Thoughts of the Day: July 30, 2021

A few thoughts to jump start your Friday morning:

REPORTS OF TRE MANN’S DEMISE WERE GREATLY EXAGGERATED Many of the so-called NBA experts had Tre Mann falling completely out of the first round of Thursday night’s Draft while numerous others had him slipping to the final three picks. Obviously, the Oklahoma City Thunder didn’t get the memo because they selected Mann with the 18th pick in the first round. If you had checked the mock drafts a month ago, that’s where Mann would have gone, so it’s rather apparent he held his value at a time when the experts were reading bad tea leaves.

Mann is the first Gator to be drafted in the first round since Bradley Beal was taken by the Washington Wizards in 2012 and the 12th first rounder in school history. Florida coach Mike White was excited that his sophomore guard was valued so highly.

“We’re all just so excited for Tre,” White said. “He has put in an incredible amount of work to get to this point, and his dedication, commitment and maturity have helped him reach this goal. He has earned this moment and I couldn’t be happier for him.”

For being picked 18th in the first round, Mann will receive a contract valued at $11.7 million with $5 million guaranteed.

In addition to Mann, Florida’s Scottie Lewis was taken by the Charlotte Hornets with the 26th pick (56thoverall) in the second round. Due to a poor second half of the 2020-21 season at Florida, few NBA experts had Lewis being drafted so his selection comes as a complete surprise. It’s rare that second round contracts are guaranteed so if Lewis makes the Hornets he can expect to make rookie minimum and will probably be farmed out to the Hornets’ G-League team where he can play regularly and gain experience.

The Thunder are one of the youngest teams in the NBA and one of the worst 3-point shooting teams so Mann is going to a team that not only isn’t afraid to play kids but one that seriously needs a shooter with his range and ability to knock down shots from beyond the arc. Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com gave the Thunder an A- for selecting Mann.

Parrish wrote, “A lot of future freshmen considering the draft should consider Mann’s story. He wasn’t great as a freshman, came back to be a sophomore and did everything NBA teams wanted to see in Year 2. His ability on the pick-and-roll and particularly with step-back jumpers is very tantalizing.”

Jonathan Givony of ESPN wrote, “Tre Mann’s talent with the ball, positional size – which should allow him to play either guard spot – and upside is attractive at this spot. He’ll need to add strength and improve his consistency as a decision-maker and defender to carve out a niche in a rotation short-term, but he has the type of shot-making prowess, creativity and versatility NBA teams covet with the bonus of being a late-bloomer physically who still has room for growth as his frame continues to evolve.”

Mann was one of seven Southeastern Conference players taken in the first round. Others were Josh Primo (Alabama) to San Antonio at No. 12; Moses Moody (Arkansas) to Golden State at No. 14; Keon Johnson (Tennessee) to the New York Knicks at No. 21; Isaiah Jackson (Kentucky) to the Los Angeles Lakers at No. 22; Cameron Thomas (LSU) to the Brooklyn Nets at No. 27; and Jaden Springer (Tennessee) at No. 28 to Philadelphia.

Second rounders from the SEC besides Lewis included Herbert Jones (Alabama) to New Orleans at No. 34 overall; J.T. Thor (Auburn) to Detroit at No. 37; Sharife Cooper (Auburn) to Atlanta at No. 48; and Brandon Boston (Kentucky) to Memphis at No. 51.

THE SEC FORMALLY INVITES TEXAS AND OKLAHOMA

It didn’t take long for the Southeastern Conference to vote to invite Texas and Oklahoma to join the league. In what amounted to a rubber stamp, the SEC presidents voted 14-0 to invite the two Big 12 Conference teams. Texas and Oklahoma stated their intention to leave the Big 12 last week and made the formal request to join the SEC on Monday, so this is a rather quick decision.

Texas and Oklahoma will, of course, say yes but when they can officially join the SEC has yet to be determined. Some have speculated that the two could be playing in the SEC as soon as the 2022-23 athletic year but for that to happen, there are a few hurdles that have to be cleared. First and foremost, as Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby announced Thursday evening, the remaining eight teams in the league intend to hold Texas and Oklahoma to their contractual obligation that will keep them in the Big 12 until 2025. That is almost certainly negotiable. Texas and Oklahoma will have to pay a hefty exit fee (estimated at $76 million apiece) to leave early but the cash infusion of more than $150 million could be used to help poach replacement schools from other leagues and/or help the remaining eight teams financially.

Another obstacle could be legal action by the Big 12 against ESPN, which Bowlsby claims collaborated with the SEC for the intent of damaging the Big 12.

In a cease and desist letter to ESPN on Thursday, Bowlsby said, “I am absolutely certain ESPN employees have discussed and provided incentives for at least one conference to raid 3-5 members of the Big 12. In doing so, they are prepared to reward them with future television proceeds. If the conference goes away as an entity, Oklahoma and Texas could be relieved from their exit obligations. Those obligations at this time would include the payment of $70 million to $80 million – two years full revenue – per school and leaving their media rights with the Big 12.

“We’re just not going to sit still and let somebody who is supposed to be our partner collaborate and disrupt our business. I know with certainty they are doing it relative to one conference. I suppose they have done the same thing in moving Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC.”

ESPN denied the allegations and responded to Bowlsby’s letter: “Apart from a single vague allegation that ESPN has been ‘actively engaged in discussions with at least one other’ unnamed conference, which ESPN disputes, your letter consists entirely of unsubstantiated speculations and legal conclusions.”

Bowlsby did admit to the Associated Press that he has no proof of ESPN’s involvement in the active discussions Texas and Oklahoma had with the SEC.

Decisions will have to be made by the SEC on how to divide the league for the purpose of scheduling. Currently, there are two 7-team divisions (East and West) that play an 8-game football schedule. There are no divisions in basketball but the scheduling format is very awkward and tends to change each year. It is the football scheduling problem that has to be resolved because the current format is untenable. There are teams that still haven’t seen each other home and home since the league expanded from 12 to 14 teams in 2012. Another example, Florida and Alabama will play for the first time since 2014 on September 18. It’s only the second time Bama will have visited Gainesville in the 14-team era of the SEC. Florida was at Alabama in 2014.

Should the SEC stick with the division format, two 8-team divisions will create almost the same number of scheduling nightmares. The advantage of a 16-team league is that it could be divided into four 4-team pods and rarther than the current 8-league game format, one more conference game would be added. Each team would play all three teams in its pod every year and play two from each of the other two divisions home and home before rotating to the other two teams in each pod. This would ensure that all 16 SEC teams would play every team in the league home and home every four years.

GATORS IN THE BIG LEAGUES …

Pete Alonso hit his 22nd home run in the New York Mets’ 6-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves Thursday night. Since winning the Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game, Alonso has hit six homers and driven in 13 runs, bringing his season total to 23 homers and 62 RBI.

Jonathan India is hitting .275 as the leadoff batter for the Cincinnati Reds. India his hit eight home runs and driven in 39.

Kirby Snead pitched a scoreless inning Thursday night as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox 13-1. Since being called up to the majors, Snead has pitched 1-2/3 scoreless innings.

Dane Dunning is 4-7 with a 4.20 ERA for the Texas Rangers. He picked up his fourth win Tuesday night when he went 6-1/3 innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks, allowing six hits and two runs while striking out three.

Harrison Bader is 9-23 over the last seven days with three homers and six RBI for the St. Louis Cardinals. Bader is now hitting .293 with nine homers and 25 RBI. Bader is hitting .363 in July with five homers and 16 RBI.

Anthony DeSclafani is 10-5 with a 3.10 ERA for the San Francisco Giants.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: I understand completely that Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby is the angriest man in all of college sports. His 10-team conference is losing the two teams that account for approximately 76 percent of the league’s value, in other words $29 million of the $38 million or so the Big 12 distributed earlier in the year. There is absolutely no way to replace that lost revenue, but Bowlsby is angrily pointing fingers at ESPN, the SEC and some unnamed league that he says tried to poach 3-5 members of the Big 12 rather than look in the mirror. The man most responsible for the predicament the Big 12 finds itself in is Bob Bowlsby. Since 2011, the Big 12 has seen the exodus of Colorado (to the Pac-12), Nebraska (to the Big Ten), Missouri and Texas A&M (both to the SEC), which has plenty to do with the Big 12s lack of revenue compared to the Big Ten and SEC. He replaced those four with two – TCU (from the Mountain West) and West Virginia (from the Big East) – neither of which have added a whole lot to the league.

Back in 2016, Bowlsby had a chance to expand the league to 12 or more teams. Among the schools that were considered were UCF, South Florida, Houston, Cincinnati, Memphis, Air Force, Boise State and BYU. SMU, which once was a member of the Southwest Conference along with Houston and TCU, was never given a sniff. Rather than expand, Bowlsby elected to remain at 10 teams. None of those teams offered the Big 12 what was lost in Colorado, Nebraska, Texas A&M and Missouri, but had the league expanded back then it wouldn’t be facing the possibility there will be no league at all within 12-24 months.

Houston and SMU should have been no-brainers even though the Big 12 already was in the Texas television market. UCF and South Florida would have given the Big 12 a footprint in the I-4 corridor where eight million (or more) people call home. With BYU the Big 12 could have had a team whose followers number in the millions because of the outreach of the LDS Church. Boise State would have given the Big 12 a football program that would have been third best in the league.

Instead, the Big 12 is down to eight teams and is likely to lose three more as Iowa State and Kansas go to the Big Ten and West Virginia to the ACC. When that happens, it will take a whole lot of persuading to convince the very stable 11 members of the AAC to join a league that has zero in the way of vision for the future, led by a commissioner who needs to look at the mirror and scream at the top of his lungs at who he sees.