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Good morning and welcome to the pre-6 a.m. edition of Friday Chat. I am about to get on the road to Lexington.
Since Dexter says don't text and drive, he probably means don't check the blog and drive too. I've got a friend sharing the driving, though, and I'll be checking in around 10. I've got some work to do in the car along the way.
Not a bad showing for Ole Miss basketball last night, about what I expected, honestly. There were some young and talented guys doing athletic things and also making mistakes. Demarco Cox had a nice game and showed the improvement we'd been told he'd made. He seemed very encouraged by his performance in the postgame.
Football has a real shot to win this week, not only because there's been some improvement in the run game the last two weeks but also because of the opponent. If the SEC losing streak reaches 12 this weekend I suspect it will reach 13 with the next conference opportunity at home against LSU on Nov. 19.
Got questions, got answers? Leave them here. I'll check in from somewhere on I-65 later this morning.
Senquez on a basepath is intriguing. I hope he hits well enough to get on base.
I think the Rebels can be good this year, not sure if they will be CWS good.
You been to SF lately? You know I like Boudins.
Also, with baseball around the corner, how big of an impact will Senquez have on this team? I see us in the College World Series this year. I think if Bianco is going to ever do it, it has to be now.
1 A depth chart guess. With basketball there's really not a “2-deep” as we see with football. It's all about a rotation and who gets inside the 8- or 9- player group that is used most often.
I think your first five will be Holloway at the 5, Buckner the 4, Henry the 3, then Nelson at 1 and Williams at 2 to start.
Williams is the wild card here. How well he plays can determine where freshman Jarvis Summers coming off the bench is necessary to get the offense moving or if it becomes a matchup advantage Kennedy can create by putting Nelson at the 2. Williams did some good things last night, 10 points, 5 rebounds, 5-for-9 shooting in 25 minutes. That's his kind of game. He did some good things in the non-conference last year. He's got to sustain it in the SEC.
I think Summers and Aaron Jones get in the rotation. It will be interesting to see what Jelan Kendrick and LaDarius White bring when they come on board in mid-December – assuming White makes his grades. One or both of those could get in. Kennedy says White is as good as he has athletically. The fact that Memphis signed Kendrick – and the fact that he's a 6-7 guard – makes a statement there.
Steadman Short will be back soon. I could see a battle developing between he and Demarco Cox for the top frontcourt reserve. Based on what Cox showed last night that spot won't automatically go to Short even though he played well last year.
2. I'm glad to see you have such faith in my predictions. (Ha.) I think the team has the talent to earn an at-large bid. Whether it does will depend on how the young players mesh in SEC games and who evolves as the big-shot taker at the end of games.
3. I haven't kept up too much with baseball recruiting. I like what I know about the class that's in there right now. They need young pitchers to throw like upperclassmen, but they've got a lot of moving parts to work with.
I'm optomistic - required for a Rebel fan.
JB
I'm still watching the Rebels play football, but I'm done talking about them. Moving on to basketball and baseball. It seems like we have a the potential for a lot more depth this year in basketball and hopefully we will be able to keep Buckner from getting fouled out of every game if Cox plays well. Questions: 1) Can you point to or give us an expected depth chart for our basketball team this year, and 2)when do you expect to give us your official season prediction for the team and what it will take to make the NCAA tournament? I know its useless, but you know we all want to know. 3) I believe the deadline for baseball commitments are coming up in the next week. 4) What is the process like as compared to football (I know we still have the MLB draft to worry about.), and have you heard anything about the status of our upcoming recruiting class? I know its still football season and you may not have the answers to all of these questions, but I just wanted to put them out there. I've got a good feeling about our basketball and baseball teams this year. Basketball to make the tournament and baseball to really show some promise for the next two years. We still have a young pitching team. Need Bianco to keep Wahl healthy and not try and wear him out like we did Bittle.