It’s starting to get to that dreaded time on the sports calendar. The NBA and NHL playoffs are getting closer to the title rounds. College baseball and softball are entering postseason play.

While we still have another solid month of intense postseason action, soon we’ll be stuck with only Major League Baseball to keep our attention throughout the summer.

Make sure you check out the SEC softball and baseball tournaments. The softball tourney is already underway and the baseball tournament starts on May 23.

For now, though, let’s dive into a loaded SDS Mailbag for this week!

Sal:

Connor O’Gara picked Georgia, Ohio State, Clemson and Washington (in that order) to make the College Football Playoff this year. Do you agree with him?

Here’s a link to Connor’s column if you want to read about how he justifies his picks. I’ll say this – I absolutely agree with his top-2 picks.

Georgia is going to be a bear once again. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Bulldogs went 12-0 in the regular season for the second-straight year. Meanwhile, Ohio State will be taking the field this fall with 8-9 future first-round picks.

That’s where I’ll start to disagree with Connor, though. I really do like Washington and think they deserve to be a top-10 team to start the 2023 season (check out my Mailbag from last week for my reasoning). But I think this is the year USC finally makes the Playoff and the Trojans, not the Huskies, end up being the team to break the Pac-12’s CFP drought.

For my fourth spot, I want to pick Florida State, but I’m not going to. The Seminoles have a lot of talent returning and looked like a much-improved team in 2022, but I’m just not quite ready to put them in the top 4.

Thus, give me Alabama. I’ll say the Tide go 11-1 in the regular season and set themselves up with an important SEC Championship Game showdown with Georgia on the first Saturday in December. They’ll sneak into the field, where they’ll be a tough out.

I’ll go with Georgia, Ohio State, Alabama and USC as my order, so a Georgia-Alabama semifinal is avoided.

Tucker:

It’s that time of year – SEC win total over/unders are out! Who is your best bet?

I’ll give you 3 bets from DraftKings Sportsbook that I absolutely love. They’re all over bets, too, so you can feel good rooting for them to cover.

First, Alabama is definitely going to win either 11 or 12 regular-season games this season. Per the answer above, I think the Tide go 11-1. Their over/under is set at 10.5. Hammer that over and don’t look back!

Next up, I am higher than most on Ole Miss. Yes, the Rebels play at Alabama and at Georgia this year, which is brutal. But with the over/under set at 7.5 wins, I think they get to 8 or 9 this coming regular season. Whoever wins the QB job between Spencer Sanders and Jaxson Dart should put up big numbers, and the Rebels still have 2022 SEC rushing leader Quinshon Judkins in the backfield.

Finally, let’s give Vanderbilt some love, shall we? An over/under of 3.5 wins is disrespectful for Clark Lea’s squad. This is a team that had 5 victories and won 2 SEC games last year! It won’t be easy, but I’m chalking the Commodores up for at least 4 wins this fall.

DraftKings Sportsbook is currently available in 21 states, and new customers can receive a bonus of up to $150 in bets by using a DraftKings promo code with a minimum deposit of $5.

Robert:

Michael Penix Jr. surprised many last year, transferring from Indiana to Washington and going on to lead the nation in passing yards per game in 2022 (357.0 yards per contest). Which transfer QB do you think could accomplish something similar this fall?

I think top transfer QBs like Sam Hartman (Wake Forest to Notre Dame) and Devin Leary (NC State to Kentucky) will have solid years. But I don’t think their teams will pass enough to land either of them atop the FBS leaderboard in passing yards.

I also really like Tanner Mordecai (SMU to Wisconsin) and Luke Altmyer (Ole Miss to Illinois) but again, will either of those B1G teams believe in the forward pass enough to produce a 4,500-yard passer?

My answer to this question is Kedon Slovis, who transferred from Pitt to BYU this offseason. Fans of the Mailbag who have good memories might remember I’ve been on the Slovis hype train for a while now, infamously naming him a Heisman Trophy dark-horse a couple of years ago while he was at USC. Oops.

Well, I’m still a fan of his, and while I certainly don’t think he’ll make his way to New York City for the Heisman ceremony this December, he could put up big numbers in a new offense. We’ll see if I’m proven right about Slovis this time around or if he burns me once again.

@Dobbe8:

You’re building a basketball team. Would you rather have Jim or Roy from The Office as the piece you build around?

Jim and Roy certainly went head-to-head in one of my favorite episodes of The Office, the appropriately-named “Basketball” episode from Season 1. Roy is a more physical bruiser, while Jim is a finesse player, solid ball handler and skilled shooter.

If I’m building a team in this era, I’m taking Jim Halpert every time. You need guys who can create their own shots and make plays for others. Jim’s character showed he could do that.

If this was the 1980s or 1990s, Roy makes more sense. He’s a big post player who can use brute force to dominate his opponents.

But this is 2023, and basketball has started favoring skill over strength. Even this year’s NBA MVP, Joel Embiid, can dribble and shoot. That’s something we never used to see from guys his size. Give me Jim and, whatever you do, keep Michael Scott off my team!

Have a question for next week’s Mailbag? Tweet at us using #SDSMailbag or email me at Adam.Spencer@XLMedia.com.