Thoughts of the Day: June 23, 2021

A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning:

GATORS RANK EIGHTH IN SPORTING NEWS PRESEASON TOP 25

Sporting News released its preseason top 25 on Tuesday with the Florida Gators coming in a surprising No. 8. To no one’s surprise, the top five are Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Georgia, which are pretty much the same no matter whose publication you choose to read.

Writes Sporting News college football expert Bill Bender on the Gators: “The Gators flopped in a Sugar Bowl beatdown vs. Oklahoma, and key components of that potent passing attack — quarterback Kyle Trask, tight end Kyle Pitts and receiver Kadarius Toney — are headed to the NFL. That said, Dan Mullen has led three consecutive runs to New Year's Day 6 bowls, and the offense will change with Emory Jones under center. The other challenge is rebuilding the offensive line. The good news is the defense is loaded with Zachary Carter, Brenton Cox, Ventrell Miller and Kaiir Elam. This season will test whether Florida can reload and consistently compete for an SEC championship.”

TOP 25: 1. Alabama; 2. Clemson; 3. Ohio State; 4. Oklahoma; 5. Georgia; 6. Notre Dame; 7. Texas A&M; 8. FLORIDA; 9. Iowa State; 10. Cincinnati; 11. LSU; 12. Southern Cal; 13. Texas; 14. North Carolina; 15. Indiana; 16. Oregon; 17. Oklahoma State; 18. Iowa; 19. Miami; 20. Wisconsin; 21. Ole Miss; 22. Auburn; 23. Coastal Carolina; 24. Army; 25. Penn State.

FIVE GATORS PRIMED FOR A BIG 2021

1. Lorenzo Lingard, RB: Between Covid-19 and an ankle sprain, Lingard never factored in Florida’s offense in 2020. Finally healthy in the spring, Lingard showed that he still has the speed and the moves as he kept breaking long runs in scrimmages and practices. Combine Lingard with Demarkcus Bowman and the Gators have a pair of running backs capable of turning a four-yard opening into a 30-yard (or more) gainer. Lingard was a 5-star recruit when he signed with Miami originally. He will show why he was ranked that high in 2021.

2. Justin Shorter, WR: He spent 2020 running drag routes while Kyle Pitts, Kadarius Toney and Trevon Grimes got to run the deep routes. He had 25 catches for 268 yards and three touchdowns. He’s 6-5, 230 pounds and runs a sub-4.5 40. He will see the ball downfield this year and will be the matchup nightmare that Pitts was last year. Too big for corners. Too fast for safeties and linebackers. Like Lingard he will show why he was a 5-star recruit when he signed with Penn State originally.

3. Stewart Reese, C: He transferred in from Mississippi State last summer and didn’t have the benefit of an offseason workout program which had everything to do with why he played a biscuit or two under 370 and had to play guard instead of right tackle. With Brett Heggie graduated, Reese (6-6, 354) is back for one more year, this time at center. He’s shed the weight and has the kind of strength to handle the monster nose tackles like Georgia’s Jordan Davis. With Reese in the middle flanked by Ethan White (6-5, 345) and Josh Braun (6-6, 352), Florida will have the interior power to grind away in the run game and eliminate the up-the-gut blitzes.

4. Gervon Dexter, DT: Dexter had a somewhat forgettable true freshman year in 2020 when it seemed for every good play he made there were two bad ones. There won’t be nearly as much pressure this year. For one thing he will benefit from the offseason strength and conditioning program that will eliminate the stamina issues of 2020. Secondly, with the arrival of transfer tackles Daquan Newkirk and Antonio Shelton, Dexter won’t feel nearly the pressure to produce that he felt last year. There is no doubt he has the size (6-6, 306), strength and speed to become a third and most important cog in the interior D-line rotation.

5. Trey Dean III, S: Dean has always had the physical talent to be extraordinary but he’s been plagued by inconsistency. From all accounts, it’s a new Trey Dean who is setting the example as the hardest worker on the team in the offseason. When the Gators ran stadiums because they lost to LSU in The Swamp, Dean was the first one to finish. It’s this dedication and willingness to be the best that has everyone excited to see what happens on the field in 2021. Look what that kind of hard work and dedication did for Kadarius Toney.

SHOULD WE CALL A PRIEST TO PERFORM LAST RITES FOR THE NCAA? Following the United States Supreme Court’s 9-0 decision that ruled against the NCAA in NCAA vs. Alston, here are a few comments from around the country:

Dennis Dodd, CBS: “If this was the real world, the NCAA would be out of business. The only thing tethering it to any kind of logical business model is March Madness. Just don’t deny the athletes their share while the association is taking in $1 billion per year.

“… You know what’s coming, right? NIL is going to be a monster the NCAA can’t control. It certainly can’t hint at capping compensation. It is begging Congress for legal protection not only on NIL but for any athlete in the past who wants to sue. That’s a huge ask for an organization that just got blown out in the Supreme Court.”

Dan Wetzel, Yahoo Sports: “Monday was a bad day for the NCAA status quo. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously against it in the case NCAA vs. Alston. That decision isn’t a major one, it simply prohibits the association from blocking schools from providing student-athletes with so-called “education-related expenses” – laptops, internships, academic awards and needed scientific equipment for example.

“However, the ramifications of that ruling could prove significant. And it was easily avoidable. It was the NCAA that fought all the way to the Supreme Court. This was the hill it wanted to die on – denying a college athlete a laptop? This needed to be litigated?”

Andy Staples, The Athletic: “In other words, the NCAA’s rules against schools paying athletes outright have not been declared illegal yet, but they will be if anyone would like to challenge them. So it would be best if the school sand the NCAA started adjusting their rules now so they will survive an antitrust challenge.”

12-TEAM PLAYOFF CLEARS ANOTHER HURDLE

The College Football Playoff Board of Managers met Tuesday and gave the expected rubber stamp to begin working with the bowls and ESPN, which holds the television broadcast contract through 2025, to study the feasibility of expanding the playoff from four to 12 teams. Expansion of the playoff is inevitable. At this point it’s a matter of when it expands and not if, but there are issues that will have to be worked through.

ESPN probably won’t oppose the expansion. By approving an expanded playoff, the network won’t have to get into a bidding war with CBS, NBC, Fox or some of the streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu or Amazon. The bowls may dig in their heels to stay relevant, and there is the matter of on campus games. In the format that has been proposed, the top four seeded teams would get a first round bye but would play their quarterfinal matchups at neutral site of a bowl game. You can bet the farm that won’t settle well so that’s an area that will have to be tweaked.

My expectation is that ESPN will agree to a 2023 expanded playoff, that the first two rounds will be played on campuses and that the bowl games will see their relevance continue to shrink.

TRE MANN, SCOTTIE LEWIS MEASUREMENTS AT THE NBA COMBINE

It was tale of the tape day at the NBA Combine in Chicago Tuesday. Tre Mann measured 6-3.25 in his bare feet, 6-4.25 in his shoes while weighing in at 177.6 pounds. Mann has a standing reach of 8-2.5 and a wingspan of 6-4. Lewis measured 6-4 in his bare feet, 6-5.25 in his shoes. He weighed in at 187.6 pounds with a standing reach of 8-5.5 and a wingspan of 7-0.

OVER, UNDER, AROUND AND THROUGH THE SEC

Arkansas: Mike Ekamen, who spent the last two seasons as the director of scouting at Texas A&M, has been hired by Eric Musselman as the director of player development. Ekamen worked with Musselman at Nevada in 2018-19.

Auburn: Tommy Sheehan, who started 35 games at Notre Dame, is transferring to Auburn. Sheehan pitched only eight innings in 2021 before undergoing elbow surgery. He is 10-11 for his college career with a 4.83 ERA.

Georgia: Tony Baldwin, for the last nine years an assistant to Lu Harris-Champer, is Georgia’s new softball coach.

Kentucky: Power forward Isaiah Jackson has withdrawn from the NBA Draft Combine but will remain in the draft. He has hired an agent.

LSU: Power forward Josh LeBlanc (6-7, 230, JR), who averaged 3.2 points and 4.4 rebounds per game after transferring in from Georgetown, has put his name in the NCAA transfer portal. Of the 13 scholarship players on the LSU roster last season, four have gone pro and six have transferred out.

Mississippi State: It’s not necessarily how you start a baseball game but how you finish. Held hitless for the first seven innings by Virginia’s Griff McGarry, the Bulldogs (47-16) got a two-run homer from Kellum Clark and a three-run homer from Tanner Allen in the eighth as they overcame a 4-0 deficit to take a 6-5 win at the College World Series. Mississippi State is idle until Friday when they face the winner of Thursday’s elimination game between Texas (47-17) and Virginia (36-26).

South Carolina: Third baseman Brandon Millone, who started 35 games in 2021, is transferring. He hit .216 with two home runs.

Tennessee: The baseball season came to an end for the Vols (50-18) in Omaha with an 8-4 loss to Texas in an elimination game. With seven of the eight position players all but gone the question that should be looming large for Vol fans will be can Tennessee hold on to Tony Vitello? LSU is expected to make a run at Vitello and AD Scott Woodward has shown he’s willing to break the bank (see Kim Mulkey) to get a coach he wants. Vitello makes $600,000 a year.

Texas A&M: R.C. Slocum, the winningest football coach in Texas A&M history, is hospitalized with Hogkins lymphoma. From 1989-2002 Slocum went 123-47-2 with three Southwest Conference championships and one Big 12 title. Slocum is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.

Vanderbilt: Vanderbilt (46-16) faces Stanford (39-16) in a loser goes home game at the College World Series with the winner facing North Carolina State (37-18) on Friday.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: The NCAA, in its infinite wisdom, has given Creighton basketball a slap on the wrist even though former assistant coach Preston Murphy was given a two-year show cause for accepting $6,000 from an undercover FBI agent as part of the college basketball bribery scandal. That’s a Level I violation but there is more. Upon being told about the incident by basketball coach Greg McDermott, Creighton athletic director Bruce Rasmussen not only failed to inform his compliance people but didn’t act on the evidence until Creighton was named in a federal indictment against Murphy. In other words, if the FBI hadn’t indicted Murphy, Rasmussen would have done the ethical equivalent of no body bag, no foul. This should have been a no-brainer for the NCAA. They didn’t even have to investigate because the FBI already did it and then there were court transcripts from under-oath testimony. So, what does the NCAA do? They dock Creighton one scholarship a year for the next two years, cut the basketball budget by one percent and give two years probation without a postseason ban. It’s not like the NCAA was wringing its hands and wondering what to do. Creighton had already self-imposed these sanctions. The NCAA’s defense of letting Creighton off the hook? Creighton hadn’t ever been on probation in more than 100 years of basketball. I’m not making this up. And the fine folks at the NCAA wonder why they are so despised.