Ole Miss players, coaches and staff have been taking in the sights and sounds of New York City since arriving on Sunday afternoon for this week's NIT Final Four. Go to our story on OleMissSports.com to read about the team's trip so far and view a photo gallery.
Ole Miss goes for the series sweep of No. 2 Florida today, and once again this weekend, the tone was set Friday night by junior ace Drew Pomeranz, holding the Gators to one run and five hits with nine Ks over 7.1 innings to improve to 4-0. The southpaw All-American candidate is the reigning SEC Pitcher of the Week and has a chance to pick it up the accolade again tomorrow for the third time this year. National media are taking more and more notice of Drew, and he was featured earlier this week on Yahoo Sports.
Ole Miss' 2001 Sweet 16 team continues to churn out coaches. The latest is David Sanders who was named head coach at Northwest Rankin earlier this week. Two others from that 01 squad are at Holmes Community College, where Jason Flanigan is the head coach and Jason Harrison is the assistant. In addition, after a successful stint at Taylorsville, Rahim Lockhart is now right down the road from Oxford as the head coach at Grenada High School.
If you're watching tonight's NCAA Sweet 16 games, you've noticed a familiar name in the Washington starting lineup. In the Huskies backcourt is sophomore Elston Turner, who is indeed the son of the Ole Miss great with the same name. The Turner family was the subject of a recent feature in the Seattle Times. On a side note, fellow Washington guard Isaiah Thomas is NOT the son of the NBA legend. His father, James, lost a friendly wager on a Lakers-Pistons playoff game in 1989.
In the other major postseason tourney, Ole Miss has rolled on to the NIT Final Four and will face Dayton Tuesday night. If you're an NYC Rebel or making the trip to the Big Apple, order your tickets now.
Ole Miss Pro Day was held on Tuesday in Oxford, and by all accounts was a success for our 20-plus Rebels hoping to extend their playing career. Most notably, Dexter McCluster improved his 40-time from 4.56 at the Combine to 4.44. Our friend "The Godfather" Gil Brandt has posted all of the official times and results from the event on his nfl.com blog. Check it out.
Two-time Ole Miss All-American Dori Carter is now getting paid to play golf. The Valdosta, Ga., native made her debut on the LPGA Futures Tour last weekend at the Florida Natural Classic in Winterhaven. The event was shortened to 36 holes after rain cancelled the final round. Carter tied for 16th with an even par 144.
Where does Carter go from there? She's in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico getting ready to play in the inaugural Mexico Classic at El Tigre Golf Club. The tournament starts on Friday.
The Ole Miss Rebel football team will hold its annual Pro Day for former players tomorrow at the Indoor Practice Facility on campus beginning at 9 a.m. The event is closed to the general public.
Scouts from all 32 NFL teams are expected to attend the workout for Dex, Jevan, John Jerry and all former Rebels. Stay tuned to OleMissSportsBlog.com tomorrow for updates and photos.
In the mean-time here are a few photos from last year's event that featured two future first-round pick in Peria Jerry and Micheal Oher. Photos courtesy of Joey Brent.
The NIT has been the Terrico White show thus far, as the sophomore guard has notched back-to-back 20-point games through the first two rounds. Last night, Terrico lit up his hometown Memphis Tigers for a game-high 21 points, as Ron Higgins wrote about in today's Commercial Appeal. Performances like last night come as no surprise to Rebels fans (see 2008-09), and are probably expected by those in the Bluff City who saw Terrico in action during his days at Craigmont High. Here are some old prep highlights that are floating around on youtube.
BTW, Ole Miss is one game away from a return trip to the Big Apple for its second NIT Final Four in two seasons. Tuesday's game will be at home, and you can click here for tickets.
When Ole Miss introduced its new high definition videoboard in Vaught Hemingway Stadium in fall 2008, it represented cutting edge technology that was ahead of the curve in college athletics. Taking that step required outfitting J. Stern and the Ole Miss Sports Productions crew with state-of-the-art equipment, which you can read about it in this week's edition of Sports Video Group.
That same HD quality will soon be available on OleMissSports.com, as RebelVision will be debuting its new high def webcast as early as next week. Stay tuned for the official launch date, and catch over 25 live baseball games on RebelVision, including all three games of this weekend's SEC road series at Kentucky.
Dexter McCluster is piling up the frequent flier miles this month. The former Rebel is gearing up for April's NFL draft by holding private workouts for a number of clubs, and today, the caravan has him in Denver, according to Scout.com. McCluster has already worked out for the Cleveland Browns, who posted an article about No. 22 on their official site, and a visit with the Tennessee Titans is scheduled at the end of the month.
A large group of scouts and local media will see Dex and most of the other Rebel draft prospects in action Tuesday at Ole Miss' pro day. Catch a full recap and video highlights of the event on OleMissSports.com.
Welcome to the Official Blog of OleMissSports.com. The Ole Miss Athletics Media Relations Department is taking you inside with quick news and nuggets as well as everything Rebel on the web. Catch blog posts via Twitter @OleMissBlog.
