Ole Miss pounded out 10 runs on 12 hits and Lauren Grill hit her second home run in as many days as the Rebels blasted South Carolina-Upstate 10-4 on Saturday. Also, due to expected winter weather in the Oxford area, all remaining games of the Red & Blue Classic were canceled.
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STARKVILLE, Miss. – Mississippi State's Connor Powers drove in a career-high six runs and homered twice as the Bulldogs knocked off Nicholls 10-8 in the opening game of a college baseball doubleheader Saturday afternoon at Dudy Noble Field.
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Will pointed out so many SEC games this weekend that are relevant to UT’s interests, I felt that it’d be good to have a place where we can leave comments on what we see.  Beyond the ever-important wins and losses that will affect UT’s conference standings, there are also scouting interests involved; we may see one (or more!) of these teams in the conference tournament, so it’d be good to have a feel for how they’re playing at this point in the season.

So consider this thread as informal as its introduction.  If you’re watching any of the non-UT SEC games this weekend and have something to say, here’s your spot.  Likewise, if you’re curious if any of us have any observations, this should serve as one-stop shopping.  It likely won’t be as busy as a Tennessee thread, but I would expect a few quips among the obsessed.

The games that Will pegged as most relevant are in bold print:

Saturday, February 28

• LSU at Kentucky – 4:00 PM – CBS
• Alabama at Ole Miss – 4:00 PM – ESPN360
• Auburn at Miss. State – 6:00 PM – ESPN 360
• South Carolina at Vanderbilt – 9:00 PM – ESPNU

I’ll be studying at the library throughout most of the afternoon/evening, but I’ll probably keep the LSU/UK tilt on 360, and may get some of the USC/Vandy game if things work out.

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Content provided by John Clay’s Sidelines.

Updates from UK-LSU today at Rupp Arena can be found on this post.

• LSU on an 8-0 spurt takes an 11-8 lead into the 14:56 TV time. UK hit four of its first five shots, but has missed last four. Tigers have made four of five shots, and lead 4-2 on the boards. Tasmin Mitchell has six points for the visitors.

• Kevin Galloway is here and suited up for Kentucky after missing Wednesday night because of a death in the family.

• LSU’s starters are Mitchell, Thornton, Spencer, Temple and Johnson.

• UK starters are Porter, Meeks, Harris, Stevenson and Patterson.

• This is the fourth UK game overall and third SEC game this year that Nance has worked. He was on the crew Wednesday night in Columbia. This is also the fourth UK game that Stuart has worked this year. This is the first time that the Cats have seen Barnasky.

• Officials today are Mike Stuart, Mike Nance and Brent Barnasky.

Content provided by John Clay’s Sidelines.

LSU @ Kentucky basketball

Content provided by A Sea Of Blue.

This is the official A Sea of Blue open game thread for the LSU Tigers @ Kentucky Wildcats basketball game this afternoon at Rupp Arena, February 28th @ 4:00 PM.

Particulars of this game are as follows:

• TV:  CBS
• Live stats
• Audio (Requires Microsoft Silverlight)
• Radio
• Live video
• Yahoo! Audio
• Game preview

This is the Billy Gillispie version of Custer’s Last Stand for 2008-09.  Kentucky has a chance to redeem a great many ills with a victory today — defeating a ranked team for the first time this season, get itself back into the SEC East race (the ‘Cats will need help, though), and garner some respect from the NCAA tournament committee.  A victory today could also possibly launch the ‘Cats back to the trajectory of a confident team for the last two games of the season.

LSU has very little to win in this game, other than the game.  They don’t need it, but that doesn’t mean they will take the ‘Cats lightly — they are a mature, talented team and they haven’t taken a game off all year long.  Kentucky must play this game as though their post-season lives depend on it, because from an NCAA tournament standpoint, they probably do.

Things Kentucky needs to do well to win:

1. Continue to rebound well.  They rebounded well against South Carolina, and they just have to keep doing that.
2. Attack the basket.  LSU is a long, athletic team, much like Kentucky, but UK has one of the best rebounders in the conference in Patrick Patterson.  Getting it to the hole will likely draw fouls on LSU’s big guys, and force the kind of defensive rotation Kentucky needs
3. Play with all their might.  After what we saw from Kentucky on Wednesday, there is a strong argument to be made that outside of Patrick Patterson, this team is as soft as a baby’s pillow, both physically and mentally.  The ‘Cats had better be ready to get a few scars from this one if they want to win.

Things that will make it hard for Kentucky to win:

1. Failure to defend Marcus Thornton on the perimeter.  UK must force him to take either challenged threes or put the ball on the deck.  Otherwise, it will get ugly.
2. Not adjusting to the way the game is being called.  Part of the ugliness of last game was that UK just didn’t accept the officiating.  They’d better do it today.
3. Turn the ball over.  LSU takes good care of the basketball, turning it over only 18% of the time.  If the turnover margin is large, Kentucky is likely to lose.

Well, if the last game was huge, this is the biggest game of the year for Kentucky.  They can either rise to the occasion or fold ‘em and head to the NIT.  It’s that simple.  Which team will show up today?  Your guess is as good as mine.

Go, Cats!

OXFORD, Miss. — Winners of four straight games, the LSU women's basketball team seeks to earn the Southeastern Conference Tournament's No. 3 seed when it takes the floor in its final regular season contest of the season at Ole Miss at 2 p.m. Sunday in Tad Smith Coliseum.
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Woah! Don’t walk out the door! If you’re heading out to check out Game 2 of the Western Illinois series, stop right where you are. The game is canceled. The games scheduled today in the UA softball program’s Holiday Inn-NWA Razorback Invitational have also been canceled due to the weather.

Crazy weather. I was in Fort Smith last night dodging a lightning storm at a softball game and then I wake up this morning to see snow on the ground here in Fayetteville.

Here’s more from the UA concerning baseball. The teams WILL play tomorrow:

The teams will meet for their regularly scheduled game on Sunday afternoon, March 1 at 12:05 p.m.

A dusting of snow overnight coupled with temperatures below freezing prompted Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn and the Arkansas operations staff to postpone the contest.  Sunday’s weather forecast calls for temperatures in the 30s, but no precipitation giving the squads the opportunity to continue their series.

The 21st-ranked Razorbacks defeated Western Illinois, 8-7, in game one of the series on Friday in 10 innings.  Sophomore Brett Eibner was the hitting star in the game as he went 2-4 at the plate with two walks and delivered a game-winning triple in the bottom of the 10th inning.

And softball, courtesy of UA media relations:

Saturday play of the Holiday Inn-NWA Razorback Invitational has been called off due to inclement weather. Scheduling decision for the tournament, which features Arkansas, Ball State, Bradley, South Dakota State and Wichita State, will be made later today. Competition is tentatively set to resume Sunday at 10 a.m.

The bad spell of weather began Friday night which forced the game between the Razorbacks and Ball State to be suspended in the top of the sixth inning. When play was called, Arkansas held a 1-0 advantage but Ball State was threatening in its half of the sixth with runners on first and third and one out.

So much for starting the baseball season later in the year to dodge inclement weather.

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– Brandon Marcello
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Content provided by A Sea Of Blue.

Today, the Wildcats face the LSU Tigers in a game that could hold Kentucky’s NCAA tournament chances in the balance.  A loss here at home, and UK will have failed to defeat a single ranked team all season long, at home or away.  The #18 ranked Tigers are just the sort of team that a tournament-bound team would be expected to defeat at home.  In this writer’s opinion, losing this one sends the ‘Cats to the NIT unless they win the automatic NCAA bid by winning the conference championship.

And now, the news.

Kentucky Basketball News

• A.J. Stewart still on the team.  I have no idea what is going on with all this, but it has been going on all season.  I expect some changes will be made in the off-season.  More here.
• At home with coach Billy Gillispie.
• Looks like Temple will be guarding Meeks today.  I like that matchup.  More here.
• Stevenson not hungry enough.  I totally agree.  Stevenson has disappeared in the last 5 games, and his lack of consistency is one reason why Kentucky is so up and down.  He needs to be up today.
• LSU poses Billy’s biggest threat.  John Clay says this is the biggest game of Gillispie’s career so far, and I agree with him.  Clay also says we don’t need the A.J. Stewart circus, and he’s right, but this team has been a bit of a circus all year.  This whole year has been a bit of a soap opera, and after all the drama of last year, it is not welcome in the Big Blue Nation.

  I have about reached my limit of drama.  We need some good basketball around here.  I hope we get some today, and not just by LSU.

• Patterson is the ‘Cats’ insider.  Gillispie says Patterson’s playing well, and we will need all of that this afternoon.

Kentucky Football/Other Sports News

• Who is the SEC’s most irritating football coach?  That one’s easy, at least right now.
• Athlon Sports says UK is well represented in recruiting this year from a quarterback standpoint.
• Bat Cats win their home opener, 16-5.  More here.
• UK’s Ashley Trimble wins the women’s pentathlon in the SEC Indoor track and field conference championship.
• And The Valley Shook, the SB Nation LSU blog, has an LSU-UK preview.
• Gamecock Man at Garnet and Black Attack takes a gimlet-eyed look at Billy Gillsipie.  I think he pretty much nails it.  But then again, I guess that’s no surprise, since my position and his are for all intents and purposes identical.

  Others may legitimately view the situation differently, but for my money, you can’t go around firing coaches after two years unless they commit some form of moral turpitude.  Absent that, they should get at least four years, in my opinion, but I think a defensible argument could be made that if Gillsipie can’t improve significantly next year (depending on who we lose), a serious look at his employment is in order.  I don’t agree with that, but I do think it is defensible.

NCAA Basketball News

• Rocky Top Talk looks at the upcoming SEC games.  Many big ones there, including today.
• More “SEC is weak in basketball” talk from the Bleacher Report.  Whatever, dude.

NCAA Football News

• Georgia’s football salaries.

Other News of Interest

• Shaq goes off for 45 points.  The old guy (in NBA terms, of course) still has it, it seems.