Thursday, February 21, 2019   
 
Mississippi lawmakers plan to borrow $182 million for universities, projects
Mississippi universities would receive $85.3 million of $182 million in borrowing for projects approved Wednesday by the House Ways and Means Committee. "This is our big bond bill," said Ways and Means Chairman Jeff Smith, R-Columbus. In addition to the $85.3 million for colleges and universities, $47 million would be earmarked for the Department of Finance and Administration for state agencies projects, $25 million for community and junior colleges, and $25 million over five years for the Department of Archives and History for historic preservation grants. State universities projects in House Bill 1674 include: Mississippi State University -- $10.3 million for construction, furnishing, equipping of new building for Kinesiology Department and construction and equipping of new building for College of Architecture, Art and Design. MSU Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine -- $7.9 million. The full House is expected to take up the bond bill this week.
 
Slime dunk: Mississippi State center Teaira McCowan teaches Starkville children how to make slime at Emerson
Teaira McCowan spent much of Tuesday evening up to her elbows in slime at Emerson Family School on Louisville Street. It was a far different setting than "the paint" on a basketball court where the All-American senior 6-foot-7 center for the Mississippi State women's basketball team is a dominant force. Nonetheless, she seemed just as much in her element helping equip a room full of 3- to 10-year-olds with the ingredients for a gooey good time. With precision and efficiency, McCowan moved from table-to-table, bringing Borax, shaving cream, baking soda and glue to the kids upon request. For the more adventurous slime makers, she supplied glitter and food dyes for flair. All the while, she offered the kids regular encouragements of "You got it!" and "Looking good!" Slime Night, which McCowan -- an intern at Emerson Family School -- organized, was a hit. Probably for the first time, McCowan wasn't the biggest factor in the room. For the kids, it was all about the slime.
 
MSU-Meridian students studying social work hear from national president
MSU-Meridian welcomed the president of the National Association of Social Workers to the campus Wednesday. The school offers a master's degree program in social work. Dr. Kathryn Wehrmann toured the Riley and College Park locations and met with faculty and students. This is the first time an acting NASW president has visited Mississippi. Wehrmann also visited field agencies where MSU Meridian social work students are currently doing their internships. "We have individuals that's completing their internships with Care Lodge, Multi-County. We have some in the schools," said Dr. Angela Savage, director of field instruction at MSU-Meridian. "So, the diversity when it comes to our communities, we want our students to be able to meet the needs of the community, as well as their interests."
 
Hunting ordinance draws mixed reviews
The city of Starkville's effort to adjust its discharge of firearms ordinance to allow for hunting on land brought in through annexation drew some mixed reaction at the first public hearing on Tuesday. Aldermen are required to hold two hearings before they can change the ordinance, which now completely bans the discharge of firearms within city limits, to match Mississippi Code section 45-9-53, which lays out guidelines for hunting on annexed territory. Starkville is considering annexing land to its east and along the Highway 12 and 182 corridors. Ronnie Wofford, a resident who lives in the area the city is considering annexing, said he's in favor of the ordinance change. "If people look at it, I think it's not like you'll have people in the street or on every half-acre with weapons," Wofford said. Wofford said his land does not meet the 50-acre threshold -- he said he could only think of one parcel that does in the annexed area -- but the weapon provisions allowed with 10 acres are better than nothing.
 
Legislators grapple with how to fund state employee pay raise as budget demands mount
Additional revenue may have to be found at the end of the session if Mississippi's about 25,000 state employees are going to receive a pay raise, which would be the first since the 2007 session for many of them. "Hopefully we will get a revenue bump in March" near the end of the legislative session to provide a raise, said Senate Appropriations Chair Buck Clarke, R-Hollandale, Tuesday as the House and Senate began in earnest the task of putting together a state budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 for health care, public safety, transportation, public education and other agencies. The Legislature already is committing $61 million in general fund revenue to shore up the state's retirement system, which covers both state employees, public school educators, higher education faculty and staff and local governmental employees.
 
Raises for Mississippi state employees unlikely, key senator says
Don't quit that second job just yet, state employees. Despite previous plans for an across-the-board pay raise, a lawmaker said Tuesday there probably won't be enough money for it now. At a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, lawmakers discussed how to allocate about $160 million not already tentatively earmarked. Appropriations Chairman Buck Clarke, R-Hollandale, said the biggest chunk, more than $60 million, will have to go to cover increasing costs for the Public Employees' Retirement System. Money was allocated to agencies such as the Mississippi Division of Medicaid and Child Protective Services, Clarke said, but even those agencies didn't get what they really needed. "We still haven't gotten to money to be allocated for a general pay raise for state employees," Clarke told lawmakers.
 
Gov. Phil Bryant endorses Tate Reeves for governor despite contested Republican primary
Gov. Phil Bryant has endorsed Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves in his bid for governor this year. Bryant, who had all but endorsed Reeves -- even introducing him as "our next governor" late last year -- before Reeves officially confirmed his candidacy, made his endorsement in an interview with Y'all Politics, a conservative political website. The two Republicans, in the final year of their second terms in their respective offices, butted heads politically in their first terms but have been close allies in more recent years. The two joined in support for U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran's re-election in 2014, and Cindy Hyde-Smith's election last year.
 
Flooding at the Neshoba County Fairgrounds
The famous Neshoba County Fairgrounds received some unwelcome weather. Flood waters covered the entire grounds and sank the infield. Water reached so high that some of the 600 cabins flooded. Several cabin owners made their way out to the fairgrounds to check on their beloved properties, including the Myers family. They just purchased their cabin last month. Rita Myers says thankfully their cabin wasn't as damaged as they expected. "Well most of the water had gone down when we got here, but we were sent pictures and we thought oh my gosh look at all that water. It's bound to be in the cabin. It's nothing we can't take care of. We'll be ready for the fair this year," says Myers.
 
Justice Department preparing for Mueller report in coming days
Justice Department officials are preparing for the end of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's nearly two-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and believe a confidential report could be issued in coming days, according to people familiar with the discussions. The special counsel's investigation has consumed Washington since it began in May 2017, and it increasingly appears to be nearing its end, which would send fresh shock waves through the political system. Mueller could deliver his report to Attorney General William P. Barr next week, according to a person familiar with the matter who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive deliberations. How detailed either Mueller's report and the attorney general's summary of the findings will be is unclear.
 
Supreme Court Limits Asset Forfeiture, Rules Excessive Fines Apply To States
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that the Constitution's ban on excessive fines applies to state and local governments, thus limiting their ability to use fines to raise revenue. The court's decision, written by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, was announced by her on her second day back at the court. Ginsburg missed in-person arguments at the court for the first time in her quarter century on the Supreme Court bench after undergoing surgery for lung cancer late last year. The ruling effectively means states and local municipalities cannot use fines as a mechanism for raising revenue, something many local governments do.
 
United Methodists confront possible split over LGBT issues
The United Methodist Church's top legislative assembly convenes Sunday for a high-stakes, three-day meeting likely to determine whether America's second-largest Protestant denomination will fracture due to divisions over same-sex marriage and the ordination of gay clergy. While other mainline Protestant denominations -- such as the Episcopal and Presbyterian (U.S.A.) churches -- have embraced gay-friendly practices, the Methodist church still bans them, even though acts of defiance by pro-LGBT clergy have multiplied and talk of a possible breakup of the church has intensified. At the church's upcoming General Conference in St. Louis, 864 invited delegates -- split evenly between lay people and clergy --- are expected to consider several plans for the church's future. Several Methodist leaders said they expect a wave of departures from the church regardless of the decision.
 
Pope Francis Opens Summit on Sexual Abuse: 'Hear the Cry of the Little Ones'
With his moral authority in question and his papal legacy in the balance, Pope Francis opened a historic summit meeting at the Vatican on Thursday devoted to clerical child sexual abuse, an issue that has for decades devastated some corners of his vast church while being utterly ignored and denied in others. "We hear the cry of the little ones asking for justice," Francis told the 190 leaders of the Roman Catholic Church who had assembled from around the world in the Vatican's Synod Hall at the start of a four-day conference intended to instruct them on the depth and universality of the problem and how to deal with it. Survivors of clerical abuse, their advocates and faithful disheartened and disgusted by the failure to address the abuses are demanding that the church enshrine in Canon Law a policy of zero tolerance for abusive priests and the bishops who cover for them.
 
Southern Baptist panel: Denomination rules must make clear that churches face expulsion over sexual abuse
A top Southern Baptist decision-making body wants to make explicitly clear that churches within the denomination could be expelled if they do not protect people from sexual abuse. The Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention took steps Tuesday during its meeting in Nashville to amend the network of churches' constitution so it spells that out. The move comes as the nation's largest Protestant denomination grapples with its own sexual abuse crisis. Specifically, the Executive Committee is recommending that the definition of what it means to be a Southern Baptist church, also referred to as a cooperating church, is expanded to cover sexual abuse prevention. The proposed change comes on the heels of the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News' recently published report that found sexual misconduct allegations against 380 Southern Baptists who held formal church roles. The report spurred Southern Baptist leaders to call for change.
 
Dean of Students Melinda Sutton Noss to depart Ole Miss at end of semester
Dean of Students and Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Melinda Sutton Noss will leave Ole Miss at the end of this semester to take a job at Southern Methodist University. Sutton Noss, an SMU alumna, will officially become the Associate Vice President and Dean of Students at SMU, the same position she currently holds at the University of Mississippi, on May 20. Sutton Noss has served as Assistant Vice Chancellor and Dean of Students at Ole Miss since 2014. She has advised the Associated Student Body, overseen revisions to the university's two-strike policy and helped supervise Greek life and conduct. "My experience as an SMU student changed my life in immeasurable ways, and I am excited to be in a position that helps create transformative experiences for current and future generations of SMU students," Sutton Noss said in the SMU press release. Associate Vice Chancellor for Strategic Communications and Marketing Jim Zook declined to comment on the circumstances surrounding Sutton Noss's departure. The university has yet to make an announcement about Sutton Noss's departure.
 
Ole Miss holds discussion regarding weekend rallies
With growing concern over events taking place in Oxford and at Ole Miss this weekend, university officials met with students, faculty and residents of the community to discuss issues they had regarding those events. For nearly 80 minutes questions were asked and answered inside the ballroom at the student union at Ole Miss' campus surrounding the rallies and marches scheduled to take place this weekend over confederate symbolism. On Saturday afternoon a Mississippi Stands rally and march is scheduled to take place. The event is put together by groups called Confederate 901 and The Highwaymen, who will march from the Oxford Square to Ole Miss where they will then hold a rally located at The Circle where a confederate monument resides. Saturday is also a visit day for Ole Miss. There will be around 200 prospective students and their families on campus that morning taking tours. Those tours usually run from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. but the admissions department worked to tailor this Saturday's so it will end around 1 p.m. to get those people off campus before the groups arrive. Ole Miss is hosting Georgia for a men's basketball game at the Pavilion at 2:30 p.m., which is still scheduled to be played. University Avenue and The Circle will be closed off to traffic during the time of the march.
 
Anti-Confederate protest changes location amid UM student safety concerns
Organizers of a counterprotest in response to the pro-Confederate rally planned for Saturday have moved their event from the Circle to the Jackson Avenue Center to ensure the safety of participants. University of Mississippi Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Brandi Hephner LaBanc announced the change at Wednesday's public discussion about the upcoming rallies. Counterprotest organizer and senior marketing major Will Pipes said the university could not guarantee student safety if the protest was held in its original location. "It was made very clear to me that (the administration) was willing to put measures in place to ensure our safety, but they couldn't ensure 100 percent, total safety," Pipes said. The counterprotest was originally planned to be at the Circle on campus, near the pro-Confederate rally. Pipes said he and university administrators opted for the change at around noon Wednesday. Dean of Students Melinda Sutton Noss, University of Mississippi General Counsel Erica McKinley and UPD Chief of Police Ray Hawkins were present in the meeting in which this decision was made, according to Pipes.
 
How can $60 increase junior college completion and encourage success at a 4-year university?
A $60 scholarship doesn't sound like much, but it could help a student complete his two years of junior college and then transfer successfully to a four-year college. The Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society has received a grant of more than $440,000 from the Woodward Hines Education Foundation to help pay the society's $60 national membership fee for more than 6,000 Mississippi students. In the Pine Belt, Jones County Junior and Pearl River Community colleges will get 125 such scholarships each over three years. Shivum Desai, a JCJC sophomore, has been in Phi Theta Kappa since his freshman year. He's now president of the society. "PTK was a thing that was told to me by previous students," he said. "They said it would help in the long run. I was very conscious about it when talking to anyone -- 'Let me join the honor society. It might overall help me.'"
 
How one of the Mississippi's top high schools innovates in the face of funding cuts
Faith Ivy was 15 when she moved away from her parents' home in Hernando to go to college -- sort of. The bubbly high schooler was accepted to the Mississippi School of Mathematics and Science, one of two residential public high schools in the state, where she wasted no time acclimating to her new environment. "It's definitely different, this school from my old school. One because, of course, we're living away from home, and we're on a college campus and we're having to adjust," Ivy said. "I'm a really outgoing person, so instantly when I got here and I moved in, I just made friends." Housed on the campus of Mississippi University for Women, the school since its founding in 1987 has offered bright teenagers an on-ramp to a college environment paired with advanced STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) courses. This is important in a state like Mississippi, where less than half of students exceeded grade-level expectations in math in the 2017-18 school year and where racial disparities exist in student achievement and access to advanced courses.
 
Auburn University's Tiger Giving Day promotes a variety of projects
With a diverse selection of projects including a genetic screening mobile unit, bee education and solar-powered tables, Tiger Giving Day presents an opportunity for projects to receive funding and awareness for their beneficial work. "This is our fourth year doing it, and Tiger Giving Day is a collection of projects around the university that need funding," said, Ryan King, a Development Communications spokesman. "They have until 11:59 p.m. to meet those goals. Some of them are much less than $20,000, and it's an opportunity for us as the university to show all the diverse needs across the campus." King mentioned potential donors can browse 33 projects participating in the event at TigerGiving.org, and with an extensive selection, he encourages donors to find a project of interest and donate.
 
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee says he regrets participating in 'Old South' parties at Auburn University
Four decades removed from his time as a student at Auburn University, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee says he now regrets participating in "Old South" parties with his fraternity. Lee, who attended the public university in Alabama from 1977 until his graduation in 1981, was a member of the Kappa Alpha Order, a fraternity that lists Confederate army commander Robert E. Lee as its "spiritual founder." At the time Lee was in college, the Kappa Alpha organization at Auburn University and at other schools around the South was known for its embrace of Confederate imagery, including displaying Confederate battle flags and members wearing Confederate army uniforms to its annual Old South formal. "I never intentionally acted in an insensitive way, but with the benefit of hindsight, I can see that participating in that was insensitive and I've come to regret it," Lee said in a statement in response to questions about his involvement in the fraternity's events.
 
Louisiana making cultural changes about hazing, education commissioner says
Louisiana's higher education commissioner says the state is working through a cultural change she thinks could eradicate hazing on college campuses. Kim Hunter Reed's comments Monday came after nine members of LSU's Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity were arrested on hazing charges last week. WAFB-TV reports LSU has placed several administrators on leave while the university investigates if those officials ignored rumors about DKE hazing. Last year, state lawmakers toughened Louisiana's hazing laws, so prosecutors can pursue felony charges. Universities have adopted a uniform hazing policy.
 
Report: U. of Arkansas' Economic Impact Grew to $2.2B in 2018
The University of Arkansas' economic impact grew to $2.2 billion in 2018, which is more than three times the $725 million impact it had in 2009. The university feeds the state's economy through operations, construction, development and transfer of new technology to the marketplace, alumni employment as well as through student and visitor commerce, according to a news release. The Center for Business & Economic Research in the UA's Sam M. Walton College of Business analyzed the university's economic impact in 2009 and in 2014. It released its newest report Wednesday. The report says that, in 2018, $166.8 million in state appropriations to the UA were leveraged 13.56 times -- for each dollar of state funding, the university pumps $13.56 back into the state economy.
 
Efforts to rein in U. of Tennessee's Sex Week met by resistance, legal concerns, new report finds
The University of Tennessee at Knoxville's actions to curb controversy surrounding Sex Week was met at times by reluctance, resistance and concerns of possible legal consequences, a lengthy new report details. Those findings, along with many others, are detailed in a 269-page comptroller report released Wednesday during a state Senate Education Committee hearing. Legislative leaders requested the report in April to determine whether state funds were being used for Sex Week. The conclusions are accompanied by more than 14 possible policy considerations school administrators and legislators could make to address the controversial event organized by a student group, although the comptroller does not make formal recommendations. Sex Week has long been a target for conservative lawmakers at the state Capitol. They have relayed to university officials their disgust over the event. Two legislators at one point called it a "national embarrassment."
 
More Teenage Girls Than Boys Plan for 4-Year College
Today's teenagers appear likely to reinforce, rather than reverse, the widening gender gap in four-year college enrollment, a survey by Pew Research Center finds. The Pew study explores the views of teens aged 13 to 17 on a range of issues, including anxiety, academics and future plans. All told, 59 percent of those surveyed said they planned to attend a four-year college, but that was true for 68 percent of girls and 51 percent of boys. Twelve percent of students said they would enroll in a two-year college, and 5 percent or fewer said they would work full-time, enroll in a technical school or join the military. Almost three-quarters of students whose parents have a bachelor's degree or more (73 percent) or whose family income was at least $75,000 (72 percent) plan to enroll at a four-year college, compared to half or less of those with less education and fewer financial resources.
 
Spend. Build. Repeat. Unbridled Growth Is at the Heart of a Crisis at UCF.
A widening financial scandal at the University of Central Florida, which may have cost a newly minted president his job, has raised deeper questions about whether a culture of ethical shortcuts and lapses in oversight took root during years of unbridled growth at the institution. The university's Board of Trustees will consider on Thursday whether to accept the resignation of Dale Whittaker, who ascended from provost to president just eight months ago. Whittaker and the university have been in state lawmakers' cross hairs since August, when an audit found that Central Florida had misappropriated $38 million of restricted taxpayer money for the construction of a new building. For the last two decades, the story of the University of Central Florida has been about more students and more buildings. Under John C. Hitt, who preceded Whittaker and led the university for more than a quarter century, Central Florida transformed from a midsize commuter campus into a behemoth public research university of 66,000 students. It may well be, as some on campus believe, that all of this swagger put a target on the university's back, and Whittaker is paying the price.
 
Blackface, racist photos rampant in yearbooks at colleges nationwide
The old yearbook photos capture the lighthearted moments from college worth remembering -- smiling faces, pep rallies and cans of cheap beer. But tucked in and among those same pages are pictures of students dressed in Ku Klux Klan robes and blackface, nooses and mock lynchings, displays of racism not hidden but memorialized as jokes to laugh about later. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, a stunning number of colleges and university yearbooks published images of blatant racism on campus, the USA TODAY Network found in a review of 900 publications at 120 schools across the country. Andre M. Perry, a David M. Rubenstein Fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, has studied his alma mater's yearbooks at the University of Maryland. He said racism in higher education has a way of involving everyone on campus, so he wasn't surprised to see it documented so regularly.


SPORTS
 
Mississippi State edges Georgia behind Q's 31
Quinndary Weatherspoon sank one of three free throws with 0.5 seconds remaining, giving him a career-high 31 points and lifting Mississippi State to a 68-67 win over Georgia on Wednesday night. With the game tied at 67-all, Weatherspoon was awarded two free throws when fouled by Jordan Harris. Weatherspoon was given an additional free throw when a fan threw a small stuffed animal onto the court and Georgia was called for a technical foul. Weatherspoon intentionally missed his third attempt after making the free throw for the technical foul. Mississippi State (19-7, 7-6 SEC) won its third straight SEC road game for the first time in 15 years.
 
Tom Crean addresses wild ending to Mississippi State game
Forget Georgia's heroic comeback effort in a 68-67 loss Wednesday night to Mississippi State, it might be a beanie dog that will be remembered most. With the game tied at 67 with 0.5 seconds left and Mississippi State's Quinndary Weatherspoon looking at a second free throw, a promotional stuffed animal landed near Weatherspoon's feet after being thrown toward the court in protest of a foul call by the officials. The officials assessed the Bulldogs a technical foul and Weatherspoon sank the free throw to give the Maroon Bulldogs the 1-point lead. He intentionally missed his next free throw and Georgia could not get a shot off before the final buzzer sounded. Thinking he had quelled the matter, Georgia coach Tom Crean addressed the audience prior to Weatherspoon's technical foul shot, stating to them "we're in this together." It mattered not to the officials that Crean addressed the crowd, baffling Georgia's first-year coach that the Bulldogs were assessed the technical. "I've never seen that, not without a warning and certainly (not) without an explanation," Crean said afterward.
 
Victory to Mississippi State. Assist to a Stuffed Animal.
Mississippi State beat Georgia, 68-67, on Wednesday night. The game's M.V.P.: a stuffed bulldog. With the score tied at 67-67 and a half-second to play, Quinndary Weatherspoon was sent to the line for visiting Mississippi State. Georgia fans were unhappy with the foul call and made their displeasure known. Apparently, one fan was incensed enough to take it beyond booing. After Weatherspoon's first free throw left his hands, something small hit the floor a foot or two behind him. It was a stuffed baby bulldog. Although the bulldog is the mascot of both teams, this particular dog appeared to be Uga, the mascot of Georgia. Georgia was assessed a technical foul. Weatherspoon made the tech to give his team a 68-67 lead. "Man I'd be so frustrated if I were his team, the University of Georgia, to have that happen," said Mississippi State's coach, Ben Howland. "Because that was crazy."
 
Georgia loses after fan throws a stuffed Uga on the court, triggering late technical
There really isn't a good time to throw something onto a basketball court from the stands during a game, but there may be no worse time than when the visiting team is shooting free throws with the game tied and less than a second remaining on the clock. That's what happened Wednesday night during Georgia's game against visiting Mississippi State. With the score tied at 67 and 0.5 of a second left on the clock, Mississippi State's Quinndary Weatherspoon stepped to the line to shoot two free throws after getting fouled by Georgia's Jordan Harris. As his first shot was bouncing off the rim -- a miss -- a tiny stuffed bulldog came flying onto the court from the stands. Said Mississippi State Coach Ben Howland: "That was a huge play. I can't imagine who did that, but it was not smart. [Weatherspoon] might miss the second one."
 
Tom Crean admonishes Georgia fans after stuffed animal thrown onto court
Former IU basketball coach Tom Crean had a run-in with his own fans at Georgia on Wednesday night. A fan threw a stuffed animal onto the court as Mississippi State' Quinndary Weatherspoon was shooting a free throw in the closing second of a tight game. Georgia was assessed a technical, allowing Weatherspoon another free throw in a 68-67 victory. Crean went to the public address microphone to admonish fans, but it was too late. He also asked the fans to "stay with us." After the game, Crean said assessing a technical without first issuing a warning "perplexed" him. "I've never seen that, not without a warning, and certainly not without an explanation," Crean said. "The rule says you've got to be able to know who did it." Crean didn't want to say the incident decided the game. In Crean's first season in taking over from Mark Fox, Georgia is 10-16 overall and 1-12 in the SEC.
 
Late offense lifts Bulldogs past UAB | Sports | djournal.com
No. 14 Mississippi State was held hitless by UAB through 6 1/3 innings on Wednesday. But the Bulldogs' bats finally came around in the seventh, collecting three hits and scoring three runs to take a 3-2 lead that held up. "We're not going to hit every day and we've still got to find ways to win games," said MSU coach Chris Lemonis. "It was fun to see us get that win and see our closer have to go out there and really compete." State's bats were held at bay by former Bulldog Graham Ashcraft, who transferred to UAB (3-1) this year after spending the past two seasons in Starkville. Ashcraft logged 5 2/3 innings of no-hit and shutout baseball with seven strikeouts. The Diamond Dogs host Southern Miss for a three-game series beginning Friday at 4 p.m.
 
What Mississippi State's win over UAB says about Bulldog baseball in 2019
Mississippi State has played four games in 2019. Three of them resulted in wins by eight runs or more. The fourth victory came Wednesday evening over UAB by a single run. Asked to choose between blowing a team out or winning one close, head coach Chris Lemonis chose an easy answer. "I kinda like the blowouts," Lemonis said with a smile. But it's hard to learn much about a team when seemingly every batter hits over .500 and brings in multiple runs over the course of a three-game series. You find out what a team is made of on a cold, rainy midweek game in late February.
 
Ole Miss hopes to limit Teaira McCowan tonight
The last time the Ole Miss and Mississippi State women's basketball teams met, MSU center Teaira McCowan turned in a point-a-minute performance. When you play 33 minutes, that's a lot of offense. Ole Miss coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin doesn't expect her players will shut down McCowan in the rematch, tonight's 7 p.m. tip at The Pavilion. She does believe the Rebels (9-17, 3-9 SEC) can prevent McCowan from putting up video game-like numbers. "I'm not trying to come up with a game plan to stop her. I'm trying to come up with a game plan to limit her a little bit more," McPhee-McCuin said. Even limiting McCowan has been a challenge for most opponents of No. 6 MSU (23-2, 11-1 SEC). Chances are she'll have plenty of her fans to help energize her this evening. MSU fans made up more than half the attendance when the Bulldogs won 69-49 at The Pavilion last year.
 
Why Mississippi State's Vic Schaefer did something he's never done in his coaching career
Vic Schaefer is a man of routine. Before he answers questions in the press conference room at Humphrey Coliseum during the week, he goes for a run. Afterward, he walks into the room with a stack of notes larger than the average college textbook. He steps onto the platform that holds the microphone table from the same side every time. The left side, of course, because wins go in the left-hand column. Losses go on the right, so Schaefer never bothers with that side of the table. Schaefer is meticulous, and No. 6 Mississippi State (23-2, 11-1 SEC) is better because of it. This past weekend, though, Schaefer did something he's never done as a collegiate head coach. "I got (the team) up early for shootaround at 6 (a.m.) but put them back into bed at 6:30 and said to heck with it," Schaefer said. "I said, 'You guys look tired. Go get two more hours of sleep.' I've never done that in 34 years of coaching."
 
Erroll Thompson creating his own legacy at Mississippi State
First it was cousins Kivon Coman and Beniquez Brown starring on Mississippi State's defense. Now, Erroll Thompson is the latest defensive star to emerge from Florence High School in Alabama and have a major impact for the Bulldogs on that side of the ball. "It's a dream come true," Thompson said. "When I was in high school, I saw guys like Kivon and Beniquez making plays and putting on for our city. To follow behind them has been a great blessing to me." Although Coman and Brown both enjoyed a cup of coffee in the NFL, Thompson may end up having the best career of the trio. The 6-foot-1, 250-pound linebacker has already enjoyed two solid seasons in Starkville, racking up 133 tackles, 14.5 tackles for loss, six sacks, two interceptions, three pass deflections and a forced fumble.
 
Georgia president confirms Deep South's Oldest Rivalry will move in 2020
The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry will be played a little earlier starting in 2020. According to The Athletic, Georgia president Jere Morehead confirmed to reporters that the longstanding SEC rivalry will be moved to earlier in the season beginning that year. On Tuesday, 247Sports reported that moving the game, which is traditionally played in November within the season's final three weeks, was expected to happen that year. The changing of the rivalry game has been a hot topic over the year, and back in November, Auburn athletics director Allen Greene said he wanted to create some "breathing room" between the Georgia and Alabama games on Auburn's schedule. Since 1948, when the Iron Bowl rivalry was renewed following a four-decade hiatus, Auburn has had to play both Georgia and Alabama within the season's final three weeks. According to Morehead, beginning in 2020, the Auburn and Tennessee games will be flipped on Georgia's schedule.
 
Georgia gives AD Greg McGarity a one-year extension
Georgia's Greg McGarity, the third-longest tenured athletic director in the SEC, received a one-year contract extension Wednesday. The school's athletic board at its winter meeting voted to approve the deal that keeps him in the position through June 2020, when McGarity will be finishing his 10th school year as athletic director. University of Georgia President Jere Morehead told McGarity, who was sitting next to him at the Georgia Center, that he appreciated him returning "for at least one more year and maybe longer." The board met in executive session for more than 10 minutes to discuss the personnel matter. "I'm very grateful to you and very grateful to the board to be able to serve in this role," said McGarity in his prepared remarks later. He thanked the athletic staff in attendance for the work they do. McGarity's current contract that pays him $650,000 annually (with a $50,000 retention bonus) was set to expire on June 30. He will again get a $25,000 raise in salary and another $50,000 in retention bonus. The contract has been agreed to but not signed yet, Morehead said.
 
Nike the target of a Twitter storm after Zion Williamson's shoe splits during game
Nike became a target of jokes when a star U.S. college basketball player sprained a knee midgame because one of his shoes split during play. Duke University star Zion Williamson limped off the court after the mishap during the game against his school's archrival University of North Carolina. Twitter lit up with jibes and jeers aimed at the No. 1 sports brand, pushing the keyword Zion to the top of the worldwide trending list as of Wednesday night; Duke followed and Nike came fourth. Former President Barack Obama, courtside at the high-profile clash, was shown on video appearing to say with an incredulous look: "His shoe broke!" "We are obviously concerned and want to wish Zion a speedy recovery," Nike said by email. "While this is an isolated occurrence, we are working to identify the issue."
 
Syracuse hoops coach Jim Boeheim strikes, kills pedestrian on highway
Police say Syracuse men's basketball coach Jim Boeheim struck and killed a 51-year-old man walking outside his vehicle on a highway. Syracuse police say the man had been in a car with some others before midnight Wednesday after their vehicle crashed. Police say Boeheim drove by and struck the pedestrian while trying to avoid the vehicle. Boeheim is cooperating with the investigation. Police say there was no sign that Boeheim was impaired. No tickets have been issued to Boeheim at this time.



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