South Carolina defeated Utah 2-1 and will play the winner of Duke v. Morgan State tomorrow at 11:00am. It will almost certainly be Duke.

I want competitive teams that other SEC teams respect

Hearing from Mark Kingston to preview the Tennessee series. Updates to follow.

There are some whispers about her joining the Gamecocks for her final year of eligibility. She’s in the portal after graduating from Stanford. Perhaps she might look to Dawn to get her WNBA- ready. She’s great offensively but needs a lot of work on her defensive game. Dawn put out a cryptic emoji message — perhaps making fans aware something is in the works(?). I hope she come here.

Not out in the other Columbia, but checking in for remote coverage of game one for South Carolina baseball at Missouri. Another series the Gamecocks really need to win to stay in position to host a regional. Mark Kingston sticks with the all-offense lineup which has scored 38 runs in the last three games, which looks like this:

Austin Brinling - CF
Ethan Petry - 1B
Parker Noland - 2B
Cole Messina - C
Blake Jackson - RF
Kennedy Jones - LF
Dalton Reeves - DH
Talmadge LeCroy - SS
Gavin Casas - 3B

Roman Kimball - Pitcher

Another day, and another chance for South Carolina to win an SEC series. Game two of South Carolina's series at Missouri starts at 4 p.m., and after a 10-2 win last night, Mark Kingston is rolling with the same nine in the lineup, albeit in a slightly different order. Eli Jones is on the mound looking for a bounceback start after a rough outing last week. Here's how the Gamecocks will line up:

Austin Brinling - CF
Ethan Petry - 1B
Parker Noland - 2B
Cole Messina - C
Gavin Casas - 3B
Kennedy Jones - LF
Dalton Reeves - DH
Talmadge LeCroy - SS
Blake Jackson - RF

Eli Jones - Pitcher

Hitting the portal? Wtf

ROCK HILL, S.C. — Checking in from The Winthrop Ballpark for South Carolina baseball’s final midweek of the 2024 season. Gamecocks taking on Winthrop, who they run-ruled at Founders Park in February. Here’s Mark Kingston’s lineup:

Austin Brinling - CF
Ethan Petry - 1B
Blake Jackson - RF
Cole Messina - DH
Parker Noland - 2B
Kennedy Jones - LF
Dalton Reeves - C
Talmadge LeCroy - SS
Gavin Casas - 3B

Tyler Pitzer - Pitcher

1997 63–5 25–1 SEC Champions; SEC Tournament Champions; Women's College World Series

1997 was softballs best year will we ever see years like this again? The oldest softball program in the SEC and at times its embarrassing to watch them play.

Our pitching sucks

https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/nfl-games-on-netflix

Netflix Will Be the Home to Live NFL Games This Christmas Day

Santa won’t be the only one seen all over the world.
BY HENRY GOLDBLATT
MAY 15, 2024
Netflix has an early Christmas gift for you — but it won’t fit under the tree. On Dec. 25, 2024, we’ll be the global home of the NFL’s two Christmas Day marquee games: the Super Bowl LVII-winning Chiefs vs Steelers and Ravens vs. Texans. And mark your calendar for Christmas Day in 2025 and 2026 when we’ll be streaming at least one holiday game each year as part of this three-season deal.

Netflix has been playing ball with the NFL for a couple of years now, beginning with the hit series Quarterback in 2023. This summer, Receiveris set to premiere on Netflix and will follow five of the NFL’s best pass catchers through their 2023 season on and off the field: Davante Adams (Raiders), Justin Jefferson (Vikings), George Kittle and Deebo Samuel (of the 49ers), and Amon-Ra St. Brown (Lions).

“Last year, we decided to take a big bet on live — tapping into massive fandoms across comedy, reality TV, sports, and more,” says Netflix Chief Content Officer, Bela Bajaria. “There are no live annual events, sports or otherwise, that compare with the audiences NFL football attracts. We’re so excited that the NFL’s Christmas Day games will be only on Netflix.”

“We couldn’t be more excited to be the first professional sports league to partner with Netflix to bring live games to fans around the world,” says Hans Schroeder, NFL Executive Vice President of Media Distribution. “The NFL on Christmas has become a tradition and to partner with Netflix, a service whose biggest day of the year is typically this holiday, is the perfect combination to grow this event globally for NFL fans.”

The NFL launched Yuletide games in 1971 before bringing them back on a semi-regular basis in 1989. Since 2020, they’ve been a holiday staple with last year’s three Christmas games ranking among the top 25 most-viewed TV programs of 2023; the Raiders vs. Chiefs match (yes, Taylor Swift and Santa Claus attended) drew the highest Christmas Day viewership since 1988. In total, the NFL has staged 30 Christmas contests and in keeping with the NFL’s long-standing holiday tradition, the Netflix Christmas Day games will air on broadcast TV in the competing team cities, and be available on US mobile devices with NFL+. The league has also released its complete 2024-2025 schedule.

D1 currently projects that the SEC in going to send a record 11 teams to the NCAA Tournament. 10 is the prior record that was also set by the SEC. As we looked at yesterday, South Carolina is one of five 13-17 SEC record schools fighting for a spot. https://southcarolina.rivals.com/news/life-on-the-bubble-5

If all 11 get in- then nothing in Hoover really is going to matter except for Ole Miss (win the tournament or the season's over) and Miss St (fighting for a host spot). Below is a complete at where college baseball's postseason sits at the moment. We will update as the week progresses.

There are 30 automatic births for conference champions and 34 at large births for the NCAA Tournament. There are 16 clear 1-bid leagues with zero chance of an at large. This is a quick look at each league.

American East Conference
Automatic Birth: Bryant
At large births: none this is a 1-bid league.

American Athletic Conference
Automatic Birth: Tulane
At large locks: The Green Wave stole a bid from someone because ECU was the only team getting in otherwise.

A10 Conference
Automatic Birth: VCU
At large births: None this as 1-bid league

ACC
Automatic Birth: Duke
At large births: FSU, UNC, Clemson, NC State, Wake, and UVA are locks. GT will sweat it out tomorrow.

A-Sun Conference
Automatic Birth: Stetson.
At large births: 1-bid league

Big XII
Automatic Birth: Ok State
At large births: Oklahoma, WVU, and Texas are locks. TCU and KState are on the bubble and will wait out selection Monday. I'd place the pecking order at TCU then KState.

Big East
Automatic Birth: St Johns- Johnnies may have stolen a bid.
At large births: UConn is a lock. Xavier is on the bubble- probably the wrong side

Big South
Automatic Birth: High Point
At large births: none this is a 1-bid league

Big Ten
Automatic Birth: Nebraska.
At large births: Illinois is somehow a lock. Indiana is on the bubble but I don't think they make it.

Big West
Automatic Birth: UC Santa Barbara
At large births: UC Irvine is a lock.

Coastal Athletic Conference
Automatic Birth: UNCW
At large births: Charleston is on the bubble. They are the first team out in D1 latest projection.

Conference USA
Automatic Birth: Dallas Baptist
At large births: Louisiana Tech is a lock. No stolen bid here as DBU was a lock.

Horizon League
Automatic Birth: Northern Kentucky
At large births: 1-bid league

Ivy League
Automatic Birth: Penn
At large births: None

MAAC
Automatic Birth: Niagara
At large births: 1-bid league.

MAC
Automatic Birth: Western Michigan
At large births: 1-bid league

Missouri Valley Conference
Automatic Birth: Evansville
At large births: Indiana State is lock. Another bid was stolen here.

Mountain West Conference
Automatic Birth: Fresno State
At large births: 1-bid league

Northeast Conference
Automatic Birth: Long Island
At large births: 1-bid league

Ohio Valley Conference
Automatic Birth: Southeast Missouri
At large births: 1-bid league

Pac 12
Automatic Birth: Arizona
At large births: Oreg St and Oregon are locks. Cal is squarely on the bubble.

Patriot League
Automatic Birth: Army
At large births: None

SEC
Automatic Birth: Tennessee
At large births: 9 locks (UGA, TAMU, Miss St, Ark, UK, Vandy, Bama, SC, and LSU). UF is going to try to ride their SOS into the field of 64 but it will be close.

SoCon
Automatic Birth: Wofford
At large births: Probably one bid but UNC Greensboro is at least on the bubble.

Southland Conference
Automatic Birth: Nicholls
At large births: 1-big league

SWAC
Automatic Birth: Grambling
At large births: 1-bid league

Summit League
Automatic Birth: Oral Roberts
At large births: 1-bid league

Sun Belt
Automatic Birth: Southern Miss
At large births: Louisiana is lock. Troy, Coastal and James Madison are all on the bubble. Two at best get in- could be just one.

West Coast Conference
Automatic Birth: San Diego
At large births: San Diego is a lock. Portland is on the bubble

WAC
Automatic Birth: Grand Canyon
At large births: 1-bid league