Thoughts of the Day: May 24, 2022

A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning:

RILEY KUGEL PICKS GATORS OVER LSU AND GEORGIA The commitment of wing Riley Kugel (6-5, 185, Orlando, FL Dr. Phillips) not only adds one more piece to the roster puzzle new Florida coach Todd Golden is putting together but it is a very big win for Golden as he builds relationships with high school coaches in a state that produces a lot of high-level talent. In landing Kugel, who originally signed with Mississippi State only to back off when Ben Howland was dismissed as the head coach, Golden beat LSU and Georgia for the commitment.

Kugel, a 4-star recruit who is a top 150 national recruit, averaged 16.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game for Dr. Phillips, which won the state championship his junior year and finished runner-up in 2022. Kugel was a high school teammate of longtime Gator commitment Denzel Aberdeen, who will be joining him as a freshman at UF.

Kugel is a very good spot up shooter who can get to the rim off the bounce. He is a high level defender capable of locking down three positions on the floor.

With the commitment of Kugel, Golden has one roster spot remaining which is expected to go to a big man. Right now, most eyes are on former Washington State transfer Efe Abogidi (6-10, 225), who announced last week that he has Florida, Maryland, Arizona and a return to Washington State on the list that he will choose from. Abogidi averaged 8.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocked shots per game last season at Wazzoo.

The Florida roster as of May 23, 2022

Big guys (3): Colin Castleton (6-11, 240, 5th YR); Jason Jitoboh (6-11, 285, 4th YR); CJ Felder (6-7, 231, 4thYR)

Wings (4): Niels Lane (6-6, 206, JR); Kowacie Reeves (6-6, 182, SO); Alex Fudge (6-8, 190, SO/TR); Riley Kugel (6-5, 185, FR)

Guards (5): Myreon Jones (6-3, 175, 5th YR); Kyle Lofton (6-4, 185, GR/TR); Trey Bonham (6-0, 170, JR/TR); Will Richard (6-5, 195, SO/TR); Denzel Aberdeen (6-4, 180, FR)

CAN THE GATORS GET TO 38 WINS?

A year ago, having lost their last four games heading into the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Alabama, the Gators were 35-19, looking very much like a team that was going to hit the road for the NCAA regionals. Once in Hoover, the Gators took care of enough business by going 3-1 with one of the wins a 13-1 smashing of eventual national champion Mississippi State, that instead of going on the road, they hosted a regional.

Can the Gators do it again? They’re 35-20 (15-15 SEC) and one of the hotter teams in the SEC with 12 wins in their last 15 games including four consecutive series, but like last year, they have work to do in Hoover. The Gators are projected by D1Baseball to be the No. 2 team in the Coral Gables regional when the NCAA announces its 64-team field. That is probably a reasonable assessment, but everything could change in Hoover if the Gators win three games. At 38 wins, the Gators could be very attractive as hosts for the selection committee.

The quest to get to 38 wins starts today at 2 p.m. when the Gators face South Carolina (27-27, 12-18 SEC) in the SEC Tournament first round. The Gators beat South Carolina two out of three to win their most recent weekend series. If the Gators who won the first game 14-5 or the second game 8-0 show up, then UF will be in good shape. If the Gators who managed only three hits while taking it on the chin 4-1 Saturday show up, then get ready for a regional road trip.

Even though he will be going with only four days rest since his game one win over the Gamecocks, righty Brandon Sproat (8-4, 3.87 ERA) is the probable starter. Against the Gamecocks, Sproat went 6-1/3 innings, giving up four hits and only two earned runs. South Carolina is expected to counter with righty Will Sanders (7-3, 3.72 ERA), who pitched only the first inning of the game three win over the Gators.

The other games:

10:30 a.m.: No. 11 Alabama (29-25, 12-17 SEC) vs. No. 6 Georgia (35-20, 15-15 SEC)

5:30 p.m.: No. 9 Ole Miss (32-21, 14-16 SEC) vs. No. 8 Vanderbilt (35-19, 14-16 SEC)

9 p.m.: No. 12 Kentucky (30-24, 12-18 SEC) vs. No. 5 Auburn (37-18, 16-13 SEC)

Riopelle makes first team All-SEC, Langford second team: Catcher BT Riopelle (.306, 14 HR, 50 RBI) made first team All-SEC while left fielder Wyatt Langford (.360, 21 HR, 55 RBI) was named to the second team. Righthanded pitcher Brandon Neely (3-1, 3.38 ERA) was Florida’s lone player named to the All-SEC Freshman team.

D1Baseball top 25: 1. Tennessee 49-7; 2. Virginia Tech 40-11; 3. Stanford 37-14; 4. Oregon State 41-13; 5. Texas A&M 35-17; 6. Miami 39-16; 7. Louisville 38-16-1; 8. Texas Tech 36-18; 9. Oklahoma State 36-18; 10. Maryland 44-10; 11. Texas State 44-11; 12. Gonzaga 34-15; 13. Arkansas 38-16; 14. Southern Miss 41-14; 15. Virginia 38-15; 16. Notre Dame 33-13; 17. UC-Santa Barbara 40-12; 18. TCU 35-18; 19. Texas 39-17; 20. UCLA 35-20; 21. LSU 37-18; 22. Oklahoma 33-20; 23. East Carolina 38-18; 25. Grand Canyon 39-17

Collegiate Baseball top 30: 1. Tennessee 49-17; 2. Virginia Tech 40-11; 3. Stanford 37-14; UC-Santa Barbara 40-12; 5. Oregon State 41-13; 6. Texas A&M 35-17; 7. Louisville 38-16-1; 8. Arkansas 38-16; 9. Texas State 44-11; 10. Miami 39-16; 12. TCU 35-18; 13. UCLA 35-20; 14. Texas Tech 36-18; 16. LSU 37-18; 17. Oregon State 35-21; 18. Cal Poly 35-20; 19. Maryland 44-10; 20. Southern Miss 41-14; 21. Notre Dame 33-13; 22. Virginia 38-15; 23. Auburn 37-18; 24. Georgia 35-20; 25. FLORIDA 35-20; 26. UConn 43-13; 27. Ole Miss 32-21; 28. Grand Canyon 39-17; 29. Gonzaga 24-15; 30. Iowa 33-17

SEC FOOTBALL/BASKETBALL

Georgia: Kirby Smart on what NIL is doing: “Right now you’re chasing your own players, you’re chasing players that are in the portal and then you’re chasing recruits. So you’re getting pulled in a lot of directions. There’s a lot of demands. It’s 24/7 all the time. I got in this business because I like the relationships and coaching. Not the chasing.”

Kentucky: Keion Brooks (6-7, 210) has withdrawn from the NBA Draft process. He remains in the transfer portal but has not ruled out a return to Kentucky. If you wager on such things, put your money on a return to UK … Punter Colin Goodfellow has withdrawn from the transfer portal and will be returning to Kentucky.

Mississippi State: Alden Applewhite (6-7, 205) is transferring to Portland.

South Carolina: Shane Beamer on NIL and what it should be doing: “I’m all for guys being able to [profit]. Dakereon Joyner, for example, after that bowl game – I think he’s brought in over six figures since that bowl game. He used it to put on a camp back in his hometown, which he did last weekend. Our players used some of that money to take underprivileged kids shopping on a shopping spree before Christmas. That’s how the rule was intended to be used … What I don’t like is it’s turned into buying recruits and that’s not what the rule was intended to be.”

Texas A&M: Jimbo Fisher accused KSAT TV-12’s Greg Simmons of believing Nick Saban and the stories that the Aggies spent millions luring their 2022 recruiting class: “He’s not news, you’re news. You’re media. Do you guys not research? I’m asking you: Did you do your research? No, no, see you can’t answer so you just assumed and that’s the way this world goes now. Something’s written on social media and someone says it, you believe it. So where does that put you guys as reporters? It’s because social media put it out … nothing’s changed. You want a story and a click and a hit. See, I threw you off your game right now.”

PAUL FINEBAUM ON SABAN VS. JIMBO

Paul Finebaum of the SEC Network offered this salvo:

“What Saban said was a 2-by-4 to the head but what Jimbo did was take this from a serious skirmish to nuclear war.”

PGA CHAMP JUSTIN THOMAS ON SABAN VS. JIMBO

PGA champion Justin Thomas, who played collegiately at Alabama, was reminded after winning the tournament that Nick Saban has a 24-hour rule for celebrating by Taylor Zarzour of Sirius/XM. Asked by Zarzour how long he will celebrate his victory, Thomas shot back:

“Yeah, I got a 24-hour rule. I’m not sure what Jimbo Fisher’s rule is, but I guess he’s got to win something first before he figures out his rules.”

PETE THAMEL OF ESPN ON SABAN VS. JIMBO

“I didn’t think what Nick Saban said was all that bad. He said they were buying players. Well, guess what? You can buy players now. In a way, I took it as an admission that Texas A&M had a better apparatus in place. It was like 10 years ago when Nick Saban complained about where offensive football was going. He eventually went out and got the best offense and ran the rest tempo. It was sort of an admission that – willfully or not – was behind Texas A&M. Texas A&M was doing a better job of procuring players through – as far as we know – the rules as they are written … For him [Fisher] to go scorched earth on his old boss, it hints there’s probably more to this and probably more in the undercurrent.”

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: You might have missed it over the weekend, but the Atlantic Coast Conference announced it distributed $36.1 million to its member schools for the 2020-21 fiscal year. That’s a record for the ACC, which distributed $32.4 million the year before.

By comparison, the Southeastern Conference distributed $54.6 million for the 2020-21 fiscal year, a jump of $9.1 million per year over the 2019-20 fiscal year ($45.5 million). The numbers will jump significantly for 2023-24 when the SEC/ESPN deal kicks in, adding another $17 million to each SEC school. Bowl games, corporate sponsorships and other revenue deals will probably increase the amount distributed to way more than $75 million per school.

And this is before Texas and Oklahoma join the league. At the very latest, they’ll join the SEC after 2025, but it could happen sooner, perhaps as early as the 2023 football season since the Big 12 is in the awkward position of being a 14-team league for a couple of years. With BYU, UCF, Houston and Cincinnati joining the conference in 2023, scheduling would be a beast for a 14-team league that drops down to 12 teams when Texas and Oklahoma leave. What is likely to happen is a deal that involves the SEC and ESPN combining to offer some ransom money that will free Texas and Oklahoma to leave early and perhaps a TV deal with ESPN which will keep the Big 12 in better shape financially.

Whether Texas and Oklahoma join the SEC sooner or whether it’s later, there will be a revenue adjustment with ESPN that could increase the SEC per team distribution to somewhere in the $90 million range. You have to wonder what schools like Clemson, Florida State and Miami are thinking when they ponder numbers like that, particularly since the ACC won’t come anywhere close to $50 million a year distributions for several more years.

More than a few schools from other conferences have reached out to Greg Sankey through back channels to inquire if the commish and the SEC would entertain the possibility of further expansion beyond the additions of Texas and Oklahoma. Texas and Oklahoma will give the SEC a 16-team league with a workable, sustainable model for football and basketball for three permanent opponents while playing all the other 12 teams home and home every four years. It’s understandable that schools from leagues that generate less money will want to join the SEC, but the SEC just doesn’t need them.