Thoughts of the Day: August 15, 2022

A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning:

THAT WAS THE WEEKEND THAT WAS …

Just your average, run of the mill weekend for the Florida Gators, so in case you were asleep, out on your boat or otherwise indisposed, here is a rundown of what happened:

Some of you were saying Billy Napier can’t recruit?: If you fall into that category, put the dunce hat on and go sit in the corner until October. Three 4-star studs for 2023 committed to the Gators and 2024 legacy Myles Graham, son of Earnest, committed also. The 2023 commits were DT Kelby Collins (6-5, 290, Gardendale, AL), DT Will Norman (6-5, 300, Camden, NJ/Bradenton, FL IMG Academy) and DE Kamran Jones (6-5, 265, Orlando, FL Olympia). Collins picked the Gators over Alabama and Georgia. Norman chose Florida over Penn State, LSU and Texas A&M. Jones chose Florida over Georgia. Myles Graham (6-1, 215, Atlanta, GA Woodward Academy) is a 4-star recruit, the No. 4 linebacker in the 2024 class. He picked the Gators over Alabama, Tennessee and Auburn.

Florida has serious momentum on the recruiting trail. The Gators have 19 commitments for the 2023 class, 17 4-stars and two 3-stars. The Gators are now ranked No. 8 in the Rivals class ratings while On3 and 247 both have the Gators at No. 10. It’s only going to get better.

What we have learned in the last month is that Billy Napier does indeed know what he’s doing when it comes to recruiting. Also, the new Heavener Center is going to be a game-changer. The playing field is now beyond level. If anything it tilts strongly in Florida’s favor.

It’s still a head shaker that some Gator fans were calling for Napier to be fired even before he coached a game all because he wasn’t recruiting up to their personal standard. Some folks need to stick a sock in it and have their internet privileges removed because they’re too stupid to discuss anything football or sports-related on a public forum.

First scrimmage: Anthony Richardson throws darts. He’s tightened up his motion so it’s faster, smoother and the ball gets where it’s going in a hurry. Reports from the scrimmage are that he was seriously accurate and had a long run. Jack Miller III also looked good throwing the ball.

This was a day for the running backs. Nay’Quan Wright, who looks quicker than he’s ever been, had two long runs for TDs. Montrell Johnson had a run of more than 40 yards and Travis Etienne broke a long one. Run of the day was by Lorenzo Lingard who was hit numerous times but still managed to break a run of more than 40 yards.

Trey Dean III had a pick. Avery Helm and Devin Moore looked very good at corner. DBs didn’t allow the deep ball. Everybody tackled well. Gervon Dexter looks really good. Desmond Watson is an eclipse.

Sunday was moving day: The Heavener Center still has work to do before it’s 100 percent done, but it’s fully functional and the coaches have moved in. They tore out the back wall of the indoor practice facility so you can see the weight room in the south endzone. Very, very impressive. When 100 percent completed, the Heavener Center will be equal to or superior to anything anywhere in the country. Let’s see the folks at The Ewe and Florida State try to compete with that. Better yet, let’s see how many bake sales and car washes they have to hold to raise the money for a down payment.

Trask, Pierce and Malik Davis: Kyle Trask got the Tampa Bay Bucs in position to win their Saturday night game with the Miami Dolphins only to have Jose Borregales (formerly of The Ewe) boink what would have been the game-winning field goal off the right upright. Trask was 25-33 passing for 258 yards. His 19-yard TDP to Jerreth Sterns was as good a throw as you’ll ever see … Dameon Pierce carried five times for 49 yards in the Houston Texans 17-13 win over New Orleans. He has been a stud in training camp and has people wondering why he got so few carries at UF … Malik Davis had eight carries for 51 yards for Dallas in a 17-7 loss to Denver.

Another Brady Singer gem: Singer got the win for the Kansas City Royals Sunday against the Los Angeles Dodgers, allowing just one hit in six shutout innings to raise his record to 5-4 and lower his ERA to a team-best 3.29.

SEC football/basketball

Alabama: Nick Saban called Alabama’s first scrimmage “sloppy” because there were “way too many penalties and a lot of undisciplined type penalties, whether they were illegal formations, offsides on defense. All things that are correctable.” Saban did point out that the first team offensive line has shown improvement.

Arkansas: Basketball coach Eric Musselman has real concerns about the Razorbacks’ ability to play defense after the way they’ve been exposed on their European tour. “It’s going to be a challenge defensively,” Musselman told On3 Sports. “Is this team capable of guarding man-to-man? I don’t really know. We never played any zone defense in seven years, but right now, simple cuts, we lose our man. So great concern for us defensively, for sure.”

Auburn: Although he wouldn’t elaborate, HBC Bryan Harsin said he is starting to see some separation between quarterback T.J. Finley, Zach Calzada and Oregon transfer Robby Ashford after Saturday’s scrimmage.

Georgia: Georgia is breaking in several freshman wide receivers who are going to have to play. HBC Kirby Smart said, “Right now at wideout, we don’t have great depth and we have a couple of injuries. So those young guys are getting thrust in there and they got to grow up. We’ve done it before. I mean we’ve had productive freshman wide receivers.” … Connor O’Gara at Saturday Down South points out that in the last decade Georgia has not produced a single All-SEC wide receiver.

Kentucky: Much is being made of John Calipari calling Kentucky a basketball school, which drew the ire of football coach Mark Stoops. Cal has apologized. “I said the wrong thing,” Cal said at a press conference. Maybe Cal said the wrong thing, but the reality is that Kentucky was, is and will always be a basketball school.

LSU: Former LSU coach Ed Orgeron was seen prowling the sidelines of the indoor practice facility at Louisiana’s first scrimmage Saturday. Coach O’s son works as an analyst for the Ragin Cajuns.

Mississippi State: Following Saturday’s scrimmage, HBC Mike Leach said, “I think we have to get tougher at receiver. They spend an awful amount of time willing to get shoved around. Overall, we just need improvement and develop depth in the O-line.”

Missouri: Running backs Nate Peat and Tavorus Jones are recovering from minor injuries and will be returning to practice perhaps early in the week.

Ole Miss: HBC Lane Kiffin said quarterbacks Jaxson Dart and Luke Altmeyer “took too many sacks” at the Ole Miss scrimmage Saturday. Kiffin praised third string QB Kinkade Dent, who “made a lot of plays.”

South Carolina: After the first scrimmage Saturday, HBC Shane Beamer said QB Spencer Rattler “has to get rid of the ball quicker. He knew he wasn’t going to get hit, but there were some times out there that he would have gotten hit pretty good today.”

Tennessee: Junior wide receiver Jalin Hyatt said after Saturday’s practice, “This offense is going to be the best in the country. I can tell you that right now.”

Texas A&M: Freshman defensive tackle Walter Nolen has been very impressive so far and is projected to be in the D-line rotation if not a starter.

Vanderbilt: After the Saturday scrimmage, HBC Clark Lea says that Ken Seals, who is in a battle for the starting QB job with Mike Wright “is stepping into his game here and I think I’ve seen that over the last couple of weeks.”

Our SEC orphans in the Big 12

Oklahoma: Former Tennessee right tackle Wanya Morris, who was benched last season largely for poor conditioning, is struggling to hold onto the starting job again, this time because he’s being pushed by true freshman Jacob Sexton.

Texas: Alabama transfer wide receiver Argiye Hall has been suspended after his arrest in Austin for “criminal mischief” involving a police boot on a car … Injured in the first scrimmage were RB Roschon Johnson, WR Isaiah Neyor and G Junior Angilau.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Speaking to Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey says a “fresh look” should be taken at expanding the NCAA Basketball Tournament from its current 68 teams, a move that Dana O’Neill of The Athletic says is a selfish ploy to get more SEC teams in the tournament.

Had the NCAA Tournament been expanded to say, 128 teams this past year (a move that would require only one more game for all the participants), Florida and Texas A&M would have gotten in for sure. Both played in the National Invitational Tournament, which I have been calling the Nobody’s Interested Tournament for years. The NIT once rivaled the NCAA Tournament but that was years ago. The NIT made sense when there were only 32 teams in the NCAA Tournament. Once the NCAA Tournament expanded, the NIT became the tournament for teams that weren’t good enough for the big dance. Since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams and then to 68, Vanderbilt (1990) and South Carolina (2005, 2006) have won the NIT. The last two runners-up (Mississippi State in 2021, Texas A&M in 2022) have been from the SEC.

Who cares? If the NIT were all that important, it wouldn’t be moving its final four out of New York to Indianapolis and Las Vegas, would it? If the NIT were all that important there wouldn’t be other tournaments that have popped up like the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) and something called The Basketball Classic. UNC-Wilmington won the CBI. Fresno State won The Basketball Classic. I’m sure you had those two right on the tip of your tongue.

So here’s a great idea for you. Since the NCAA also owns the NIT, eliminate it altogether. Make the NCAA Tournament a 128-team field, which means the national champion would have to go 7-0 instead of 6-0. Yes, it might mean a couple more teams from the SEC get in but it also might mean a team like Dayton or St. Bonaventure also gets in. Perhaps you laugh and say what chance would they have? Well, did you ever think you would see St. Peter’s from the MAAC would knock off a No. 2 (Kentucky), a No. 7 (Murray State) and a No. 3 (Purdon’t) before giving North Carolina a scare before foul trouble burst the Peacocks’ balloon in the Elite Eight game? And lest we forget, Butler made it to the championship game two straight years (2010, 2011) and the Fighting Sister Jeans of Loyola made it to the Final Four back in 2018.

Here is another novel idea. Give each conference’s regular season champ the automatic bid and guarantee that if the regular season champ gets ousted in the conference tournament that the tournament winner gets in, too. Or, perhaps guarantee that every conference gets two teams in, which would mean 64 automatic qualifiers and 64 at-large teams. I also would like to see a provision that no team can get in the tournament with a losing record in conference play unless it won the conference tournament.

I know there are folks out there who say the NIT, CBI and any other tournament they might think of serves the purpose of giving other teams a chance to finish the season with a “championship” but I don’t see a need to be able to say “We’re No. 69!” which is what you get when you’re the NIT champ. So expand the tournament. Get rid of the NIT. Give more Cinderellas a chance.