Let's Play Ball

Easter break is over and high schools make their their final run until graduation.  Sports have about a month to go until the playoffs so we get back into conference games this week.  Rocky Mount Softball will travel to Farmville Central today before they have two conference games on Tuesday and Friday.

The two teams tied at the top in Big East baseball collide Tuesday at Fike. Both Rocky Mount and Fike play for the second time and at this moment are 2-1 in the Big East.  Rocky Mount won the first meeting. Five of the Big East teams have one loss so the loser of this one could fall to the second division while the winner stays on top.

Rocky Mount's second game of the week will be against Southern Nash.  Tuesday also has Northern and Nash Central meeting up and Southern and Hunt in action against each other.  Most years somebody comes out of the pack to take control of the conference so by week's end we will see if there is one that looks the part.

Over the weekend the Rocky Mount Telegram finished up their series on the All Telegram teams from winter sports.  Sunday Deshawn Freeman from Rocky Mount Prep took the top honor on the boys side.  If you remember as a sophomore while at Northern Nash Freeman was outstanding then and after he departed for Prep Northern has struggled to be average.  Saturday Rocky Mount's J'Kyra Brown won the girls honor.  Kind of an odd fact is that both Freeman and Brown have had major knee injuries in their careers and both made full recoveries.

Louisville plays Michigan for the national championship in college basketball tonight.  Louisville is  on their way to the ACC in two years.  Syracuse the team knocked off by Michigan will join the ACC this summer along with Pitt.  Oh yea Notre Dame is not far from joining either.  The SEC can claim it is the top football conference but the ACC will claim the top basketball conference again.  Somebody in the ACC will have to play North Carolina , Duke, Louisville and Syracuse back to back somewhere in the future.

Finally today, if you haven't seen it please find it the clip of the Nebraska Spring football game this past Saturday.  We complain all the time about how we in life put tooo much into sports.  Saturday the University of Nebraska put a seven year old boy Jack Hoffman dying with cancer into the game and he preceeds to run 69 yards for a touchdown with the entire stadium cheering him and all the players urging him on.  Such a small act but in a life where a child will never see his own graduation from high school it is the moment of his life.

Sometimes as a human race we are compassionate people for others.  It's just most of the time you would never know it.

Rocky Mount In The Spot Light This Week

Starting Thursday Rocky Mount will be the home of USA-South Sports Tournaments  If you like sports then this week you should get you fill of anything played in the spring. tennis, softball or lacrosse it will all be in Rocky Mount this weekend.

 Softball will start Friday at the Rocky Mount Sports complex and will run through Sunday.  It will be a double elimination affair.  The conference golf championships will be held at Benevenue Country Club.  The semi-finals and finals in Lacrosse will be in Rocky Mount.  The tennis will be on campus at NCW where the City of Rocky Mount in conjunction with NCW have built a nice tennis venue both the men's and women's championship will take place this weekend.  Baseball will be divided between Five County Stadium in Zebulon and Wilson's Fleming Stadium. 

The city of Omaha Nebraska is the host of the College World Series.  The city of Rocky Mount has been given a great opportunity to strut their stuff this weekend but the only way this weekend can be a success for Wesleyan and the City is that people turn out to watch the games.  There should be something going on that interest you and there will be hundreds of athletes here and those that do well will head off to the Division III  playoffs.  Who knows you just might see a National Champion start their run  this weekend. if this is a success then who knows this might become the permanent home.

Montrezl Harrell scored eight points in eleven minutes and the former North Edgecombe Warrior is headed to the National Championship game in the NCAA Tournament.  Louisville powered by it's bench comes from behind in the last ten minutes to advance to the championship game Monday night.  Michigan won the other semi final game and will play in the finals for the first time since the famous timeout in their loss to North Carolina in 1993.

Brandon Givens of the Battling Bishops of North Carolina Wesleyan has had a right good couple of weeks.  Back on March 23rd he took part in the Division III All Star basketball game and he broke the scoring record while tossing in 43 points.  A couple of days ago Givens got word that he had been named All American.  Givens averaged 26.8 points per game for the Battling Bishops and became the first player in NCW history to score 700 points in one season.

Back To Back For Knight

Rocky Mount wrestler Alex Knight has won the Rocky Mount Telegram Wrestler of the year for the second time in a row.  I don't know what it is about back to back but Knight was the 3-A Regional Champ in the 145 pound class two years in a row.  He also lost in the State Championship match two years in a row.  Knight leaves Rocky Mount as one of the best wrestlers ever in the history of the program.

Wrestling is one of those sports where self satisfaction is bigger than the notoriety that you will receive from it.  You can say all you want but the six minutes in a wrestling match is the hardest sport to win.  You must go for two minutes while someone pushes tugs, tries to land you on your back  After a one minute rest go at it again for two minutes and after another one minute rest do it for .  There is no other sport that that takes the energy it does to wrestle.  J J Jones has developed a very good wrestling program at Rocky Mount.  Alex Knight heads the list as one of the Gryphons all time best.

The latest Wells Fargo standings are out and after having had a very nice winter sports season Rocky Mount has retaken the lead in the Wells Fargo Standings.  They have a whopping half a point lead over Hunt. Rocky Mount has 113.5 total while Hunt is next at 113.  Fike is third in the standings at 105.  The bottom half right now has Nash Central 99.5, Southern Nash 98 and Northern has 97.  When you look at the over all state standing there is no one from this area in the top 15.

Friday night N C State named Wes Moore as their new Women's basketball coach.  Moore was an assistant coach for Kay Yow back in the mid 1990's and for the past 15 years has been the head Coach of Tennessee Chattanooga. where he has had some gaudy numbers including 29-4 this year.  He is the only Women's basketball coach to has taken teams from Division 1, D2 and D3 to the basketball playoffs.

Athletic Scholarships

There is a misconception when a player signs an athletic scholarship that he has signed on at that school for four years.  Actually a player has to resign each year in order to go to that school for free the next year.  What happens when that player does not resign.  Most cases he transfers to another school.  There is one major catch if a player leaves and heads elsewhere.  He must sit out a year before he can play at the school where he transferred in to.  We have seen this a lot in the past couple of weeks.  Coaches get new gigs and off they go and a player who signed to play for that coach is stuck staying put after the coach leaves.

We live in a world where TV people like Dick Vitale scream the virtues of players that are Diaper Dandies and those that have an interest in these certain players after hearing the Vitale's of the world spout off keep feeding into the heads of young players how great they are.  By the time they show up on campus and find out this guy they never have heard of is just as good as they are and  their playing time is not as much as every one had told them it was going to be.

If you don't already know this but the worse judge of athletic ability is the parent of any athlete.  90% of all parents way over rate their child .  It is only natural since the kid was 10 he was the best player on his team.  After every winning game your parents friends are patting them on the back telling them what a great job that your kid did.  There are many who need that free ride to be able to send a kid to the college of their choice. Parents become blinded just like the players.

The big day comes and your child shows up and there are three guards on the team better than your kid.  I can tell you that the end of a basketball bench is only 20 feet from the coach.  But in practice they have decided that your kid won't play much this year, when it is time to put somebody else in the game a coach can't see that far down the bench because of all the players better than your kid are closer to the coach..  He never has to look that far down the bench to find a player better..

It is truly hard for a kid who has been pumped up to be better than sliced bread to find out there are other players already with butter on their bread.  There are examples every year of players who transfer and when they show up at the next place sit at the end of the bench there too.  Yes transfers do work but not as often as people think.

Lack of playing time  and the desire to play more is the top reason to transfer.  Can't get along with the coach is another.  Most of the time that means he won't play me like I want.  There is one other reason players transfer but hardly do you ever hear this as the reason.  Players who are dissatisfied have a bad habit of not keeping up their grades and more than you would believe have to transfer and sit out a year just to get their grades back up.  Have you ever heard a coach say" well he was too dumb to pass over there but he will be alright here."  It happens more than you know.  The next time you hear somebody is transferring you may never hear what the real reason truly is.

There are the times when college just isn't for any young person.  They never figure out how to delegate time to study but are experts at partying.  Colleges are not in the baby sitting business, but I will say that most on athletic scholarships are controlled more than the average student.  Athletes are required to be in study hall to stay eligible. There is never an off season as you lift weights or run to stay in shape.  College life is the first time most students have ever had to do anything on their own that mama didn't do for them at home.

Transferring to another school can be the answer sometimes but most of the time the other school is the same old problem just new faces.  Many students now with knowledge  of what happened last year grow up and adapt better the second time around.  Regardless staying put or transferring every student is armed with a year of knowledge of experience.  Isn't that life anyway?

Pirate Nation Celebrates

The Pirates of ECU took major steps in it's basketball program this season as they bring home the CIT Championship trophy from Ogden Utah after beating Weber State on the Wildcats home court with a buzzer beater shot.  I was not aware until I heard coach Jeff Lebo on the David Glenn Show Wednesday that ECU had never won a post season game ever until this year.  It was only their fifth post season that they have ever been in.  Celebrate all you want Pirates you are the only team from North Carolina that won any thing in post season this year.

Now the Pirate nation will have to do everything they can to hold on to Jeff Lebo.  I doubt if any bushes will be shaking this year since it is kind of late in any movement of coaches.  If Lebo can win 20 again next year in Greenville look out Pirate fans it will be hang on time.

Isaiah Hicks has been named Wednesday as the Associated Press North Carolina basketball player of the year to go along with the player of the year honors he won Tuesday  from the NCBCA.  If there is any consolation in not winning this year Rocky Mount can at least say we lost to the best player and state champs.  It is always some comfort to be able to say it took the state champs to beat us.  Rocky Mount's Donte Battle made third team AP just like he did Tuesday in the NCBCA.

J'Kyra Brown has made the All State first team as voted on by the AP.  J'Kyra keeps on pulling in all of the rewards from a great career at Rocky Mount.

Under the heading of grabbing at straws:  Don't you think that Southern Cal naming Andy Enfield as their new basketball coach is a little bit from left field.  Do you even know who Andy Enfield is?  Two weeks ago today I know you didn't know who he was.  Andy Enfield use to be the basketball coach at Florida Gulf Coast and after winning two NCAA games Southern Cal thinks he is good enough be their basketball coach.

This year FGCU was 26-11.  Last season they were 15-17.  Most of the players on this years team were recruited by somebody else since they are mostly senior laden.  Enfield two year record was  41-28.  Has college basketball got to the point where coaches have such high buyouts that a school like Southern Cal can't find a proven winner?  Enfield might be the next Dean Smith but nothing he has done at FGCU warrants getting a job on the level of Southern Cal. 

ECU CIT Champs

If you failed to watch the Championship game of the CIT basketball Tournament last night you really missed a wild win for ECU.  The Pirates had traveled to Ogden Utah the home of Weber State and the game was nip and tuck throughout.  Under two minutes to play the Pirates trailed by four at 72-68 and The Wildcats did the Pirates a favor and missed five of six free throws and the game was tied at 74 as ECU had 17 seconds to win.

The most unlikely of hero's for the Pirates as Akeem Richmond who had only made four of his last twenty three three pointers put up a I had better shoot or the clock is going to hit zero and drained a three pointer and the Pirates are the CIT Champs 77-74.  It is the best season in the history of ECU basketball to say the least Jeff Lebo has done a nice job this year getting the Pirates to 23-12 on the season.

Rocky Mount High school baseball played a double header yesterday in Greenville in the Pitt County Easter Tournament.  This was not on the schedule but was put together Monday night when Riverside High and Rocky Mount both found themselves finished with their games and both having been rained out on Monday played Tuesday.  Riverside won 5-1 so Rocky Mount's record is now 7-6 as they will now have a week off before getting back into Big East Baseball.

Many thanks to everyone that have sent along to me that Alvin Battle of Northern Nash was on the 1983 team with George McClain and that Julius Peppers of Southern Nash was a member of the Final Four team at Carolina in 2000.  How easy it is to forget.

College basketball season is officially over for every team in North Carolina as for the fourth year Duke's women lost in the Final Eight game.  They led at the half but Notre Dame manhandled them in the second half.

J'Kyra Brown NCBCA Player Of The Year

Rocky Mount High's J'Kyra Brown has been named the player of the year  by the North Carolina Basketball Coaches Association.  This honor comes as all four levels of high school are on this team.  This is not just a 3-A honor but all levels.  The ECU recruit is the all time leading scorer in Rocky Mount girls history and averaged 27 points per game this season.

Jamie Cherry of West Craven, Briana Day and Ryan Flowers of Millbrook along with Kea Paris of Page are the first team all state.  The only local player with any boys connections is Donte Battle of Rocky Mount whio made the third team all state.

Rocky Mount high got shutout pitching from Jeremy Johnson as the Gryphons win today at Guy Smith Stadium  8-0 over Greene Central in the Pitt County Easter Tournament.  The Gryphons are now winners of three in a row and have upped their record to 7-5.  The game yesterday against West Craven  in the Easter Tournament will not be made up.  Gryphons win both of their games in the Pitt County Tournament.

Hobbs Johnson just can not catch a break on the mound for the UNC Tar Heels.  Last night on ESPNU Johnson pitched into the 6th inning left the game with the lead but Carolina managed to lose their second game of the season before the night was over.  Johnson who has started six times this  spring for Mike Fox has yet to get a win or loss in his six starts.  He had an injury early on and there has been a couple of starts  where he was on a pitch count and did not get enough innings in the game to win.

I don't know about how your NCAA brackets are but I still have one team alive an that is Louisville.  My only problem is everyone still ahead of me in their bracket also have Louisville too so I am out of the running regardless of who wins this weekend.

Rodney Purvis announced that he is transferring from N C State. I can tell you I am from the old school that once you decide this is where I am going you need to accept you were not as good as you thought you were and get better at the place you decided to go.  I can't figure any player feels sitting out a year when they think they are the best player on the team can be good for that player.

Thanks for the help in reminding me that Alvin Battle of Northern Nash was also a member of the State 1983 Final Four team.  We were talking about the last players from the Twin Counties to play in a final four like Montrezl Harrell will be doing this year.