Morning, Wolfpack. Glad it's Monday? Ready to punch me in the face for that question? On to the links.
Pack baseball is obviously the big news of the weekend. Even though the Pack lost the series to FSU, we still go into the ACC Tournament as the number 3 seed, which ties for the highest seed we've had going into the tournament since 1993. The tournament schedule works on the process of playing a pool of opponents before the team with the best win-loss record from each of the 4-team pools advances to the championship game. We have a pretty tough pool, and schedule - Miami on Wednesday, May 23rd at 3:00pm, Wake Forest Thursday the 24th at 7:00pm, and then UNC Saturday the 26th at 7:00pm. Throughout the year our pitching has proven itself to be good enough IF and only IF our bats are hot, with the exception of Mr. Carlos Rodon. The big question the next couple days will be about when Rodon will pitch, with all kinds of gamesman theory going into that. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the knowledgeable folks here at BTP have something to say on the matter - in fact I invite all such parties to discuss the matter here in the comments, for my own enjoyment as well as yours.
In other cool baseball news former Wolfpack hall-of-fame coach Sam Esposito is honored in this edition of Inside Wolfpack Sports over on GoPack.com. Worth a watch as we lead up to the tournament on Wednesday to get you in that hotdog-munching, beer sipping, buh-buh-buh-buh---BUH-BUH - CHARGE! kind of mood.
Carlos Rodon has been named a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, given annually to the best college baseball player in the nation. He is the only freshman in the semifinals.
In football news Zach Gentry and Tyler Purvis have each earned scholorships for the squad, Gentry as a linebacker and Purvis as a fullback/special teamer. Coinciding with their promotions are two desertions, however - safeties Donald Coleman and Dean Haynes are transferring. I'd never heard of Coleman, but I was a little surprised at Haynes. Given how he's been shuffled around and never really found a fit, I guess it was coming - and having as many Purvis' (Purvises?Purvi?) as we can in Wolfpack athletics can only be a good thing.
Football recruiting continues to pick up. Apparently the Pack is recruiting safety Ahmad Thomas, a teammate of recent commit Da'Wan Hunte, from Miami Central. The accursed pay wall won't allow me to inform you on what extent of recruiting we may be conducting, but Yahoo Sports reveals that the guy is being considered by the likes of Auburn, Oklahoma, and Notre Dame. While it's always nice to pick up another quality backfield player, the really exciting thing to me here is that the Pack is finally showing some recruiting life in that hotbed of football talent, central Florida. TOB does a good job with the talent he has - the next step is being able to bring in some of those Florida kids (Ohio, Texas, and California being a little out of reach).
Men's golf may not have done well enough to advance to the NCAA Championship but Albin Choi did, standing out in Ann Arbor and earning himself a spot in the NCAA Champs. Best of luck to him!
The News and Observer continues to remain in my good graces, this time running a great feature story on Football's Asa Watson - yes, the same Asa Watson you saw break that 60-yard reception in the Kay Yow Spring game. It's a great story about Watson's heart conditions and the manner in which he has faced the issues to earn what looks to be a starting job at TE in the wake of George Bryan's departure.
Women's Golf tees off in the NCAA Championships along with 24 other teams this week, marking their first ever appearance. The link includes information about how to watch some of the action, if you should feel so inclined.
Olympic sport of the day is swimming, where we have a lovely feature from GoPack.com about Marifrances Henley. She's as good-looking as you would hope from a name like that, and she also happens to be incredibly fast. Marifrances is preparing for Olympic qualifiers in the wake of shattering a handful of school records and the interview provides a good look at what being an Olympic quality athlete is like (for those of us who do our best athletics from the armchair between drinks).
Okay, get back to work. Those emails aren't going to send themselves.