Tulane needed to win two games at ECU to give itself a good chance for an at-large bid for a regional, and it did not happen. The Green Wave was fortunate to win one game, getting a clutch home run from Ethan Groff and a big-time closing performance from Keagan Gillies to win the third game by one run but was otherwise outclassed for the entire weekend. Travis Jewett is now 3-10 against ECU with three one-one wins while being outscored 93-31 in the 10 losses.

The big disappointment over the weekend was the performance of all four starting pitchers. East Carolina is a very good hitting team, but Tulane's strength became a weakness. Braden Olthoff, who has been money in virtually every pressure situation in his two-year career, had little movement on his breaking balls and was lucky to get through three innings relatively unscathed before getting lit up in the fourth. The second home run he allowed was a batting practice changeup. Jack Aldrich had uncharacteristic control issues in the second game, although he might have had better results if not for the most mystifying play of the weekend when Luis Aviles fielded an overthrown ball at first base on a single to left field and had the runner out by about five yards but elected to eat the ball with a runner on third. This probably was the result of all the botched first-and-third situations earlier in the year, but you simply cannot turn down a free out. It turned into a four-run inning that might have been limited to one and a tie game. Donovan Benoit was totally out of sorts early and did a nice job recovering to get into the sixth inning of the lone win, but he was far from sharp and was saved from massing trouble by a batter swinging at ball four for a strikeout and then having a ripped line drive go close enough to the right fielder to get caught, keeping the Wave down by only one run. Tyler Hoffman pitched OK yesterday in a tough day for pitchers with the wind blowing out to right, but he failed to make clutch pitches and was left in two batters too long, giving up six runs instead of four.

Anyway you cut it, that wasn't good enough from the one area in which Tulane had a clear edge on ECU, which is a potential CWS team. The Pirates don't have the arms to match the other top teams in the country, but they are a good bet to win a regional if they host one and they will have a decent shot to win game 1 of a super regional against anyone with Gavin Williams on the mound. If that happened, it would be a matter of their mediocre starting pitching giving them a chance to win a second game. They would be in with a shot the way they rake. I don't think they will make the CWS, but it's possible.

In my estimation, Tulane would have to win seven of its last eight games or finish ahead of ECU at the top of the AAC to give itself a reasonable shot at an at-large bid entering the AAC tourney. Seeing as how UCF won two at ECU and the way Cincinnati hits, it will be a tough task, requiring the starting pitching to be elite. If Tulane sweeps UCF, which is 100th in the RPI, it likely would climb into the high 40s. If it wins three of four from Cincinnati (high 80s) on the road, its RPI likely would climb to near 40. Winning three of four against UCF and all four against Cincinnati would be even better for the RPI.

East Carolina has been a .500 road team this year, but the sample size is too small to be a valid indicator. The Pirates close out with eight games on the road against USF and Cincinnati, and it is hard to imagine them losing more than two of them, but you never know. One thing that would benefit Tulane is for Wichita State to go 7-1 or 8-0 in its final two home series (USF, Memphis), climbing into the top 50 of the RPI. Right now the Shockers are 53, and if they got in the top 50, Tulane would be a respectable 5-8 against tier 1 teams instead of the current 2-8.

With a resume that is very light on quality victories, Tulane has to win a lot of games the rest of the way. It is possible, but it's tough when teams can run willy-nilly on the catchers. It's up to the starting pitchers to dominate and keep guys off the bases in the first place. We will see if they are up to the task starting Friday, when Olthoff hopes to bounce back in a big way.

I was looking into Bennett Lee's outrageous .461 batting average (and even more outrageous .517 average in AAC play) and learned he went 9 for 11 in a recent seven-game stretch (the four games at Memphis and the first three vs. Houston) when he had two strikes. That's insane. No one hits like that with two strikes, and in fact he is only 6 for 30 with two strikes in his other at-bats, but until getting gassed by back-to-back doubleheaders against Houston, he was totally locked in.

All nine hits were singles. Two were to the right side, one was to the left, three were up the middle and three never left the infield, so he does whatever the pitch requires to get on base. The two times he did not hit safely in that span, he struck out, so every time he put the ball in play, he got a single.

The Tulane record for batting average for a full season was .439 by David Stokes in 1980.

When former offensive line coach Cody Kennedy left for Southern Miss (briefly, before then heading to Arkansas), he said it was tough because he wanted to see the developing line he had worked with this past year become the force he expected it to be in the next two years. The Green Wave started two true freshmen on the right side for much of 2020, returns seven guys who started at least three games up front in 2020 (Sincere Haynesworth 12, Corey Dublin 11, Joey Claybrook 9, Trey Tuggle 8, Josh Remetich 5, Caleb Thomas 4, Timothy Shafter 3) and has two redshirt freshman whom Kennedy was very high on in

Two offensive line coaches later, it is a little hard to judge how much the linemen improved during a chaotic spring drills in which the coach hired to replace Kennedy, George Barnett, left for Iowa after working the Potato Bowl and one spring practice. The group was coached by a grad assistant for the next couple of workouts before Chris Watt was hired and began learning his guys on the fly while spring ball continued. Joey Claybrook, who will start at left tackle, was not available due to offseason knee surgery from an injury in the Potato Bowl. Josh Remetich was out with an injury, too, and a few other guys missed some practices as well, so it was impossible to get a read on how well the group will play in the fall.

This much we know. The left side of the line is set with Claybrook, Corey Dublin at guard and Sincere Haynesworth at center. The coaches believe that trio will be as good as anyone in the AAC, with Dublin electing to return for a COVID-granted extra year and on his way to shattering the school record for career starts as a full-time five-year starter.

This much we don't know: who will start on the right side in the opener, and who will start there as the year progresses. I watched 10 of the 14 spring practices and my opinion changed by the day. Tuggle, who started the first seven games at right guard as a true freshman and also started the regular-season finale against Memphis, was a backup when he practiced in the spring. As already mentioned, Remetich, who started the first four games at right tackle plus the Memphis game, was not available. The most frequent starters were Thomas at right guard and Shafter at right tackle. Thomas played pretty well last year while starting against SMU, UCF and Temple while subbing for an injured Remetich before getting hurt himself, returning again vs. Memphis. Shafter, a former walk-on who started against East Carolina, Army and Tulsa when Tuggle was down, struggled mightily as one of the guys trying to replace Claybrook at left tackle when he got hurt against Nevada.

Redshirt freshman Rashad Green, one of the young guys Kennedy touted, got some reps with the first unit at right guard this spring and looked pretty good, albeit in drills that were not live. No one looked particularly good at either tackle spot with Claybrook out, although Michael Lombardi, the other redshirt freshman Kennedy really liked, worked with the first team on the left side and earned praise from the coaches. That spot, to me, will determine how effective the line is in 2021 and whether Michael Pratt can get comfortable in the pocket rather than constantly worrying he is about to get hit.

I went back and forth when I had to do depth charts for Athlon's and Lindy's in my previews because I really don't have enough info on whom Watt likes the best or what he envisions for this group., and even though I was there for all three scrimmages, I did not get a good read on the guys vying for time.

My best guess is that Thomas will win the three-way battle with Remetich and Green at right guard, although Green will warrant playing time. Thomas improved tremendously last season after being out with injuries in his first year, and if he makes a similar leap in the fall, he can become a decent starter. Remetich had one turned out to be a killer personal foul penalty against Tulsa, although it would have been a footnote if the defense had been able to defend a pass. Ask me tomorrow and I might have a different answer about the starter here.

In what is pretty much a toss-up, I expect Tuggle to reclaim the right tackle position from Shafter, who looked shaky again in the spring at times. Lombardi will be in the picture, too, after playing on the left side in the spring, but Tuggle was ahead of him in the first year and I see no reason he cannot hold on to that advantage. This spot needs to play better overall than it did a year ago.

Offensive linemen play all game if healthy, but the top backup to Haynesworth is Michael Remondet (big dropoff) and the top backup to Dublin is Jackson Fort (also a big dropoff). Juco transfer Haydan Shook and freshman Hutson Lillibridge were at spring practice but did not make an impact, although Shook was not healthy for part of it.

Carson Haggard Quarterback out of Miami Florida

Talked to Jewett, Olthoff and Lee tonight after Tulane once again did what good teams do, shutting out Houston behind a dominant performance by Olthoff that had to happen with Houston's terrific starter limiting the Wave to one run in six innings--he had to leave them because Tulane's hitters made him throw a ton of pitches--and then coming back from the biggest deficit it had faced in April, 4-1, to win 11-4 in the nightcap. Doubters will persist, and it's largely understandable considering the recent history, but this team has become dynamite and might even run away with the AAC depending on what happens next weekend at ECU. Bennett Lee is the best Tulane hitter I've ever seen--I was in Florida for the glory days under Rick Jones--and the lineup is plenty good enough to supplement what without a doubt (in my view) is Tulane's best pitching staff in ages.

The coaching staff has done an outstanding job of developing the hitters and pitchers this year, and I don't use that word lightly. They also made two outfield substitutions in the seventh inning of the nightcap that worked beautifully, with Groff moving to left field from right and making a catch at the wall and Jared Hart (who is in an extended funk at the plate) coming off the bench to play center field and maknig a sliding catch. Everything is working right now.

JEWETT

"The kids came out and found a way to win a couple different ways tonight. Obviously Olthoff got us off to a great start in game 1 and then we were opportunistic in the second game. To win a doubleheader's tough. We've found ourselves doing that four weeks, and I'm real happy for the kids. And the coaches deserve credit--that doesn't include me--for the scouting report, the pitch plans, the defensive positioning, all those things were on point tonight."

On dominating game after Haydan Hastings failed to apply tag in perfect position, handing fourth run to Houston and putting Wave down 4-1 for largest deficit of April:

"We found ourselves behind there in the middle innings and had a little bit of a weird play. Haydan controlled the block to a certain extent and beat the guy to the plate and just went high with his tag and (the runner) just kind of angled his foot in there, but we are always talking about keeping our dukes up and quick-recovery athletes. The way we're feeling about ourselves, I don't think they felt that was a deficit that was going to keep them down. The kids led the charge tonight. They were stuffing on us a little bit there, and our guys were in the dugout going like, we're good, we got this, stay calm, keep coming at them and that's exactly what they did. We always talk about the first three outs and the last nine, and it showed up tonight. For us to put up six runs in the eighth just shows you the kids are fighting all the time and we're going to keep playing until the umpire says it's over. We found two different ways to win today, and that's the characteristic of a championship team."

On Lee having five more hits:

"Obviously he's seeing the ball very well. He's using the entire field. The at-bat tonight that sticks out to me was the two-strike smash down the first-base line. That's what a professional hitter does. It just goes to show you that his plan is clear pitch to pitch, and when he gets late in the count he has a good approach and he's firing the ball all over the field, so yeah, he's doing a heck of a job. It's funny. I remember one time at Memphis last week he popped up to the first baseman and ran by him and I looked at him kind of weird and he looked at me kind of weird like what's my problem. I said my problem is I just don't know how to react when you get out. Really what it comes down to is he's hitting the ball where it needs to go. He's hitting it into the right parts of the park."

On Olthoff being terrific:

"That was certainly the Olthoff that we've all grown accustomed to seeing. I'm just real proud of him because I would tell you from a few starts ago that when we skipped him on that one, you could see with each and every once since them he keeps getting a little bit better. And Gasser, as an opposing coach, he certainly grabs your attention because of his arm talent and his ability and his numbers. He can get you a little bit on edge, but when you can sit down and go, well, but we have Braden Olthoff. You know on a Friday in college baseball, those are the type games you are going to find yourself in. It was a really good pitching matchup, but Braden was outstanding, no question about it."

On winning 12 in a row:

"We just have to stay on ourselves and keep doing what we're doing. We're using the words 'humble' and 'hungry.' We can't get too far ahead of ourselves. We've just got to stay momentary and take each game one at a time, but I know the kids are feeling good about themselves on the mound and in the box and we're playing a lot better defense. You get the combination of those three things and the engine is going pretty good. We had a lot of nice contributors today. Hayden gets in to catch and he clears the bases (with a three-run double in the eighth) and Groff makes a helluva catch in the outfield and Hart sits down for the first time in a while and comes in and makes a heck of a play in the outfield. Any great organization, the competition from within has them feeding off each other. It's great to see."

OLTHOFF

On being sharp:

"I felt great today. I love the challenge of going against a pitcher that's the same caliber. I've heard really good things about that guy, so I knew I was going to need to be on my game today. That's a challenge every Friday of going against the other team's ace, so I felt really good out there. I actually had some friends coming from my home town of San Diego out there, so any time they are in the crowd, I have to put a performance out for them. I definitely heard their cheering all game."

On baffling Houston hitters with his breaking balls:

"My slider and curve ball, I like to mix them both in, that's my strikeout pitch and I was just locating it pretty much where I wanted to all day."

LEE

On seeing ball well:

"I'm definitely seeing it well. That's a main focus when I'm working my process in BP and even in the game just trying to be as relaxed as possible and seeing it huge. If I take quality swings at quality pitches, I'm going to like the results, so that's kind of my plan and process."

On being down 4-1 and coming back, with him hitting a double down the right field line to make it 5-4:

"That was awesome to come back. There was a little moment in the dugout like coach said where Trevor (Minder) and some of the older guys were just calming us down and said all right, now just make an effort to come back, we're going to be great. That double there was a two-strike count. I was looking for something out over the plate and was just trying to put it into play to the right side and that's exactly what I did, to get that fastball away and hit it down the line. It was great to knock in the go-ahead run for sure."

On 12 wins in a row:

"It's a great feeling for sure, especially after some of the frustrating times we had. Everyone on the team kept believing and kept showing up with the great energy every day and we finally found it and now it's just a matter of staying humble and hungry and keeping this going."

It's De'Carlo Donaldson, a 3-star WR/TE from Miami Gulliver Prep who is rated the No. 80 overall prospect in Florida and is listed as having offers from Florida, FSU and Miami. I doubt the Florida and FSU ones still stand, but he's a high-level recruit at a position that offensive coordinator Chip Long has used heavily in his coaching career.

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Talked to Hunter this morning about the big transfer news with Jalen Cook (LSU, former 4-star recruit) and DeVon Baker (two-time preseason Big South first-team pick) joining the fold. The roster is complete for the moment, although that does not mean Hunter is done adding players.

You said you did not feel you were that far away from being a contender in the AAC at the end of the season. How much do you feel you have upgraded the roster since then?

"When I walked out of our last game in the conference tournament and I said we had to get better in our 3-point shooting and our offense. Our defense is good enough to contend in this league, but our offense has to get better, so the whole deal was about offense. In our league you better have good guards and 3-point shooters, and we addressed that, so I'm extremely excited about the guys we got. We took some home-run (swings) on some guys and we ended up getting them."

What are your thoughts on Jalen Cook?

"What's great about him is not only is he a big-time player, but he's a Louisiana kid, and that's important. When I was at Georgia State, we were able to bring (Conyers, Ga. native) Kevin Ware back after his injury with Louisville (a gruesome knee injury in the Final Four) and it opens the door for so many things. When you get a Mr. Basketball in the state, it opens the door for some of these other recruits, and not only do we have him, but we have him for four years, so it's almost like he's a freshman. It's bigger than him being a great player. Everybody knows he's a great player, but what he can single-handedly do just by signing. We can already see it by the young kids we talk to now that are interested in coming to Tulane."

On the court, can he be a transformative player for you?

"Oh, there's no question. When you're teaching at an urban institution, if you can get that guy that a hometown guy and he can be that star and that stud, it just does so much for your program. That's why I'm excited because it just feels all over again what we've done at IUPUI and Georgia State. We needed a guy like this. I've been trying to do this since I've been here. COVID's kind of stopped it, so I'm excited about that. Not to put pressure on him, but it is. I told him I brought him in here to be the piece of this program."

How would you describe his game?

"He's a scorer. You can put him out there and he'll score and make other guys better. He'll fit perfectly with the guys that we've got coming back and our system of playing. We can go small and put shooters around him. There's a lot of different things we can do with him, but more importantly he's just a talent. Sometimes I don't want to have to call plays. I want talent to take over."

What do you like about DeVon Baker?

"Again, we took a big swing. He's from my hometown, Dayton, and so I knew a lot of people with that. He was hurt this past year but he's back healthy now, and he's another one. You don't have to go call plays for him. He can just go score. He's a big, strong, tough kid and plays with a chip on his shoulder. I just love the kid. Going back home and being able to get a kid like that is exactly what we needed. We needed offense to come into this program and we were able to get it with those two guys."

What was his injury? (he was limited to eight games, missing all of February)

"He tweaked his knee. He didn't have major surgery but he had surgery toward the end of the year, but if he had played all year, he would have averaged 19, 20 a game. He's a really good player."

How do you feel about your overall roster?

"Well, we just want to keep improving. With this transfer thing, it's a different type of recruiting. You are recruiting year to year now, and right now I told my guys to continue to recruit because you never know what's going to happen. We want to stay prepared and we want to know what's out there. I think this could be our roster, but we could have another addition. You just don't know. It's different from when I first got in the business and it was based on classes. Now it's just year to year. It's almost like free agency."

Gabe Watson entered the transfer portal. Your thoughts?

"What happens is a lot of times, especially with COVID when you don't get to recruit like you normally would, it just wasn't a good fit. He's a great player. I like him and he's a good kid, but I don't think the fit for our system was for him. We needed more of a fit. If you look at anything in my program, I've always had great guards, and I feel like we've got great guards now. I feel great. You've got to know who you are. Everybody says go get a guy who can rebound and all that, well if you can go get a 7-footer who can rebound and all that, he's only going to stay one year because he's a pro. For us to compete in this league and to be guard, we've got to have great guards. We haven't had that. This year will be our first full season at Tulane (the first year was done on the fly and last year was COVID interrupted) and I really like where we are in regards to talent now. I've got a full imprint that this is my team and how I want to go compete and I'm just excited about it. I wish we were playing tomorrow. I really do."

How much do you need Tylan Pope and Kevin Cross to be consistent next year because it looks like you're really going to be counting on them in the frontcourt?

"We need them, but the guy that really didn't get an opportunity, and part of it was my fault--he was injured most of the time--is Oton. He has the ability to play for us. He came in late and the injuries kind of slowed him, but he's going to get a long look this summer. He's 6-9, he's athletic, he's skilled enough and so if we can get him to be that guy for the next three years with him and Cross, that's one reason I didn't want to get a big because I didn't want to give up on Oton. I think he can be a great addition to the team."

What is Ibby Ali's status?

"I think the injuries have caught up to him. Great kid, but he just can't get on the floor. He's got great size and he has some ability, but availability has to at some point kick in, and he just hasn't been able to go for us."

Is he still on the roster?

"At this point he is. He can't do anything for the nexgt 60 days because of his injuries. We'll see what happens, but it doesn't look great with his injuries. We could add another frontcourt player before it's all said and done."

Is this a contending roster in the conference?

"I felt like that in the conference tournament after our last game against Houston. I felt like if we just got a little better, we could compete with the top four. Not only did we get a little better. We got a lot better, but more importantly we've brought everybody back. You look at our conference and we've lost people. It's unbelievable. Just through attrition we are going to be better by bringing everybody back."

Guerry, word is coach Fritz has been "invited to interview". Any rumblings that he will?

Tulane checked in at No. 25 in Perfect Game today, which means nothing in terms of NCAA postseason chances but is still nice to see, and at 29 in the Collegiate Baseball newspaper poll, which is the one The Advocate uses as its official one (I complained about this last years but got nowhere, so I won't bother this time). I expected the Collegiate Baseball ranking because they value current winning streaks, but I was not expecting the Perfect Game mention. I actually think the Baseball America one is the most accurate. The D1Baseball guys know the most about college baseball but they are wedded to a strict philosophy (2-1 series wins are just as good at 3-0 series wins and midweek games are inconsequential) that is far too rigid for my taste. They also are the slowest to drop their preconceived notions about teams. Probably considering the quality of opponents, the coaches' poll is much more skeptical, with Tulane getting five votes and checking in at a tie for 42nd.

But enough about irrelevant stuff. Tulane did what good teams do over the weekend, destroying really bad, poorly coached, largely disinterested Memphis. It's not as automatic as Jewett's legion of detractors would have you believe. To wit, Louisiana Tech hosted a Marshall team that was 6-22 overall, 2-14 in CUSA and had recently endured a 15-game losing streak in which it scored a total of 34 runs. Yet, Marshall almost took the opener from La Tech and then won games 3 and 4 by scores of 11-5 and 7-2 to split the series. Marshall had been outscored in a four-game sweep by Western Kentucky 19-4 and in a four-game sweep by Old Dominion 43-15 and in a four-game sweep by FAU 35-11. After losing its conference opener to Memphis, Tulane won seven in a row from the Tigers by the combined score of 60-12. It is hard to do any better than that.

This week is more tricky. Houston has a worse RPI than Memphis but is a lot more talented despite having awful results. The Cougars have maybe the best pitcher in the AAC in Robert Glasser, a junior left-hander with a 2.20 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 57 1/3 innings. He has allowed two or fewer earned runs in seven of his nine starts and will pitch in one of the games on Friday, likely opposing Olthoff but possibly Aldrich. He has not been as effective on the road (4.50 ERA in four starts), but the sample size is pretty small. Houston won 1 of 3 against Texas earlier this year, and one of the losses by 1 run. The wheels fell off two weekends later in a trip to Oklahoma, a .500 team that will not make the postseason. The Sooners won three games by the combined score of 38-5. Two weeks later, Gasser won his start against Wichita State before Houston lost three consecutive 1-run games. No shame there. The wheels fell off again the following weekend at Wichita State when Houston was outscored 40-6. That's about lack of effort, but when Houston is motivated, it is not terrible, unlike Memphis. The Cougars are second-to-last in the AAC in hitting and third-to-last in pitching but still well ahead of Memphis in both categories.

The way the RPI works, it dings teams heavily for losing at home to low-rated teams, so Tulane needs to sweep the Cougars. One loss figures to be a lot more damaging than a loss to Memphis would have been, but as I've said repeatedly, I'm not caught up in the RPI. Good teams find a way to win enough games to reach the postseason, and I believe this is a good team. I would put the first three starters in the rotation against almost any team in the country, and that is what should keep Tulane on the right path. The Wave leads the AAC in ERA (3.54) and is 18th nationally. Regardless of the competition level, it is hard to do what Tulane has done on the mound, holding opponents in conference games to 4, 1, 2, 2, 3, 2, 7, 2, 2, 0 and 3 runs. If Olthoff matches his 2020 form--he is close but not quite there--that will go a long way toward guaranteeing a sweep this weekend because Tulane has very favorable matchups the rest of the way. I'm a little concerned about Hoffman because he has bouts of wildness, as he did when he threw 12 balls in his first 14 pitches yesterday, but Aldrich and Benoit have become rock solid and should have mismatches in their favor. Even with Wichita State losing 6 of its last 7 (all on the road), it will be difficult for ECU to sweep the Shockers this weekend, so this an opportunity for Tulane to create some separation on the Pirates entering their mega-matchup in Greenville two weekends from now.

The status of Trevor Minder bears watching. I assumed he had wrist pain again and asked a leading question to Jewett yesterday where he appeared to confirm it, but now I'm hearing the radio broadcast said it was a shoulder issue.

Bennett Lee is leading the nation in hitting at .464, but he will not qualify until after the Friday doubleheader against Cincinnati at Turchin Stadium because the NCAA requires players to have played in 75 percent of their teams' games. Assuming he stays healthy, he will have played in 33 of Tulane's 44 games by then. Regardless, he is a tremendous hitter. This coaching staff hit on a bunch of pitchers before last year and appears to have upgraded the hitting talent considerably with this year's group. This is a regional quality team for sure, with the pitching talent to do a lot of damage in the postseason. Now it's up to the coaches and players to ensure they get that chance.

One other thing. No question the AAC is considerably down this year, but it is not a trash league. It's still rated No, 6 overall and five of the eight teams currently are in the top 100 in the RPI. I saw elsewhere CUSA was the No. 6 league in 2005 the last time Tulane made the CWS, so it's not like this team cannot overcome a weak schedule. If it plays well, the RPI will be in good shape by the end of the regular season.

Ron Hunter may have gotten the breakthrough he was looking for Saturday when former LSU guard Jalen Cook and former UNC Asheville guard DeVon Baker announced they were transferring to Tulane. Both of them are very talented 6-2 guards.

Cook was Mr Basketball in Louisiana as a junior at Walker (La.) High. averaging 29.5 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists. Tulane tried to recruit him out of high school but made no headway. He had a limited role on a very talented LSU team, but he was a sought-after player with offers from Georgetown and Houston.

When Hunter was at IUPUI, he convinced Indianapolis product George Hill to play for him when he has offers from Temple and Indiana, and Hill led IUPUI to a 26-7 record in his junior year before turning pro and having a solid NBA career that is still going in year No. 13.

When Hunter was at Georgia State, he got Marietta native Ryan Harrow as a Kentucky transfer, and Georgia State went 25-9 and 25-10 in his two years, winning the Sun Belt Conference both years and beating Baylor in the first round of the NCAA tournament in 2015.

I have not seen Cook play, but he is considered an explosive athlete and was ranked just outside the top 100 prospects in the country when he signed with LSU. He starred in basketball and football in high school.

Baker lit it up for a generally bad UNC Asheville team, averaging 16.1 points as a freshman, 16.5 points as a sophomore and 13.0 points while playing only eight games (likely a COVID issue) this past year. He had three games with at least 30 or more points in his career there and 17 with at least 20. He was a scorer more than a 3-point shooter at UNC Asheville, although he had back-to-back games against Radford this past season when he combined to hit 8 of 10 3s. He scored 37 points against Tennessee-Martin as a sophomore and was in double figures for the last 16 games that year. He shot better than 50 percent from the floor this past season.

With Baker and Cook joining Jaylen Forbes, Jordan Walker and Sion James and already announced transfer Scott Spencer, a 6-foot-6 3-point shooting wing from LaSalle (and Clemson before then) Tulane should make tremendous improvement offensively next year after ranking near the bottom of D1 in field goal percentage. The Wave might lose some players to the transfer portal as a result of those two arriving, but that's OK. Gabe Watson entered the portal more than a month ago, but he was a low-percentage shooter who specialized in taking contested shots and really struggled to score consistently. If no one else leaves, Tulane is maxed out on scholarships and this will be the roster for 2021-22:

Jaylen Forbes
Sion James
Jordan Walker
Jalen Cook
DeVon Baker
Scott Spencer
Jadan Coleman
R.J. McGee
Kevin Cross
Tylan Pope
Nobal Days
Ibby Ali
Oton Jankovic

This team is still light in the frontcourt, but that's modern college basketball. Tulane will need Cross and Pope to step up and be consistent after they showed flashes of being good players. Nobal Days does the little things really well but did not improve his scoring or rebounding as a sophomore. Ali's health is a question mark. He played only one game this past year.
Jankovic's game is a question mark. He made no impact last year on a team that needed scoring.

I would not be surprised if one of the big men left and Hunter brought in someone else, but we will see. As the roster stands now, this team should have a chance to make a significant move in the AAC.

Tulane needs improvement in plenty of areas to contend for the AAC championship--more consistent offensive-line play and competent coverage in third and long situations are two obvious ones--but none may be more important than getting an upgrade at wide receiver. Even when Darnell Mooney and Jalen McCleskey were starting in 2019, the group as a whole was a problem spot for the Green Wave. and the issues were exacerbated a year ago with Mooney and McCleskey gone. Good opponents play man-to-man on the wideouts, stack the box and dare Tulane to beat them in the air. The Wave usually hasn't.

Will next fall be any different? New offensive coordinator Chip Long made the passing game a priority in spring drills, with the Wave working on plenty of timing routes designed to beat man coverage with talented second-year quarterback Michael Pratt. The problem was Tulane spent almost the entire spring without its two best wideouts--Jha'Quan Jackson sat out while recovering from offseason labrum surgery and Duece Watts sprained an ankle in the first week and did not return until the end of the final week. It was a two-fold disappointment because that duo, though good, is not polished enough to skip the reps, and the rest of the receivers did not step up enough when given the opportunity. There's still time, though, and Tulane also will get Division II star Shae Wyatt, who put up huge numbers at Central Missouri, and Mykel Jones back in the fall after the original four-star recruit and Oklahoma transfer was a non-factor in 2020. Maybe one final chance will help Jones live up to his high school billing, although he did have any wow moments in practice or games a year ago.

I believe Duece Watts and Jackon can be as good as Mooney and McCleskey were, with hopefully fewer drops. With Mooney lighting it up as NFL rookie last year, it may be easy to forget he came close to dropping more passes in his final year at Tulane than in his previous three seasons combined. He had excellent hands but something happened to his concentration that he corrected again when he arrived in Chicago.

Of the receivers who participated in the bulk of spring drills, here is an evaluation:

1) Phat Watts

Two inches shorter than his twin brother, Phat Watts is not as talented or as reliable, but he was clearly the best of the spring guys. He is good on quick outs and hitches, using his athletic ability to get yards after the catch. After catching 17 passes for 217 yards and zero touchdowns last year, he needs to at least double the first two two totals and get into the end zone a few times to be the No. 3 target Tulane needs.

2) Jaetavian Toles

Toles is fast, is an excellent special teams player and has a pretty good body for a receiver, but something is missing. For one, he does not get open consistently. There's a reason the coaches moved him to cornerback last August even though they had a need at receiver and he was one of the most experienced pass-catchers on the roster. The move was a mistake and was corrected a month or so later, but Toles does not look natural at receiver. He had that huge touchdown catch off a spin move against Navy to help Tulane reach its first bowl game under Fritz in 2018, but he had only 13 catches for 160 yards in 2019 and nine catches for 107 yards last year. He was not a huge factor in the scrimmages or the spring game.

3) Tyrek Presley

The fact that Presley's roommate is Pratt tells you he has potential. His problem in the past has been A) staying healthy and B) focusing. He and Pratt developed decent chemistry on a back-shoulder thrown in spring drills, but he still has to become more consistent. Dick Vitale used to have an All Airport Team in college basketball, talking about guys who looked great getting on the plane but did not produce in games. If you look at Presley in warm-ups you would think he was one of Tulane's best wideouts, but he did not catch a pass while playing in five games last years and was limited to three catches for 55 yards (all against UConn) as a true freshman. He might develop into a reliable receiver in the fall, or he might not. I'm just not sure.

4) Cyron Sutton

Sutton looked good on the first day or two of spring drills, and then the niggling injuries hit and robbed him of a chance to improve. He tried to return for the scrimmage before the spring game but clearly was hobbled and was no factor there or in the spring game. He gets an incomplete and is yet another unknown heading into the fall. He put up huge numbers at McNeese State, but is he good enough to be a factor at the FBS level? Possibly, but not definitely.

5) Ryan Thompson

Given a scholarship before the season opener last year, Thompson did not have a catch all season. This spring, he got a ton of reps but did not make a huge impression. Here and there he made a play, but most of the time he was part of the group that was getting covered and forcing Pratt to throw the ball away or try to force a play that wasn't there.

Corey Dauphine was the big story of the spring of 2020 before it was aborted two practices after his surprise return.

This spring the story was how few running backs were there. The transfers of Amare Jones early last December (not a surprise) and Stephon Huderson after the bowl game (a bit of a surprise) plus the continued recuperation of Tyjae Spears from the ACL injury that ended his season last September left Tulane with three scholarship players at the position--Cameron Carroll, Ygenio Booker and Utah grad transfer Devin Brumfield. There were not even any notable walk-ons, with a former walk-on quarterback and a former walk-on tight end getting some work there before scholarship tight end Christian Daniels ( a former QB as well) got some carries in the spring game (although I was asleep at the wheel and did not notice until Willie Fritz mentioned it in his post-game presser).

In other words, Carroll, Booker and Brumfield got a ton of work. If Spears is close to full strength, he will be Tulane's bell-cow back because he is a special talent, but Fritz always spreads the wealth offensively., and I expect Chip Long to continue that approach.

1) Carroll

After Fritz built Carroll up in the spring of 2019 and he came up empty in that year's spring game, I was skeptical of his ability, feeling his good size and speed did not translate into actual football skills. I was wrong. As Carroll first proved with some hellacious runs during Tulane's ultimately unsuccessful comeback in a loss at Navy in 2019, he's a baller. He still needs to get better and picking out holes, but he is tough to tackle and can do damage, has a nose for the end zone and can do damage in the open field. He's also smart, conscientious and an excellent quote, so I would love to see him have a banner year next fall. This spring, he said he wanted to work heavily on his blocking skills, particularly in protecting the quarterbacks. Tulane's protection collapse against Nevada was a huge factor in the Wave's first bowl loss under Fritz, and Carroll remembered Matt Forte's words in a Zoom address to the team when he said running backs who did not block became part-time players. After rushing for 789 yards (6.1 average per carry) and 12 TDs last year, he should surpass that first total and approach the second one in the fall. He will certainly do everything in his power to put himself in that position, and his natural ability will do the rest.

2) Brumfield

I was skeptical of Brumfield, too, because at Utah, because he averaged only 4.0 yards on his 21 carries last year while the Utes' starter, Ty Jordan, averaged 7.2, and 4.5 yards in 59 attempts n 2019 while the leading rusher, Zack Moss, averaged 6.0. Something kept him from being effective, but after watching him this spring, it was not a lack of ability. Jordan and Moss apparently were really good players because Brumfield looks good. This comes with the caveat that the lack of tackling in spring drills makes it hard to judge running backs, but he had good moves, decent speed and was explosive at times. Fritz loved him because of his work ethic--he runs every play out, all the time--and he appears ready to become another of the numerous backs that have thrived under Fritz. He could have a Huderson type year (787 yards, 6.0 yards per carry), although Huderson improved tremendously at reading holes and it is unclear if Brumfield has the same knack at this point. He also has good hands and should be a factor in the passing game along with Carroll.

3) Booker

If Booker stays healthy, he should be a positive factor in the fall. I've always liked him when he practiced, particularly as a receiver, and even felt he should move to wideout at one point before being shot down by some people in the know. Fritz took a chance on Booker because he had minimal stats as a runner in high school, but it is easy to see what the coaches liked. He is fluid as a receiver out of the backfield. is one of the fastest players on the team and should be able to translate that talent to carries out of the backfield. The next step is doing it in games. He was virtually invisible last season, finishing with nine rushes for 41 yards and one catch for minus-3 yards. Since the backfield will be less crowded, he should get a shot. The key is not getting hurt for a long stretch. I can envision him making a game-breaking catch and run earlier in the season and gaining the confidence to become a regular contributor.

The Tulane-Wichita State game got rained out today with the Shockers leading 1-0 in the top of the first inning. They will resume it tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. and will not play a fourth game. he sto

Yesterday, the Wave had a huge doubleheader sweep, rallying from a 3-1 deficit with five runs in the fifth to take the opener and holding on to win the nightcap 3-2 despite making a litany of mistakes that usually prevent victories. The pitchers were the story, with Braden Olthoff recovering from a shaky start to strike out 10 in five innings, Justin Campbell getting out of trouble Olthoff created in the sixth and Clifton Slagel pitching a clean final three innings for his first save of the year in the first game and Jack Aldrich pitching six solid innings before a lights-out, three-inning save by grad student Keagan Gillies in his best performance in a Tulane uniform.

I talked to Olthoff and Slagel on the phone after the first game and to Travis Jewett and Gillies on a Zoom call after the second one.

OLTHOFF

On what Daniel Latham said to him on mound visit with runners at first and third and no outs and a 3-1 deficit in the third inning:

"He basically just came out and said I needed to get my sights down on my fastball a little bit. In the second inning and the third inning I was getting behind on a few counts and leaving some pitches up and he just said get the fastball down in the zone and you'll be able to get some ground balls. I just tried to change my eyesights at that point. Sometimes that's something you're not thinking about, and something as simple as looking a little lower at the glove was something that could help."

On striking out next three batters:

"That was definitely a huge moment in the game. I'd been struggling a little bit. I came out really hot in the first and in the second and third they got a few timely hits to start the inning (all four were line shots). In the second inning the two hits both scored and in the third inning they got another and I knew they couldn't be scoring too much because that's definitely a good hitting team and I wanted to keep them right there, so whenever there's a runner on third base I try to get a strikeout or a weak ground ball to one of the corner infielders so someone is able to make a play and keep that guy right there."

On first time pitching in game for three weeks:

"It felt really good to be back out there. I was definitely ready to go last week, but I threw in a SIM (simulated) game against our own guys last week and everything was working really well and I felt really good, so I was really excited for this week. With all the rain and stuff coming, when I started warming up on the field it was still pouring, so I was just happy there wasn't a weather delay where I had to sit in the dugout for a while."

On opting not to pitch two weeks ago:

"I was just having a little forearm tightness. I told them I could still go if he needed me, but it was early in conference. I know there's a lot more bigger games coming up in the season. I felt like just after some long games earlier in the season it was nice to get a week off. Sometimes just taking a few extra days off can do wonders for your arm and your body. I felt a lot better this week."

On getting the win in series opener:

"That's always the goal. That's my plan. I pride myself on pitching Friday nights. Taking game 1 was huge. We have another game coming up and it would be great to get a 2-0 lead, but one game at a time and hopefully we can take a series from these guys because they are definitely going to be one of the better teams in this conference and finish at the top."

On pitching at 10 a.m. ever before:

"Jewett asked me that this morning at breakfast. I don't think I really have. Maybe in high school on a Saturday, something like that, but definitely nothing at junior college and nothing here, so it definitely had been a while. They let us know ahead of time yesterday so I got to bed at a reasonable time and tried to prepare myself. I feel like I'm always ready. I have a good routine. I stuck to that today even with all the rain. I did some stuff inside, so it was nice to get out there."

SLAGEL

On what was said before he went back out for 9th inning:

"That eighth inning was a pretty short inning. I think I threw maybe a little more than 10 pitches (actually 13). He asked me how I was feeling and I thought I could go back out there for another one. These four-game weekend series require a lot of pitching, so if you don't have to use another guy in game one, that's a huge benefit moving forward in the series. I felt good. I thought I could go back out for another one and finish it off, and luckily we got a win."

On big to win opener:

"It's huge. They were on a seven-game win streak but we were on a three-game win streak ourselves, so it was two teams that are feeling pretty good about themselves. Obviously it was a strange day and a strange week in general preparing for them, but taking that first one today especially with some uncertainty left in the series is huge,. We played well as a team, threw well and got some timely hits."

On rare save (his second in two years):

"I have a role of mixing and matching here and there. I don't know exactly what I'm going to get when I show up, but any time you have a chance like that, especially in a tighter game, it feels good knowing that they have some faith in me that I can finish it out there. When you are in that spot, you know you have a chance to win the game, so it was fun."

On relaxing for second game:

"Jewett came up to me and was joking that I was going to be ready to go, but I should be down here for a couple of days watching some good baseball and taking time off, so that's good."

As I did last year, I will analyze each position over the next couple of weeks. First up, the quarterbacks, with Michael Pratt and Justin Ibieta the only scholarship players at the position in the spring.

First, though, I want to comment on the bizarre confidence some fans on another message board have in incoming freshman Kai Horton. He was a nice late pickup, but he has virtually no chance to be the Wave's starter this fall. Yes, he won big at a Texas powerhouse program and put up really good numbers, but if he were a can't miss, ready-to-play-rght-away prospect, he would have been recruited much more heavily. Even in a pandemic year, when everything was different, guys like that don't slip through the cracks. Tulane is banking on him developing into a starter-quality QB. but it's as if some people never have followed recruiting in their life if they think he is going to come in and beat out Michael Pratt. And the way Pratt played last year, why would anyone want an untested freshman to beat him out? Strange.

On to the analyisis:

1) PRATT

Quick take: He was not as sharp as I expected, tailing off in the last two weeks of spring drills, but much of it had to do with learning a new offense under Chip Long. Long coaches his guys hard, and Pratt was the subject of some withering critiques during practice when he made poor decisions or inaccurate throws.

Longer take: Pratt had some good moments, including a gorgeous throw to Phat Watts in the spring game (as winwave pointed out) that none of his predecessors under Willie Fritz could have made. He also tends to be better on game days than in practice, as former offensive coordinator Will Hall told me in November. Some coaches simply do not buy into that theory, insisting players have to practice the same way they play in games, and it will be interesting to see where Long is on that topic. Pratt combines good arm talent with an infectious confidence that gets everyone around him to believe in themselves. He lives to win and is very mentally tough, as indicated by his irritated reaction to everyone trying to pump him up after his game-ending pick six in overtime against Tulsa. He felt sick about the play but also has far too much belief to let a mistake like that affect his confidence.

He does need to throw more accurately in the fall than he did in the spring. There were a few too many passes that were slightly off target than I expected, and Long noticed. He certainly is not going to pump too much positivism because he knows Pratt has areas to improve. His completion percentage needs to rise to 60 percent in the fall, and he has the receivers to help him get there in Jha'Quan Jackson and Duece Watts if he tightens his game and gets truly comfortable in the new offense, which has a more sophisticated passing concept than in the past.

2) IBIETA

Quick take: There are some knowledgable people who believe Ibieta has more arm talent than Pratt. I'm not one of them (insert your own joke here), but he certainly has the raw talent to be a starting quarterback at this level if he becomes more consistent on and off the field.

Longer take: Ibieta was not a hard-enough worker when he arrived at Tulane. Everything came easily for him at Country Day and he was not ready mentally to compete for the starting job, particularly since Pratt had a head start last spring. Watching Pratt succeed let him know how far he had to go to challenge him, and he worked hard in the weight room and with his diet in the offseason to put himself in that position this spring. He can make some pretty passes and, working primarily against the second-team defense in scrimmages, he was more decisive with his throws than Pratt at times, but he also made some head-scratching passes, turning walk-on cornerback Rishi Rattan into a star in the last two weeks of drills. The bottom line is Pratt will have to fail or get hurt for Ibieta to play this fall, but if he improves as much as he has in the last few months, he will give the team a chance if he needs to play. Having to adjust to a new offense and a new coach evened the playing field a little bit for him.

To have any realistic hope of climbing back into regional contention, Tulane needs to win the Wichita State series this weekend. The baseball gods did the Green Wave a favor by having Wichita State turn out to be pretty good, defying my skepticism because people tend to overrate the Shockers based on ancient history rather than current form. Most people do not realize that Wichita State has gone longer without reaching the postseason (2013) than any team in the AAC except for Memphis and has not won a regional game since advancing to a super regional in 2008. But the Shockers sure shellacked Houston the past two weeks, winning seven of eight from the Cougars, outscoring them 48-11 over the last seven games and rocketing to No. 44 in the RPI. This is an opportunity for a quality series win that did not appear to exist other than East Carolina on the road. Nothing the Wave has done to this point indicates it will win the series, but the quality of the starting pitching should give it a chance if the rest of the roster plays as well as it did against (admittedly bad) Memphis.

A series win against Wichita State, which dominated Houston on the mound but was not that good earlier in the year, would give Tulane a fighting chance the rest of the way. If it could split its four-game set at ECU, finish second to the Pirates in the AAC and have the Pirates go something like 28-4, those RPI predictors that I never pay attention to (but have read elsewhere that they are not encouraging). may prove to be inaccurate. All of this is speculative, but it has to start with winning at least three times this weekend. Houston and Memphis are terrible, Cincinnati is mediocre and UCF is middling, so the rest of the conference schedule is favorable IF Tulane gets enough hitting to complement what should be good pitching AND IT DOESN"T SHOOT ITSELF IN THE FOOT WITH THE FUNDAMENTAL MISTAKES THAT COST IT REPEATEDLY in the pre-conference schedule.

Some of the performances earlier in the year are even more maddening now, like the two-hit shutout loss on a Saturday to Louisiana Tech. I don't have an issue with the one-hit shutout a day earlier because that pitcher, Jonathan Fincher (6-0, 1.35), is the real deal. He bamboozles everyone. But the guy who threw the two-hitter, Ryan Jennings, looked mediocre at the time and has given up 11 earned runs in 9.1 innings through three awful starts since then. I put that loss at the head (scratching) of the the class along with the series finale against Western Kentucky when Tulane's mental and physical errors were in the double digits, slightly ahead of the Grand Canyon loss when J LaPrairie dropped the fly ball on the first at-bat, leading to a four-running innings, the final loss to La Tech when Jared Hart got picked off first base with a two-run deficit and a runner on second and the opening loss to Memphis when seldom-used pitcher Lane Thomas appeared mysteriously in a critical situation and allowed both of the batters he faced to get on base, leading to the winning runs in a tie game. Some of the other losses, though very painful, I chalk up to just baseball, like blowing the two ninth-inning leads against an elite Mississippi State team and losing two extra-inning games to ULL (which easily could have swept the series after outplaying Tulane in the opener but losing).

Not getting to play the South Florida series hurt only if Tulane would have won the series, which was no sure thing the way USF's pitchers had shut down UCF the previous week. A 3-1 series win this weekend likely would move the Wave into second place in the league standings, percentage points ahead of Wichita State and behind ECU, which should win at least three at Houston this weekend and likely will run away with the league.

Overall, though, this Tulane pitching staff is light years better than Jewett's first three years, and that's why this team isn't toast yet. A rotation of Olthoff. Hoffman, Aldrich and Johnson can be imposing, and the bullpen has pitched well lately. David Benoit in long relief along with Robert Price, Jake McDonald, Clifton Slagel, Justin Campbell, Keagan Gillies and Zach DeVito are capable of getting the job done.

By Friday night, all of the optimism in this piece will have gone down the drain if Wichita State sweeps the opening doubleheader, which is a distinct possibility if Tulane plays like it did for most of the non-conference schedule. But if Braden Olthoff goes back to being Braden Olthoff, Hoffman continues to throw excellent stuff and the Wave is as good with runners in scoring position as it was against Memphis, this could be a different story. I am looking forward to seeing what happens.

These were from after Saturday's game:

JEWETT

"We broke spring training camp last week and had our first game on Tuesday and then here we are. Good week. 4-1 on the week and if we can do that for the rest of the season, I feel good about it. It all starts on the mound, and if you look at our starting pitching this weekend and really just in general, really good. Memphis has some threats in that lineup that will scare you because they are an aggressive group and trying to land on a bunch of a stuff, and for us to contain them as we did was really good. You saw Trent take another step forward today. I like the guys in front of him because that just builds confidence, like he did it, now it's my turn, and we had a lot of quality starts this weekend and thats where it all starts. Offensively pretty good. We were in tune, swung at a lot of good pitches and put the balls in play when we needed to. We ran the bases well and put some pressure on them with the run game and the short game. When we moved runners, we were able to drive them in, so good team baseball. We all feel good about what just happened this weekend. We'll have a week to prepare for South Florida, so looking forward to it."

On Trent Johnson:

"If he tells you he didn't have his best stuff, I certainly wouldn't have known because he took the ball and did what he did. I glorified him in front of the team after the game. You've seen the progress. It was two-inning bolts out of the bullpen doing good early and maybe that third inning and now it's moved to four and five and six, so you can see his progress. moving north. It's not all the time you feel great and you might not have your best stuff, but you still have to get in there, find out what's working and make some quality pitches, and that's what he does. He's big, aggressive, comes at you and he throws the ball over the plate and lets his defense play behind him."

On lefty from Memphis not being able to limit hitters:

"I was really proud of the way our kids came out today in training. We were on point in everything that we do from bunting to ground balls to our offensive approach. Obviously he's an older guy, a crafty lefty, and those guys can be tough on you if you're not disciplined, and we just talked about winning the last 10 feet of the pitch. If you don't win those last 10 feet, you're probably out in the brown areas in front of the plate, an dthat's when he has a lot of success getting you off the end of the bat, rolling over, getting routine ground balls. We tried to drive the ball into the middle of the field, establish a little bit of a lead and a big hit in the game was we didn't execute a safety squeeze with (Chase) Engelhard. That ball needs to be put on the grass towards the first baseman and it went more back towards the pitcher. That can be a deflating moment for a team and for Jared Hart to go in there right behind him and stay on that ball and smash it to right field was the big blow of the game. And the same thing with Luis. We get a strikeout in front of him with Frankie and he hits the ball hard up the middle of the field. That was a big deal, too. You can see the growth in our offense. The young kids, the more they continue to play you can see their abilities starting to show up, and Luis is coming around and Frankie's gray hair himself, so he's going to be him. This was a big weekend without Olthoff and Minder for some guys to step up. I'm real proud of the kids."

On Minder's status:

"Still not an end date on it. He's out running around trying to take some ground balls and looking at some pitches coming his way, so he's progressing forward, but I still don't know exactly when it will be. Hopefully sooner rather than later."

TRENT JOHNSON

"I felt real healthy and real strong. I definitely did not have my best stuff as far as control, off speed, so I tried to work with that every inning. I knew it was going to be one of those days where I was going to have to figure out how to get outs, and we played really good defense today, so that was a big factor."

On no Olthoff:

"Pitching is contagious just as hitting is contagious and every one of those guys stepped up, the bullpen stepped up, and that's something that's really awesome to see. I feel like we're really deep on the mound. With these four-game series that's going to really pay off in the long run."

On decision to come back this year:

"It was easy. First I wasn't sure what I was going to do after baseball yet, so yeah, get one more year. A lot of guys in my shoes are kind of looking at plan B already. I feel like I'm still getting better as a player and a person. It was an easy decision. As low as Jewett was on board with it, I was ready to come back."

On series win:

"We really needed it, especially after the loss Thursday. We are a good team. Some of these losses this year and the way this year has gone, I don't have any words. I think a lot of us don't. We expect great things from each other and these last three games were a really good start. Hopefully we can keep that going into Tampa next week."

On Bennett Lee hitting above .400:

"That freshman hitting .400, that's not normal? (pauses). Bennett's a stud. He's a really regimented kid behind the plate. You trust him. He's very positive. He puts the work in and it really shows on the field. I wish I could have Bennett for a couple more years."

SIMON BAUMGARDT

On pitch he hit for homer:

"It was a slider. Off the bat it felt pretty good and I'm just glad it got out of there."

On needing three straight wins:

"Those are huge. It's definitely to build confidence for us. We're a good team but so far we haven't had a lot of wins to back that up, so definitely getting the wins for us is huge going into next week."

On restart for conference play:

"That's something we talked about before the season started. We phrased it as kind of a second season that we actually started with our midweek last week. That was a good turnaround for us and we feel like we're in a good spot right now."

On comfort factor a third base:

"It's been good. That's somewhere I worked a lot in the past, so getting back over there definitely has felt good. There's definitely some stuff I have to clean up, but I'm feeling good over there."

While not ruling it out, the people I talked to are skeptical about Dannen becoming Kansas AD. My editors and i decided not to write anything today because we don't have anything to advance the story.

The guy who wrote that Dannen was one of two finalists along with former Tulane athletic administrator Travis Goff is a national football writer for The Athletic. He obviously got that info from somewhere, but I am hearing Goff is the frontrunner. We'll see what happens. My editors and I chose not to write anything in the Advocate today because I had nothing that would really advance the story or prove it was credible or not credible. It needed more than just a note within a story to make it worth quoting.

Exactly 97 days after the result of the final game, I am posting the results of bowl pick 'em, with the season results to follow shortly.

We all stunk on picking the bowls, although some more than others. No one got more than four right--the Oklahoma State-Miami game was a push--and winwave was the only one to get the Tulane game right.

4.5

MNAlum
ny oscar
GretnaGreen
winwave
Dr.Box

2.5

buck2481
diverdo
chigoyboy
Wavetime

1.5

Guerry
paliii

0.5

charlamange8
WaveON

GAME-BY-GAME RESULTS

Nevade 1 of 13
BYU 4
Liberty 3
Oklahoma 4
Cincinnati 8
Notre Dame 7
Ohio State 2

Jewett said Olthoff will pitch the opener of the doubleheader, which starts at 2. Then it will be Hoffman, Aldrich and TBA, but likely Trent Johnson.

"Braden is back in action," coach Travis Jewett said. "He will throw game 1 on Friday. I certainly wouldn't put him out there if I didn't feel that way (that he were healthy). I love all these kids and I have to look out for their best interest and their health and their future and all those things like that. Last week was maybe a little bit tired, not quite there. I was willing to take one step back for seven to eight to nine to 10 weeks forward, and I think that has proven to be a good decision. He's such a routine-oriented kid, so he was able to stay on course. He's thrown this week and he feels good. I'm just excited to have him back."

Asked if there was a loss of velocity he noticed last week before skipping Olthoff's start, Jewett answered in the affirmative.

"Yes. Really the velocity and verocity and shapes of really all of his pitches were just kind of a tick down in my mind. When you see something that looks maybe a little bit different, I was like maybe he's kind of in that part of the season where he needed a little blow. I've watched him throw the ball this week and throw his bullpen, and I see it's back. The ball was alive, looking good, and I think we'll see the Olthoff we're all expecting."

With Olthoff going in the first game, Donovan Benoit likely will slide back to the bullpen. He had the best outing of his two years in New Orleans last Friday, but so did Trent Johnson on Saturday, so there''s no reason to expect a change in the original rotation.

"We have a TBD on the Sunday right now," Jewett said. "I have to evaluate that, but that's probably the way we're heading. Donovan has been back and forth for us and he's ready for what we say. Competition from within is something that's necessary in any great organization. I think those guys are feeding off each other. We're second in the conference in ERA and strikeouts. We've just got to keep it going."

The four-game series should continue to help Tulane because of its starting pitching depth.

"If you would have asked me that question in year 1, 2, 3, probably not, but as we've been able to lengthen the rope in the bullpen with some of our starting pitching, the teams that have a legitimate shot of pushing through this eight-week spin of those four games, it's all going to come down to the depth and the ability in your pitching staff," Jewett said. "If you have multiple pieces you can use, those teams will put themselves at an advantage."

Winwave already did a play-by-play, but here it a summary in a different form, with quotes to follow:

First series (1 v. 1 two-minute drill)

1-10-28: INC
2-10-27: C James +7
3-3-34: INC for Duece Watts
4-3-33: INC for Duece Watts

Second series (2 v. 2 two-minute drill)

1-10-27: C Daniels +8
2-2-35: C Presley +19
1-10-46: INC
2-10-46: C Booker +6
3-4-40: C Presley +25
1-10:15: Ibieta scramble +7
2-3-8: C Presley corner of EZ +8 TD

Third series (1 v 1)

1-10-27: INC bubble screen (totally snuffed out)
2-10:27: C Phat Watts +7 (Dorian Williams and a second defender sandwiched him)
3-3-34: C Duece Watts + 5
1-10-39: INC (Clark defendes Duece)
2-10-39: INC (bad pass for Duece)
3-10-39: Pratt scramble +3
4-7-42 C Duece +11
1-10-47: INC
2-10-47: INC for Brumfield
3-10-47: C Booker +6
4-4-47: C Phat +22 (As winwave stated, this was a beautiful pass, the prettiest of the day. To that point, though, Pratt had been really bad, misfiring repeatedly)

(series ended for no apparent reason)

Fourth series (1 v. 1)

1-10-35: Brumfield +2
2-8-37: Brumfield +9
1-10-46: C Duece +9 quick out
2-1-45: Brumfield +2
1-10-43: Brumfield +1
2-9-42: Brumfield +2
3-7-40: C Booker +1 (Booker got clobbered by Ajani Kerr and Pratt hung him out to dry. He simply cannot make that pass. He could have gotten him hurt)
4-6-39: C Booker +7
1-10-32: INC (off Duece's hands with Harrison in coverage)
2-10-32: C Duee +5
3-5-27: Brumfield +7
1-10-20: C for 1-yard loss (winwave had this as a Pratt run, and I don't have the receiver listed, so he may be right)
2-11-21: C Toles +3
3-8-18: INC dropped by Brumfield short of first down
4-8-18: Dable 35-yard FG good.


Fifth series (2 v. 2)

1-10-35: C Daniels +7
2-3-42: Daniels +4
1-10-46: INC
2-10-46: Daniels +5
3-5-49: INT Rattan (the offensive coaches in the press box were furious on that play. I think they were angry at Ibieta for the throw but cannot be sure) As winwave noted, Fritz called offside
1-10-44: C Desjardins +24 (good throw and a better catch by a walk-on who will not see the field in the fall)
1-10-20: Ibieta scramble +1
2-9-19: Booker-yard touchdown run (he started up the middle on a draw, bounced outside nicely and toyed with Cornelius Dyson before running into the end zone)

Sixth series (1 v. 1)

1-10-50: C Wallace +15
1-10-35: SACK (Anderson ran right around Tim Shafter)
2-17-42: C Duece (great catch on Harrison) + 20
1-10-22: SACK -7 (Hatcher)
2-17-29: C Wallace 5 (low throw on cross route)
3-12-24: Brumfield +4
4-8-20: Dable 37 yard FG wide right

Seventh series (2 v. 2)

1-10-50: Booker +2
2-8-48: Booker +4
3-4-44: Ibieta scramble +4
1-10-40: INC
2-10-40: Booker +7
3-3-33: C Presley +30
1-10-13: Ibieta scramble +5
2-5-8: Booker +8 TD

Eighth series (1-1 red zone)

1-10-20: INC under pressure
2-10-20: Brumfield no gain
3-10-20: INC (low throw for Wallace)
4-10-20: Glover 37-yard FG good

Ninth series (2 v. 2 red zone)

1-10-20: Booker +12
1-G-8: Booker +8 TD up the middle

10th series (3 v. 3, with Cameron Dartez at QB)

1-10-35: Prouett +4 (did not catch the number)
2-6-39: Prouett +6
1-10-45: C Stephen Payne +32
1-10-23: INX
2-10-23: Prouett +7
3-3-16: Prouett +7
1-G-9: Prouett +3
2-6-6: Prouett + 6 TD

Quotes to follow soon.

OK, the bowls finally have been set. As always, the Tulane game counts double and the point spreads come from VegasInsider.com consensus.

Tulane (-3) Nevada
BYU (-4.5) Central Florida
Coastal Carolina (-6) Liberty
Oklahoma State (-3) Miami
Oklahoma (-3) Florida
Georgia (-6) Cincinnati
Alabama (-19.5) Notre Dame
Clemson (-7.5) Ohio State

It was an absolutely beautiful mild morning to take in the spring game. At 10 sharp the offense and defense took to opposite ends to do various drills. The offense was in white jerseys , white pants and green angry wave helmets. The defense was in green jerseys , white pants and green angry wave helmets. There were refs.

Those on the sideline not dressed out on offense: Mykel Jones, Cyron Sutton, Claybrook , Remetich9 (boot on his right foot) and Reggie Brown who had a scooter under his right leg. Claybrook had a small sleeve on his left knee and he mimicked what the linemen were doing from the sideline during the stretching period so he doesn't appear to be far away. On defense: Kevaris Hall, Reggie Neely, Larry Brooks and Kanyon Walker. As to Spears he didn't have anything on his knee.

After stretching they went to FG's with full units on the field. Glover kicking to the south end zone was good from 38 from the left hash. He missed from 45 from the middle of the field. He was good from 33 from the middle. He missed wide right from 42 from the right hash. He ended with a make form 33 from the right hash. Dable, who is left footed, His first kick was good from 34 from the right hash. Kiland Harrison then blocked a 30 yarder to loud cheers. He then made a 42 yarder from the left hash.

The scrimmage started with a kick-off by Glover with full units on the field. Kicking from the north to south he kicked it one yard deep into the end zone. Booker returned it to the 15. Brumfield was the other returner.

It started with one's versus one's. The line was from left to right Lombardi, Dublin, Haynesworth, Thomas and Shafter. James at Te. Brumfield at RB with Duece Watts , Toles and P. Watts at WR. The D had Anderson Johnson, Hicks and Hatcher up front. The LB's were Williams and Machado. The DB's were Monroe,Harrison, Kerr, Rakestraw and Clark. Going south to north from the 27 the first play was a pass to the right sideline intended for Duece but incomplete on tight coverage by Harrison. He clearly held on the play and everyone screamed for the flag but none was thrown. In fact the refs never called a penalty despite several obvious ones occurring. willie was the only one calling penalties. Pratt threw to James for 7 and then incomplete to Duece. On 4th down he threw incomplete to Duece. Harrison held again but no call.

The two's came out. The line left to right was Solomon, Fort,Remondet, Green and Tuggle. Ibieta hit Daniels for 8. He then hit Presley for 20. Ibieta overthrew Jones over the middle. Booker then caught one for 6. He then hit Presley for 20 over the middle. Ibieta ran to the 5. He then threw a TD pass to Presley in the left corner of the end zone. Glover made the XP.

On first down from the 27 going north to south Pratt threw incomplete to Booker in the right flat. He then hit Phatt Watts for 5 and then hit Duece for a first down . Clark then broke up a pass. He then threw incomplete to Duece on the right 10 yards downfield. Pratt then scrambled for 3. On 4th he threw a bullet over the middle twenty yards to Duece for a first down. He then threw incomplete to Keitha Jones. The next pass was tipped at the line and fell incomplete. Pratt threw a screen to Booker for 7 and then hit Phatt Watts for 30 or so over the middle. It was another bullet. It's fun to see him make those type of throws. It looks like its shot out of a cannon. Fritz ended the series on that play. On this series the defense had Dixon at RDE and Lunz at LDE.

Wright came out and punted from the north 37 with full units on the field. He hit a 62 yarder that was downed by Hudak at the one to loud applause. Jackson , who never took the field at WR, was back to return the punt. It was going to hit inside the 10 so he faked the catch.

The one's came back out. They were going south to north from the 27. Anderson and Henry were at LB. Brumfield ran for 2 up the middle and then ran agains for 8 up the middle. We had two TE's in for both plays. Phatt caught a screen pass for 9. Pratt ran for 2. Brumfield ran for 1 on first down. He then ran for 2 to the right. Booker caught a pass for no gain to the left flat. He then caught one for 8 to the left side. On first down Pratt threw incomplete to Phatt. He then hit Duece for 4. Brumfield ran for 7 to the left side. Pratt ran for 1 on first down. Toles caught one for 3. Pratt then rolled left and threw to Brumfield who dropped it. Grable then hit a 35 yarder form the middle of the field.

I'll note here that on every pass play Lombardi came out of his stance early but it was never called.

Glover kicked off to Jackson. They were the only two on the field. The ball went to the 2.

The two's came back on. Lunz and Hodges were the ends. Talianich and Friloux were the tackles. Hightower and McCahill were the LB's. The DB's were Liu, Rattan, Dyson, Laister .Daniels caught a pass for 7. Daniels then ran for 4 . Ibieta threw incomplete. Daniels ran for 5. Rattan then intercepted Ibieta. Willie called a phantom offsides penalty on the defense On first down Ibieta hit Desjardins for 30 yards. Ibieta ran for 1. Booker then ran right for 19 yards for the TD. Glover made the XP.

Casey Glover kicked off to the end zone to Jackson. No one else on the field.

The ones came out going north to south. They started at the 50.
Pratt hit wallace on a crossing route for 15. Anderson then sacked him for a 7 yard loss. Pratt then threw a beautiful pass to Duece who made a great catch for 22 yars. Hatcher then sacked Pratt for a loss of 7. Wallace caught a 4 yarder. Brumfield ran for 3. Dable came out to kick a 37 yarder. It was no good off to the right. No one was on the field other than the snapper, holder and kicker.

The two's started athe 50 going north to south. Bokker ran for 2 up the middle. He then ran fro 4 to the right. Ibieta scrambled for 6 yards for the first down. He then threw incomplete to Presley. Booker ran for 7. Presley then made a beautiful sideline catch for 20 yards. Ibieta scrambled for 5. Booker then made a a 7 yard TD run by leaping into the air from about the 3. There were ooh's and aah's from the crowd on the high leap. Glover made the XP.

With full units on the field Glover kicked to the 10 and Toles returned it for about 15 yards.

The ball was placed on the defense's 20 for the one's going south to north. Pratt was pressured out of the pocket and scrambled to the right and then threw it away. Brumfield then got stuffed for no gain up the middle. He then threw incomplete to Wallace. Dable then made a 37 yarder from the right hash.

The two's came out. and started at the defense's 20 going south to north. Booker ran for 12 to the right side. He then ran for the TD from 8 yards out. Glover made the XP.

Then punt teams came out. Casey Glover punted from the south 43. It was downed at the 5 for a 52 yard punt.

The three's came out. Number 40 , Connor Prouet, a FB tyupe then had fun running the ball smash mouth over the D. Dartez was the QB and he floated one that hung in the air a long time and was eventually caught by Payne. On the last play of the series the offense had gotten the ball to the 9 and it was fourth down. Fritz picked the ball up and placed it on the one. Of course Prouet smashed up the middle nad bulldozed his way in to the end zone. That ened the scrimmage at 11;30.

From the offensive perspective it was pretty vanilla. That's classic Willie not wanting anyone to see what our offense will be like under Long. Pratt threw some really nice passes. Presley had a good day. Duece looked really good to after missing most of camp.

Looking forward to seeing what we look like when we have everybody back in the fall.

I read someone criticizing me for not asking about why Lane Thomas came into the game to start the seventh inning on Thursday, and I have only one comment about that: The criticism was 100-percent correct.

I had already filed my story for the paper without quotes, and I simply forgot to ask the most important question that needed to be asked. I'll try to be better the next time.

I will have a full report either tonight or tomorrow, but while I wait for the Zoom calls to start, here are 10 quick impressions of spring ball at the end of the spring game. Tulane will not make up the practice it missed earlier in the spring.

1) Duece Watts returning this week was a live saver. Michael Pratt had a rough time in the last couple of weeks because the receivers could not win one-on-one battles. He started getting inaccurate on his throws, and that carried over to the beginning of the scrimmage today before he settled down and got some confidence. Watts had five catches and his presence opened up lanes for everyone else because he is a playmaker. Going forward, though, Pratt has to cut the errant throws out of his repertoire. He has all the intangibles, but like Justin McMillan before him, his completion percentage was not high enough last year. I'm not comparing him to McMillan, who had much less passing talent, but he does have a tendency to get scattershot at times.

2) Angelo Anderson is going to have a big year. He is quick around the end and has the dedication to keep getting better.

3) Ygenio Booker had some nice plays against the No. 2 defense today. Hopefully it will translate into games next fall because he has the skill set to be productive. It just hasn't happened yet in games.

4) I don't really pay attention to the numbers for the No. 2 offense because with all of the injuries at cornerback, the corners on that unit are walk-ons Rishi Rattan and Gabe Liu. Hard to compare what happens against them to what happens against Jaylon Monroe and even Kiland Harrison, who replaced an injured Lance Robinson this week in practice with the first unit. Rattan had his third interception in two scrimmages against Justin Ibieta, but Ibieta also led three touchdown drives and made some nice throws. He has the arm talent to be a productive college quarterback.

5) You can't do a better job than Ryan Wright did on his punt from his own 33 during the scrimmage. He boomed one that headed for the sideline after bouncing around the 10, and the coverage unit knocked it out of bounds about six inches from the goal line.

6) Dorian Williams is a stud defender. Nothing else needs to be said.

7) The prettiest of the day among players who actually will play meaningful downs was a third-down completion from Pratt to Phat Watts that beat double coverage. Pratt had been largely off target until that play, going 5 for 13. He was 11 of 14 the rest of the way by my count (Tulane did not keep official stats).

8) The best catch of the day came from wide receiver Lucas Desjardins, who elevated to catch a long pass from Ibieta, setting up a 21-yard touchdown run on a draw by Booker. That's the thing about spring games, though. Desjardins will not be a factor in the fall.

9) I don't have as many concerns about the offensive line as most of you do, but right tackle could be an issue. No one has proven he can handle a speed rusher with talent like Anderson. Former walk-on Tim Shafter got most of the reps with the first unit in the spring, and Anderson beat him easily for one sack today. Trey Tuggle started there last year but needs to make a jump as a sophomore. Joey Claybrook will be fine on the left side when he returns from injury for preseason camp.

10) The defense looked good this spring, but we won't get any real answers until the season starts and we find out how it fares in long-yardage situations. Without dramatic improvement there, Tulane cannot become a contender. The pressure of performing in spring practice is not the same as in a real game.