Bill’s Blog: North Texans Atop Masters Leaderboard

12:15am, Friday, 4/12/24

The Masters: Former SMU Mustang Bryson DeChambeau shot a 7-under 65 on Thursday at Augusta and is the clubhouse leader at the weather-delayed Masters. Highland Park and UT-ex Scottie Scheffler is one shot off the pace while Plano’s Will Zalatoris is in the top 10 some five shots back. Tiger Woods was at 1-under through 13 holes when play was suspended due to darkness. Tiger resumes his round at 6:50am Texas time.

Mavs: The Mavs clinched the Southwest Division title Wednesday night with an 111-92 win in Miami and now know they will open the NBA Playoffs against the LA Clippers for the 3rd time in the last 4 years. The only thing left to be decided is whether Dallas (50-30) can steal home court advantage away from LA. The Mavs would have to win their last 2 games at home Friday vs Detroit and at OKC Sunday, and LA would need to lose its remaining home games against Utah (Friday) and Houston (Sunday). The 1st round of the playoffs would start April 20 or 21. The Mavs have won 16 of their last 18 games.

Stars: After a 3-0 loss to Winnipeg Thursday night, the Stars remain one win away from clinching the Central Division title, and they remain just one point behind the NY Rangers in the race for the President’s Trophy with 2 games to play. Jake Oettinger’s streak of 8 straight wins was snapped by the Jets on a rare off night for the Stars, who lost for just the 4th time in the last 19 games. The Stars host Seattle on Saturday afternoon and St. Louis next Wednesday.

College Hoops: Baylor Head Coach Scott Drew and his family said thanks, but no thanks, to Kentucky. It appears Drew’s family flew from Temple to Lexington on a Kentucky donor’s private plane on Wednesday, took one look around and quickly decided we’re staying in Waco where they have lived quite comfortably for 21 years. Baylor has a top 10 ranked incoming recruiting class. How about that. The Baylor job is better than the Kentucky job!

Rangers: After batting .301 as a team during a 6-2 start to the season, the Rangers bats have gone cold this week. J. P. Sears and the Oakland bullpen threw a one-hit shutout Thursday, a 1-0 Rangers loss that saw Corey Seager don the Golden Sombrero for the 1st time since April, 2017, striking out 4 times. Texas (7-6) has lost 4 of its last 5 games and opens a series at Houston tonight.

50 Years Ago in Rangers History — April 6, 1974: Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins made his Rangers debut, tossing a 1-hit shutout of the World Champion Oakland A’s. The only hit was a Bert Campaneris 4th inning swinging bunt single.

Time of game: 1:56

Fergie won 25 games with 29 complete games in 1974.

(Billy Martin’s 1974 Texas Rangers were the first winning team in club history, going 84-76 & finishing 5 games behind the World Champion Oakland A’s)

Cowboys: A minor restructuring of Dak Prescott’s contract created around $4 million of cap space. The team immediately used $1.25 million of it to re-sign RB Rico Dowdle to a one-year contract. A 2020 college free agent, Dowdle had 505 yards rushing & receiving and 4 TDs on 106 touches last year. So, the Cowboys now have 3 backup RBs: Dowdle, Malik Davis & Deuce Vaughn.

They need another veteran free agent and a draft pick. Among the free agents on the market, Ezekiel Elliott had the best season last year, accounting for 955 yards and 5 TDs from scrimmage on 235 touches with the Patriots.

Jerry Jones said his top goals were to improve the run game on offense (which hasn’t happened yet), and improve the run defense (which is a work in progress). They’ve added veteran MLB Eric Kendricks to replace the newly retired Leighton Vander Esch. And now they have lost veteran DT Johnathan Hankins to the Seattle Seahawks, where former D-Line coach Aden Durde is now the Defensive Coordinator.

The Cowboys free agent scoreboard reads: Departures 8, Arrivals 1.

The Departures: T Tyron Smith: NY Jets — 1 year, $6.5m - $20 million; RB Tony Pollard: Tennessee — 3 years, $24 million; C Tyler Biadasz: Washington — 3 years, $30 million; DE Dorance Armstrong: Washington — 3 years, $33 million, DE Dante Fowler, Washington — 1 year, $3.25 million; DT Neville Gallimore, Miami — 1 year, $1.8 million; CB Noah Igbinoghene, Washington — 1 year, $1.1 million; DT Johnathan Hankins, Seattle — 1 year, $2 million.

The Jones Journal