Close, but second for USF's tennis teams

USF's men's and women's tennis teams earned their way into Sunday's Big East championship matches on their home courts, but the Bulls couldn't stop two top-seeded Notre Dame teams from taking him the league crowns. The men in particular were close to pulling off the upset, falling 4-3 with the clinching point on the No. 6 singles match, coming very close to USF's second Big East crown. ... Speaking of which, USF softball got a two-game sweep of Notre Dame and is 14-2 in Big East play, atop the league standings with two weeks left in the regular season. The Bulls have their final home games Saturday against Louisville, then finish the regular season with a doubleheader at second-place Connecticut on May 4.

-- Jim Leavitt's been everywhere in the past week. At tennis today, at the Storm game last weekend, and even at the pro-am golf tournament earlier this week. Honestly, I know he'd rather be driving around the state doing evaluations at high school spring football practices, but it's probably good to see him enjoying things that have nothing to do with football.

-- Starting to figure out where some of the newly departed football players are transferring. First is defensive end Brandon Peguese, who will play this fall at Division I-AA Hampton University in Virginia, according to the Newport News Daily Press. They list Peguese as a linebacker, curiously. And it's a pet peeve of mine when a newspaper story gives the reporter's phone number without the area code. These days, it's naive to think the only people that might want to call you are in your own area code. ...

-- Basketball update: Assistant coach Dan Hipsher was name-dropped by the Palm Beach Post as "one of the more interesting names heard" for the opening at Florida Atlantic. Hipsher confirmed an interest in the job to the Post, but said Sunday night that no contact had yet been made by the Owls. The Post also mentions former Providence coach Tim Welsh as a possibility. ... Solomon Bozeman, by the way, officially signed with Arkansas-Little Rock. Here's their announcement.

-- Lots of Mike Jenkins stories coming this week, and the Orlando Sentinel has one on "Michael Jenkins" as part of Chris Harry's weekly NFL notes. The Times will have a Jenkins feature in Thursday's paper.

-- Yawn. East Carolina isn't joining the Big East, says one of my favorite papers, The News & Observer. This just beat out the "East Carolina unlikely to join Pac-10" column.

-- Could former USF linebacker Ben Moffitt go undrafted? This week's Sporting News has projected picks for all seven rounds and Moffitt isn't one of them -- Trae Williams is a seventh-rounder to Cincinnati, as they see it, with Jenkins going No. 7 overall to the Patriots. And the Cleveland Browns' Scout.com site quotes an NFL scout as saying that Moffitt  "has an outside chance of being drafted late" but is more likely an undrafted free agent.

Comments

[xr4ti_007]

I read the Observer article too. I think if ND goes to the Big Ten (that would make it twelve) BE should attempt to bring Memphis into the fold. I know the Tigers don’t bring much to the table football-wise, but the BE would be able to extend itself into the river delta area. I imagine the BE hoops line-up:

Cincinnati UConn
DePaul Georgetown
Louisville Marquette
Pitt Providence
Seton Hall USF
St. John’s Syracuse
Villanova W. Virginia
Rutgers Memphis

[G.A.]

I really think Trae goes significantly higher than the seventh round. Really haven't heard much on Moffitt, but would be surprised if he weren't drafted.

[Norb]

Looks like it was a weekend off for all coaches. Saw Coach Gregory doing yard work on Saturday & relaxing in his backyard on Sunday. I did joking ask him Saturday, "So they let you get away from the stadium?" and he responded that he'd rather be there :) Was a Freudian slip on my part as there is no "stadium".

[Dave W]

No way Ben goes undrafted. The Sporting News probably didn't check his combine stats, which alleviated concerns that he was a terrible athlete. It actually showed that he was an above-average athlete at LB, which combined with his production, should merit a 4-5 slot. Trae didn't have a good 40 time, plus he doesn't the size they look for, and there are just so many CBs that I could see him slide in the 6th, but maybe go as high as the 4th, based on his production.

[flsportsfan83]

Trae in Round 7? Yeah right.

[The Bull Gator]

I can't imaging Moffitt not being drafted. Scouts have to have seen him play. He always seemed to be around the ball. I would think someone would at least give him a shot in the later rounds.

[G.A.]

No clinching yet, Miles. If Connecticut wins out, they'll finish ahead of USF. Up two games with six to play isn't anything locked, but it's a good place to be ...

[Miles Lamoureux]

It was pretty cool to see Leavitt out at the tennis match Sunday morning. It really shows how much he cares about USF. I believe our Softball team clinched the BE regular season title Sunday with their wins. We should have the #1 seed in the BE Tourney.