Texas All-Sports Alumni Round-Up - Weekend Preview

4.10.26 - If you're a Texas Longhorn fan who wants to follow Horns in professional sports, The Texas All-Sports Podcast Alumni Round-Up might be a good spot for you.  This is a Weekend Preview for Horns in the Pros, including Men's Professional Golf, Women's Professional Volleyball, the NBA, MLB and Women's Professional Soccer.

00:00 Intro 

01:55 M Professional Golf 

05:28 W Professional Volleyball 

08:17 NBA 

10:58 MLB 

12:12 W Professional Soccer 

14:04 Outro 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Hello, all you beautiful people. This is Matt Marin, Austin, Texas, welcoming you to this edition of the Texas All Sports Podcast, where we keep you posted on all the Texas Longhorn Sports. I hope you are well, and this episode is going to be an alumni roundup weekend preview edition. We're going to cover the Longhorn alumni that'll be in action this weekend in various professional sports. Longhorns will be active in at least five sports on the court, course, and field, including two golfers at the Masters, both former champions, and one the odds-on favorite to win. Second, there are several volleyball players taken to the court in two different volleyball leagues, one group in their league's playoff semifinals trying to play themselves into the championship series. Also, we have Hoopers playing games number 81 and 82, the last two games of the NBA regular season. Major League Baseball is entering a third weekend of the season, and ladies on the pitch for some domestic league soccer. We'll cover the sports in that order, and on Tuesday, we'll wrap up the results of this weekend for all the sports. So without further ado, let's start with men's golf, where Thursday through Sunday, the PGA tour will be in Augusta, Georgia at the Augusta National Golf Course for the Masters, one of golf's four major tournaments. As I mentioned, there are two longhorns in the tournament, both former champions. First is Jordan Speace, who so far this year has made eight starts in tournaments and made the cut seven times. He has four top 25 finishes, including 11th at the Honor Palmer Invitational, 11th at the Volspark Championship, and 12th at the Genesis Invitational. Both those 11th place finishes were in March. Beast won the Masters in 2015. Also that year, he was second at the PGA Championship, won the US Open, and was fourth at the British Open. An incredible year. So 2015 was the last time he won, and he has the 15th best odds going in. Just same. Also, and much cooler, Speetz won the tournament 11 years ago and is looking to become the second Texas Longhorn to win the Masters twice within an 11-year gap between the wins. Hall of Famer and fellow Longhorn Ben Crenshaw was champion in 1984 and then again 11 years later in 1995. So with 2015 being his last win and now coming in 15th in the odds and the chance to match an 11-year gap between victories with the great Ben Crenshaw, as far as meaningless numbers go, they're aligned for speed. Also in the tournament is Scotty Scheffler, winner in both 2022 and 2024. He's a tournament favorite this year. He's made six starts in 2026. He's made all six cuts. Also, all six have been top 25 finishes for him. He won the American Express Tournament in January to open the season. He has two other top five finishes, third at the Phoenix Open and fourth at the Pebble Beach Pro Am, both in February. And in March, he's finished 24th at the Alner Palmer Invitational and 22nd at the Players' Championship. With only six starts on the season, finishing in the 20s in his last two tournaments, and with he and his wife having their second child just two weeks ago, the golf world doesn't have a firm feel for how he will perform this week. But he's been the best player in the game for over three years, so not only would it not be a surprise to see his name at the top of the leaderboard, but as mentioned, he's the odds-on favorite to win. And with the tournament starting on Thursday, let's take a look at how it went. Jordan Speeth in round one shot on even par 72. He's tied for 17th place. He has three birdies and a bogey to go two under on the front nine, and two bogeys on the back nine, including some nice shots to keep it adjust two over. And Scotty Scheffler in round one shot two under seventy-two. He's tied for sixth place. He kicked it off with an Eagle on the par 5 second hole, followed by a birdie on the third to go to three under after three holes. The rest of the round, he had 14 pars and a bogey on 11. After round one, both Longhorns are still in the thick of it, and it may make for a very exciting golf weekend. From the PGA, we'll move on to professional women's volleyball, where we're looking at two domestic leagues, Love and Major League Volleyball. The Love League has playoff matches Friday through Sunday. Now in the league, there is only one team with longhorns on the roster, but that team is the Austin team, and on that one roster, there are eight Longhorns. They include outside hitters, Kat Bell, an All-American, and Logan Eggleston, an all-American, national champion, and national player of the year. There are also three middle blockers, including Molly McCage, an All-American, Asia O'Neill, an all-American and national champion, and Bella Bergmark, also a national champion. As far as opposite hitters, there are two. There's Madison Skinner, All-American, two-time national champion and national player of the year, and Julian Fawcett, an all-American. And to wrap it up, there's Libero, Zoe Jarvis, an All-American and National Champion with the Horns. The Love Volleyball playoffs include four teams, so the first round is also the semifinals. Austin finished in a three-way tie for third place in the regular season at 10-10, tied with both Salt Lake and Nebraska. However, in the final two games of the regular season, Austin beat, you guessed it, Salt Lake and Nebraska to win the tiebreakers and earn the number three seed. Salt Lake has the number four seed and Nebraska was pushed out of the playoffs. Austin plays the number two seed Atlanta in Louisville, Kentucky on Friday and again on Saturday to determine who will go to the finals against a winner of Salt Lake versus number one seed Houston. Moving on to Major League Volleyball, there are three Longhorns on three teams. The league is about 22 games into the 28 game season. First, we have Emma Halter with two-time national champion. She's a Libero with the Indianapolis Ignite. The Ignite lead the standings in the 18th league at 17-4. And on Sunday, they host the Atlanta vibe. Kayla Caffey, an all-American and national champion, is the middle blocker with the San Diego Mojo. The Mojo are 10 and 11 and in fourth place. Saturday, they host the Orlando Valkyries, with whom they are tied in the standings. And finally, there's Avery Carlson, who's an all-American. She's a setter with the Atlanta vibe. The vibe are 8 and 12 and in sixth place. Friday, they play at the Columbus Fury, and Sunday, they play at the Indianapolis Ignites. From the volleyball court, we'll move to the basketball court and the NBA. And we'll start with Kevin Durant in its 19th year playing forward for the Houston Rockets. On Friday, they'll be hosting the Minnesota Timberwolves, who are in sixth place. Sunday, they're hosting the Memphis Grizzlies, who have been eliminated from the playoffs. Their record is 51-29. They're tied with the Los Angeles Lakers for the fourth seed. They're one game behind the Denver Nuggets for the third seed. The Milwaukee Bucks have two Longhorns on their roster. There's Miles Turner in his 11th year and Jericho Sims in his fifth year. On Friday, they're hosting the Brooklyn Nets, who have been eliminated from the playoffs. And Sunday, they're at the Philadelphia 76ers. Their record is 31 and 49. There are no stakes for them this weekend. They're just playing out the season as they won't be in the playoffs. The Cleveland Cavaliers also have two former Longhorns on the roster. There's Jarrett Allen in his ninth year and Jalen Tyson in his second year. On Friday, they'll be at the Hawks, who are tied for the fifth seed with the Toronto Raptors. Sunday, they'll be hosting the Washington Wizards, who are trying to hold on to the worst record in the league. The Cavaliers are 51 and 29, and they're one game behind the Knicks for the third seed. Jackson Hayes is in his seventh year with the Los Angeles Lakers, and on Friday, they'll be hosting the Phoenix Suns, who are locked in as the seventh seed. And on Sunday, they'll be hosting Utah, who's been eliminated from the playoffs. The Lakers are 51 and 29. They're currently the fourth seed, tied with the Houston Rockets, one game behind Denver for the third seed. Rookie Trey Johnson is with the Washington Wizards. On Friday, they'll be hosting the Miami Heat, who are in the 10th seed. And Sunday, they'll be at the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are the fourth seed. Their record is 17 and 63. They have the worst record in the league, one game worse than Indiana Pacers, and they'll be working to keep that this weekend. And finally, there's Jason Kent, a rookie with the Portland Trailblazers. On Friday, they'll be hosting the Los Angeles Clippers, who are the eighth seed and one game ahead of Portland. Sunday, they'll be hosting the Sacramento Kings, who are in a race with Utah for the worst record in the Western Conference. Portland is 40 and 39, currently the ninth seed, and one game behind the Los Angeles Clippers for the eighth seed. From the NBA, we'll move to the MLB and we'll start with Hobie Milner. He's a relief pitcher for the Chicago Cubs and in his tenth year. They have a weekend series at the Pittsburgh Pirates. Their current record is 6-6. They're fifth or last in the National League Central Division standings. Pittsburgh is in the same division and is one game ahead of the Cubs going into the weekend. Next, we have Cody Clemens in his fifth year with the Minnesota Twins, starting first base. They have a weekend series at the Toronto Blue Jays. Their record is 7-6. They're second in the American League Central. Bryce Elder, in his fifth year in the major leagues, is the fifth starter for the Atlanta Braves. They have a weekend series hosting the Cleveland Guardians. Elder is scheduled to start Friday night's game. The Braves are 8-5, currently first place in the National League East. And finally, there's David Hamilton, who is starting third baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers in his fourth year. They're a weekend series, they're hosting the Washington Nationals. Our current record is 8-4, and they're in first place in the NL Central. And from Major League Baseball, we'll move to two domestic leagues of women's professional soccer. We have the National Women's Soccer League and the Gambridge Super League, top tier of the USL or the United Soccer League. We'll start with the NWSL, who's five games into a 30-game season. The league is currently on hold right now to allow players to play in national team games. Their next games will be Friday, April 24th. But the Horns in the league include Trinity Byers, a forward for the San Diego Waves, Julio Grasso, a midfielder for the Chicago Stars, Mia Justice, goalkeeper for the Utah Royals, Emma Reagan, midfielder, and Abby Smith, goalkeeper, are both with the Denver Summit FC, and Holly Ward is a forward with the Seattle Ring. In the USL Super League, they're 23 games into a 28-game season. In the Super League, the Dallas Trinity FC has three horns on the roster. Syria Hinson, a defender, Lauren Lapomarta, also a defender, and Lexi Missimo, midfielder. They host Brooklyn SC in Dallas on Sunday. They currently have nine wins, eight losses, five ties for a total of 32 points in the standings, which puts them in fourth place out of nine teams in the league. Also, Jillie Shimkin is a midfielder with the Tampa Bay Sun. Tampa Bay is currently in eighth place of nine teams. They play at the DC Power FC on Saturday evening. They currently have four wins, nine losses, and nine ties for a total of 21 points in the standings, but they're only four points behind fifth place. There's a quick look at what's on tap for the weekend with Longhorns in the professional ranks. And before we sign off, even though this is the second episode coming out today, and I mentioned it before, I just want to remind you it's been 917 days since the Oklahoma Sooners last scored a touchdown against the Texas Longhorns. So with that, we'd like to wish good luck to all the Longhorns in action this weekend, in particular to Scotty Scheffler and Jordan Speeds at the Masters, and to the Austin Love volleyball team in their semifinals. We'll be back on Monday to wrap up the weekend's results and take a look at the week on tap for the Collegiate Longhorns. And on Tuesday, we'll cover the week of Longhorns and professional action in the alumni roundup. Until then, y'all, have a great weekend. Be good to each other out there and hook them horns.