twk

Last year in Omaha, the weather was a big factor in that it was unusually cool and more north wind than south, which helped the hitters. Saturday night looks like typical Omaha weather with a steady wind blowing in from center. Which of these two teams can manufacture a few runs without hitting the ball out of the ballpark? That, to me is the question. Arkansas is probably more reliant on the home run (not a good thing at Omaha), but LSU looked pretty pedestrian at the plate this year. Gun to my head, I'd reluctantly bet on Arkansas.

For what it's worth, last year, the Omaha folks were astounded by the money they were making selling tickets. With you guys and Arkansas in one half of the bracket, tickets to those games are going to be a lot more expensive than the other half. But, when one of you goes, prices will probably drop.

Part of the settlement includes increasing scholarship numbers so that everyone on the roster can (if the school is willing to fund it) be on a full scholarship. For example, baseball goes from 11.7 to 34, but that 34 is the roster cap (no walkons after the current group cycles through). Not every school will fund the limit, but it will inject a lot more scholarship money into these sports.

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It blows my mind that a program as consistent as North Carolina's can't even come close to selling out a Super Regional in a stadium that isn't even that big. It's a stretch to say there's 3,000 people there right now. They deserve better fans. I remember when they hosted us for a Super a few years ago how unintimidating that environment was.

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Reminds me of a scene from the movie The Last Picture Show, where Sam is reminded by Abilene that he lost a bet on the prior night’s high school football game. Sam turns to Sonny and Duane and says, “You see, this is what I get for betting on my hometown team. I ought to have better sense.” To which, Abilene replies, “It wouldn’t hurt if you had a better hometown.”

Tornado sirens are going off in Lubbock as there is a large tornado in the vicinity of the old Reese AFB. Hope the Tech fans ride it out ok.

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That is weird. I know in the early days it had a few extra teams. But it was ten teams for years.

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Up to some point in time (I want to say 1982), the league didn't make out the schedule for the schools. The only rule with regard to scheduling was you had to play a minimum number of SEC games in order to be eligible for the SEC title (and there were even some exceptions to that). So, some schools would play five SEC games, some would play six or seven.

There were years when the title was decided by the fact that one team played more games than another. There were matchups that were played every year (or close to it), and matchups that were almost never played.

Feuds were indulged. Georgia Tech wouldn't play the Mississippi schools. Bama played Georgia every year until a magazine article accused Bear and the Georgia coach of gambling, and then they simply stopped.

And then there was the issue of where matchups were played. Because gate revenue was split evenly, schools with small stadiums generally wanted to play schools with big stadiums, and the ones with big stadiums would sometimes refuse to travel to the small ones. For example, Tennessee played Auburn regularly starting in the '50s, but never in Auburn until 1980; Auburn was forced to play their "home" games against Tennessee at Legion Field in Birmingham.

They've got lights at Corvallis, I think it's just a matter of that the weather is nice enough for them to play during the day (and often rather chilly at night), whereas, starting at 8:00 in June for a game in the south is a break for the fans attending the game.

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What's more impressive is all the mid majors still winning against teams that take away their best players from the portal

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You will see more of this going forward if they go to a 34 man, all full-ride, roster. There will be kids cut loose by the big schools for not performing up to their potential who blossom when given a chance.

Then, they will hit the portal and go to another big school.

It's a vicious circle.

This is across all sports. We will have 34 baseball full rides (up from 11.7), for example. No more partial scholarships.

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I think the only way he doesn’t come is if UVA gives him what he wants at the last second before y’all announce. I don’t think y’all are announcing him before y’all’s season ends so it’s a weird situation where if I was a State fan, I would want to go 2 and Q and get this out there officially ASAP so UVA doesn’t have time to bring him back. Because I guarantee they are calling boosters to get funding he needs for the upgrades he wants. It’s barely leaking out now that he is gone and their fans are not happy at all.

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Just a guess on my part, but if O'Connor is bringing assistants with him, he probably would prefer to wait to make the move until State is done, because as long as State is in the tournament, there's no opening for his assistants, and they might miss a paycheck.