McCready: 10 Weekend Thoughts presented by Harry Alexander
1. Ole Miss’ season ended on Friday with a loss to Oklahoma in the NCAA Tournament.
I was basically finished with my writing by the final buzzer. I loaded my content here on RebelGrove.com as fast I could, hustled the half-mile back to the hotel, packed my stuff up and got on the road.
I was out of Columbia, South Carolina by 4:30 p.m. EDT. I pulled into my driveway around 11:55 p.m. CDT. I stopped once around Oxford, Alabama, to get gas and use the restroom. I listened to the end of Season 1 of Over My Dead Body. I listened to the Oklahoma City Thunder’s road win over the Toronto Raptors. I listed to Mo Rocca’s “mobituary” about the Iron Bowl rivalry. I then started the Dr. Death podcast. I talked to Chase Parham, Jeffrey Wright, my wife, all of my kids and my dad. It was a long, long drive.
I also had a lot of time to think — about life, about my kids, the baseball team I’m coaching this spring, future podcast guests, etc. I also did some contemplating about the basketball team I covered over the last six months. I reached the same conclusion Friday evening that I did throughout the season: Wow, that Ole Miss team really overachieved. It’s a hell of an accomplishment for Kermit Davis, his coaching staff and the players that that roster reached the NCAA Tournament. They had no reason to believe they could achieve that goal when the season began, but they made it their purpose and, by God, they did it.
Frankly, they inspired me. Last week was really introspective for me. I had lots of alone time driving to Columbia, working in Columbia, eating by myself in Columbia (Jay G. Tate would’ve lost his mind) and then driving back to Oxford. The Rebels inspired me to try to focus on what I do have going for myself and not on what I don’t. They inspired me to think about setting goals no one else would think are realistic and then trying to accomplish them, even if it’s against all odds.
Ole Miss’ season didn’t end the way the Rebels wanted. Life rarely does. The Rebels got every ounce of juice out of their proverbial orange, however, and that is a great thing; there’s not much to regret.
So now, Ole Miss moves on. The season is over. The past is in the past. There’s nothing that can be done about it now. The future awaits, and it has a chance to be a bright one.
“It's really been probably one of the most rewarding years I've ever had as a coach, as far as a team maybe overachieving,” Davis said. “Our staff did a great job. These guys did a great job. I know it wasn't the last couple games. Breein Tyree may have been the most improved guy in the SEC. Went from a no team preseason, averaged 9 or 10, to second in the league in scoring. Devontae Shuler has never played point guard in his life, played point all year long. And (Terence Davis) had a great year.
“We'll reflect back. I think it's what they said, in about a week. The biggest thing I take away is just so appreciative of how the players and the fan base connected, how we grew there. We've got a lot of work to do. There's no question about that.”
Davis said the season sped up the progressive arc of the Ole Miss program.
“It expedited fan interest,” Davis said. “I think it hopefully expedites recruiting, just from a national level, just because of what people saw -- not (Friday), but just the tournament, so our fan base and those nationally televised games in The Pavilion. I really did. We've got a lot of work now. We've got a lot of holes to fill, and we've got to get guys better, but I do think it sped up the process.”
Davis isn’t a sugar-coater. I like that about him. He holds himself and his players accountable. While this season had some cool moments and ended in the NCAA Tournament, it never satisfied Davis or his staff.
“It didn't ever really look like what I really wanted it to look like,” Davis said. “I was really proud of their improvement, but for us to really be a contender in the SEC, bodies have got to change. We've got to develop a lot better depth. There's still a lot of work for us to do.”
2. Tyree faded down the stretch. Sources inside the program said he wore down physically and mentally. Tyree, to his credit, made no excuses.
“It's unacceptable,” Tyree said. “I've got to become a more consistent player over this off-season and just got to be better.”
Tyree wasn’t ready to talk big picture Friday. The disappointment of being blown out by the Sooners was still raw. Still, he knows there’s a lot that can be taken from the season into Tyree’s senior year.
“As a player and as a competitor, you want to win every game, especially our first time being in March Madness,” Tyree said. “I know, when we take a step back probably a few weeks from now and look at what we did this season, we had a great body of work. We all got better as people and as basketball players on and off the court this year. So there's a lot of positives, but never happy or satisfied with losing like that.”
Tyree also acknowledged the obvious — that NCAA Tournament experience was valuable for Oklahoma Friday, and Ole Miss’ lack thereof was a detriment for the Rebels.
“They got out to a really good start,” Tyree said. "Oklahoma is a really experienced tournament team. I think they made it like four of the last five years. Got to give them all the credit. In my matchup, whoever I was guarding was exploiting me for most of the game. I know it. Everybody saw it. I'm not happy with it, but back to the drawing board we go.”
3. Terence Davis’ Ole Miss career came to an end Friday.
This will be a short note, but they’re my thoughts, so here goes:
Media respect stand-up guys. Bo Wallace was one, for example. Even when he’d rather have died than talked after a game, he was there, doing his job.
Davis is one, too. During his sophomore year, when he was taking the SEC by storm, he was there night after night, charming us with his smile and giving us affable quotes. Of course, that’s easy. A year later, when Davis’ play fell off, helping to lead to a nightmare of a season, Davis was still there, night after night, answering difficult questions.
This year, through ups and downs, questions about kneeling or not kneeling, phenomenal performances and subpar ones, he was always there, looking questioners in the eye and giving honest answers.
I don’t cheer for teams, but I’m human. There are people I have to work hard not to root against, and there are people that are difficult to not wish wonderful things for.
Now that it’s done, good luck, T.D. You were a joy to cover and you’re a stand-up guy. Here’s hoping life brings you good things.
4. Dominic Olejniczak isn’t sure what the future holds for him.
The 7-footer from Poland has one year of eligibility remaining, but his athletic limitations were obvious over the past two seasons. I can’t see him playing a major role next season, especially if Khadim Sy signs with the Rebels and one of the two young bigs in/coming to the program (Carlos Curry and Rodney Howard) are ready to contribute.
Meanwhile, there are rumblings Olejniczak’s family is encouraging him to return to Europe to pursue a professional career.
“I have no idea yet,” Olejniczak said. “We just finished the season. I’m really happy with what we accomplished. There will be a time and place to think about next year.”
Olejniczak said Davis is a great coach, and he said he’s “100 percent positive he knows what we need to work on. The experience this team got this year is going to help us get better and improve.”
5. Blake Hinson will not only be back for Ole Miss next season but he will also be counted on to play a huge role.
In the immediate aftermath of Friday’s loss, the freshman forward made it clear he plans to attack that assignment.
“For me personally, I’m just going to work until my body can’t work any more,” Hinson said. “I’m going to try to make myself the best player I possibly can for this team. I definitely plan on picking up my leadership role next year and trying to lead this team and give it the same kind of winning mindset I have. I think most of the kids in there do so that shouldn’t be a problem.”
Hinson said he plans to be a big recruiter moving forward as well.
“I got some interesting recruiting messages, actually right before I came here,” Hinson said. “There are some people coming, some new people, some new recruits, and it’s looking up for this program. I could throw big hints. If you’re an Ole Miss recruiting fan, you’ll understand. At the beginning of the year, we were trying to get this kid and he just wouldn’t come. Now, all of a sudden, he’s interested. Where he was going, the coach got fired. Now he wants to. That just shows what winning does. The more it wins, the more it’s going to happen with kids across the nation.”
Hinson said his mentality is as long as he puts in the work, he’s going to keep his confidence, adding he believes he is “the greatest shooter ever.”
Hinson said he won’t be satisfied just making the tournament.
“I’m trying to win this tournament,” Hinson said. “That’s what we’re doing for this program.”
6. The Sweet 16 is set. Damn, I wanted to see UCF knock off Duke. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. Here are my picks for next weekend’s games:
East Region:
Duke over Virginia Tech
Michigan State over LSU
West Region:
Gonzaga over Florida State
Texas Tech over Michigan
South Region:
Virginia over Oregon/UC-Irvine
Purdue over Tennessee
Midwest Region:
North Carolina over Auburn
Houston over Kentucky
7. The Seattle Mariners are 2-0. The Oakland Athletics are 0-2. Every other team is waiting on Thursday or Friday to start the Major League Baseball season.
So it’s time for me to jinx some clubs with my predictions. I’ll make playoff and individual predictions in this spot next week.
American League East:
Boston
New York Yankees
Tampa Bay
Toronto
Baltimore
American League Central:
Cleveland
Minnesota
Chicago White Sox
Detroit
Kansas City
American League West:
Houston
Los Angeles Angels
Seattle
Oakland
Texas
National League East:
Atlanta
Philadelphia
Washington
New York Mets
Miami
National League Central:
St. Louis
Chicago Cubs
Milwaukee
Cincinnati
Pittsburgh
National League West:
Colorado
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego
Arizona
San Francisco
8. We’ll have spring football coverage this week as Ole Miss continues to prepare for the Grove Bowl on April 6.
We’ve gotten very little push-back from subscribers regarding spring football coverage, but I’m a big believer in transparency, so I want to make sure everyone understands how this works.
Ole Miss determines the amount of access we get as reporters. This spring, with new coordinators installing new systems on both sides of the football, access is pretty restricted. I don’t blame Ole Miss or Matt Luke at all. If I were in their shoes, I’d do the exact same thing.
I know; reporters aren’t supposed to advocate for less access. We’re supposed to argue for total access. However, I get it. I understand Ole Miss’ policy this spring (and almost certainly, into fall camp).
Fans want wins. They’ll bitch about losses. Ole Miss is going into a season with new schemes, a new quarterback, a revamped offensive line, a young receiver corps, a new defensive scheme, players at new positions, new faces expected to be impact players, etc.
Those first two games _ at Memphis, versus Arkansas _ are going to be toss-ups. Every advantage helps. Every disadvantage hurts. Memphis really doesn’t know what to expect from Ole Miss. Keeping it that way by limiting what the media and public see is smart.
Ole Miss scrimmaged on Saturday. The scrimmage was closed to the media and the public. Again, I don’t blame Luke for closing it. I’d close it too if I were in his shoes. However, that closure makes it impossible for us to draw any conclusions from spring. Luke will talk about the scrimmage on Tuesday, and we’ll report what he says. We’ll talk to players and coaches throughout the week and we’ll report what they say.
The Grove Bowl, I expect, is going to be extremely vanilla. It’ll be televised, and you can bet Memphis and Arkansas and other opponents will study the tape. I anticipate Ole Miss will show very, very little on that Saturday afternoon; it would completely defy logic to do so.
I say all of that to say this: The lack of in-depth analysis from spring football isn’t due to laziness. We can’t analyze what we don’t see. This site has never gone to practice and made dozens of observations and judgments of players based on stretching and individual work. Personally, I find that kind of stuff disingenuous and, often, incorrect.
Coaches are in the scoreboard business. The season will roll around, and when it does, we’ll report on that scoreboard and analyze why the score was what it was. Luke, Rich Rodriguez, Mike MacIntyre and the others can’t hide the ball forever.
But anyone who is upset at them for hiding it now aren’t really being honest with themselves.
9. It’s time for the drink of the week. Here’s Jonathan Howard:
Friday was sobering. While a sure-fire Sweet 16 birth was far from expected, to get as fully dealt-with as we did was not expected. While we have come a long way in year one of the Davis Era of Rebel Hoops, we have a long way to go to get to the place that we want to be. So, since we got got slapped sober, how about something light and low ABV to get us back into he swing of things with Spring Football and the Diamond Rebs now in focus? Let’s revisit the classic Sherry Cobbler. It's no surprise I love sherry, and I urge you all to try one of these beauties and see for yourself!
The Sherry Cobbler is an American-born cocktail by most accounts. Simply sherry, sugar and citrus, shaken, poured over crushed ice and slurped through a straw, the Cobbler is thought to have originated sometime in the 1820s or early 1830s. But like most 19th century drinks, its origins are foggy.
Cocktail historian David Wondrich is credited with digging up the first-known mention of the Sherry Cobbler from the 1838 diary of Katherine Jane Ellice, a Canadian who took note of the drink while traveling in the U.S. Ellice was astonished at the drink’s beauty, but also at the act of sipping through a straw — a novel concept at the time. Were it not for the Sherry Cobbler, which is credited with introducing the straw to popular consciousness, we might still be dumping ice down our chins to get to the bottom of a drink.
For our cobbler, we use a split base of Fino and Amontillado sherries. I prefer LUSTAU brand sherries, Fino for its bright nuttiness, Amontillado for its slight caramel notes and orange Curaçao for tangy citrus flavor and richness, sugar, and fresh slices of orange and lemon.
The drink is named from muddling or "cobbling" fresh fruit before quickly shaking it with the sherry and sugar. The drink is then topped with fresh fruit and powdered sugar. The result is a beautifully refreshing drink, very similar to a mint julep but much softer and more complex.
Sherry Cobbler
1 oz. Fino Sherry
1 oz. Amontillado Sherry
1/2 oz. Orange Curacao
3 Slices Lemon
3 Slices Orange
Bar soon simple Syrup
Directions: In a mixing tin, place citrus and muddle. Add remaining ingredients, a couple cubes of ice and shake briefly. Strain into a julep cup or wine glass and top with crushed ice. Garnish with fresh fruit and mint sprig and finish with powdered sugar.
Cheers!
10. We’ll have coverage of Ole Miss football, baseball, football recruiting and whatever else may come up this week. Until then, here are some links of interest to me _ and hopefully, to you _ for your reading pleasure:
The Angels needed Mike Trout to stay, and now the Angels need to be good – The Athletic
‘The switch is back on’ for the Cubs and Joe Maddon. But how far will they go? – The Athletic
Attention will be paid: Inside the Cubs’ detail-laden plan to get their edge back – The Athletic
What a GM sees when he watches a baseball game - espn.com
A glove affair: Tigers' Mercer just can't quit his 10-year-old Rawlings mitt
BenFred: Spread the word — Fowler and Cards are confident this season will be different
Passan: How Phillies' 2018 clubhouse issues caused by Fortnite led to a smashed TV - espn.com
Sources: Disney To Accept Binding Bids For RSNs Within Next Month
Grief and baseball: How LSU coach Paul Mainieri mourned his father's death on the diamond | NOLA.com
Why Michigan keeps on flexing – The Athletic
Did Bob Stinson create the first NCAA tournament bracket pool?
D'Angelo Russell to give Kevin Durant grand tour of Brooklyn
Don’t make Tate Martell’s NCAA transfer waiver a bigger deal than it is - SBNation.com
Ticket sales tumble as Missouri football tries to keep up | Mizzou Football | columbiamissourian.com
Joe Rogan’s podcast is an essential platform for freethinkers who hate the left. - slate.com
'It hurt so bad': Indiana teachers shot with plastic pellets during active shooter training
The 90-year-old still dreaming of resurrecting a mammoth - CNN
How Parents Are Robbing Their Children of Adulthood - The New York Times
Jack the Ripper's true identity finally 'revealed' by DNA evidence from crime scene
Tiny Love Stories: ‘Relationships Are Like Shoes’ - The New York Times