Wednesday, February 5, 2025

News digest, Feb. 5

Aggies picked to win SEC

Texas A&M is the majority pick of SEC coaches to win the conference championship in 2025.The Aggies got 10 first-place votes and 228 total points (16 points for being picked first, down to 1 fopr being picked 16th).

South Carolina is tabbed to finish 14th - barely - getting one more point that Ole Miss.

Teams begin their season Feb. 14, with the conference season starting March 14.

USC's Ethan Petry was first-team preseason all-SEC pick. He was the only Gamecock selected to the first or second team.

The SEC Tournament, now single-elimination involving all 16 teams. will be played May 20-25 aty Hoover (Ala.) Metropolitan Stadium.


PlaceSchool1stsTotal points
1Texas A&M10228
2Tennessee1215
3Arkansas3214
4LSU1204
5Florida183
6Georgia166
7Vanderbilt156
8Texas156
9Mississippi State112
10Georgia Tech113
11Kentucky102
12Oklahoma101
13Alabama  98   
14South Carolina  61
15Ole Miss  60
16Missouri  31



ACC revamps tournament format

The Atlantic Conference Conference has scrapped its pool play format for the baseball tournament and will have all 16 teams sponsoring the sport compete in a single-elimination event.

SMU and Syracuse do not have baseball programs

Under pool play, there were 4 three-team pools, with the pool winners advancing to semifinals to play for a spot in the finals. Several times, a team was eliminated from pool title contention after one loss, making its second game meaningless.

The new format, similar to what the SEC announced last year, forces the win-or-go-home approach as in basketball tournaments. The Top four seeds will get a double bye, with the next four seeds getting a single bye.

The ACC Tournament is set for May 20-25 at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.


Gilmore and Powell honored

Former USC Aiken and Coastal Carolina coach Gary Gilmore and ex-South Carolina player and current coach North Greenville coach Landon Powell have been selected for induction in the 2025 class of the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame.

Gilmore, who coached the Chanticleers to the 2016 College World Series championship,  retired after the 2024 season.

Powell played on three College World Series teams at South Carolina from 2002-04 before beginning a major league playing career. At North Greenville, he has built the program into an NCAA Division II power. NGU won the Division II World Series in 2022.

Powell, in Hawaii for a five-game road trip, said on X that he was "humbled. Thank you for the honor South Carolina Athletic HOF."

Other inductees are former Claflin women's basketball coach Nelson Brownlee, ex-Furman soccer great Clint Dempsey, former Clemson women's tennis star Susan Hill-Whitson, ex-USC women's basketball star Shannon Johnson, former Erskine and College of Charleston men's soccer coach Ralph Lundy, 1950s Clemson football standout Harold Olson, former high school, college and pro football star Richard Seymour and ex-Erskine men's basketball stalwart Don Whitehead.

Induction is set for May 19 in Columbia.

Cougars picked second in CAA

College of Charleston is picked to finish second to UNCW in the Coastal Athletic Association this season based on the preseason coaches poll.

Outfielder Avery Neaves and pitchers Jake Brink and Davis Aiken of coach Chad Holbrook's Cougars were named preseason all-CAA.


PlaceSchool1stsTotal points
1UNCW8117
2C. of Charleston3109
3Northeastern1107
4Campbell  78
5Delaware  77
6Elon  70
7Stony Brook  56
8William & Mary  55
9Hofstra  51
10NC A&T  37
11Monmouth  19
12Towson  16


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