This is probably the last item you’ll read about college hoops for a while since the rest of the spring and summer will likely be devoted to college baseball and then football. But as the baseball season enters the stretch run, the college basketball stars are deciding to go or not to go. Pro, that is. And while there are some obvious choices for this year’s NBA Draft, some of the guys saying they’re going pro make me wonder if they’re mentally stable. Just out of curiosity, I wonder if the NBA Draftees take the Wonderlic test..... Anyway, here’s a list as of today of which college players are going pro.

College baseball has heated up for sure now, with most teams more than halfway through the conference schedule. The highly ranked teams are battling for home regional sites while others are using this last month of baseball to make sure they get in the NCAA Tournament. Since most of the readers of this site are from the South and the SEC is almost always the nation’s premiere baseball conference, I’m going to focus on that conference today. Here’s a look at the SEC:
WESTERN DIVISION: The West is led by Alabama and Mississippi. After taking two of three from the Tide this past weekend, UM (12-6) moved to within one game of Alabama (13-5). Mississippi State and LSU (both 9-8) lost two of three, to Auburn and South Carolina, respectively, this weekend. Auburn (9-9) and Arkansas (7-8), both quality baseball teams, make up the five and six spots in the West. The Tide and Rebels should battle it out to the very end. The Rebels definitely have the easier road ahead with fairly easy home series with Tennessee and Arkansas, with tough road series at South Carolina and Mississippi State. Alabama doesn’t have an “easy” week left (although they’re truly aren’t any in the SEC). Their remaining schedule: Auburn, at Georgia, Mississippi State, and at LSU. Mississippi State and LSU both have one “easy” series left (MSU-at Vandy; LSU-Arkansas), which are both this weekend. Both teams have chances for a sweep. Auburn has a schedule that favors a late run, taking on Alabama and Arkansas on the road, with consecutive home series with Vandy and Georgia in between. Arkansas is likely the odd man out in the West, though they have a chance to make up ground quickly since they still have West rivals LSU, Mississippi, and Auburn on the schedule.
EASTERN DIVISION: South Carolina (11-6), Florida, and Georgia (both 11-7) are in firm control of the SEC East. Tennesse (6-12), Vanderbilt (3-13), and Kentucky (3-15) are bringing up the rear and can forget any shot at the East title. South Carolina definitely has the easiest schedule remaining of the three contenders (at Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, at Georgia), followed by Florida (Georgia, at Miss. State, LSU, at Kentucky). Georgia has no time to slack off, with series at Florida, vs Alabama, at Auburn, and vs South Carolina remaining.
SEC TOURNAMENT: The top two teams from each division followed by the next best four teams overall make the 8-team field in the SEC Tourney in Hoover. It appears Alabama and Mississippi will represent the West’s top two positions. The East’s top three (Georgia, Florida, South Carolina) all seem assured a spot in the field. That leaves three spots available to the next best three teams. It appears those three spots could go to three of the following four teams: LSU, Mississippi State, Auburn, and Arkansas. The bottom three of the East, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, and Kentucky, have nearly played themselves out of a spot in this season’s conference tournament. All eight teams that make the conference tournament should have no problem gaining an NCAA Tournament berth.
THIS WEEKEND: Here’s a look at the six SEC series for this weekend, from best to worst:
      Auburn at Alabama: This matchup is intriguing beccause it is an in-state battle, but also because Alabama needs to recover from a disappointing weekend vs Mississippi and Auburn can gain some big ground in the West this week. The Tide are the better team while Auburn badly needs to win an SEC series. My pick: Alabama 2-1.
      Georgia at Florida: The Gators and Dawgs will battle for what could be the top spot in the East at the end of the weekend. A sweep for either team would be huge. Florida has won three of their last four series, and the home field should be an advantage in Gator-land. My pick: Florida 2-1.
      Arkansas at LSU: If Arkansas is going to work its way into the SEC Tournament, they’re going to have to start now. The Tigers will need a good weekend to keep pace in the West and leave themselves in contention for the West title. Once again, the home field looks good. My pick: LSU 2-1.
      Tennessee at Mississippi: The Rebels are as hot as any team in the country and look to continue that streak against the Vols. The Vols desperately need to win a series to make a run at the conference tournament. My pick: Mississippi 3-0.
      South Carolina at Kentucky: The Gamecocks can gain some ground this weekend since Georgia and Florida will be beating each other up. Meanwhile, the Wildcats are just playing for pride now in their new stadium. Most teams don’t take pride in a sweep. My pick: South Carolina 3-0.
      Mississippi State at Vanderbilt: The ‘Dores started the season hot but have cooled off since conference play began. Meanwhile, MSU is riding an up-and-down roller coaster that they can’t climb out of. The Dawgs should sweep this one, but they always slip up somewhere. My pick: Mississippi State 2-1.

CHANGES, CHANGES, CHANGES:

As you probably noticed, I’ve changed the name of the site to Southern College Sports. This means that I’ll focus more on southern sports in things like issues of Jonathan’s Journal and in-depth things. Many other items, however, will still remain on a national scale. This includes polls, predictions, All-America teams, projections, bowl info, NCAA Tournament info, football preseason info, etc. I’ll just discuss southern sports (especially the SEC) more in-depth from now on since that’s what I know the most about and am the most familiar with anyway. I hope you’ll drop me an email and let me know what you think of the changes. Thanks!