Rippee Writes: A Packed Tuesday Scoop
Elko injury, national title, hoops transfer and regional host shakeup
Happy Tuesday. We’ve got a ton to get to today. We will have a new podcast out this evening with an old radio pal of mine, plus a potential emergency baseball segment if we get any clarity on injury news.
Let’s dive in.
Elko injures knee in Ole Miss win
Ole Miss avenged its 2019 loss to North Alabama with a 20-6 victory on Tuesday, but unfortunately the only storyline of consequence is Tim Elko’s right knee. On an awkward play at first base, he rounded the bag, planted and immediately fell to the ground. I’ve linked video to the play below. If you don’t want to watch, just scroll past.
I am no doctor, aside from once pretending to be one as a radio bit, and I am not going to try to guess or diagnose anything, but if this injury is as serious as it seems, this is an absolutely brutal loss for Ole Miss. It’s arguably the one guy you could not afford to lose. There is no replacing a Tim Elko. He’s the most vital bat in the lineup and it is a devastating blow. I can’t sugarcoat it. If there is any silver lining at all, it’s that both Cael Baker and Trey LaFleur returned to the lineup yesterday. Both are candidates to replace Elko at first, or at least fill a gap elsewhere in the shuffle. Obviously, neither guy is going to carry a lineup like Elko. It’s too big of a hole to fill. The goal for the Rebels to see how close they can come to filling it collectively for however long he is out. Here’s to hoping for the best for a guy that was having one hell of a year.
NCAA tweaks regional hosting process
The college baseball internet sphere exploded for a brief moment yesterday when it was announced that the NCAA will have predetermined NCAA Regional and Super Regional hosting sites. But, per a familiar patter when nuance is absent and immediate reaction, as more information came out, it didn’t end up being that big of a deal. (Not a shot at Kendall or anyone reporting, he was all over the story. Just an observation on how we digest news as a society these days).
The sites will still be selected based on merit, they’ll just be announced three weeks earlier before the culmination of the regular season. The idea here, apparently, is to give the NCAA a three-week head start on examining and implementing COVID-19 protocols at the selected sites. I suppose this makes sense, though there was a Major League Baseball game played a mile from my house yesterday with 40K in attendance (just adding for context o the varying and sometimes confusing protocols across the sports landscape), but it got people in a tizzy nonetheless. I don’t buy into the tinfoil hat theory that the NCAA is going to screw Mississippi for their stance on COVID, opening up or anything else. If anything, this organization wants to make money and I would venture to guess they’ll favor a pair of 12K seat stadiums fully open, but who knows.
From a competition standpoint makes the next month absolutely massive for this Ole Miss club as it faces Arkansas, Mississippi State, LSU and South Carolina. If the Rebels can get out of that stretch at no worse than 6-6 and sit at 13-7 when the sites are selected, I don’t know how they wouldn’t be a host for both a regional and super (calm down, I am not jinxing anything. Even if the Rebels didn’t make it out of a regional the super would still be played in Oxford, per the rule change). I also would pose the question of how the already borderline irrelevant SEC Tournament is even remotely relevant at this point for teams that aren’t on the bubble. This also has to be unfavorable for schools with smaller facilities and limited capacity hoping to host. Just a hunch, but that doesn’t seem to be an ideal fit what what is trying to be accomplished here. Maybe it doesn’t matter. I don’t know.
If you’re looking for a positive here, the 7-2 start now weighs even more consequential. Oh, and Ole Miss plays Vanderbilt after the sites are announced.
The $10 prime strip is still good to all subscribers. You know the drill. Show the sign up email you got or the original promo code. I’ll have an update later in the week. Go check my guy out at LBs. Greg will take care of you.
Baylor is the 2021 National Champ
Baylor ran one of the best college basketball teams in history out of the gym last night in what was one of the greatest offensive performances you will ever see over a 40-minute stretch. Gonzaga was really poor defensively for the first 25 minutes of this game and cost them any realistic shot of ever getting back into it after falling behind by 19 points less than nine minutes into the contest. Baylor’s length, particularly on the perimeter, seemed bother the Zags greatly. Those artful passes that turn into layups and assists off shrewd cuts and constant motion that you got used to seeing with this team for 31 games were a lot harder to come by against the Bears. Gonzaga slung the ball all over the place, turned it over 14 times and got absolutely manhandled on the glass. Add in Baylor shooting 43.5 percent from three point range, and you got exactly what unfolded: a hole too deep for even one of the greatest offenses of the last two decades to climb out of.
I don’t believe Gonzaga was overrated. I think they had a terrible night defensively, couldn’t adjust correctly and ran out of time to erase a double-digit deficit. You don’t go 31-0 in any league without being great. I think we undersold Baylor for the last seven weeks of the season. Before Baylor’s February COVID pause, the debate centered around which team was better. The Bears lost four games and struggled to find their footing after they resumed their season and our short attention spans dropped them down a level without factoring in what we watched for the previous two months.
Scott Drew completed one of the most impressive rebuilding job in sports, considering he took over a program that was reeling from both NCAA scandal and a murder while already being irrelevant within the college hoops landscape. Congrats to him and the program. What a wild story.
College hoops may be in the rearview, but SkyBox is ready for a profitable spring and summer on MLB, NASCAR and anything else you fancy. Go check them out. They have a package for you.
Ole Miss Hoops lands transfer
The roster reshaping project has begun for Kermit Davis. He added seven-foot Miami transfer Nysier Brooks from Miami on Tuesday. Brooks previously spent time at Cincinnati, and averaged 7.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per game for the Hurricanes last year. I am not going to pretend to have seen a ton of this guy, but on paper it fills a hole Ole Miss desperately needed with Romello White and K.J. Buffen departing the program. Brooks isn’t going to stretch the floor much, but he does offer rim protection and a presence on the glass. He scored 19 points in his final game against Georgia Tech and posted double figures in three of the last four games he played in for a horrific team.
You never actually know how these work out until you see them on the floor, but it’s a nice pick up for Davis and the Rebels and a good start to the offseason.
Masters week is upon us
I’ll hold off on picks and predictions until tomorrow, but this is going to be a fun one to follow. Thanks to Jordan Spieth for adding another wrinkle. You don’t have to be Jim Nantz to declare this one of the best sports weeks of the year.
Weekday reading
It is a good thing LSU did not give out free pizza or let anyone sleep on a coach’s couch. That would really be a shame.
In all seriousness, with as many gripes as I have with Gannett and the state of the industry, this is tremendous reporting that takes time, bravery and money. It’s worth your time.
On the horizon
Wednesday pod as well as Mailbag Friday
Updated LBs deal with Greg
A trio of newsletters
Masters picks
whatever else pops up.
Have a wonderful Tuesday. Thanks for being a subscriber and tell your friends to join in by clicking this button below.