March Madness is a reality this week. Interest is peaked at this time of the year as we see the players’ emotions, fantastic finishes and over night heroes. We fans latch onto some Cinderella team and follow them through the tournament. Everyone from famous folks like Warren Buffett to small town grandmas of America are predicting the winners of the tournament brackets. It is a special time.
The top four seeds are Gonzaga, Arizona, Kansas and Baylor heading into to the men’s tourney. The SEC had six teams invited to the “Dance” but our state’s men’s teams were not included in this year’s NCAA Tournament. The Ole Miss Lady Rebels and Jackson State Lady Tigers will represent our state in this year’s women’s Tournament. Ole Miss, a No. 7 seed, will play No. 10 South Dakota in Waco on Friday. JSU, a No. 14 seed, will play at No. 3 LSU on Saturday. The SEC had eight teams make the NCAA tournament and three more in the NIT tournament. Former MSU coach Vic Schaefer of Texas is going dancing. His team won the Big 12 tournament for the first time in 19 years and also beat Baylor for the first time in 11 years this season. No.2 Texas will host Fairfield in opening round action.
Mississippi State men’s team received a bid to the NIT and will open play at Virginia on Wednesday. Southern Mississippi men’s basketball coach Jay Ladner notched his 100th career win and his first win in the C-USA tournament with a victory over UT-San Antonio last Tuesday. The Eagles fell the following day to Florida Atlantic. Alcorn fell to Texas Southern in the championship game of the SWAC tournament. Former Ole Miss basketball coach and Louisville native Andy Kennedy led his UA-Birmingham team to the C-USA tournament title and will play Houston in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.
Ole Miss (13-2) downed Alcorn and won two games from Oral Roberts as they enter SEC action this weekend at Auburn. Peyton Chatagnier stole three bases on the same play against Alcorn to make headlines across the country the next day. Mississippi State (10-7) won four of five games after splitting with Texas Tech in Biloxi and sweeping Princeton. The Bulldogs will head to Georgia this weekend to open SEC play. Dallas Baptist swept Southern Mississippi (10-6) over the weekend, but USM defeated Tulane and South Alabama in midweek games. The Eagles will host Alabama on Tuesday before hosting C-USA foe Florida Atlantic beginning Friday. Delta State has won nine of their last ten games to improve to 12-6 overall.
Walter Payton will be inducted into the National Federation High School Hall of Fame on July 1 in San Antonio. Payton is now one of the few that have been named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, College Hall of Fame and the High School Hall of Fame.
Mississippi State’s Iverson Molinar and Sharkira Austin of Ole Miss were named the top college basketball players in Mississippi. Molinar won the Howell Trophy while Austin won the Gillom Trophy in ceremonies at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and the Pearl River Resort sponsor the awards.
Alabama defeated the Mississippi High School All-Stars in both basketball games this past Saturday. In the boys’ game, Alabama won, 96-89, while in the girls’ game Mississippi fell, 89-81. Kimani Hamilton of Clinton was the named the Mississippi MVP while Carly Keats of Neshoba Central was named the Mississippi girls MVP.
The Jones Lady Bobcats and Pearl River Wildcats will head to their National Tournament this week. PRC will play this Monday and Jones on Wednesday.
Ole Miss track star Mario Garcia won the mile run while USM’s Corvell Todd was named All-American with a high jump of 7 feet, 6 inches to capture the silver medal at the NCAA indoor track championships.
