By Dale McKee
Sports columnist
The proposed new gun law that passed the Mississippi House of Representatives drew some attention from the Southeastern Conference.
The law still has to pass the Senate but House Bill 1083 allows weapons to be permitted in college sports venues. The bill would allow anyone with that kind of permit to sue if they’re prevented from carrying on public property.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey sent a letter to both Ole Miss and Mississippi State’s presidents, and warned that schools, because of safety concerns, may be hesitant, to schedule games in Mississippi.
SEC MEN"S
HOOPS ROLLING
The SEC men’s basketball teams are proving that the league is one of the best in the country. The SEC went 6-4 against the Big 12 Conference a couple of weeks ago in their head-to head weekend. That weekend was highlighted by Kentucky’s big win at West Virginia. Kentucky is only 6-6 this year in SEC play as the league is more balanced than ever before. ESPN has the ACC with nine teams projected for the NCAA tournament while the SEC follows with eight teams. Last year, Vanderbilt with 16 losses made the NCAA tournament and that is due in large part to upgrading the SEC non-conference schedule.
The SEC has eight teams in the RPI top 50 rankings, with Auburn the highest at nine. Auburn leads the SEC race with a 10-2 mark followed by Tennessee and Florida at 8-4. Missouri and Alabama follow at 7-5 with Mississippi State, Kentucky, Arkansas and Texas A&M all at 6-6. Ole Miss and Vanderbilt are the only SEC teams without an overall winning mark on the year.
SEC BASEBALL
PICKS REVEALED
Ole Miss was picked to finish third in the SEC Western Division baseball race. State was projected to finish fifth in the West. Arkansas was chosen to win the West with Texas A&M, Ole Miss, LSU, MSU, Auburn and Alabama to follow in that order.
Defending national champion Florida is the choice in the Eastern Division followed by Kentucky, Vandy, South Carolina, Georgia, Missouri and Tennessee. MSU’s Jake Mangum was named to the first team pre-season All-SEC team.
Ole Miss will open Friday at home with Winthrop while USM will host Mississippi State in a three-game set that begins Friday at 4 p.m. in Hattiesburg. Ole Miss is ranked ninth, MSU is ranked 12th and USM is ranked 21st, heading into the opening weekend.
RECRUITING
WAR RESULTS
Mississippi State won this year in Magnolia state football recruiting wars. The Bulldogs signed five of the top ten players and also gained signatures on nine of the top 20. Ole Miss signed one of the top ten players and only two of the top 20. The 2019 signing wars will be more intense since Mississippi is loaded with prep talent. Mississippi will have 10 of the top 200 players in the nation and could have as many as 13 (4-5 star recruits).
THIS AND
THAT …
The MSU Lady Bulldogs are now 26-0 after beating South Carolina and Kentucky this past week before sold out crowds. Before this season, MSU had lost 11 games straight to both teams.
Congratulations to Louisville, Mississippi, native Marcus Thames. The former East Central CC baseball star was named hitting coach of the New York Yankees this past week.
Dale McKee, a resident of Waynesboro, has covered Mississippi sports for more than 40 years. He writes a weekly sports column. You can contact Dale at
ddmckee18@yahoo.com
