White, Texas softball take aim at Sam Houston — and ultimately OU

While I got ya, here are nine things and one crazy prediction:

1. Texas softball faces Sam Houston State next, but clearly has Oklahoma in its sights. OK, not in close sight, but somewhere on the ’ radar. The Sooners are still the queens of softball in the Big 12 as the national No. 1 seed with four national titles — three in the last six seasons — but first-year Longhorns coach Mike White is making huge strides and doesn’t avoid talking about trying to get to the Sooners' level even though Texas has dropped its last 18 games to them. “We can compete with them. Can we beat them in a series? Not yet,” said White, whose 41-14 team takes on Sam Houston State in Friday’s regional opener. “The gap (between Texas and OU) is in the depth. They have a stable of top-10 recruits in their program and coming. We just have to beat ‘em in one game first, stop the streak and create doubt in their minds and belief in ours.”

2. Huge fan of John Beilein and hated to see the smart, selfless Michigan coach, a top 10 college coach, accept the job with the Cleveland Cavaliers. If Shaka Smart doesn’t turn his program around at Texas next year, Beilein and Oklahoma City coach Billy Donovan should be two guys at the top of Chris Del Conte’s list. Heck, maybe Brad Stevens is so tired of Kyrie Irving, he’s ready to return to college. But Shaka is turning it around, right? Right?

3. Concordia’s 24th-ranked baseball team won its American Southwest Conference tournament and its last seven games but may just be getting started. On Friday, the 34-10 Tornados play Texas Lutheran in a four-team Division III regional in Seguin. “We’re pretty good,” 10th-year head coach Tommy Boggs said. “We’ve beaten some of the better teams in the country, and we’ve got a chance of going further.” Boggs has good reason to feel confident. He’s got two alpha dog, junior pitchers in conference pitcher of the year Matt Williams from Hyde Park and Calvin Bush, a St. Michael’s product and transfer from Texas State. Williams carries an 11-1 record, and Bush, a year off surgery for a damaged nerve, has an eye-popping 92 punchouts in 57 innings with a 5-0 record. Add in a stacked lineup paced by center fielder Brett Lieferman (.377), shortstop Casen Novak (.352), second baseman Carson Cox (.352) and cleanup hitter Reed Carlton (.300), and Concordia’s a dangerous team.  

4. All-American wide receiver recruit Jake Smith is, well, a catch for Texas. He told Orangebloods’ Anwar Richardson he was sold on Texas during a weekend trip to Austin as a junior for Tom Herman’s first spring game. But what really sold him on Austin? The barbecue. “I fell in the love with the culture, the football, and the BBQ,” Smith said. “I love the BBQ more than any food on this planet. I can’t get enough of it, honestly. It was the brisket and jalapeno-cheddar sausage from Terry Black’s. I took a picture of my food. I still stare at it sometimes. We don’t have any good BBQ out here (in Arizona). I never had had any good BBQ until then. It was mind-blowing.” Nice, Jake. Can you say immediate fan favorite.

5. The NCAA should be ashamed for not approving a third full-time college baseball assistant coach — tacking on an extra softball coach to the proposal lessened its chances of passing — and even more so for not increasing  the number of scholarships per program from the meager 11.7 allotment per school. While football just approved a 10th full-time assistant a year ago and allows more analysts than the CIA, baseball continues to wallow in hopeless neglect despite increased exposure and revenue for their schools. Texas State coach Ty Harrington backed the proposal, saying, “Our ratio of coaches to players is very low (at 1 to 12). We have 35 players and only two full-time assistant coaches when college baseball couldn’t be more popular.” ... If the Longhorns finish last in the Big 12, it would by my count be only the third last-place conference finish in school history going back to 1899. Texas came in last in 1956 with a 3-11 record in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association and last in 2013 at 7-17 when Augie Garrido’s team didn’t win a single Big 12 series. The good news? Each time, the Longhorns rebounded and not only won big the following season but reached the College World Series, going 12-1 in the Southwest Conference and 20-7 overall and 1-2 at Omaha in 1957 and flourishing with a 46-21 mark and a third-place CWS finish in 2014.

6. Thrilled to be a part of the Best of All-Centex Preps awards banquet on June 10 at the Palmer Events Center where the American-Statesman will honor all athletes in 25 varsity sports named to our All-Centex teams this school year. Those athletes should RSVP and order their free tickets at statesman.com/preps. As emcees, Cedric Golden and I will ask keynote speaker Drew Brees why he should be considered the equal of Tom Brady — or at least No. 2 — and whether Sam Ehlinger will be an NFL starting quarterback someday.

7. Texas Tech’s Josh Jung will likely be one of probably two first-round Big 12 picks in the major-league free-agent amateur draft next month, joining West Virginia pitcher Alex Manoah. That doesn’t count Lake Travis third baseman and Longhorns signee Brett Baty, who’s almost a lock to go that high and sign for between $2-3 million. “Jung’s a guy who has 30-homer power. He’s got that kind of pop,” former Longhorns star Keith Moreland told me. “He can go out of the ballpark to right center. He’s going to be rich. Manoah’s probably in the top 10. He’s got three pitches and a change-up to go with a good breaking ball. He has a great idea of how to pitch.”

8. Scattershooting while wondering whatever happened to former SMU basketball star Gene Phillips, who I once saw score 50 points on Texas in Gregory Gym.

9. We bid a sad farewell to HBO’s “Veep,” which wrapped up on Sunday night after a sensational seven years. I hail it as the best comedy series EVER. It’s 10 ducks worthy. I’d love to come back as the censor for that series. “Yeah, that’s fine. That’s fine. Sure, I’m OK with that. Lunch anyone?” Thankfully, the tale of a hateful, vindictive, invective-spewing presidential aspirate is, uh, only fictitious.

10. Crazy prediction: Texas will sweep OU this week to qualify for the Big 12 baseball tournament.