Tennessee Vols morning report: SEC recognizes three basketball players
Today marks the first day of the men’s basketball SEC Tournament as the Texas A&M Aggies and Vanderbilt Commodores face off. The winner of that game will face the Florida Gators Thursday, and the winner of Thursday’s game will face the Tennessee Vols on Friday.
Although UT won’t play until then, the men’s basketball program still makes news today. Our morning update on Rocky Top involves postseason recognition for three players on the team. Individual recognition is actually the story of he day, as a baseball player is on a watch list and a football player scored an impressive NCAA accomplishment.
Recaps of a baseball game and a swimming and diving event, the latter of which involves another standout individual, are also on the list along with changes surrounding a scheduled softball game. We’ll get to all of that here, starting with the men’s basketball awards.
Three men’s basketball Vols recognized by SEC – SECSports.com
No Tennessee Vols men’s basketball player earned First Team or Second Team Coaches’ All-SEC this year. However, Keon Johnson and Jaden Springer both earned SEC All-Freshman honors, and Yves Pons earned SEC All-Defensive honors.
"Alabama’s Nate Oats earned SEC Coach of the Year honors and Alabama’s Herbert Jones was selected the SEC Player of the Year and SEC Defensive Player of the Year by the league’s coaches. Vanderbilt’s Dylan Disu earned SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year; Arkansas’ Moses Moody was tabbed SEC Freshman of the Year and Arkansas’ JD Notae was voted SEC Sixth Man of the Year."
Baseball shut out by Charlotte – Wes Rucker, GoVols247
In a shocking midweek upset, the No. 14 ranked Tennessee Vols baseball team lost a road matchup to the Charlotte 49ers 9-0 on Tuesday. UT, which fell to 11-3, allowed four home runs to Charlotte, which improved to 8-3, including back to back home runs in the seventh inning.
"The hard-hitting 49ers took the national lead in home runs with their seventh-inning barrage off of Tennessee’s bullpen, and they sent the Vols back over the Smoky Mountains with some bumps and bruises.Senior left hander Will Heflin pitched only the first inning but took a hard-luck loss on the mound for Tennessee, while Charlotte starting pitcher Austin Marozas threw six strong innings to earn the win."
Softball game vs. Austin Peay canceled – Ken Lay, VolsWire.com
Coming off a weekend sweep of the Reveille Classic, winning all five games to move to 17-1, the No. 25 ranked Tennessee Lady Vols softball team’s Wednesday matchup with the Austin Peay Governors has been canceled due to COVID-19 issues within the Austin Peay program. UT, on a 12-game winning streak, will not make up this game.
"Tennessee will return to the diamond Friday night when it hosts LSU in the Southeastern Conference opener for both schools. No. 12 LSU and No. 25 Tennessee will open their series at 6 p.m. EST."
UT catcher named to Buster Posey watch list – WichitaSports.com
Starting his third season with Tennessee baseball, junior catcher Connor Pavolony was named by the Greater Wichita Area Sports Commission as one of 69 players to the 2021 Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Watch List. This list will be updated on May 5.
"The watch list will be narrowed down to the semifinalists, whom will be announced May 20, 2021. Ballots will be sent to the national voting committee at the end of May for a vote to determine the three finalists. The finalists will be announced June 7, 2021. A final vote among the national committee will occur during the College World Series. All finalists will be brought to Wichita and the winner will be announced at a date that is yet to be determined."
Matthew Butler earns postgraduate scholarship – UTSports
One of the Tennessee Vols football defensive linemen returning in 2021, taking advantage of the extra year of eligibility allowed this year for seniors who played last year, has now been recognized by the NCAA. Matthew Butler was awarded an NCAA postgraduate scholarship.
"Butler becomes the second UT football student-athlete to earn the honor in the past four years, joining Parker Henry (2018). Previous Volunteer recipients include: Peyton Manning (1997), Tim Irwin (1980), Mike Mauck (1977), Tim Priest (1971) and Don Dembo (1971)."
Diver qualifies for championships – DiveMeets
On the final day of the 2021 NCAA Zone B Championships, sophomore Lady Vol diver Kara Holt earned a spot in the Women’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. She finished sixth with a combined score of 507.25.