Preseason Hoops Magazines

The bevy of preseason hoops magazines are out on shelves. Here's where Ole Miss lands in their prognostications:

Lindy's:
Top SEC Defender: Reginald Buckner

Athlon:
NIT: Ole Miss
Most Underrated SEC Player: Terrance Henry
50 Key Transfers: Jelan Kendrick

Sporting News:
Best SEC Shot-Blocker: Reginald Buckner

Blue Ribbon Yearbook:
Top SEC Frontcourts: Ole Miss, No. 3

As a whole, the magazines rank the Rebels anywhere from 6th to 8th in the league.

Randolph Starts Q School On Fire

They say that PGA TOUR qualifying school is one of the most grueling tests in sports. There is prequalifying and then three stages after that with four rounds in each of the first three and six in the final stage. That's a lot of golf and mental grinding, especially if you start from the beginning stage.

PGA golfer Steve Elkington joked recently that it's like paying $4500 for a roller coaster ride that makes you sick.

Former Ole Miss All-American Jonathan Randolph took the first step this weekend in his goal of becoming a member of the PGA TOUR, and he did so in rousing fashion.

The Brandon, Miss., native didn't just advance to the second stage, he won the first stage by four strokes at the Auburn University Club in Auburn, Ala. Randolph shot a 69-72-70-65--276 in his first ever Q School event. He was tied for the lead at 5-under going into the final round Saturday, and carded seven birdies and an eagle to capture the win.

"It was fun. I played really well the last few days managing the ball well, Randolph said. "It was windy the first couple of days. I was 3-under early yesterday and ended up 2-under. But I kept pushing, kept my head down. I missed three putts inside five feet today that would have made it even lower. It's nice to see it all come together."

Randolph was exempt from prequalifying by virtue of making the cut at the PGA Tour's Viking Classic this past summer in Madison. He only needed to finish inside the top 19 to earn a spot in the second stage.

"You don't drive a car looking at the ditch or in the median. You look at the road. My goal was to advance, but it was a nice bonus to be able to win it," he said.

There is not much time for Randolph to celebrate as he returns to Oxford, where he is finishing up his degree in Managerial Finance before he heads back out for the second stage at the Hombre Golf Club in Panama City, Fla. Nov. 16-19.

With six different sites for qualifying, players are told to rank their choices in order of preference.

"They told me I would likely get the Hombre since I won here at Auburn," Randolph said. "Now it's back to the books and then getting ready for the next stage."

A keen follower this week of Randolph's play is Rebel head coach Ernest Ross, who is not surprised to see his former star do so well.

"This is another notch up the ladder for Jonathan. He does have PGA TOUR skills and can play at that level right now."

Simply put, Randolph's a winner.

Date Set For Grove Bowl 2012

It's quite a ways off, but for those of you getting an early start on your spring plans, Grove Bowl 2012 has been tentatively set for April 21 at 1 p.m. CT. The Rebel baseball team hosts Arkansas that weekend, and game two of the series will follow the football scrimmage at 4 p.m. And if you were wondering, Oxford's Double Decker Arts Festival will be the following weekend, April 27-28.

Here is the full baseball schedule, and stay tuned for word on the numerous events that will surround Grove Bowl Week.

Grove Highlighted By Fox News

Media have flocked to The Grove for features this fall, including the New York Times (story coming),  ESPN The Magazine, FoxNews.com (video below) and, covering the Arkansas game, the Travel Channel. To insure the safest tailgating environment, the university has passed some new electricity guidelines that fans should check out when making their plans for this weekend.


Follow me on Twitter at @CampbellKyle.

ESPN Execs At Overby Center Friday

On the eve of the Ole Miss-Alabama game, a top executive of ESPN and a senior writer for the sports network will lead a roundtable discussion about college football controversies at the Overby Center Auditorium on campus Friday (Oct. 14) at 10 a.m.
The program, which is free and open to the public, features John A. Walsh, ESPN’s executive vice president and executive editor, and Wright Thompson, a senior writer for ESPN.com.

Walsh is a legendary figure in sports news. For more than four decades, he has guided newspapers, magazines and television coverage of sporting events. Since joining ESPN in 1988, Walsh’s fingerprints are on many of the network’s most ambitious initiatives, such as the launch of ESPN The Magazine and ESPN Radio. He also played a major role in shaping ESPN’s flagship program, SportsCenter.

Before going to ESPN, Walsh was the founding editor of the original Inside Sports Magazine, a managing editor of Rolling Stone magazine, and later, U.S. News and World Report. He was also an editor at Newsday and the Washington Post.

Thompson has become one of the rising stars in American sports journalism. A Clarksdale native, a graduate of the University of Missouri, and a resident of Oxford, Thompson’s stories for ESPN.com have been selected repeatedly for inclusion in annual anthologies of the “Best American Sports Writing.” Thompson was the author of a lengthy piece on the undefeated 1962 Ole Miss football team that played during a year of crisis at the school, but he is best known for stories he has filed from exotic spots around the world. He has reported on cricket in Bangladesh, golf in Scotland, and this fall Thompson filed a lengthy piece, “A Tree Dies in Auburn,” on an attempt to poison two trees revered by Auburn fans.

The pair is expected to discuss the shifting scene in college sports conferences as well as the perilous careers of coaches and athletic directors today.  
(Dawn M. Jeter)



Follow me on Twitter at @CampbellKyle.

Former Golfer Saves A Few Dollars

PGA TOUR Q-School is expensive. It cost thousands to enter for a chance to earn playing status on the Tour. Former Ole Miss golfer Kyle Ellis finished sixth on the NGA Pro Golf Tour this year, and thus earned one of 30 Q-School Reimbursements.

Ellis, a native of Senatobia, Miss., finished with 3,716 points and made 19 of 20 cuts this season. He also racked up seven top-20 finishes. Ellis’ best finish of the season came in the Michelob Ultra Classic in March, when he finished second. The former Rebel golfer earned $64,657 this season.