After watching the 2019 NBA Draft on Thursday, I find it silly that the MLB Draft doesn’t do more to be popular.

First of all, a lot of the top college players (like Vanderbilt’s JJ Bleday) are still playing in the NCAA Tournament when the draft takes place. That limits the number of stars who actually attend the event.

Secondly, they hold it in Secaucus, New Jersey, in a tiny room at the MLB Network. If you’re a billion-dollar business like the MLB is, you can afford a better venue.

I get it. NBA and NFL players are expected to contribute right away, whereas MLB players generally have a lengthy minor-league system to navigate. Still, there should be a way to get more eyes on the MLB Draft.

Anyway, here are your questions for this week’s SDS Mailbag:

@Topper_Fan:

Any chance a 2-loss SEC team gets in the College Football Playoff this year? If so, which one?

I’ll start by saying that there’s no way Alabama gets into the Final Four with 2 losses this year. Not that I think they’ll lose 2 games or anything like that, but if they do, there’s no way they make the Playoff. They simply don’t have the strength of schedule.

And, if any SEC team is going to make it to the Playoff with 2 losses, it’ll likely have to be a team that beats the Crimson Tide. In the response to your tweet online, @scmcgohon theorized that Texas A&M could potentially make the Playoff with 2 losses, perhaps by losing at Clemson and at LSU.

That would be an interesting scenario, because in that situation, the Aggies would theoretically win the SEC title, and it would be very difficult to leave the SEC champion out of the Final Four, especially if, as was the case in 2017, a 1-loss Alabama makes the field. I do think that any 2-loss SEC squad would have to win the conference to have a shot at this scenario. Auburn would have made the Playoff as a 2-loss team in 2017, but it lost to Georgia in the SEC title game.

Any potential 2-loss SEC team would need some help from the rest of the country, too. Perhaps the Big Ten beats up on itself in Ohio State’s first season without Urban Meyer at the helm. We can probably write off the Pac-12 again, but Oregon and Washington will each need to lose a game or 2. Then, we could have a field of Clemson, Big 12 champion and two SEC squads.

I could see LSU (loss at Texas, with Texas making the field, and perhaps a loss at Mississippi State) also sneaking into the field. I don’t think an SEC East team can accomplish the task, simply due to strength of schedule, but LSU and A&M are two teams to keep an eye on with their tough 2019 opponents.

@BrianAdams66:

With transfer activity reaching what seems like an all-time high, how would you structure the protocol for both graduate and undergrad transfers?

That’s a very interesting question, and I hope the NCAA reads my Mailbag every week, because I’m about to lay the perfect solution on everyone.

First, I’ll start with a compliment — I think the graduate transfer system is about as good as it can possibly be. It rewards athletes for staying in school and earning a degree, which is a huge plus. Then, it also allows them to play right away. Third, it prevents coaches from being petty and blocking players from going to the schools they really want to play for.

Now, on to the undergrad question, which is much murkier. In my opinion, as long as coaches can leave a school for a new job with nothing more than a buyout stopping them in most cases, athletes should have the freedom to come and go as they please with no restrictions. If coaches have that freedom, players should, too.

The fix here is to either let undergraduate players transfer and play right away (which I’m OK with), or force coaches to honor the terms of their contract unless they are fired. If they retire, they’re not allowed to coach again until the contract they retired under is complete.

Is that a realistic option? No, of course not. Therefore, we should probably just give players more freedom. It’s ridiculous that a guy like Tate Martell is granted immediate eligibility while Luke Ford and others are not. To borrow a slogan from Major League Baseball, “let the kids play.”

@MichaelJtr8:

With the NBA Draft now over, who would you take in a fictional draft of movie characters? And you can’t say Michael Jordan or any of the actual basketball players in “Space Jam.”

Well, you didn’t say I couldn’t take Ray Allen, who played a character who wasn’t himself in “He Got Game,” so I think I know who is going to be my No. 1 overall pick. As for the rest of my top five, there’s more room for debate.

Also, you didn’t say I couldn’t choose fictional characters, so there will be some non-human athletes in this draft. Here’s how I’d rank them:

  1. Jesus Shuttlesworth — “He Got Game”
  2. Air Bud — “Air Bud”
  3. Lola Bunny — “Space Jam”
  4. Clarence “Coffee” Black — “Semi-Pro”
  5. Jimmy Chitwood — “Hoosiers”

Note: These are only players from movies that I’ve actually seen, so please don’t @ me with players I’ve missed. Please do feel free to @ me if you think any other Space Jam or Air Bud characters should have made this list.

@SChinni12:

Which SEC player who was chosen in Thursday’s draft do you think will have the best NBA career?

I don’t know how well he’ll fare in his first year, but I really like Grant Williams ending up with the Boston Celtics. He is the 2-time SEC Player of the Year, and that means more than many NBA fans want to admit.

Plus, he’ll have opportunities to contribute right away, as the Celtics aren’t expected to re-sign big man Al Horford. Add in talented coach Brad Stevens, and Williams is in an ideal spot.

I think he’s a better version of former Ohio State great Jared Sullinger, who found success in, naturally, Boston. The Celtics know how to use undersized, but over-talented, forwards. As long as he stays with the Celtics, I think he’ll find a great deal of success.

Also keep an eye on Darius Garland, who was chosen by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the No. 5 overall pick. I really like that backcourt of him and former Alabama star Collin Sexton.

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