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!!!