My favorite sports movie ever is “Hoosiers.” The movie is about a tiny high school winning the state championship in the crazy basketball state of Indiana. The 1986 movie is based on a true story of the 1954 Milan High School team that won the state championship, despite the school having only 161 students, against one of the largest high schools in Indiana. This week the Mississippi High School Activities Association will hold their state basketball championships in the Jackson Coliseum. In the past, legends have been made from the tiny little communities within our Magnolia State. As Forrest Gump’s mom said, “Life is like a box of chocolates” – my exact thoughts about watching the state championship games in Jackson. You never know what you will see during the week. I had never heard of Holly Bluff High School way back in 1974, but before the week was over, I knew of Jerry Patton and Clinton Wyatt of Holly Bluff. Holly Bluff High School is no longer in existence in rural Yazoo County, but Patton’s 56-point single game is etched in my memory and is still in the record books. Back in the day, the small high schools of Belmont, Bogue Chitto, Biggersville, Hatley, Hickory, Ingomar, Nettleton, New Site, Shaw, West Union, Wheeler and White Oak dominated the sports headlines. It is worth the price of admission to watch the state championship games if you are a true sports fan. Good luck to all the teams this week.
It was a wild day to play basketball Saturday if you were ranked. It was the first time all top six teams in the AP Top 25 lost on the same day in college basketball history: No. 1 Gonzaga, No. 2 Arizona, No. 3 Auburn, No. 4 Purdue, No. 5 Kansas and No. 6 Kentucky. No. 9 Texas Tech also lost, so that made seven of the top 10.
The SEC regular season will be completed this week with the Men’s Basketball Tournament to be held in Tampa beginning on March 9. Ole Miss (4-12, 13-16) will play at Kentucky this Tuesday and then host Vandy on Saturday. MSU (8-8, 17-12) will host Auburn on Wednesday and then travel to Texas A&M on Saturday to conclude the regular season.
The Lady Rebels of Ole Miss (10-6, 22-7) lost to No. 1 South Carolina on Sunday in Oxford. Ole Miss secured the No. 4 seed. They will receive a double by and will not play until Friday in the conference tournament in Nashville. Mississippi State (6-10, 15-13) will enter as the No. 10 seed and will take on Kentucky at 6 p.m. on Thursday.
The USM Lady Golden Eagles (8-7, 16-10) are in a four-way fight for the top seed in Group A of C-USA. The Lady Eagles will play at UAB this Thursday. The Conference USA tournament will begin in Frisco, Texas, on March 8. The Golden Eagles (1-15, 6-22) will host UAB and Charlotte as the regular season comes to a close.
The Lady Bobcats of Jones and the Lions of East Mississippi won the state MACCC Tournament championships. The Region 23 Tournament will be played this week.
The Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame will host the 15th presentation of the Gillom & Howell trophies on March 7thin Jackson. These awards go to the top female and male college basketball players in our state.
College Baseball
Ole Miss baseball (6-0) won all three games this past week as they travel to Central Florida this weekend. Mississippi State won three of four this week as they prepare to battle in-state rival Southern Mississippi in Pearl on Wednesday of this week. The Bulldogs (4-3) will also visit Tulane while USM (5-2) will travel to Lafayette this weekend.
Jim Page set a milestone as Millsaps head baseball coach recorded his 800th career win. William Carey (11-3) is off to another start under legendary coach Bobby Halford.
Dale has been writing sports in Mississippi since 1973. Listen to Dale’s Brouhaha Sports Show with Marshall Wood on Tuesday at 6 p.m. on WABO FM 105.5 in the Waynesboro area. Southern Mississippi head football coach Will Hall will visit this week. To listen to the broadcast on your computer or smart phone anywhere in the world, go to Google Chrome; go to wabo105.com and click listen live. You may also go to The Brouhaha on YouTube. Please visit us on our Brouhaha Facebook page and like us.
