SEC East Headlines – 12/31/09
December 31st, 2009 12:19 PM║ Posted By: John Pennington ║ Permalink ║ Tags: Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
1. Vanderbilt looked pretty sharp in its return from Christmas break, besting Manhattan 86-48 last night.
2. Amazingly, the Jaspers have a player who has just one hand. Really. Cool story. And he scored his first career point against Vandy last night.
3. The biggest story at Tennessee in the 2000s was the dismissal of Phillip Fulmer.
4. In basketball news, Memphis and Tennessee were ranked #1 and #2 the last time they met at the FedEx Forum. Not so tonight. (And we’ll get no Bruce Pearl squeeze of Erin Andrews, either.)
5. Naturally, tonight’s game between two 9-2 clubs isn’t getting the hype of past Tiger-Vol matchups.
6. Memphis folks say the pressure is all on UT for a change.
7. South Carolina’s opponent in the Papajohns.com Bowl is united by several close losses and one off-field tragedy.
8. Carolina expects UConn to run right at ‘em.
9. Stephen Garcia lacked accuracy during a wet practice yesterday.
10. According to this notes report, USC will use a three-player rotation at offensive tackle.
11. Steve Spurrier has some happy memories at Birmingham’s Legion Field.
12. In basketball news, Darrin Horn credited his team for battling back in an 85-76 road loss at Boston College last night.
13. Without Dominique Archie, there’s just too much pressure to score on Devan Downey.
14. Trash-talking fans will be out in full force when Louisville and Kentucky matchup tomorrow.
15. Louisville’s Edgar Sosa says that UK fans have already been writing him on Facebook, “real disrespectful, stuff that doesn’t even have to do with basketball.”
16. The Cats have been stretching defenses with their hot outside shooting.
17. This writer believes John Wall is more than just a superstar — he’s a guy who’ll do the dirty work, too.
18. It’s been an emotional week for Charlie Strong as he winds down his time at Florida.
19. New Orleans looks like Cincinnati-South this week.
20. Ryan Stamper says the Gators were overconfident when they lost to Alabama earlier this month. “… We were up on that high throne and felt like we couldn’t get beat.”
21. This columnist wonders why Urban Meyer created such a pre-game distraction for his team with his retire/un-retire decisions.
22. Since Tim Tebow began playing at Florida, there has been an incredible increase in the amount of money given to the non-profit Evangelical organization his father runs.
23. You wanna talk about extreme makeovers… just look at Florida’s projected starting lineup for 2010.
24. So who would make the Gators’ all-decade team in football?
25. Billy Donovan’s team handled the Presbyterian Blue Hose 79-38 last night. (Is the women’s team called the Blue Hose, too? That might sound a bit funny when talking about ladies.)
26. Just as John Chavis talk appeared to be heating up, Mark Richt has now said that his search for a new defensive coordinator could stretch into the middle of January. (Also, Richt reiterated that Rodney Garner is not in the running for the job and “he knows that.”)
27. On the basketball court, Georgia improved to 7-4 under first-year coach Mark Fox with a 64-47 win over Pepperdine last night.
28. Fox’s team played solid defense as the Dawgs gave their coach a victory over his mentor, Tom Asbury.
