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WBB: Owls hoping to build NCAA Tournament worthy resume

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Rice women’s basketball is in the midst of an incredible run which the team hopes will end in an NCAA Tournament berth. How close are the Owls to the postseason?

March is nearing and Rice women’s basketball is looking for their dancing shoes. The squad has been one of the most dominant teams in the nation for the entirety of 2019. They’ll hope to capitalize on their storybook season with a trip to the NCAA Tournament. The necessary preparations for a postseason run are being put in place.

The Streak

The circumstances are almost irrelevant — this team doesn’t care. All they do is win. The Rice women’s basketball team has won 20 of their last 21 games and has yet to suffer defeat in conference play. With just two road games remaining against 5-6 North Texas and 1-10 UTSA, the Owls have a real shot at winning out and reaching 25 wins before the conference tournament.

Rice has won 13 games in a row, the most consecutive victories in school history and the third longest active streak in the nation. Every win literally makes history. The Owls have won 11 straight conference games, reaching 20 wins early in February. For comparison, Rice won their 20th game on March 3 in 2018,  March 19 in 2017 and only reached 18 wins combined between the ’14-’15 and ’15-’16 seasons.

Bracketology

There’s no doubting the Owls’ impressive run will force the NCAA selection committee to look long and hard at all this team has accomplished this season. With five regular season games remaining, Rice is projected as an 11-seed in ESPN analyst Charlie Creme’s latest Bracketology. That seed line could creep higher if Rice continues to win, but a higher seed isn’t all that’s at stake right now.

Multiple CUSA teams have reached the field in the somewhat recent past. MTSU and Western Kentucky both made the field in 2014, the Blue Raiders first year in the conference. Multiple CUSA squads haven’t made the field together since the conference contract to 14 teams in 2015.

Conference USA has traditionally been a one-bid league. Win the conference tournament and you’re going dancing, regardless of how your season has faired up until that point. Lose the conference tournament, and more often than not, you’re out.

If Rice can win out, but falls in the conference tournament, they’ll still have a strong chance of making it in, which is another testament to the incredible job these ladies have done this season. Rice is closing in on lock status, but the Owls can’t truly be sure of their NCAA fates without cutting down the nets in Frisco.

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Rice Football: Offensive coordinator Jerry Mack named Associate Head Coach

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A staffing announcement out of South Main. Current offensive coordinator Jerry Mack has been named Rice football Associate Head Coach.

The title of Associate Head Coach was vacated during the offseason when Pete Lembo departed Rice for Memphis to work on Mike Norvell’s staff as the special teams coach. That left some reconfiguring to do for Mike Bloomgren for the first time since he built his staff upon his arrival at South Main.

The first beneficiary of the change is Jerry Mack. The former head coach at North Carolina Central, Mack took over the Owls’ offense last season. He will retain his role as offensive coordinator alongside being named the Associate Head Coach.

For Mack and the offense, 2018 was a year of adjustments. The Owls experienced their fair share of growing pains as they transitioned to a more physical, run-dominant offense. Mack guided the offense through multiple quarterback injuries and a fluctuating offensive line.

Rice averaged 318.4 yards per game, finishing seventh in Conference USA with 143.6 yards per game on the ground. Both of those numbers are expected to improve next season with a fortified offensive line, which will include three graduate transfers, and a more stable quarterback situation.

The team ended on a high note, defeating Old Dominion in the final game of the regular season. They registered 275 rushing yards against the Monarchs, the most of any conference game that season.

Mack’s promotion does not involve special teams responsibilities. As previously reported, the candidate pool has been narrowed to two names with interviews forthcoming, held off until after National Signing Day. The decision on how that coaching spot will be filled is expected to be made in the coming weeks.

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Baseball: Breaking down the 2019 offensive lineup

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Rice baseball expects to return to contention in Conference USA under the new direction of Matt Bragga. To get there the Owls’ will need to find consistent offensive production.

Although pitching is expected to take the forefront in the upcoming season, Rice baseball will bring a solid mix of offensive weapons to the plate in 2019. Matt Bragga, renowned as an offensive whisper during his time at Tennessee Tech, should be able to get the most out of the Owls’ bats.

Here’s how the main position players set up entering the spring:

C – Collins
1B – DiCaprio
2B – Edwards
SS – T. Cruz
3B – Corneaux
OF – Cox, Beaulaurier, Brewer, A. Cruz, Gneiting
DH – Duluc, Dunlap

The proven commodities

Braden Comeaux (.319/.429/.412) and Andrew Dunlap (.260/.368/.435) were two of the more reliable bats in the lineup last season and both guys return in 2019. Comeaux has the potential to lead Conference USA in hits after finishing fourth last year. Dunlap took a step back from a career-best season in 2017, but has the experience and situational awareness to be a big asset at the plate.

Catcher Justin Collins could be the most important piece, though. After showing flashes as a freshman he’s started to pick things up this offseason. During the fall exhibitions, he blasted a grand slam against Sam Houston and was near perfect Texas A&M, going 4-for-5 with a double. He’ll be asked to be a consistent run producer in the middle of the lineup in 2019.

Who else steps up?

It remains to be seen how Matt Bragga will deploy the rest of the lineup. There are an array of guys who could fill the outfield spots. Trei Cruz and Bradley Gneiting both had their moments and will be counted upon to be more or less everyday players again this season.

Dominic Cox and Dominic DiCaprio are both wildcards to watch. DiCaprio brings some pop, provided he can make enough consistent contact to earn a spot in the starting nine. The same goes for Cox who appeared in 50 games last season despite holding a .182 average.

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Baseball: Breaking down the 2019 pitching staff

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The spring is here and so is Rice baseball. The new era under Matt Bragga will begin with some familiar names led on the mound by Matt Canterino.

Matt Bragga’s first season as the head coach for Rice baseball will be underway very soon. The Owls are expected to be led by a strong presence on the mound. Here’s how the starting rotation and the bullpen project entering the 2019 season.

The Rotation

Friday: Matt Canterino (2018: 7-5, 3.06 ERA, 116K, 22BB)

There are few preseason awards which omitted the Owls’ ace. Canterino was named the CUSA Preseason Pitcher of the Year as well as an All-American by Baseball America and the National College Baseball Writer’s Association. D1 Baseball tabbed him as their CUSA Preseason Pitcher of the Year, too.

Saturday: Addison Moss (2018: 2-4, 2.43 ERA, 53K, 16BB)

Moss and Canterino could establish themselves as one of the best 1-2 punches in Conference USA. Moss didn’t earn the same preseason recognition as Canterino, but the junior hurler returns from a sophomore campaign in which he allowed 2.3 walks per nine innings and held the best ERA on the team.

Sunday and midweek starters:

Roel Garcia underwent Tommy John surgery this winter, opening the door wide open for the Sunday and midweek starting roles. Coach Bragga will have several options to choose from and we could see several guys get a shot before the rotation begins to solidify itself.

Bragga has tabbed Jackson Parthasarathy (3 starts, 6.28 ERA) and Evan Kravetz as the top two guys entering the season. Kendal Jeffries (5 starts in 2018, 4.06 ERA) and Missouri transfer Drake Greenwood could get a chance, too.

The Bullpen

This is where things get interesting. Rice should have a deep crop of arms for the staff to deploy in a variety of ways. Brandon Deskins and Zach Esquivel are both quality relief options with the latter two putting on impressive showings in the Owls’ final fall scrimmage against Texas A&M. The duo each have some tricky movement on their stuff which makes them tricky to hit provided they can stick it in the zone.

On the back end, Garrett Gayle has the arm to cement himself as the team’s primary closer this season. He posted a stunning 0.45 ERA in the Cape Cod league this summer and has topped 97 MPH on the gun. Gayle finished second on the team to Canterino in strikeouts last year.

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Owls raise the ceiling and the floor with 2019 recruiting class

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National Signing Day marked the completion of the 2019 Rice Football recruiting class. The new Owls will be met with both excitement and expectation.

Mike Bloomgren stood in front of a microphone on National Signing Day and couldn’t help but smile when he talked about the 2019 Rice football recruiting class. He has to smile. He has to give those cliched axioms. “We have addressed everything we wanted to,” he said. “We’re a year better everywhere.”

But for this team, and this recruiting class, Bloomgren’s words were much more than platitudes. That’s because the 2019 class marked a significant change. It marked the official tipping point between Year 0 and the heart of the Mike Bloomgren era.

The second-year head coach isn’t an excuse maker. He carries himself with a humble confidence, celebrating the good times and vowing to push his staff and his team through the bad. And now this team is his team.

“Two-thirds of the team are guys that we brought in,” Bloomgren acknowledged “[the 2018 and 2019 signing classes] knew the expectation when they walked in the door.” For a man who has preached Process in his first year at South Main, the rubber is beginning to meet the road.

It’s no secret Bloomgren inherited a blank slate. The roster and the direction of the Rice football program were handed to him by athletic director Joe Karlgaard when the first-time head coach was hired away from Stanford following the 2017 season. Bloomgren crafted a plan and set it in motion.

Rice Football

A lot has transpired since. Rice opened their 2018 season against Prairie View. After winning that game in thrilling fashion, the Owls put up strong performances in the next two games against Houston and Hawaii, both losses. Both defeats highlighted some glaring issues with the roster Bloomgren inherited — it wasn’t fast enough, strong enough or deep enough, not by a longshot.

In the weeks that followed Rice would win just one more game. Injuries ravaged the quarterback room and finding consistent performers on the defensive side of the ball was a weekly challenge. Freshmen, several recruited by Bloomgren in his first signing class at Rice, became stars.

Prudy Calderon and Antonio Montero built names for themselves on defense. Wiley Green, Cole Garcia and Juma Otoviano paved the way for the Owls’ climactic send-off win over Old Dominion. Despite the two-win record, there were pieces. There just needed to be more of them.

Bloomgren cut to the chase. “We need to raise the ceiling of talent on both sides of the ball all across this program, but we’ve also got to raise the floor.” He said, “We’re doing that right now.” The turnover on the roster has been hard to miss. Rice started six upperclassmen against Old Dominion — two of those will return to the roster in 2019: safety George Nyakwol and defensive tackle Myles Adams.

I love that we actually have competition. The way it’s supposed to be in college football.Mike Bloomgren

With the youth movement comes both challenge and opportunity. The incoming class has proof the team is going to start whoever earns each spot on Saturday. They’ll be competing for jobs out of the gate, something that can and must push the incumbents to work harder. “I love that we actually have competition. The way it’s supposed to be in college football,” remarked Bloomgren.

Competition. Process. Results. The wheels set in motion more than a year ago will continue to turn as the newest Owls make their way to campus, some in the spring, others in the summer. No matter when they arrive, they’ll each be asked to push themselves and this program further and harder than ever before. For Bloomgren and his staff, the future is now.

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