Social media has been flooded with pictures since Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Walton died Monday at age 71 from colon cancer.

Those photos – all of a smiling, gracious 6-11 Walton towering over someone he just met wanting a selfie with him – tell everything you need to know why he was so beloved.

He loved people. All races. Tall or short. Skinny or overweight. Rich or poor.

Whether he kibitzed at courtside with the CEO of a multi-million company or shot the breeze with an elderly security guard working the players and media entrance at an arena loading dock, he always had time for conversation.

Wanted to know where you were from, what college you attended, what you did for a living, if you were married and if you had kids. It was important for him to connect.

One of the first times I talked to Walton was when I worked in Memphis for almost three decades writing for The Commercial Appeal newspaper.

I was writing an extensive feature on former Memphis State head basketball coach Larry Finch, a legend in his younger years a Tigers’ All-American guard who led MSU to the 1973 NCAA national championship game vs. Walton and coach John Wooden’s UCLA dynasty.

Finch scored 29 points but Walton scored 44 (still a championship game record), hitting 21 of 22 field goals and grabbing 13 rebounds in an 87-66 victory.

With under three minutes left, Walton injured his ankle and had to leave the game. Finch helped him off the floor all to the UCLA bench, an apparent act of magnanimous sportsmanship.

Five years after Finch had been fired as Memphis State’s coach at the end of the 1996-97 season, he suffered a massive heart attack and two strokes that left him partially paralyzed and affected his speech.

But it didn’t alter his memory or his sense of humor when I visited him in a nursing/rehabilitation center for my story. I asked him why he helped the injured Walton to the bench.

“Larry, some people think to this day it’s one of the greatest acts of sportsmanship they’ve ever seen at the Final Four,” I said.

Finch, who died in 2011, smiled as best he could, then gestured for me to lean close to him so I could hear his answer.

“Sportsmanship. . .my. . .ass,” he said in a halting cadence. “He was kicking our butt. I wanted to make sure he wasn’t coming back in the game.”

Finch laughed long and hard, just as Walton did when I tracked him down by phone for a response to what Finch said.

For the next 30 minutes, Walton quizzed me on Finch’s health and what he could do to help him.

He remembered UCLA would have been in trouble in the title game had the Tigers’ high-flying forward Larry Kenon not been in foul trouble and how UCLA had no answer stopping Finch. He also admired Finch later when he became a head coach because he never cheated in recruiting and was loyal to his kids.

I had no idea how Walton knew all of that. But he did. He tried to learn the best attributes of everyone he met.

His positivity was intoxicating, despite the fact he had (by his estimation) 38 surgeries over the years mostly to his knees, feet, ankles, toes and wrists. Those injuries and the constant pain he endured forced him to play in just 44 percent of the games in his 13-year NBA career.

He still managed to post career averages of 13.3 points and 10.5 rebounds, was the NBA’s Most Valuable Player in 1978 and NBA Finals MVP in 1977 for Portland before injuries took away his marvelous athleticism. He was also named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year in 1986 when he won another NBA title as a backup for Celtics’ center and former Centenary star Robert Parish, a Shreveport native.

The first thing Walton did when he was about to join the Celtics in September 1985 was go to Parish’s house in Boston and tell him he had no aspirations of replacing him in the starting lineup. He just wanted to help the Celtics win.

“He (Walton) thought enough of me to make sure I was comfortable with him being on the team,” Parish told the Boston Globe in 2016. “That’s why I have the utmost respect for Bill Walton and that’s the main reason why he was my inductee into the Hall of Fame (in 2003). Bill Walton is my main man, for that reason.”

Walton once tried to tutor former LSU star Shaquille O’Neal when Tigers’ head coach Dale Brown brought him to Baton Rouge for a week at the start of the 1992-93 season.

Most of the younger generation knew Walton, who once had a personal 142-game winning streak that lasted almost five years from high school through his senior season at UCLA, for his off-beat color commentary on college basketball telecasts.

They didn’t realize Walton, a pontificating master of hyperbole, overcame a stuttering problem at age 28. He started his broadcast career in 1990 and called his last game in February.

Lionel Hollins, Portland’s starting guard on the ’77 NBA title who later became head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies, loved talking about Walton’s competitive spirit.

But he always concluded there was one indisputable characteristic about the big redhead, who married twice and had four sons including Adam, who played 22 games for LSU from 1995-97 before transferring.

“He’s simply a great human being,” Hollins said.

Yes. He was all that and more.

Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com

By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports

It’s a standard scene, a high school sports standout sitting at a table with several ball caps in front, each with the logo of a different college he’s considering.

It’s less common to have that scene play out far away from home. Or on a hotel rooftop.

Highly-sought Calvary Baptist football running back James Simon announced his college choice Wednesday, putting on the Texas Longhorns cap and opening his Calvary letterjacket to reveal a burnt-orange Texas T-shirt.

His family was alongside him on the roof of the W hotel in Nashville, as he was the centerpiece of a segment produced as part of the On3 Elite Series recruiting showcase live-streamed everywhere – and avidly watched back home.

Simon made the Cavaliers’ campus watch party extra special. His decision didn’t come down to the last few days and Calvary coach Rodney Guin arranged the local gathering.

Simon supplied specialty T-shirts for a group of his Cavalier teammates and schoolmates, who were very much in on the secret. They pulled on shirts featuring artwork of Simon wearing a No. 31 Longhorns’ jersey below the school’s “Horns Up” rally cry.

The other finalists he considered: LSU, Alabama, Texas A&M and Notre Dame. The Longhorns sealed the deal weeks ago, he said, although he kept it quiet until Wednesday’s event.

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian wasn’t sweating out the ceremony.

“I knew a good month or two ago,” Simon said. “Continually going down there, it always felt like home, and they just showed me consistent love and values, that I was a top priority for them and it was time to be a Longhorn.

“I let coach Sark know when I got back from (their) spring game,” he said. That was April 20.

Simon is a four-star recruit ranked as the state’s No. 5 overall prospect in the Class of 2025, No. 3 among Louisiana senior running backs, according to 247Sports analysts. He ran for 1,600 yards and 21 touchdowns in the Cavaliers’ undefeated state championship season last fall, adding 848 receiving yards and nine more scores although he was not over-utilized in Calvary’s explosive attack.

The 6-foot, 200-pounder was named the Most Outstanding Player in Calvary’s comeback state finals win after scoring three touchdowns and running for 191 yards. He had a school record 326 rushing yards on 22 carries, scoring four TDs after halftime to spearhead a 49-28 quarterfinal victory over Parkview Baptist.

He was a Class 2A All-State pick along with making the Shreveport-Bossier Journal All-Metro Team last season.

“He’s humble, he’s hard working and he’s one of the best I’ve ever coached,” said Guin, who notably coached Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott at Haughton High School. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see him playing on Sundays.”

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com

By LEE HILLER, Journal Sports

New district alignments are on tap this fall for the four football LHSAA districts that have Shreveport-Bossier Journal schools competing in them, with one school dropping from the top classification for the first time in its history.

Districts 1-5A, 1-4A, 1-2A and 1-1A all changed with several school enrollment numbers altering the landscape.

Every two years the LHSAA goes through a reclassification process with schools submitting enrollment numbers and the association places each school in the classification according to those numbers.

District 1-5A gained two schools when Evangel decided to play up to Class 5A and Huntington’s enrollment went up and placed them in 5A. The district lost Southwood to 1-4A when its enrollment dropped the Cowboys down a class.

Evangel last played in 1-5A in 2018 and has a 53-1 record in district games. Huntington was in 1-5A from its inception in 1991 through the 2008 season and has a 37-75 all-time mark in the district.

For Southwood it will be the first time in the school’s history it will not compete in the top classification. The Cowboys are the only school to play in 1-5A every year since its first year and therefore has played more district games than anybody with a 50-152 record.

District 1-4A remains the same size it was last year by replacing Evangel and Huntington with Loyola and Southwood. Loyola’s enrollment moved it up a class to 3A but with no local schools in 1-3A, the Flyers chose to play up to 4A to avoid long road trips for district play. The Flyers only previous time to play in 1-4A came in 2013-14.

District 1-2A grew by two schools when it gained three (Homer, Magnolia Charter and Union Parish) and lost one (Loyola). Homer and Magnolia Charter moved up from Class 1A and Union Parish dropped from 3A. The Pelicans played in 1-2A from 1970 to 2010 and last competed in the district in 2013, 2014.

Plain Dealing is the only local team remaining in 1-1A. The district adds Cedar Creek and Lincoln Prep from 2-1A and Jonesboro-Hodge from 3-2A.

Select and non-select alignments for the playoffs changed with Northwood, Green Oaks and Woodlawn moving from select to non-select. Loyola moved up to Division II Select from Division III.

This is a look at the 2024-26 district alignments for football.

District 1-5A

Airline

Benton

Captain Shreve

Byrd

Evangel

Haughton

Huntington

Natchitoches Central

Parkway

District 1-4A

BTW

Bossier

Loyola

Minden

North DeSoto

Northwood

Southwood

Woodlawn

District 1-2A

Calvary

D’Arbonne Woods

Green Oaks

Homer

Magnolia Charter

North Caddo

Union Parish

District 1-1A

Arcadia

Cedar Creek

Glenbrook

Haynesville

Jonesboro-Hodge

Lincoln Prep

Plain Dealing

Ringgold

By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports

NATCHITOCHES — The Southland Conference officially hugged and made up with Stephen F. Austin Wednesday, three years after a bitter divorce.

Not far removed from kicking the SLC to the curb in 2021, the Lumberjacks announced their return to the Southland and got a resounding embrace from SLC members including neighborhood rival Northwestern State.

“We are extremely excited,” said NSU athletic director Kevin Bostian. “It makes us stronger in the competitive arena across numerous sports and strengthens us geographically. With the history between our institutions, their addition to the conference will stir emotions from our alumni and those who competed against Stephen F. Austin in the past. Having a nearby rival always adds to the atmosphere during competition. Having SFA in the Southland just feels right.”

His predecessor as Northwestern’s AD, Greg Burke, concurred.

“It’s great for the Southland Conference and especially good for Northwestern State to have SFA back in the fold,” said Burke, who led NSU Athletics for 26 years. “Too many times in today’s ever-changing and transitional world of college athletics, longtime rivalries go by the wayside. The fans. student-athletes and communities of Natchitoches and Nacogdoches will all benefit from this development.”

A focal point of fan reaction on social media: resumption of an annual football rivalry, which capped the regular season each year since NSU and SFA became conference cousins in 1984 until after the teams’ last league football showdown in 2019.

SFA becomes a full Southland member immediately, leading to a major reshuffle for all sports schedules.

The conference is working through the scheduling process for football and for all sports with the addition of SFA,” said Bostian. “We should be hearing something in the near future regarding football and fall sports as well as the 2025 spring sports calendar.”

The Lake Charles American Press reported McNeese officials expect the revised SLC football schedule will be released as soon as today.

After 34 years, the Nacogdoches, Texas institution departed the Southland hurriedly in 2021, joining the expansive Western Athletic Conference, which had visions of moving up from Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) to Football Bowl Subdivision status. SFA joined Southland members Abilene Christian, Lamar and Sam Houston heading west into a league that stretched across much of the western U.S., and owned a better men’s basketball profile anchored by Grand Canyon University.

The WAC’s football aspirations never gained traction. Meanwhile, division arose in the league’s ranks.

A few weeks ago, Grand Canyon and Seattle University – both non-football athletic programs — jilted the WAC for the hoops-rich West Coast Conference, which features basketball heavyweight Gonzaga and other nationally-reputable teams.

SFA won only won one WAC sport title in its three seasons, and didn’t make it into March Madness after going four times as the SLC champ from 2014-18. Meanwhile, dramatically-increased travel costs reportedly nearing $400,000 annually and road-weary coaches and players were stress points. Even more aggravating: seeing its nearby rival, Sam Houston, skip the WAC and join Conference USA for the 2023-24 seasons.

SFA hiked its athletic budget to over $23 million while in the WAC, a figure that more than doubles the money Northwestern spends. While away, SFA became part of the University of Texas system, providing an economic boost in spite of declining enrollment and other problems that led to a series of university leadership changes.

SFA is the second WAC member to join the Southland lineup this spring. In April, Texas-Rio Grande Valley signed on while announcing a commitment to start football in 2025, which will give the league 10 members in that signature sport. Lamar returned to the Southland fold after just one season in the WAC.

“I love the addition of SFA,” said McNeese athletic director Heath Schroyer told Jim Gazzolo of the American Press. “It’s an established D-1 institution, a rival and is in our footprint. I think this addition truly solidifies our brand as a league.”

Said Burke: “It’s positive to see the Southland Conference rise again and speak to the foundation that, while not necessarily obvious in some corners, was always in place and now positions its membership for unprecedented growth and success.”

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com

The small Concordia Parish village of Ferriday has received national if not worldwide acclaim for three reasons: Jerry Lee Lewis, Mickey Gilley and Jimmy Swaggart. Three cousins, who grew up in Ferriday, would become known across the globe for Lewis’ and Gilley’s piano-pounding music and Swaggart’s preaching.

Seven miles up the road from Ferriday, the Franklin Parish hamlet of Gilbert has produced another notable figure who’s behind the scenes work with his video camera has made his name known throughout the outdoors industry. He is John L. Brown, Jr. who for some 20 years worked as videographer for the National Wild Turkey Federation, eventually being named executive producer.

For more than two decades, his expertise with the camera put him in close quarters with every well-known name in the outdoors industry.

Brown has now retired and has moved back home to his north Louisiana roots. He finally had time to put together a wonderful hard cover book, “Gathering Light” that covers his life from growing up along the Tensas Basin to his years of loading up and packing his camera gear to film hunts with the most notable outdoors personalities across the country.

“Gathering Light” begins as Brown, a youngster, watched and lamented over the destruction of the thousands of acres of prime hardwoods in his beloved Tensas Delta being brought to the ground and burned. The reason for this horrific destruction had to do with the fact that the fertile land along the Tensas could grow soy beans, a crop seen at the time as more valuable than oak trees. Soy beans could grow back every year while you could just about forget about ever replacing the hardwoods.

At the age of 24, Brown and his roommate, Rex Moncrief, were working at a lumber yard when an earlier chance encounter with the promotions director of a local NBC affiliate led to an escape from loading lumber for customers. Brown and Moncrief pitched the idea of producing a local outdoor program for the station. Long story short, their program, “The Outdoor News” was born and enjoyed success for several years.

From “The Outdoor News” came the opportunity to do free-lance work for companies such as Knight and Hale, Primos and others.

“Gathering Light” covers Brown’s eventual expertise with his video camera to capturing the attention of other companies. He was slowly but steadily climbing the ladder to him eventually  anding a plum of a job with the wild turkey federation, a position he held for two decades until an unceremonious release from the organization.

One thing that led to his career success probably more than anything else was imparted to him by well-known outdoors video producer Ron Jolly, a fellow Louisianian.

“John,” Jolly told him, “there are two things that I’ll tell you about this business that are absolutes regarding the job. One, you must be an eternal optimist. You must believe that without a doubt that the buck you’re hunting is about to walk past your stand, or that the next yelp will elicit a gobbler. Number two, you must enjoy seeing others succeed.”

Brown writes that as time passed, he understood what Jolly was saying as he saw the failure of others who couldn’t derive satisfaction seeing someone else pull the trigger.

I finished my copy of “Gathering Light” in one sitting. It brought back memories of the times I was privileged to visit with John over the years and as an outdoors writer, my association with so many he writes about. If you have any interest at all in the outdoors, it’s a book you’ll thoroughly enjoy.

“Gathering Light” is available at Amazon.com. For an inscribed copy of the book, which sells for $25, contact Brown at 486 Marion Sims Rd., W. Monroe, LA 71292.

Contact Glynn at glynnharris37@gmail.com

By Jeanni Ritchie

Did you know it used to be considered in poor taste to smile in public?

In 1702, French priest and educational reformer Jean-Baptiste de La Salle published “Rules of Christian Decorum and Civility,” which advised against smiling and laughing, calling them ‘indecorous’ displays of emotion.

It wasn’t until the 1950’s that smiling in portraits became a common practice, largely due to advances in dentistry and a belief that smiling was contagious.

Created in 2018 by dentists Dr. Tim Stirneman and Dr. Jim Wojdyla from Compassionate Dental Care in Illinois, the motivation for the holiday is to get people to smile more.

Some famous smile quotes:

“You’ll find that life is still worthwhile, if you just smile.” Charlie Chaplin

“Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.” Mother Teresa

“A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.” William Arthur Ward

“Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.” H. Jackson Brown Jr.

“If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it.” Andy Rooney

“Children learn to smile from their parents.” Shinichi Suzuki

On this final day of Mental Health Awareness Month, make sure you greet everyone with a smile!

Jeanni Ritchie is a mental health advocate and journalist from Central Louisiana. She can be found at www.jeanniritchie.com.

A look in the rearview mirror at Louisiana Tech’s 2024 baseball season (so far) from someone who’s been there … 

(Editor’s Note: Odd circumstances put me on the road with the team and, despite that, the guys ended up winning Conference USA’s regular season title and survived a metaphorical fistfight to finish runner-up in the conference tournament last week. They bring a 45-15 record and want-to into Friday’s 7 p.m. scrap against Kansas State, 32-24, in the Fayetteville Regional.)

 Tech’s 12-0 start included its first road game of the year, a 20 hits, 13 runs whupping of McNeese in Lake Charles in cold weather, and by “cold” we mean 47-below 0. With a wind blowing in from left. It was so cold I saw a lawyer with his hands in his own pockets.

The final part of trip was a championship at the three-day Battle at the Ballpark in Sugar Land, Texas, which was a semi-synopsis of the whole season, minus the losses. 

• Tech beat Army, 4-0, scoring all the game’s runs in the eighth, the final pair on a homer by centerfielder Cole McConnell, who at that point in Tech’s 9-0 season had 4 doubles, 1 triple, 3 homers, 3 walks, 2 strikeouts — and 0 singles.
• Beat pain-in-the-ass Creighton, 12-0. Creighton’s voice carries, put it that way. The walk-off blow — a three-run, line-drive tater by Ethan Bates.
• Beat Air Force, 8-5, after trailing 5-0.
• Tech’s Bates was the DH and Reliever and MVP on the All-Tournament team — and was last week named the 2024 Most Outstanding Player in CUSA.

On the bus trip home, we started losing power near Grambling, regained it, limped off Interstate 20 and onto Tech Drive, and crawled to a stop at J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park in the middle of the night. Without anyone knowing it, we’d just experienced the season in mini-form: some blowouts, some tight wins, and some flats that almost made you pull over.

And it was only the first week of March.

In Miami for three games, three guys went for separate walks and were attacked by the same bird on the same morning, a Hitchcockian affair we all witnessed on the team bus to the game that afternoon when the same bird at the same spot attacked some unsuspecting sap. Major laughs. And sadly, the highlight of the 1-2 trip.

There was the hotel where you had to turn in a Magic Ticket for breakfast, and the hotel in Arizona that was probably nice — 40 years ago. Someone was always misplacing a wallet or phone. Someone was always looking for a bottle of water.

There were enough 7 a.m. bus rides to make you feel you were in third grade again. These early-morning taxis were due mainly to early flights. One plane trip a season is about it for mid-majors; Tech had four. Miami. Arizona. New Mexico. Virginia. Flying a college baseball team commercial is like turning around a battleship. In molasses. In wintertime. (Or in Lake Charles in late February.)

Commercial air travel with college baseball is a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey affair, a circus without the elephants and straw. If you come home with almost as many people and almost as much equipment as you left with, it’s considered a very successful trip.

As any team will tell you, the non-baseball parts are common. The baseball parts are different. That’s why lots of teams aren’t playing this weekend, and 64, like Tech, are. They’ve been good at the baseball parts. 

A lot of those 45 wins and the positive reaction to a couple of particularly hard-knocks losses has been because of how this team of Dogs has gotten along, adjusted and adapted during the non-baseball parts. Doubleheaders and time changes and Saturday and Sunday pre-noon games. 

Life asks you to adapt, just as you would to a new arm out of the pen or an error or a bad hop — or a kamikaze bird or late plane or lost luggage. We adjust or we don’t.

It’s a group of teammates who look forward to getting to the ballpark. When they get there again this weekend — and they will, somehow, some way, to baseball-friendly Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville — the baseball parts should be fun to watch. For sure, they’ve earned their way.

Contact Teddy at teddy@latech.edu

Why?

I have never successfully answered the “why” question. There are times in a relationship when one will ask the other one, “Why did you hang the picture in that particular place?” “Why did you eat the last of the Blue Bell ice cream?” “Why did you mow the lawn as you did?” I think I have failed in answering those questions. It is because the answer to the question moved behind the realm of action into the realm of motivation. How many of us have the emotional intelligence to authentically answer a motivational question? Why did you blow up at the nice person in the restaurant, when they didn’t melt the cheese on your cheeseburger? 

I had an unanswerable “why” question this weekend. The dogs escaped the yard. When our dogs get out of the yard, they jet. Rolo is part Beagle and the sniffer in him takes over and he has to run each scent in the neighborhood. I know that if anything happens to Rolo, I will be in the eternal doghouse. He got out by opening a gate. No kidding, one of the dogs opened a gate. I don’t know how, and they are not confessing.

Why were the dogs in that part of the yard? That part of the yard is gated off on four sides, because my greenhouse is in that part of the yard. I was working in the greenhouse and the dogs were with me. I don’t know what motivated the dogs to be with me. I can’t explain canine motivation. I took a break and went inside; the dogs decided to execute an escape plan. The dogs did return, exhausted. I was released from the doghouse. However, the why questions continued. I know I am frustrating because I have never answered a why question, well.

The same in my professional life. Yes, I am called to this ministry. Yes, I read and study scripture daily. Yes, I talk to God several times a day. Even in ministry, I’m not good with the “why” question. “Why did this happen to me?” “Why am I sick?” “Why is my life falling apart?” I have been doing the preacher thing for forty-eight years. Here is how I now answer the “why” question. The answer to the “why” question is the purview of management, I’m only in customer service.

That is not where the conversation stops, although I have never been able to answer “why” question, I do have some insights about the better question; “how.” How do I move forward given my life circumstances How do I trust in Jesus in the middle of this storm? How do I put one foot in front of the other so I can take the next step? The question for all of us is….

How?

By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports

BATON ROUGE – It seems like a million years in the past, but it was 42 days ago from Monday’s NCAA tourney bid day that LSU’s 2024 baseball team hit rock bottom.

The defending national championship Tigers had just lost their fifth straight SEC series to open league play, being swept at then-No. 1 Tennessee.

LSU’s optimism after a 16-2 start in non-conference play before facing a Murderer’s Row of four top 6 nationally ranked SEC opponents had faded.

“We played good at Tennessee (in losses of 6-3, 3-1 and 8-4), which is something I rarely say in being swept,” LSU head coach Jay Johnson said Monday, after the Tigers were named the No. 2 seed in the Chapel Hill Regional. “I just remember we were 3-12 (in the SEC) and I had to go to the (weekly Monday night live) coaches’ (radio) show with (LSU play-by-play voice) Chris Blair. There was a lot of psychological warfare to get past that.

“We had a (non-conference) game the next day on Tuesday (at home vs. New Orleans) that we had to win because the weekend didn’t go so well.”

LSU battled hard to edge UNO 6-3, but several days later the Tigers won their first SEC series of the season at Missouri. Johnson’s constant positivity and faith that his players would learn from their failures in the first half of SEC play eventually paid off in the nick of time.

Since that series-ending loss at Tennessee, LSU has won 18 of 24 games, including four of five SEC series in the second half. Then, after winning four of five last week in a run to the SEC tourney finals, LSU has won 14 of its last 20 games against league opponents.

Among those victims are five teams invited to the NCAA Tournament, including national top 10 seeds No. 2 Kentucky, No. 3 Texas A&M, No. 5 Arkansas and No. 7 Georgia.

It’s why the 40-21 Tigers aren’t fazed about playing in the regional hosted by No. 4 national seed North Carolina. LSU opens play Friday vs. Wofford at 11 a.m. before  North Carolina faces Long Island at 5 p.m.

“When we were 3-12 (in the SEC), Coach Johnson told us every game after that was like a playoff game,” LSU shortstop Michael Braswell III said. “Every game mattered.

“So, we’re not new to the playoff feeling we’ll have this weekend. If we just keep doing what we’ve been doing, we’ll be fine.”

Here are the Chapel Hill Regional teams besides LSU:

NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS, No. 4 national and No. 1 regional seed

(42-13 overall, 22-8 as Atlantic Coast Conference regular season champions)

Head coach, record: Scott Forbes 148-86 (.632) in four seasons overall and at North Carolina.

North Carolina’s all-time NCAA tournament record: 115-78 (.595) in 35 appearances, 11 College World Series appearances (last in 2018).

Longest winning streak this season: 11

Longest losing streak: 3

Batting average: 311 Home runs: 105 RBI: 461 Runs scored per game: 9.0

Earned run average: 4.19 Opposing batting average: .255 Strikeouts: 475 Walks: 448 Opposing runs allowed per game: 4.8

PLAYERS TO WATCH

1B Parks Harber (.351, 20 HR, 60 RBI), LF Casey Cook (.345, 18 HR, 76 RBI), CF Vance Honeycutt (.319, 22 HR, 58 RBI), P Jason Decaro (5-1, 3.80 ERA in 73.1 innings, 64 strikeouts, 34 walks),

WOFFORD TERRIERS, No. 3 seed

(41-18, 12-8 in Southern Conference, won Southern Conference tournament)

Head coach, record: J.J. Edwards 41-18 (.694) in 1 season overall and at Wofford.

Wofford’s all-time NCAA tournament record: 0-2 (.000) in one appearance.

Longest winning streak this season: 5

Longest losing streak: 2 (3 times)

Batting average: 340 Home runs: 74 RBI: 546 Runs scored per game: 10.2

Earned run average: 5.75 Opposing batting average: .274 Strikeouts: 474 Walks: 193 Opposing runs allowed per game: 5.9

PLAYERS TO WATCH

3B Dixon Black (.368, 13 HR, 75 RBI), 1B Tyler Hare (.327, 12 homers, 62 RBI), C Daniel Jackson (.362, 12 HR, 67 RBI), CF Marshall Toole (.383, 9 HR, 64 RBI), P Zac Cowan (9-2, 3.55 ERA in 104 innings, 118 strikeouts, 18 walks).

LONG ISLAND SHARKS, No. 4 seed

(33-23, 24-9 in Northeast Conference, won NEC tournament)

Head coach, record: Dan Pirillo 187-185 (.502) in 8 seasons overall and at Long Island

NCAA tournament record: 0-4 in 2 appearances

Longest winning streak this season: 7

Longest losing streak: 4 (2 times)

Batting average: 72 Home runs: 68 RBI: 358 Runs per game scored: 7.3

Earned run average: 6.31 Opposing batting average: .293 Strikeouts: 428 Walks: 244 Opposing runs allowed per game: 6.8

PLAYERS TO WATCH

RF Seth Surrett (.332, 5 HR, 38 RBI), LF Jake Mastillo (.305, 16 HR, 67 RBI), 1B JC Navarro (.277, 15 homers, 44 RBI), SS Benjamin Fierenzi (.322, 4 HR, 41 RBI), P Garrett Yawn (6-3, 4.08 ERA in 90.1 innings, 104 strikeouts, 42 walks).

Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com

JOURNAL SPORTS

Nine local underclass baseball players have been selected to play in the 2024 Louisiana Baseball Coaches Association Underclassmen Games at Lou St. Amant Field on the campus of UL-Monroe, June 3-5.

Four teams comprising the top 100 players to graduate in 2025, 2026 and 2027 will play against each other the first week in June.

Local players selected to the North team include Jaxon Bentzler and Nate Cervantes of Northwood, Kade Bryant and Griffin Sibley from Benton, Carter Reynolds and Andrew Sharp of Captain Shreve; Cole Snell and Abel Thetford from Parkway and Evangel’s Landon Martin.

Bentzler, Sibley, Thetford and Sharp were among 10 that were selected from the area to play in last year’s event.

By PATRICK MEEHAN, Centenary Sports Information Director

The 2023-24 sports year is history for Centenary, but some history is still being made.

Gents have collected postseason honors for baseball, while Ladies softball players have drawn recognition for their academic and athletic achievement.

Meanwhile, as June nears, the buildup to the first official football season on campus since World War II is underway. Tickets go on sale Friday.

BASEBALL:  Sophomore leftfielder Carson Livesay and sophomore left-handed pitcher Cody Myers were each named All-Region on Tuesday. Both earned a spot on the 2024 D3baseball.com All-Region Team and Myers was also named to the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings NCAA Division III All-Region Team.

Livesay and Myers earned spots on the D3baseball.com Region 10 Team as Livesay made the third team and Myers landed on the second team while Myers earned a spot on the ABCA/Rawlings second team.

After a regular-season runner-up finish, the Diamond Gents won the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament to reach the NCAA Division III Tournament for the third time since 2017.

FOOTBALL:  Season tickets for the 2024 Centenary football season will go on sale Friday at www.gocentenary.com.

Premium single-game tickets are $25. General admission single game tickets are $15 for all persons aged 13 and older. General admission children tickets are $5 for all children 12 and younger.

Premium season tickets cost $200. General admission season tickets are $130.

General admission season tickets for children cost $35. 

Centenary will face the Hendrix College Warriors at home on Saturday, Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. at Mayo Field in the Gents’ official first season opener.

The Gents are scheduled to play 10 regular-season games, five at home and five on the road. Centenary will play a pair of exhibition games, on Aug. 24 with a scrimmage at home against Millsaps College and on Aug. 31 against Louisiana Community Christian.

SOFTBALL:  Five Ladies were named to the 2024 College Sports Communicators Academic All-District® Softball Team, the organization announced on Tuesday.

Sophomore River Boultinghouse, senior Mackenzie Cox, sophomore Emma Crow, sophomore Abigail Hodgson, and junior Emma Shepherd earned a spot on the prestigious team.

The Academic All-District® Softball Teams recognize the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances on the diamond and in the classroom. The CSC Academic All-America® program separately recognizes softball honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA.

Academic All-District® honorees advance to the CSC Academic All-America® ballot. First-, second and third-team Academic All-America® honorees will be announced in June.

Contact Patrick at pmeehan@centenary.edu

If there’s one debate in bass fishing that has gone on for decades, it’s the age-old question: Does color matter? What we are referring to is the color of the bait you’re throwing when fishing for those elusive largemouth bass. No other topic in the bass fishing world has a difference of opinion more than this topic. Today I’ll give you my perspective that could lean you in either direction.  

If you ask any angler with years of experience, some will say, “Yes, color does matter,” while others will say, “No,” that the color of your bait has no bearing on if a bass will eat it. Occasionally, I will agree with the guys who say “no” because there are occasions where bass are on a feeding frenzy, otherwise known as “schooling,” and will bite just about anything you throw at them. But I’ve also seen instances where if you don’t throw something that is very close to the forage (baitfish) they are chasing, and I mean in both size and color, you will not get bit. This rule of “matching the hatch,” so to speak, pretty much applies 90 percent of the time.

Here’s my perspective when it comes to color. I say “yes,” color does matter, if for no other reason than confidence. I know we’ve talked about confidence in the past and there’s nothing more important to an angler than his confidence, whether it’s in a particular color or a select bait. This is always a part of my message when I speak to high school or college anglers. It’s important for young anglers to gain confidence in a particular color because when the fishing is tough, you want to fish with something you have a lot of confidence in.

When it comes to soft plastic baits, color can make a huge difference on whether you catch bass or not. My argument has always been if color is not important, then why do manufacturers make so many for anglers to choose from?  Some will say that is because companies are trying to catch anglers and sell lures. That might be true, but they also make so many colors because of the many different types of water clarity we have all across the country, and certain colors are designed to match different types of forage bass feed on.

All I know is this, over my many years of chasing those little green fish we call bass, more times than I can count, I made a color change and suddenly, I started catching bass. Was this a coincidence or was the new color I switched to closer to the forage they were feeding on? Only a bass can truly answer this question of whether color really matters, and until bass learn to speak, the world may never know.

Contact Steve at sgraf26@yahoo.com

BOM was a sponsor of the Evergreen Life Service’s Night at the Museum fundraiser. Our staff had an incredible time at the event. Pictured left to right: BOM’s Sherry Papa, Catie Colvin, Ireland Slocum, Henry Burns, Melinda Williams, Evergreen Life Services Chief Development Officer Cathy Crow, and BOM’s JD Hartley and Eldeen Potter