Monday, August 22, 2011

Men's Hoops' New Video Coordinator

Dan Hartfield has been hired as the new Coordinator of Video Services for the Ole Miss men’s basketball program.

The position opened when Robi Coker was promoted to Coordinator of Basketball Operations after Bill Armstrong had been promoted from that role to assistant coach.

A Wisconsin native, Hartfield spent the last year as an advance scouting intern with the NBA’s Houston Rockets. In that role, he worked directly under Head Video Coordinator and Systems Developer John Cho and Assistant Video Coordinator Jimmy Paulis. He helped the team prepare for upcoming opponents, which included editing video, creating scouting reports and tracking statistics. He also assisted the Rockets’ front office throughout the draft process by evaluating talent and helping put players through pre-draft workouts.

Hartfield graduated from Wisconsin-Green Bay in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, while he served as a team manager for men’s basketball.

He went on to receive a master’s degree in sports administration from Valparaiso University in 2011. During his time there, he was a graduate assistant for the men’s basketball team under head coach Homer Drew.

Randolph Among World's Best At U.S. Am

Former Rebel All-American Jonathan Randolph is teeing it up with the world's best this week at the U.S. Amateur Championship being played at Erin Hills Golf Club in Michigan. Randolph earned a spot in the elite field by winning a qualifier in Maryland.




This is his second time to compete in the U.S. Am as he also qualified in 2009. Earlier this summer, Randolph advanced to the semifinals at the U.S. Amateur Public Links, played at Bandon Dunes, a similar links style course to Erin Hills.

Randolph tees off the first round today at 11:15 a.m. CT. Scores for the first two rounds of stroke play will be updated after nine holes. The field will be cut to the low 64 after Tuesday's second round of stroke play. Match play begins Wednesday with live hole-by-hole scoring.

Bhupathi-Paes Cap Reunion With Victory

Former Rebel tennis standout Mahesh Bhupathi made good on his reunion with fellow countryman Leander Paes as the duo captured the Cincinnati Masters Sunday, their third title since teaming up again before the Australian Open. On their way to the final, they knocked out the world No. 1, Bob and Mike Bryan, in the semifinals. They won the Cincinnati Masters 10 years ago, before splitting up for nine years. Here is the write-up in the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Phil Irwin Sings National Anthem

Former Rebel pitcher Phil Irwin got the call the other day to take the field, but instead of hitting the mound his first stop was behind the microphone. The right-hander sang the national anthem prior to the start of the game for the Altoona Curve on Thursday night.

Watch a clip of Irwin singing the national anthem here. Maybe he'll come back and do one at Swayze Field.

New-Look Tickets Are Out

If you are a season ticket holder and have not already received your tix, you can expect them to arrive any day. As you might have seen, we stepped up the design of our ticket stubbs this year with a wide layout and a creative look. As started a few years ago, we are continuing the All-American series where we honor each of our storied program's first team All-Americans. This year, the tickets feature a brief bio of each All-American on the back in a trading card style. Kudos to our graphic designer Dan Pellegrino for his work on the tix. If you have yet to secure your season pass for the Rebels in 2011, visit our ticket site NOW, and don't miss out!


Follow me on Twitter at @CampbellKyle.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Breaking Down The Hoops Schedule

Ole Miss announced the 2011-12 men's basketball schedule today. Here on the blog, we have broken down the slate of opponents a little more.

Ten postseason teams from 2010-11:
Miami, 11/25 (NIT Quarterfinals)
Penn State, 12/4 (NCAA First Round)
Dayton, 12/30 (NIT First Round)
SMU, 1/3 (CIT)
Georgia, 1/21 (NCAA First Round)
Florida, 1/26 (NCAA Elite Eight)
Alabama, 2/4 & 3/3 (NIT Finals)
Vanderbilt, 2/16 (NCAA First Round)
Kentucky, 2/18 (NCAA Final Four)
Tennessee, 2/22 (NCAA First Round)

Nine 20-win teams from 2010-11:
Miami, 11/25 (21-15)
Southern Miss, 12/17 (22-10)
Dayton, 12/30 (22-14)
SMU, 1/3 (20-15)
Georgia, 1/21 (21-12)
Florida, 1/26 (29-8)
Alabama, 2/4 & 3/3 (25-12)
Vanderbilt, 2/16 (23-11)
Kentucky, 2/18 (29-9)

Other Tidbits:

- Ole Miss tips off the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam with a Nov. 18 matchup against Drake. The Rebels will then play Marquette or Winthrop in the second round. The other teams in the tournament are Drexel, Norfolk State, TCU and Virginia.

- The Rebels are playing a neutral-site game at the Desoto Civic Center in Southaven, Miss. (vs. Middle Tennessee, 12/21), for the third time in the last five seasons. They beat Southern Miss there in 2007 and UTEP in 2009.

- The Rebels open SEC play on the road (at LSU, 1/7) for the 11th time in the last 14 years. Last year, they began the league slate at Florida.

- Ole Miss plays four teams from Louisiana, three from Mississippi and three from Tennessee.

- At least 18 contests will be televised live, including six national broadcasts:
at DePaul, 12/1 (ESPNU)
Florida, 1/26 (ESPN or ESPN2)
at Alabama, 2/4 (ESPN or ESPN2)
at Mississippi State, 2/9 (ESPN or ESPN2)
Vanderbilt, 2/16 (ESPN or ESPN2)
at Arkansas, 2/28 (ESPNU)

- Other TV dates are TBA.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Aloha!

The Ole Miss women's golf team announced an exciting 2011-12 schedule today, which includes a trip to Maui in March for the Anuenue Spring Break Classic at the famed Kapalua Golf Resort. Head over to OleMissSports.com to see the full schedule.

AK With AK On ESPNU Today

OK, you may need all those acronyms in this blog post's title explained:

Andy Kennedy is one of 31 college basketball coaches who recently visisted with ESPN.com senior college basketball writer Andy Katz at the ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando to discuss the biggest topics in the game today. Kennedy's visit on the Katz Corner will air today on ESPNU at 4 p.m. CT.

A number of topics are discussed in the week-long series, including: pay-for-play, the NBA Draft, recruiting and the trend of mid-majors competing for the national title. The SEC, Big Ten, ACC and Big East are all touched upon as leading conferences.

Joining Kennedy on today's Katz Corner show will be Vanderbilt's Kevin Stallings, Michigan's John Beilein, Pittsburgh's Jamie Dixon, Miami's Jim Larranaga and Princeton's Mitch Henderson.

Overbeck Delivers For Lehigh Valley

Former Rebel Cody Overbeck has been producing for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs in the Philadelphia Phillies organization. Overbeck hit a walk-off home run the other night for his team, pushing them to a 2-1 win over the Toledo Mud Hens.

Watch the clip of the walk-off hit here.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Men's Hoops Offseason Update

It's August, and that usually means one thing around Oxford: football season is almost here! We are certainly excited for the 2011 Rebels to take the gridiron, but we know that some of you out there are also anxious to hear what's happening in the Ole Miss hoops world.

To scratch your need-for-a-hoops-update itch, here are some things happening in the offseason, as well as a few comments we got from Andy Kennedy when we sat down with him to talk about the upcoming 2011-12 campaign.

- Look for the exciting 2011-12 men's basketball schedule to be announced late this week. Here's an early tidbit on what the slate includes: 10 of last year's postseason teams, an NCAA Final Four participant, an NCAA Elite Eight participant, an ACC school, a Big East school, a Big Ten school and a trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands.

- As announced at the launch of the Forward Together Campaign last week, Ole Miss is raising $150 million in a capital campaign that will result in the building of a new first-class basketball arena, as well as improvements to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium (including the bowling in of the north endzone) and other on-campus athletics facilities.

- Meanwhile, the Tad Pad will remain as the team's playing facility for the next three or four years, and this summer the floor is getting a makeover. Stay tuned for pictures of the new look in the coming days.

- ESPN announced last week the game times and networks for the Big East/SEC Challenge. Ole Miss' game at DePaul on Dec. 1 will air at 8 p.m. CT on ESPNU.

- Here's a sneak peak of our interview with AK discussing the upcoming season:

On the transition with new assistant coaches: "Everything’s been good. I couldn’t have asked for a smoother transition. With Al (Pinkins) and Serg (Sergio Rouco) getting here in the spring, they had an opportunity to interact with our players in a between-the-lines setting, which I think was educational for both parties."

On the players' progress this summer: "We've had one of the best summers we’ve ever had academically. Our strength staff has told me that this is the most receptive group that they’ve had since we’ve been here, which are all great signs."

One of the freshmen that has impressed the head coach most so far is Jackson, Miss., point guard Jarvis Summers. Here is AK's early take: "Jarvis is a natural point guard with natural leadership ability. He started on his team at Provine (High School) since his freshman year, and every year they went to the final four of the state tournament, which speaks to his ability to lead and get results. I see that transferring over to this level. At 6-4, 190 pounds, he’s very versatile and brings size to that position unlike anyone we’ve had since I’ve been here."

Many more of AK's thoughts will be available in a preseason prospectus later this month.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Calkins With Boone, Nutt

In addition to being a columnist for the Commercial Appeal, Geoff Calkins hosts a weekly program, Sports Files, on WKNO in Memphis. Calkins sat down this week with Pete Boone and Houston Nutt for his latest show and discussed among other things last night's announcement of the Forward Together campaign.




Follow me on Twitter at @CampbellKyle.

Be Sure To Vote

Here we are. One day after posting our football poster we have found national recognition with "the wizard of odds" website. They have a poster contest each year and last year we came in 3rd. Let's win it this year. Be sure to vote "approve"

http://www.thewizofodds.com/the_wiz_of_odds/2011/08/mississippi-rebels-ole-miss-poster-schedule-2011.html

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

2011 Fall Posters!

With every new year comes a new series of posters. Here is a preview of the new fall posters for 2011. Be sure to check on olemisssports.com in the coming weeks for desktop backgrounds of your favorite Rebel sports and teams. Also be sure to check out the soccer and volleyball poster series that will be collectors editions at each home game this season.






Kudos to Dan Pellegrino on a job well done.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Watch Nutt, Walls Golf Outing Saturday

As you might remember seeing on the official site back in May, our own head coach Houston Nutt and former All-American Wesley Walls swung the sticks extremely well in this year's Chick-fil-A Bowl Challenge charity golf tournament. The Rebel pair combined to shoot seven-under-par 65 to tie for third in the 12-team field and earn $40,000 in scholarship winnings. Watch the two in action in a recap of the event Saturday at 11:30 a.m. CT on ESPN2.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Golfweek Tap-In

While the soccer, volleyball and football teams get ready to kick off preseason, in just a little less than a month, the Ole Miss women's golf team will be back on campus to start preparing for the 2011-12 season. With the season just a few short weeks away, Golfweek writer Asher Wildman is breaking down the top 60 men's and women's teams, and today he previews the Ole Miss women's golf team. Click here to read his take on the team, which will be led by three seniors and welcomes the addition of two talented players.

Follow me on Twitter at @krebel