Bobcats get pledge of Oklahoma star

The Texas State men’s basketball team received two pledges Sunday from point guard Mason Harrell, Oklahoma’s boys Gatorade player of the year, and forward Akiem Daschner.

Last year’s Oklahoma player of the year was Trae Young, the freshman guard for the Oklahoma Sooners who led the nation in scoring and assists and declared early for the NBA draft.

“The marathon is far from finished but I’m extremely blessed to start a new chapter and continue to pursue my dreams,” Harrell tweeted.

Harrell, a 5-9, 140-pound guard, holds just two other offers — from Oklahoma Baptist and Binghamton — while fielding interest from South Carolina, Mercer, Wright State, Abilene Christian, Rice and Boise State, according to reports.

Harrell averaged 33.3 points, 4.6 rebounds 4.5 assists and 3.4 steals while leading Midwest (Okla.) Albert to the state tournament. He ranks 25th in Oklahoma state history in career scoring.

Daschner, a 6-7 junior college transfer, averaged 17.6 points and 10.6 rebounds in 28 games while with Ranger College.

They are Texas State’s lone commitments so far; the NCAA signing period begins April 11 and ends May 16.

Baseball: The Bobcats, who recently had their 11-game unbeaten streak snapped, have gone 1-4 since, including a weekend series sweep to conference-leading Coastal Carolina.

The Bobcats (14-8-1, 3-3 Sun Belt) started the week with a 7-2 road loss at UTSA last Tuesday, then beat Incarnate Word 6-5 the next day.

They dropped 8-0, 11-3 and 7-3 decisions on Friday and Saturday to the Chanticleers (19-7, 6-0).

Texas State has dropped to third place in the Sun Belt West division, only one game behind UT-Arlington and Arkansas-Little Rock. The Bobcats host Texas on Tuesday.

Softball: After throwing her second career perfect game in a 10-0 win over Coastal Carolina last Sunday, senior pitcher Randi Rupp was handed a 3-0 loss in her next game, a 3-0 loss to Texas last Tuesday.

Rupp (14-6) didn’t allow an earned run in the loss, however. All three Texas runs came on errors — UT’s Ki’audra Hayter scored in the third on a fielding error, then Malory Schattle and Kaitlyn Washington did the same in the fourth. Rupp gave up five hits while striking out five others.

Texas State (22-8, 6-0 Sun Belt) remains on top of the conference standings as the only team left with an unbeaten Sun Belt record. the 650-voting members of the club, that the tournament will remain here beyond 2019.

“We’d like to see it worked out,” said Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell, standing near the 11th hole Sunday as he followed the final twosome of Watson and Kisner. “We’ll sit down with the club to talk about it.”

After Watson’s victory, such dignitaries as Austin Mayor Steve Adler, twotime Masters champion Ben Crenshaw and Texas attorney general Ken Paxton posed with the latest champion.

“This is a great event,” Adler said. “It’s good for Austin, and it gives everybody in the world a chance to see Austin.”

The players rave about the course and the courtesy of the fans. Patrick Reed, who ousted favorite son Jordan Spieth on Friday, said the galleries were “very respectful” and never crossed the line.

“I thought it was a fantastic week,” said a beaming Jay Howard, Austin Country Club president. “The turnout was above our expectations. Our partners were happy. the CFL. Young, who CBS Sports inexplicably named the biggest NFL quarterback bust in the BCS era, went 30-17 with Fisher over five seasons at Tennessee with 42 touchdowns and 42 interceptions, along with 1,380 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns.

Want a perfect ending to this saga? How about Fisher, the most overrated head coach in NFL history, sending Young a letter of apology for not throwing his full support behind the rookie because he resented then-Titans owner Bud Adams for drafting Young in 2006 instead of USC’s Matt Leinart?

How many of you had Loyola-Chicago in your Final Four? If you did, please explain yourself while the rest of us run head first into a brick wall.

With media darling Sister Jean leading the way, the Ramblers have the been the best feel-good story of an NCAA Tournament that has been as unpredictable as we suspected before the first tip, We learn something every year we put this on. We thought Year 3 was great, and I think Year 4 will be even better.” So how about Year 5? No one can say definitively, but negotiations to extend the deal beyond 2019 will begin “very soon,” Howard said.

One possible trouble spot involves some dissent within the ACC membership, which is not quite as united as it first was when 92 percent voted in favor of being host to the tournament for four years. Based on about a dozen interviews of ACC members, a similar proposal to extend the contract — probably for four more years — would likely be approved but by a much smaller percentage.

That raises the question of whether ACC would push forward with an extension if, say, 30 or 40 percent of its members vote against the idea. While that level of negativity isn’t likely, ACC is considering buying or leasing another club to provide golfing privileges for its members and ease the burden somewhat.

“My sense is the majority of the club supports it,” Howard said of the Dell tourney. “I think the talks will start pretty quickly.” yet two No. 1s (Kansas and Villanova) still made it to San Antonio while red-hot Michigan extended its winning streak to 13 games to get there.

The ultimate Cinderella ending would be Loyola taking out Michigan and then a No. 1 in the finale. The timing would be perfect. After all, this is the 25th anniversary of sixth-seeded North Carolina State’s miraculous title win, which included upsets of No. 1s Virginia and Houston’s Phi Slama Jama.

Something could be in the air.

The Texas women weren’t good enough to make it to the Final Four but were plenty good enough to make it to the Elite Eight. Yet they didn’t.

Coach Karen Aston has turned this program into a good one, but not an elite one. She has built something nice here but Texas has yet to win a conference title or advance to a Final Four. She’s close, but the program hasn’t broken through to join the ranks of teams that have won national titles and/or made it to Final Fours like UConn, Maryland, Tennessee,

The PGA Tour would be wise to pay the club more than the $500,000 and $750,000 that ACC netted the first two years of deal and offer club members better perks such as two free tickets — right now, members can buy up to eight tickets apiece at a cost of up to $500 per ticket — and preferred viewing areas. The PGA Tour also ought to minimize the inconvenience tied to pre-tournament preparations.

At the root of members’ complaints is their inability to play the course for a month each year because it becomes the PGA Tour’s baby for the week of the tournament, the week preceding it and two weeks in the fall when the course is overseeded. Plus, construction and then removal of the temporary bleachers, hospitality suites and more begins in January and continues for about six weeks. Perhaps the Tour could shrink that timeline.

“We certainly don’t need the money, and we really don’t need the prestige,” said longtime club member Mike Allen, a former city champion and a three-time ACC club champion. “The inconvenience doesn’t bother the younger members as much. For some members, Louisville, Baylor, South Carolina, Stanford, Notre Dame and Mississippi State.

Her mission is to make sure the program hasn’t hit its ceiling with her two most impactful players — guards Ariel Atkins and Brooke McCarty — leaving after posting an impressive 108-32 record over their four years.

Texas should have taken out Sweet 16 opponent UCLA, but Atkins and McCarty uncharacteristically played the first half with jitters normally reserved for freshmen. Lashann Higgs, a terror when she is in the right place mentally, was a total no-show. Worse yet, the Horns turned it over three times in the last 30 seconds of the first half and UCLA converted those miscues into eight points. That doesn’t happen to elite teams. UCLA turned 21 UT turnovers into 31 points.

Aston, a defensive coach by trade, must get better on that end of the court if Texas is to take that next step. Too often this season, opposing guards like Baylor’s Kristy Wallace and UCLA’s Jordin Canada were allowed to operate however, it’s just a pain in the neck. But there are a whole lot of positives. Would a vote be 92 percent positive again? No way, but I expect if you had another vote, we’d be approving it.”

There are even whispers the tournament could be moved to April or May because the PGA Championship is switching from August to May and THE PLAYERS Championship will shift from May to March. Rest assured, though, the Dell will not be held in the oven that is Austin in August.

The average age of an ACC member has dropped to about 50 these days, but with the arrival of Dell Match Play, the older members who play the course more frequently grumble about their lack of access and the constant wetness of the course to better foster the grass’ growth. On the whole, though, more members appear to appreciate the aura and prestige that come with the event and aren’t opposed to rubbing elbows with the likes of Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy.

Oh, and Bubba’s a fan, too. in relative comfort without having to worry about double teams or schemes designed to get the ball out of their hands.

Texas paid dearly in those games.

With high-profile high school stars like Charli Collier and Sedona Prince on the way, Texas will be good again but the Horns let a great chance slip away with arguably the deepest backcourt in the country. We’ll see if Aston can build upon what she and those two guards put together over the last four years: A really good program that’s not yet elite.

So another NFL team is throwing good money at woeful Brock Osweiler and scouts from 13 NFL teams ventured to San Diego to see the workout of one Johnny Manziel, a first-round bust with a history of substance abuse and domestic violence. Yet Colin Kaepernick, who led a team to a Super Bowl appearance with a career passer rating of 88.9, can’t get a look?

It’s called collusion.