jeff Lebo, who couldn't have been absolutely certain of his future job prospects in January, but has held on until this, his sixth season and also his best. Even still, until 1994 only one member of the SEC had won a national title, and the second member of that club - Arkansas - had its most successful seasons while still a young member of the group. And can you guess how many Sweet Sixteens Florida had been to before Billy Donovan. I'll give you a hint - it's less than three and rhymes with "few."

My thesis, in conclusion, is this - our fans expect something that has never been, and the coaches feel the effects thereof. People can complain about the high expectations in football, and I just don't care what they think. However, when it comes to basketball, we - and I mean SEC fans, not just Ole Miss fans - ought to be more forgiving.

OT Helps Rebs Get That Dub

How bad is Arkansas?  Bad enough to be unable to beat an Ole Miss team coming off two disappointing losses with only seven scholarship players and three guards in the rotation.  It is tough to say just how good of a job AK did here.  Yeah, I know it was Arkansas.  I know they are 2-13 in the SEC now.  I know I said they were awful in my last post.  But we just beat them in Arkansas, with seven players, and played 45 minutes of basketball.  

The Rebels won because of their fully loaded anemic back court.  Terrico White was phenomenal. Surprise, Surprise.  He went 9-16 from the floor, 6-9 from the charity stripe and 5-8 from three point land.  Ridiculous.  He is with out a doubt SEC freshman of the year and may get some consideration for national freshman of the year.  

Zach Graham did not let the fact that he has one knee hinder him either.  A good friend of mine once called him a "pussy."  While I didn't agree with him at the time, I didn't really refute the point.  However, after watching Showcase continue to be consistent with a bum knee I don't see how you can say that (this was before we knew the knee was as bad as it is).  Graham put up 20 points tonight and hit a big three in overtime which basically ended the game.  Hopefully his offseason knee surgery will not cause him to miss some time next season.

The final piece to the Rebel victory tonight was...  Will Bogan?  Will "Stand up for the champions" Bogan looked like an SEC point guard tonight.  16 points, 7 assists and a block for good measure on the night.  I did not see that coming and neither did you.

This team drives me insane with its inconsistencies and letdowns, but the heart it showed tonight says quite a bit.  It looks like the NIT is a real possibility, if not a certainty now, and I expect them to make a decent run in the SEC Tournament.  Who knows, maybe even host another NIT game during Spring Break that no one is going to attend.  

By the way, Pelphrey may want to hire an assistant who knows a thing or two about defense.  98 points?

In Case You Missed It...

In SEC Basketball brought to you by Rack 'Em Willie's Hallucinogens, the Georgia Bulldog basketball team picked up their Rod Barnes-like third conference win against Kentucky in Lexington. Billy Gillispie has saved us all a lot of trouble and tendered his resignation, effective March 31, 2010.

Of course, no such embarrassment befell the Rebels in sour Fayetteville, where John Pelphrey's hogs lost ... again. Those wins against Texas and Oklahoma feel like they happened in the middle ages. Andy Kennedy's Rebels got their sixteenth win, mathematically ensuring that the 2009 Rehab Rebs will suffer bum knees, but no losing season under Coach Kennedy.

Arkansas, meanwhile, sits at 14-14, its season likely over after the SEC Tournament.

With a victory over Florida in Starkville, State might have given itself an outside chance to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament with a deep run in the SEC Tournament, putting it slightly ahead of a group including Ole Miss, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and the conference bottom-feeders that need to win the conference tournament to earn an NCAA bid.

The Case for a Great Rivalry

College athletics is all about rivalries, and on a campus that prides itself on tradition, rivalries are doubly important.

The movement to give our age-old game with LSU a nickname was not without controversy. Mostly because the nickname has all the collegiate football aggressive personality of David Cutcliffe's mother-in-law's toy poodle. Also, the first trophy design looked like a wiener.

Our rivalry with State works well because we have alternating big brother complexes. The Maroons have a clear advantage on the hardcourt, the Rebels on the gridiron, and real historical evenness exists on the baseball diamond. The competitive relationship with LSU is more difficult because they, generally, best us athletically, forcing the discussion on our side to devolve into the poor comparative quality of their campus, their women, and their overall behavior (ignoring, usually, as a low-blow the fact that General William T. Sherman served as its president).

Our late strife with our other neighbor to the West has been well documented.

A rivalry, though, that deserves some attention is our occasional engagement of honor with the athletic teams of the University of Georgia. True or not, Athens is often described by residents of both states as a "bigger Oxford." Large numbers of Georgians attend Ole Miss (generally, as a result of our lower admission standards). We have long been among each other's most desirable road trips. And, the impetus of my post, the contest between the Rebels and the Eastern Division Bulldogs is the marquee rivalry in at least one SEC sport.

My reference, of course, is to men's tennis.

Ole Miss and Georgia will renew their cross-net rivalry on Friday at 2:00. The last time these two teams faced each other it was in the Elite 8 at the National Championships in Tulsa. It was, for Ole Miss, their 13th trip to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen or higher and came in the same season as an SEC Tournament Championship and their seventh straight division title. If these sound like the marks of a national power in the sport, do not be alarmed. At least on the tennis court, "We are Ole Miss" has a slightly different ring to it.

These boasts do not even fare favorably with Georgia, though. The men's team from Athens boasts 6 national championships, including the last two. The Bulldogs have won 32 league titles (to the Rebels' suddenly meager-sounding 11). And that match in the Elite Eight finished 4-1 (a disappointing, if not altogether representative, score). The intensity and competitiveness in that match, though, was perfectly representative of these two programs' place as the premier teams of the conference. And words cannot fully express the gayness of this team's perfumed ambiguous glory.

But if rivalries can be built in a decade, this one has. The Bulldogs and Rebels met each other four times in the SEC Tournament final between 1997 and 2007. The road to the SEC championship has run from Athens to Oxford since Billy Chadwick put Ole Miss tennis on the map. And, if you want to ask whether Rebel tennis will just be its normal really good or will have a shot at the national championship, you need to ask whether the Rebels beat Georgia.

All this is to say that in the realm of Ole Miss athletics, there are few more intriguing, meaningful match-ups than the annual meet between Ole Miss and Georgia. It is a diamond in the crown of history between these two schools. And, unless Mike gets his act together, it will be your only opportunity this year to see competition of any significance in this - one of the few (if not the only) - gentleman's rivalry of the Southeastern Conference.

Final: Ole Miss 11 Arky State 5

Ole Miss scored a very efficient 11 runs on only nine hits on their way to beating Arkansas State Tuesday night.

Drew Pomeranz and Phillip Irwin combined for 6 innings only giving up 2 runs in the victory.

Jeremy Travis hit a three run home run that got the Rebels ahead 6-2, and the Indians didn't mount a rally until late in the game against Nathan Baker.

Jordan Henry didn't start tonight as Taylor Hashman took over in LF. Henry struggled early last year, but after being benched in the middle of the season, he got hot through the SEC tournament. Before Tuesday, Henry was batting an anemic .211 but was sporting a .464 on base percentage. Hashman was batting .333 with a .538 OBP. I don't know if we'll have some sort of platoon OF now, but Bianco could be trying out players in other positions as Travis is a big bat with a mediocre arm.

We should've won by this margin and we did, must like last week's wins against Central Arkansas with 10-2 and 11-3 decisions. The Rebels have now scored 10 or more runs in five of their seven games. Unfortunately, they're 3-2 when scoring 10 or more runs, which means obviously that our pitching can't stop the bleeding or Mike Bianco is too stubborn to change a pitching plan mid-game.

Next up, we've got the Vermont Catamounts for a weekend series then Austin Peay in a two game mid-week series.

In my opinion, we need to win all of these games to get back on track and meet the expectations of the fan base. Ripping off five wins here in preparation for conference play would put our team at 9-3 with 12 non-conference games and 30 conference games to play. There doesn't seem to be any plan to make up the two games canceled with TCU, so we've got 54 games for the year now.

We'll have a preview of the Vermont series on Friday once we know who the weekend starters will be, but seriously, Mike Bianco probably won't make any changes. This team needs to get on a roll and build up some confidence after a rocky start.

OOOOOO PIG SOOIE!

If I have learned anything from this basketball season it has been to stand by your predictions. Before SEC play got under way I down played Arkansas' victories over OU and Texas, claimed Arkansas was simply playing above their heads and are in rebuilding mode.  I let the Arkansas readers of the blog question my prediction and ended up giving the Hogs credit.  Poor choice.

Arkansas is currently 2-12 in the SEC and battling Georgia for the final spot in the SEC Tournament.  Drama.  They also competed in one of the worst games I have seen this year Sunday against the Bulldogs.  I only made it through the first half and can honestly say I didn't see a single possession where defense was present.  After watching the game, I can see why Terrico White said the team was laughing after watching film of Georgia.  The same will probably be said after watching film of Arkansas during SEC play this season and of Ole Miss if Arkansas watches film of the Alabama game.

Ole Miss is going to have to find a way to protect the paint and force Washington to beat them with a mid range jumper.  I think Holloway and Washington is going to be a fun match up to follow in this game.

Courtney Fortson is the other player to watch for the Hogs.  He's a high energy player and can go on streaks of pointing up points.  Another player to pay attention to is Stefan Welsh. Michael Sanchez also gets my vote for most awkward player in the SEC.  

Notable Alumni:

-Mike Conley, SR - An Olympic gold medalist, father of my boy Mike Conley Jr, and was relevant a couple of years ago because he bought a car for McFadden.

-John Daly - You knew he would have to be on here.  Whether it is tendency pump in $100 bills at the Grand Casino, golf shirtless, be a drunken fool or dip on the course John Daly is one of everyones favorite Arkansas natives.  Be proud, Arkansas.

-Barry Hannah - The novelist who came to his senses and now resides in our fair town.

-Jerry Jones - One of the worst things to happen to the NFL.

-Pat Summerall - A legend in college football announcing who now currently makes the Cotton Bowl close to unwatchable.

-Cliff Lee - I'll give Arkansas some credit here as somewhat of an Indians fans (have to have a favorite AL team).  Lee is a beast and really the only reason to ever watch an Indians game anymore.

Sorry this was nothing but me rambling and not saying anything of interest.  That's what I do best, dawg.

Houston Nutt for President

Nutt is doing a little bit of recruiting overseas this summer.

It feels so good to have a head coach who knows what a head coach is supposed to do. Nutt kisses babies, visits troops, stops to take pictures with children, etc. You can't help but love this guy. He's a perfect fit at Ole Miss. A politician as much as he is a football coach.

SI Ranks Houston Nutt as the Conference's 4th Best Coach

No, I'm not kidding. Click here. Yessir, Rebel fans, Tom Deinhart of Sports Illustrated (via Rivals.com) thinks Houston Nutt is somewhere between Steve Spurrier and Mark Richt in terms of coaching. So this means that Houston Nutt is a better coach than Les Miles and Bobby "our coach who art in Heaven" Petrino... wow.

Tom, you made a foolish mistake with this one. No, I'm not going to disagree with your rankings or anything. I like the good press.

The foolish mistake was putting your email address at the bottom of your piece. At the time of me discovering it, your rankings were approximately one hour old. By my estimations, you should have somewhere between 6 and 7 thousand emails by now; many from the same Fayetteville public library IP address. May God/Allah/Yaweh have mercy on your soul.

Rebel Roundup: Poor Citizenship, Writing, and Judgment

"Dat Bitch" who assaulted "dat" other "bitch" using "a boxcutter, cuz" is sentenced - Marisha Porter, who we've enjoyed lampooning, was given a 10 year sentence for her on campus assault. Terrence "T-Wat" Watson, when reached for comment, said "who da fuck that is?"

The DM brings us a look at Houston Nutt - Read it if you can. I've rarely seen few things as unorganized and uninformative outside of this blog but, if you've got 2 or 3 minutes to kill it's worth it... maybe.

Ed Orgeron is still rockin' em like a hurricane - Apparently he's still using his WWE tactics to wow recruits. You can take the Cajun out of the bayou, but you can't take the bayou out of the Cajun. Dr. Saturday delivers the news while EDSBS's LSUFreek gives the gift of animated-gif-induced-laughter.

It's not all bad news today - Some of our Rebel athletes took time out of their day to be good role models. Jevan Snead, Marcus Tillman, Gerald Harris, and others visited schools throughout Lafayette county to, I dunno, teach children the importance of reading or something. Olemisssports.com has a photo gallery up which comes complete with photos of Jevan Snead standing in front of a board reading "Jevon Sneed (quarterback)" and Marcus Tillman sitting in a chair which is far too small for his gigantic body.

Baseball Moved to Oxford

Tuesday's game against the Arkansas State Whoosey-Whatsits has been moved to Oxford and scheduled for a 6 p.m. start. The game was relocated because Jonesboro is a terrible town where the best place to pick up chicks is Cici's Pizza the combined number of the Ole Miss coaching staff outnumbered expected attendance at Whoosey-Whatsit Stadium, even when divided by three Houston Nutt hates Arkansas Ryan Mallett ran his car into the bullpen at Whoosey-Whatsit Stadium on Saturday night inclement weather was predicted.

That means tomorrow will be a blistery, but unusually full, midweek day of Rebel sports in Oxford. Begin your day with a drink. Then, take in the Rebel Netters first outdoor match against Memphis at 2 p.m. The Tigers have all the flair you might expect from an inner-city tennis team, so Billy Chadwick's bunch will have dispatched their opponents with plenty of time for you to run over to Sterling, chug a few beers, and grab a Baconator to go on your way to Oxford-University Stadium without missing the first pitch, which will probably be disappointing for the Rebs, anyway.

DAH-VEED HORTEZ!

Recently, Beck, another Ole Miss bloggeur, called The One That Got Away out on his blog. Beck has been very kind to us, so don't take his peice as any sort of actual attack on our blog or think that there's some sort of blog war going on (though that would be really fun). I think it's worth addressing why it is that tOTGA and I share roughly the same views on David Huertas.

Since I don't want to have to quote Beck while he quotes us, I'll summarize his points.

1. David Huertas has not personally cost us a win this year.
Against Utah, Huertas turned the ball over four times and had four fouls. We lost by five points. Granted, Huertas had a decent game offensively, 5/12 for 18 points. Still, the only player who comes anywhere near that number of fouls or turnovers per minute played is Deaundre Cranston who was playing in the third game of his college career.
2. David is one of only two consistent offensive threats on our team.
I would hope so. He's a fourth year shooting guard. No one is disputing that Huertas can be an offensive presence. You would be foolish to say that. The problem is that he can't create his own shots. Next year, when he won't have to do that, he'll be great. We will all love him then when he's draining open threes. I just don't like him when he drives to the basket with three players defending him, puts up an off-balance hook shot and then yells at Murphy Holloway for not stealing the ball from him.
How'd that shot work out for you Dahveed?

3. When Andy Kennedy put David on the bench after a terrible opening to the first half of the UGA game, it was because Andy Kennedy can't show restraint? David went on to score 17 points in that game.
Wow. It's GEORGIA. Georgia is 2-12 in league play and 11-18 overall. I would hope that with our "best offensive player" in the game, we could go into the half up by more than a 27-21 showing. Kennedy obviously was just trying to rattle Huertas into a good performance. It worked. Huertas played 35 minutes and played quite well in the second half.
4. 20 points and problems with the coach are better than two points and a team-first attitude.
I somewhat agree. I'll take Murphy Holloway's type of game over Huertas' any day of the week though. He's aggressive, fighting for every rebound. He scores a good bit of points and makes an impact in every aspect of the game. High percentage shots are the name of his game as well.
5. David Huertas leads the team in assists.
While he pointed this out in his own post, I think it's important to disect this.
David Huertas: 0.07 assists per minute
Terrico White: 0.08 assists per minute
Chris Warren: 0.11 assists per minute
And it's not like Terrico White was the player he is now for the first half of the season.
David Huertas: 2.3 assists per SEC game.
Terrico White: 3 assists per SEC game.
6. David Huertas is a better player than Terrico White.
Terrico White in SEC play: 91/206 - 44.1% field goal percentage
David Huertas in SEC play: 75/198 - 37.8% field goal percentage
I understand that shot percentage and assists are not the only things you can look at to determine who is a better player. however, don't you think that a fourth year player (who is reported to be the best pure shooter on our team) should be better at shooting the ball than a first year player?
7. Huertas helps us win because he puts up a lot of points.
And misses a lot of shots... See above.
8. David Huertas is one of the most intense defensive players on our team.
I wholeheartedly agree. I love to watch him play defense. On the perimeter, he is quite good. He isn't very tough, preferring finesse defense, but that's all you really need on the perimeter anyway.
9. Saying that Huertas shouldn't chew out his teammates is racist. Lost me. Huertas messes up and then unjustifiably yells at his freshman teammates and coaches. I don't watch Nick Calathes play, so I have no idea how he responds to plays when things don't go right.
10. David Huertas is justified in disrespecting Andy Kennedy because Kennedy spent a night in jail.
Ok. Now we're just grasping for straws.
11. Kennedy must not dislike Huertas too much. He plays 35 minutes a game.
Our healthy guards are as follows:
Terrico White
David Huertas
Will Bogan
Zach Graham (sort of healthy)
Who's going to play over Huertas? Will Bogan? I'll never try to argue that Bogan should be in the game over Huertas. Ever.
12. Take Huertas off the team, and we win MAYBE, eight games this year.Yes. That's right. That's because if Huertas were off the team we would have to see Will Bogan a lot more often and would only have THREE guards to rotate. I don't know that our outcome would be that different had Huertas been hurt instead of Gaskins or Polyniece though. I think we would have won a similar amount of games.

Anyway, here's my overall assesment of David Huertas. I think that next year, we're all going to love him. We'll have Chris and Terrico to distribute the ball and will be able to play Huertas in a shooter's role. He won't have to create his own shots. He will also continue to play excellent defense and have a big impact on our team.