One last Signing Day 2010 breakdown for you today.  In this one, we simply lay out where each school went to find it’s 2010 signees:


Alabama

Total Signees:  26
From:  9 states

Alabama – 9
Georgia – 5
Tennessee – 3
Texas – 3
Mississippi -2
Maryland – 1
North Carolina – 1
South Carolina – 1
Virginia – 1



Arkansas

Total Signees: 25
From:  9 states

Arkansas – 5
Oklahoma – 5
Texas – 4
Florida – 3
Alabama – 2
Georgia – 2
Louisiana – 2
Missouri – 1
North Carolina – 1



Auburn

Total Signees:  32
From:  11 states

Alabama – 11
Georgia – 8
Florida – 3
Arkansas – 2
California – 2
Kansas – 1
Louisiana – 1
Mississippi – 1
Missouri – 1
South Carolina – 1
Texas – 1



Florida

Total Signees:  28
From:  8 states

Florida – 16
Georgia – 3
California – 2
Maryland – 2
New York – 2
Alabama – 1
Connecticut – 1
Pennsylvania – 1



Georgia

Total Signees:  19
From:  3 states

Georgia – 14
Florida – 4
South Carolina – 1



Kentucky

Total Signees:  26
From:  10 states

Georgia – 7
South Carolina – 4
Kentucky -3
Ohio – 3
Tennessee – 3
Florida – 2
Alabama – 1
California – 1
Mississippi – 1
Virginia – 1



LSU

Total Signees:  27
From:  9 states

Louisiana – 13
Georgia – 3
Texas – 3
Florida – 2
Mississippi – 2
Alabama – 1
Ohio – 1
Tennessee – 1
Virginia – 1



Mississippi State

Total Signees:  26
From:  5 states

Mississippi – 19
Alabama – 3
Texas – 2
Louisiana – 1
Tennessee – 1



Ole Miss

Total Signees:  24
From:  7 states

Mississippi – 10
Florida – 7
Alabama – 2
Georgia – 2
Arkansas – 1
Tennessee – 1
Virginia – 1



South Carolina

Total Signees:  23
From: 5 states

South Carolina – 7
Georgia – 6
Florida – 5
North Carolina – 3
Kansas – 2



Tennessee

Total Signees:  25
From:  12 states

Georgia – 6
Alabama – 3
California – 3
Florida – 2
Illinois – 2
South Carolina – 2
Tennessee – 2
Kansas – 1
Kentucky – 1
Mississippi – 1
Texas – 1
Virginia – 1



Vanderbilt

Total Signees:  24
From:  12 states

Georgia – 9
Alabama – 3
Florida – 2
Louisiana – 2
California – 1
Mississippi – 1
New Jersey – 1
Ohio – 1
South Carolina – 1
Tennessee – 1
Texas – 1
Virginia – 1



Observations:

* Kentucky, Tennessee and Vanderbilt are the only three SEC schools whose home state is NOT their top talent-producer.  Interestingly, all three schools had more signees from Georgia than any other state.

* Arkansas and Tennessee are the only schools in the conference to not get at least 25% of their talent from any one state.

* Mississippi State and Georgia each got a whopping 73% of their signees from inside their home states… followed by Florida (57%), LSU (48%), Ole Miss (41%), Alabama (34%), Auburn (34%) and South Carolina (30%).

* Georgia’s signees all came from just 3 states (Georgia, Florida and South Carolina).  Mississippi State and South Carolina signed talent from just five states each.

* Tennessee and Vanderbilt had to grab talent from 12 different states.  Auburn dipped into 11 states… Kentucky into 10.

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Continuing our breakdown of Signing Day 2010, here’s a look at the SEC-caliber talent produced by each league state… and who landed it.



Georgia

Total Signees:  65

To:  Georgia (14), Vanderbilt (9), Auburn (8), Kentucky (7), South Carolina (6), Tennessee (6), Alabama (5), Florida (3), LSU (3), Arkansas (2), Ole Miss (2)



Florida

Total Signees:  46

To:  Florida (16), Ole Miss (7), South Carolina (5), Georgia (4), Arkansas (3), Auburn (3), Kentucky (2), LSU (2), Tennessee (2), Vanderbilt (2)



Mississippi

Total Signees:  37

To:  MSU (19), Ole Miss (10), Alabama (2), LSU (2), Auburn (1), Kentucky (1), Tennessee (1), Vanderbilt (1)



Alabama

Total Signees:  36

To:  Auburn (11), Alabama (9), MSU (3), Tennessee (3), Vanderbilt (3), Arkansas (2), Ole Miss (2), Florida (1), Kentucky (1), LSU (1)



Louisiana

Total Signees:  19

To:  LSU (13), Arkansas (2), Vanderbilt (2), Auburn (1), MSU (1)



South Carolina

Total Signees:  17

To:  South Carolina (7), Kentucky (4), Tennessee (2), Alabama (1), Auburn (1), Georgia (1), Vanderbilt (1)



Tennessee

Total Signees:  12

To:  Alabama (3), Kentucky (3), Tennessee (2), LSU (1), MSU (1), Ole Miss (1), Vanderbilt (1)



Arkansas

Total Signees:  8

To:  Arkansas (5), Auburn (2), Ole Miss (1)



Kentucky

Total Signees:  4

To:  Kentucky (3), Tennessee (1)

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Recruiting is over for 2010 and coaches are already starting to line up commitments for 2011.  But before we put Signing Day 2010 completely to bed, let’s go back and see where the SEC’s talent came from.

Below you’ll find various charts and numbers showing you — among other things — which SEC states were mined by the most schools, which states across the country provided SEC teams with the most signees, which schools had to travel outside their own states most often, and where each league school went to lock up their signees.

It’s geekery to the Nth degree… which is just the way I like it.  Enjoy.

SEC programs signed 305 players on national signing day from a total of 25 different states.  Below, you’ll see which states (by percentage) produced the most SEC-caliber football players:

Observations:

* Georgia, not Florida, provided the most SEC signees in 2010.  And by a fairly wide margin, too.

* More than 60% of the signees in the SEC came from Georgia, Florida, Mississippi and Alabama.

* Texas (15) produced more SEC signees than league states Tennessee (12), Arkansas (8) and Kentucky (4).

* California (9) produced more signees than Arkansas (8).

* More SEC signees came from Ohio (5), North Carolina (5), and Oklahoma (5) than Kentucky (4).

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1.  This writer provides a weekly report card for the Alabama basketball team… which will lug a three-game losing streak into Rupp Arena tomorrow.

2.  LSU’s Trent Johnson says you can’t replace the NBA guys he lost last year with freshmen straight out of high school.

3.  Mississippi State’s team has a lot of issues right now… including the lack of a solid NCAA tourney resume.

4.  MSU kicks off a three-game stretch at home (where they’re undefeated in league play) against Ole Miss on Thursday.

5.  As for the Rebels, they need the MSU game, too, but a home game against Vandy on Saturday is even more critical.

6.  Out of 1,868 state employees in Arkansas, Bobby Petrino and John Pelphrey are the highest paid.  Big shock.

7.  The Razorbacks might be without Michael Washington against LSU on Wednesday due to a leg injury he suffered over the weekend against Auburn.

1.  Gator fans believe the Tim Tebow Super Bowl ad was overhyped.  As I wrote earlier, I agree.

2.  This writer also believes “many people got all worked up for nothing.”

3.  It looks like the Gators will have to do some shuffling on their roster this fall.

4.  Georgia safety Baccari Rambo is in a Twitter/Facebook war with former UGA commitment and Tennessee signee Da’Rick Rogers.

5.  ESPN’s “College GameDay” will be at Rupp Arena for Kentucky’s game with Tennessee on Saturday… but Bob Knight won’t be tagging along.

6.  For the first time in a long time, the question can really be asked: Which Carolina (North or South) has a better basketball team?

7.  Steven Pearl can smile about the amount of playing time he’s getting for Tennessee (and papa Bruce).

John Calipari has said all year that his team is “playing for a #1 seed.”  As it stands today, the Wildcats certainly appear to be in that mix.

John Clay of The Lexington Herald-Leader handicaps the race for top seeds in the NCAA tourney with this quick examination of UK, Kansas, Syracuse, West Virginia, Villanova, Georgetown, Michigan State and Duke.

Kentucky is currently 22-1 overall and 7-1 in the SEC.  Their eight remaining regular season games are as follows:

Alabama in Lexington tomorrow
Tennessee in Lexington Saturday
at Mississippi State next Tuesday
at Vanderbilt next Saturday
South Carolina
at Tennessee
at Georgia
Florida in Lexington

How many potential losses do you see there?

Thirteen days ago Arkansas was handed its worst SEC loss ever by Kentucky, 101-70 in Lexington.  That loss dropped the Razorbacks to 8-11 overall and 1-3 in the SEC.  It turned up the heat on the seat beneath John Pelphrey’s behind.

Now… raise your hand if you thought Arkansas would win four in a row after that beatdown.

Didn’t think so.

Since that loss, UA knocked off Mississippi State by five, Ole Miss by seven on the road, Georgia by four on the road and Auburn by three in overtime.  Those teams are a combined 13-20 in the SEC.

So the Razorbacks haven’t been knocking off the best teams in the league.  But so what?  When you lose 101-70 and your team is reeling, it takes quite an effort to climb off the mat and fight another round.  The Hogs have won every fight since.

After the UK game, Pelphrey said: “Hopefully we’ll respond in a way that, if you’re an athlete you’ve got to have a short memory.  If you’re worried about your last shot that didn’t go in, the chances are it’s going to hurt you the next one.  Obviously, we need to take the same approach this game.  We need to learn from it, don’t discredit it totally, but you need to have a short memory.”

Mission accomplished.  The Razorbacks are now 12-11, 5-3 in the conference and sitting in first place by themselves in the SEC West.  Next up is a date with 0-9 LSU, so there’s a chance UA can roll up a five-game win streak for the first time since 2006.

“I am proud of the way the guys conducted themselves (during the streak),” said Pelphrey.  “I’m proud of their effort.  I can sit here and tell you it’s not great X’s and O’s that’s winning these basketball games.  It’s not because of he wonderful talent that we have.  We aspire to have that at some point in time.  To this point in time, we’ve been fortunate but we have shown great toughness and heart.”

Enough toughness and heart to climb from the depths of a 31-point loss all the way to the top of their division.

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So that was the ad that had to be banned?  That was the ad that everyone’s been writing about, talking about and arguing over?

Tim Tebow tackled his mom and then a graphic for “Focus on the Family” popped up?  Horrible, right? 

Last night’s Super Bowl ad was about the most harmless spot I can imagine… and no I’m not a “Focus on the Family” guy.  The spot was the ultimate soft sell.  And I have a hard time believing anyone was brainwashed while watching it. 

Which bothers me because I had to cover the coverage of this non-issue for the last two weeks.  Much ado about nothing.

After the Texas squad’s 36-17 victory Saturday in the Texas vs. The Nation all-star game, Sporting News draft expert Russ Lande and his team of former NFL scouts identified the players who helped their draft status the most this past week in El Paso:

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Whether it was strategic or pure coaching psychology or a combination of both, Kentucky coach John Calipari wanted to make sure he had Patrick Patterson’s attention Saturday.
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Can the coach of a last-place team win Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year honors?
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Pressured into early turnovers, Georgia settled down and rallied to beat No. 18 Vanderbilt 72-58 Saturday night.
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ATHENS — Georgia’s Saturday night 72-58 beating of No. 18 Vanderbilt wasn’t contradicted by a feeling of what could have been this season. The emotion trended to what could continue to be.
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GAINESVILLE — After watching Jarvis Varnado pretty much handle his frontcourt the past two seasons, Florida coach Billy Donovan knew the Gators wouldn’t have a chance against the Bulldogs if Vernon Macklin didn’t play well.

Macklin certainly understood.

read more

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The Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Classic has once again earned its title as the “Pipeline to…
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The No. 25-ranked Rebels overcame a 23-point second-half deficit and hit free throws at the end to beat Alabama 74-67 before 7,601 fans at Tad Smith Coliseum.
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The Crimson Tide blew a 23-point second half lead before falling 74-67 today against the 25th-ranked Rebels.
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By Cecil Hurt
Sports Editor

TUSCALOOSA | The University of Alabama men’s basketball team managed to end its streak of one-point losses on Saturday — only to find something worse.
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National signing day came and went Wednesday, proving again the myth that parity exists in college football. The same programs that dominate the recruiting rankings are the same ones who have controlled the game’s power for what seems like forever.

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Wayne Chism scored a career-high 30 points as No. 14 Tennessee routed South Carolina 79-53 on Saturday night.
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Tennessee held South Carolina to its worst shooting effort of the season, beating the Gamecocks 79-53 Saturday in Knoxville.

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No. 3 Kentucky went on a 22-0 run in the first half to take control of the game and send LSU to its ninth consecutive loss, 81-55 at the Maravich Assembly Center. Bo Spencer had 23 points for LSU but…
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Arkansas beat Auburn 82-79 in overtime Saturday at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville.The  Tigers sent the game into an extra period…
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By Kevin Brockway
Staff writer

Vernon Macklin and Chandler Parsons each scored 20 points to lead Florida to a 69-62 victory over Mississippi State on Saturday.
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LEXINGTON, Ky. — John Calipari figured to spend relatively little time with his University of Kentucky basketball team discussing and dissecting Saturday’s opponent.

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