NCAA Strikes Again

How the Number 2 team in America is declined to host an NCAA Regional is beyond me. Not only is the Ole Miss men's tennis team Number 2 in America, they have been leading the nation in attendance. What these boneheads in Indianapolis do not realize is that is potentially lost revenue for them. Multiple SEC teams were allowed to host. Yet the NCAA regular season and tournament champions were denied. I don't buy be the talk about travel, because they can not back that claim up with where they sent schools like Boise State and Binghamton.

UMAA officials have hosted a regional for the past 8 years, luckily I have been able to attend quite a few of them and they are very well run. Arguably the best team we have had in those eight years is our current team. This is unreal and officials in Oxford are outraged. Notice the quote from Pete Boone below.

I can't wait to hear the total BS the NCAA puts out. I can imagine they will be receiving multiple phone calls and emails tomorrow.

(Clarion Ledger)
OXFORD — In a turn of events that left coach Billy Chadwick fuming, fans frustrated and players shellshocked, the Ole Miss men’s tennis team will not be one of the 16 host teams for the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament despite being the No. 2 overall seed in the country.

“It’s a very hard pill to swallow,” said Chadwick, whose Rebel team recently completed an undefeated regular season in the Southeastern Conference and has won its past 17 matches.“There’s no words that can express the boneheadedness of this decision,” said Ole Miss athletic director Pete Boone. “It’s truly beyond comprehension. ... We’re certainly going to be on the phone in the morning with the NCAA trying to find ou what the hell happened.”As expected, the Rebels treceived the No. 2 overall seed in the nation when the NCAA Tournament announced its 64-team bracket. But because of a new NCAA travel rule, the Rebels will travel to Baton Rouge for the four-team regional, which includes Ole Miss, LSU, Rice and Alcorn State.The announcement breaks the Rebels’ eight-year streak of hosting a regional.Chadwick said NCAA officials called about 20 minutes before the selection show to inform associate athletic director Lynnette Johnson that the Rebels would not host based on a rule that was put in place to help cut down on travel expenses.The explanation given was that since the regional will be held at LSU, all three other teams could presumably drive. If it were at Oxford, the Rice players would likely have to fly.But Chadwick said the small difference in travel shouldn’t negate what the Rebels have worked for all season — having home court advantage through the NCAA Tournament’s first two rounds. Ole Miss leads the nation in average announced attendance with 582 per match.“If you’re trying to grow the sport, it seems very odd that the place leading the nation in attendance that’s also the second best team in the nation doesn’t host,” Chadwick said.Ole Miss (27-2) will face Alcorn State (5-10) in the first round on May 9, with LSU playing Rice. The winners will meet on May 10, with a spot in the Sweet 16 on the line.“I don’t have any idea (how this happened),” Chadwick said. “But the only thing we can do is swallow our medicine, get tough and go down to Baton Rouge.”

Rebs Dominate Dog$

PEARL, Miss. -- Senior left-hander Brett Bukvich struck out a career-high 11 batters and did not walk one on the way to Most Valuable Player honors has he helped lead No. 16 Ole Miss (26-10) to an 8-1 win over Mississippi State (19-18) and helped the Rebels claim the Governor’s Cup.
A crowd of 7,458 - the fifth largest in Trustmark Park history - watched Bukvich (5-1) work 6.0 innings and allow only one run on five hits with no walks and 11 strikeouts as the Rebels claimed the annual non-conference contest between Southeastern Conference foes.
Ricky Bowen (2-2) suffered the loss for the Bulldogs as he allowed two runs on two hits with two walks and no strikeouts in 1.0 inning of work. Mississippi State would use five pitchers on the night.
“I thought Bukvich did a terrific job tonight,” said Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco. “He really only got into trouble one or two times and did a tremendous job. He is a senior from this area who can understand and appreciate this game. It was nice to see him perform so well in a last hurrah so to speak.”
Ole Miss got on the board first when Jordan Henry scored in the first on a single up the middle from Matt Smith. Henry walked to open the game and moved to second on a walk of Logan Power before scoring on the Smith hit two batters later.
Mississippi State tied things in the top of the second as Scott DeLoach scored on a groundout to short from Jet Butler. DeLoach tripled off the wall to open the inning and scored on the Butler groundout in the next at bat.
The Bulldogs would get no closer as Ole Miss would hold Mississippi State off the board the rest of the way.
Zach Miller broke he 1-1 tie in the second when he scored from first on a double down the left field line from Michael Hubbard. Miller was hit by a pitch to reach base to open the inning.
Ole Miss would add two runs in the fourth inning on a two-RBI double from Kevin Mort that scored both Miller and Hubbard who had reached on singles prior to the Mort hit. The runs pushed the Rebels out to a 4-1 lead.
Three more runs crossed the plate for the Rebels in the fifth. Logan Power opened things with a double and scored on a single from Matt Snyder. Two outs later, Miller was again hit by a pitch to reach safely and back-to-back singles from Hubbard and Mort scored Snyder and Miller to give the Rebels a 7-1 lead.
Ole Miss added its final run of the game in the sixth when Henry scored on a bases loaded single from pinch-hitter David Phillips to give the Rebels the final margin of 8-1.
Ole Miss will return to action this weekend with a three-game series at No. 20 Florida this weekend. First pitch of Friday’s contest is set for 5:30 p.m. CDT.

AK to Settle

From Parish Alford of the Daily Journal:

Breaking news here from a source with knowledge. Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy will plea to a disorderly conduct — a fourth-degree misdemeanor in the state of Ohio — and not the simple assault with which he was charged after an altercation with a cab driver on Dec. 18 in Cincinnati.
Kennedy will appear in court in Cincinnati to make the plea on Monday, which is his scheduled trial date. There will be no trial.
The plea does not immediately affect the civil suits filed by cab driver Mohamed Jiddou and Kennedy against one another. However, Jiddou’s suit charges Kennedy with assault. After the plea on Monday the state of Ohio will not recognize assault, which could impact Jiddou’s case.

Been Away

I've been away for a while as my computer does not like Blogger right now. Alot of stuff has happened in the past few weeks. Including two basketball players leaving the team. David Huertas and Malcolm White, both starters, have left Ole Miss. White, who has about as much cordination with has hands as Sterling has left the team. Not a big loss in my opinion. White seemed to always be visably upset with the coaches and always seemed to be arguing with several of the assistants.

David was not that different. On several occasions David and AK were seen yelling at each other in the huddle. While I was at first happy to see David lead, because I hate ball hogs and selfish players, but the more I think about it, it is going to be a big loss for the Rebels. Huertas scored alot of points while playing for the Rebels, and even though several key players are returning from injuries, Huertas would have contributed valuable minutes and points. Why David is going to take a raft back to his native country to play pro basketball over there is beyond me.