In today’s column:

1.  Expanding instant replay in college basketball
2.  A much-needed rule change
3.  Keeping an out-of-the-race team motivated
4.  An SEC bias against Memphis



More instant replay for college basketball?

The ball bounced off the officials head as he ducked, causing him to miss seeing a player step out-of-bounds in the Tennessee-LSU game.

The ball appeared to be in the cylinder when a South Carolina player tipped in a game-winning shot against Alabama.

A Florida player took three steps as he drove for a layup against LSU.

Each of these plays could have been corrected with instant replay. But college basketball — like college football and the NFL — has a limited number of plays that are reviewable.

You can check the monitor for timing issues, 3-point shots, flagrant fouls and who committed the foul. But you can’t check to see if a player stepped out of bounds, goaltended or walked.

Is it time for college basketball to expand its instant replay? Is it time for the game to allow a limited number of coaches’ challenges, like they do in the NFL?

Read the rest of this entry »

The 1972 Miami Dolphins celebrate when the last unbeaten NFL team loses.

I wonder what the 1953-54 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets basketball team does?

They are the last team to go winless in the SEC.

Perhaps those Yellow Jackets who remain had feint hope that this year’s version of the Georgia Bulldogs might erase that Georgia Tech team from the record books… might make people forget that it’s been more than 50 years since a men’s basketball team went winless in the SEC.

Georgia won’t replace Georgia Tech on that dubious list — thanks to the Florida Gators. Billy Donovan’s team was tied for the first place in the East Division before their expected rout of Georgia.

But Georgia turned in the most shocking upset in the SEC on Saturday. After losing by 31 at Tennessee and scoring just 48 points, Georgia upset Florida 88-86. That’s 40 more points against Florida than the Bulldogs scored against Tennessee.

A year ago at about this time, Florida coach Billy Donovan said he didn’t like last year’s team, in part because it wasn’t tough and didn’t play good defense. I wonder if he likes this team any better at the moment.

When you don’t play much defense, you’re susceptible to being upset — even by one of the worst teams I’ve seen in the SEC in two decades.

I was prepared to write this week that Georgia might be the first winless team in SEC play since that Georgia Tech team. I was prepared to talk about a Georgia team that wasn’t that void of talent, but was playing with no heart, no intensity and no desire.

Now let’s see if Georgia can avoid becoming the eighth SEC team since those woeful Yellow Jackets to win just one SEC game. Those seven squads: Alabama in 1968-69, LSU in 1966-67 and 1956-57, Ole Miss in 1964-65 and 1958-59, Tulane in 1963-64 and Georgia in 1955-56.

Besides Georgia Tech (and not counting the World War II years), only one other team has gone winless in SEC play. Sewanee did it five times in seven years in the 1930s before leaving the league.

Thus, the only two teams that didn’t win a game in SEC play haven’t been in the SEC is more than 40 years.

Georgia has a couple of winnable games left on the schedule. And if they play the rest of the way like they did against Florida, maybe they can win two or three SEC games.

That didn’t seem likely — until their upset of Florida.

Now, you’ve got to wonder if Florida will nosedive the way it did a year ago when the Gators lost eight of 11 games at the end of the season to miss an invite to the NCAA Tournament.

Florida should win its next two games — hosting Alabama and Vanderbilt — but then Donovan’s team goes to LSU, hosts Tennessee, visits Mississippi State, then entertains Kentucky.

Considering its RPI and strength of schedule, the Gators better win at least three more games to get off the dreaded NCAA bubble.

Speaking of being on the bubble, Mississippi State’s loss to Auburn dropped the Bulldogs to 16-9 and three games back in the West. That’s an uncomfortable position for Rick Stansbury’s team.
 
 

Three-Point accuracy revisited

With less than a month left in the regular season, I thought it would be a good time to revisit three-point shooting in the SEC.

The line moved back a foot this past off-season. That seems to have had a greater impact on some teams, although you could argue losing key personnel was just as big of a factor.

Thus far, the top four three-point shooting teams in the SEC — South Carolina, LSU, Mississippi State and Florida — are all shooting better than a year ago. South Carolina has gone from 36.4 percent to 39 percent. LSU has gone from last at 32.2 percent to second at 38.4. Mississippi State has gone from 33.4 to 37.9. And Florida has gone from 36.3 to 36.7.

The other eight teams have shown a decline. The three most significant drops are at Vanderbilt (39.9 percent to 33.5 percent), Tennessee (35.7 percent to 31.6) and Alabama (36.3 to 30.9). Not surprisingly, each of those schools lost outstanding outside shooters.

Don’t be surprised if Vanderbilt, which has made a three in every game since the three-point shot was introduced, fails to hit a trey in a game this season. The Commodores are a poor outside shooting team, compared to recent years.

This year, four teams are shooting less than 33 percent from three-point range while only one shot less than 33 percent a year ago.

Regarding SEC games only, six SEC teams are shooting better in conference play, meaning six are not.

Mississippi State, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Auburn are shooting better in league play from beyond the arc.
 
          

LSU players have the most high-scoring games

After LSU’s Tasmin Mitchell scored 41 points Mississippi State, the research began.

LSU has had a player score at least 40 points in 77 games — the most in the SEC by far.

The SEC has had exactly 50 players score at least 50 points in a game. LSU’s Pete Maravich has 27 of those. LSU’s Chris Jackson has four Shaquille O’Neal has one.

That means LSU has 64 percent of the SEC’s 50-point games.

Maravich, who had a career scoring average of 44.2 points, scored in the 50s in 33 percent of his games. He scored in the 60s four times.

Halfway through the SEC season, is there any doubt who the favorite is for Player of the Year?

Tennessee’s Tyler Smith got the nod in preseason. And while he’s having a solid year, he’s not been spectacular.

Kentucky’s Patrick Patterson was considered the best big man in the league.

South Carolina’s Devan Downey was expected to be the most electrifying point guard.

Florida’s Nick Calathes was considered the most complete point guard.

Mississippi State’s Jarvis Varnado was the reigning Defensive Player of the Year.

None of those has been the best player, however.

Here’s a hint: If you saw an opponent scurrying on the court, looking for this lethal weapon, he might be yelling:  “Guard 54, Where Are You?”
           
The 54 refers to the amount of points Jodie Meeks scored on Tennessee in an improbable 18-point win at Thompson-Boling Arena last month.

Meeks, who averaged 8.8 points in an injury riddled 2007-08 season, hasn’t come close to duplicating that 54-point outburst, but he still leads the SEC in scoring at 25.1 points per game to rank among the nation’s top five.

And if you doubt his value, check out the final few minutes of Kentucky’s must-win home game against Florida. With Kentucky down by six with three minutes left, Meeks scored 10 points — including a remarkable trey with 4.7 seconds left — to lift his team to victory while Patterson was sidelined for the final nine minutes with an ankle injury.

Meeks is on pace to record the highest scoring average by an SEC player since 1991, when LSU’s Shaquille O’Neal scored at a 27.6 clip.

Who else would make the All-SEC team at the midway point?

The best player on the best team has been LSU’s Marcus Thornton. Thought to be a one-dimensional ball hog until this season, Thornton is averaging 20 points and playing solid defense.

Downey has sparked South Carolina to a first-place tie in the East Division with his 20-point scoring average and SEC-best 63 steals. He also averages 4.4 assists.

Calathes had 33 in a loss at Kentucky, and even though he missed clutch free throws at the end, he carried his team most of the game. He averages over 18 points, ranks first in the SEC in assists and shoots over 50 percent from the field.

Smith is the only SEC player who ranks in the top 20 in scoring, rebounds and assists.

Patterson is averaging over 18 points, leads the league in field-goal accuracy at 65 percent and is fourth in rebounding.

Honorable mention: Ole Miss guards David Huertas and Terrico White, Arkansas forward Michael Washington, LSU forward Tasmin Mitchell, Vanderbilt center AJ Ogilvy and Varnado.
 


Kentucky the king of 20-win seasons

I stumbled across a statistic this week that peaked my interest: Kentucky is on the verge of suffering double digit losses in a season for a record fourth year in a row.

Double digit losses are common in the SEC, just not at Kentucky.

I decided to research this in another direction: 20-win seasons are also common at Kentucky, but not so much at other SEC schools.

Here’s what I found: Kentucky has had a remarkable 53 20-win seasons, 52 since 1945.

No other team under the SEC umbrella has half that many 20-win seasons.

Alabama is next with 25, but just five in the last 13 years, when 20-win seasons are more commonplace and easier to achieve.

Tennessee has 21, all but one since 1965.

Vanderbilt has 16, all but one since 1965.

Arkansas has 28, but only 12 as an SEC team.

South Carolina has 14, seven as an SEC team.

LSU has 18, all but three since 1970.  Florida and Mississippi State have 15 each.  Georgia has 10.  Ole Miss has nine.  And Auburn has seven.

It’s hard to believe that Auburn, with as many star players as that program has produced, has so few 20-win seasons.

Regarding consecutive 20-win seasons, Kentucky leads the SEC with 17, a streak snapped last season.

Florida has the second-best 20-win streak at 10 (and counting) followed by Arkansas with nine on two different occasions. Alabama, LSU and Tennessee have had streaks of five, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt four, and Auburn, Georgia, Ole Miss and South Carolina three each.


 
Georgia a “sleeping giant” in hoops

Chip Towers, who covers Georgia for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, said the chances of the Bulldogs hiring Bob Knight as coach are one percent.

Towers doesn’t see the merit in hiring a 68-year-old coach who won’t be around long. Instead, he expects Georgia to pursue a younger coach like UAB’s Mike Davis, Oklahoma’s Jeff Capel or VCU’s Anthony Grant.

Towers called the Georgia job a “sleeping giant” and said the reason the school hasn’t had more success or tradition is because it didn’t take hoops seriously. It will now, with a former basketball player, Damon Evans, as athletic director.

Considering Georgia’s recruiting base, Georgia might he the most underachieving basketball program in the SEC. In the past 10 years, the Bulldogs have had just one 20-win season, one NCAA Tournament win and one improbable SEC Tournament title.

Tubby Smith won 45 games in his two-year tenure, then left for Kentucky. Can’t blame him. But you wonder what Georgia would have achieved had Smith stayed.

Towers thinks Georgia made a huge mistake forcing out Hugh Durham in 1995. Durham, who took Florida State to the Final Four in 1972, took Georgia to the Final Four in 1983. He had four 20-win seasons and four more years of at least 18 wins. But in his last five seasons, he had just one winning record in SEC play, never won more than 18 games and mustered just one NCAA appearance.

Towers said Evans believes there’s no reason Georgia can’t do in basketball what Tennessee has done under Bruce Pearl.
 

(Not to be confused with the Little Lebowski Urban Achievers.)

Even Darrin Horn is a bit surprised that South Carolina is off to such a solid start in SEC play.

The Gamecocks were picked to finish fifth in the East Division, but halfway through league play, Horn’s team is 6-3 and trailing only Florida in the East.

Horn admitted he wasn’t sure his team would be in this position, having inherited a team that lost 18 games last year and was 5-11 in SEC play.

“That’s a good question,” Horn said when asked if his team has achieved more than he anticipated.

Of course it has. South Carolina returned four starters, but the team seemed in disarray a year ago, losing by 33 points at Tennessee late in the year. But Horn’s uptempo style and fresh attitude have worked wonders.

“All the players have played above what they played in the past,” Horn said.

That’s a credit to Horn and his players. And it’s the reason the Gamecocks are talking NCAA, not NIT.

LSU coach Trent Johnson wasn’t sure about his team, either. The Tigers played a weak non-conference schedule — ranked 324 out of 344 teams — and opened SEC play with a loss at Alabama.

The Tigers haven’t lost since, ripping off seven consecutive wins to take over first-place in the regular-season race.

LSU starts three seniors, a fourth-year junior and a sophomore and has had the luxury of putting the same lineup on the court for 23 consecutive games.

Those are the feel-good stories in the SEC.

On the flip side, two SEC coaches have already been fired, nine teams have at least seven losses, only three teams are in the top 50 of the RPI (according to collegerpi.com) and just two teams are ranked among the top 80 in strength of schedule.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the SEC teams that have overachieved, underachieved and done about what’s been expected, based on the media preseason poll.



The Overachievers

1. LSU — While I picked LSU to win the West, I didn’t expect the Tigers to be 19-4, to win at Tennessee and to lead the whole SEC at this point. Point guard Bo Spencer has been solid, Marcus Thornton has been more judicious with his shot selection and Brian Johnson has been an inside road block for opponents’ offenses with his 57 blocked shots. Tasmin Mitchell has come back with a vengeance from his season-ending injury.

2. South Carolina — Point guard Devon Downey has been outstanding, but Zam Fredrick, Mike Holmes and Dominique Archie have played well. Horn thinks Archie is one of the SEC’s most underrated players. “It doesn’t matter what his numbers are,” Horn said of Archie, “he impacts the game in a major way. He does so many things.”

3. Mississippi State — The Bulldogs, picked fourth in the West, went to a four-guard lineup in late December and the move has paid off brilliantly for Rick Stansbury. The Bulldogs are shooting an SEC-best 41 percent in SEC games and lead the league with 10.3 made treys per game. They made a school-record 16 threes last week against Arkansas. State’s quickness has been tough for opponents to combat and Jarvis Varnado has been an eraser inside with 112 blocks.

4. Ole Miss — The Rebels are 4-5 in SEC play despite losing three starting guards to injury. After an early 32-point home loss to LSU, coach Andy Kennedy’s team beat Kentucky in Oxford and Mississippi State in Starkville. Freshman point guard Terrico White has been one of the SEC’s pleasant surprises.



On Target

1. Florida — The Gators have a one-game lead in the loss column in the East. Florida’s 19 wins are tied for most in the SEC but the strength of schedule has been weak. The Gators have one of the league’s most efficient offenses, but a porous defense will spell trouble down the stretch. Nick Calathes is the best passer in the league.

2. Auburn — The Tigers were picked fifth in the West and that’s about where they’re headed. A win over Tennessee was big. Auburn starts three seniors and two juniors and should actually be better and more consistent. Jeff Lebo is on the hot seat.

3. Kentucky — After a 5-0 SEC start, the Wildcats had dreams of going unbeaten in league play. Then came a three-game losing streak as opponents figured out how to defend the lethal 1-2 punch of Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson. Kentucky continues to have problems at point guard.

4. Vanderbilt — The Commodores have 15 wins but they’re off the radar screen when it comes to NCAA tourney consideration. Vandy led the nation in field-goal defense through mid-January but the defense was exposed by Tennessee and Florida. Vandy has NIT written all over it.

5. Arkansas — The Hogs were overachievers after starting the season 12-1 and beating two top 10 teams at home. Then came SEC play and a 1-7 start. The Hogs have been a horrific 3-point shooting team in league play and inexperience has cost them some close games down the stretch. John Pelphrey’s team was picked last in the West.



The Underachievers

1. Tennessee — The Vols were a preseason Top 10 team and were expected to repeat as SEC regular-season champions. Instead, Bruce Pearl’s team has been inconsistent from 3-point range and on defense. And a press that was fearsome Pearl’s first three seasons is all but nonexistent. The Vols lost at home to Kentucky and LSU, hurting the team’s chances to wave another SEC banner.

2. Georgia — The Bulldogs weren’t supposed to be that good, but they weren’t supposed to be this bad. Dennis Felton hoped the team would ride the momentum of last season’s SEC Tournament title to contend for an NCAA Tournament berth. Didn’t happen. Felton got fired and the Dawgs are 0-8 in the SEC and riding the school’s longest losing streak since 1972-73.

3. Alabama — Shame on you, media, for picking the Crimson Tide to win the West. You must have felt Ronald Steele would return to his sophomore form. Not a chance. He bailed out on a sinking ship, Mark Gottfried got fired and the team is reeling with a 3-6 SEC mark, 13-10 overall.
 


SEC teams dance for position 

The SEC has six teams in the running for NCAA Tournament bids — LSU, Florida, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky.

With the SEC ranked sixth among conferences in two different RPIs, it will interesting to see if the league gets four, five or six teams in the 65-team field.

While Tennessee (14-8) has the fewest wins of the six, it has the highest RPI (21) and the toughest strength of schedule (#2). Florida has a #30 RPI but is #100 in SOS. The Gamecocks are #43 in RPI and #82 in SOS. LSU is #52 in RPI and #117 in SOS. Kentucky is #74 in RPI and #91 in SOS. Mississippi State is #79 in RPI and #81 in SOS.

Ole Miss, which would have to reel off about five straight wins to join the conversation, is #63 in RPI and #18 in SOS. Vanderbilt, despite a 15-8 record, is just #93 in RPI, #104 in SOS. Arkansas is #98 in RPI, #101 in SOS. Auburn is #102 in RPI, #84 in SOS. Alabama is #137 in RPI, #87 in SOS. And Georgia is #214 in RPI, #98 in SOS.

In 25 years of covering college recruiting, I’ve seen and heard some intriguing things.

I heard an attorney say he missed three days of work after his favorite team lost a commitment on signing day.

I’ve heard a prospect say he would pick the school that provided him with a private bathroom in his dorm room.

I’ve seen a high-profile player sign his letter of intent in a hot tub.

I’ve heard of a recruit thinking he was visiting Tennessee when he was actually visiting Tennessee-Chattanooga.

I heard a fan say he would rather finish #1 in recruiting and #10 in the final polls than #1 in the polls and #10 in recruiting.

I’ve heard of a prospect committing to four schools.

And I’ve heard people say winning is ALL about the players. I disagree.

It’s a lot about players, but it’s also about coaching.

The team with the best talent doesn’t always win (re: Arkansas over LSU, Ole Miss over Florida, Wyoming over Tennessee, Vanderbilt over South Carolina.)

This much I know: I’d rather sign 20 five-star players than 20 three-star players, but plenty of five-star players won’t be as good as many of the three-star players.

Want evidence? Check the research of Jon Solomon of the Birmingham News.

Of the 25 first-team 2008 Associated Press All-Americans, 48 percent received three or fewer stars out of a five-star system. And only 44 percent of the All-Americans were ranked as a top-10 high school player at his position.

With that in mind I decided to evaluate the top 25 recruiting classes over the past five years — again using Solomon’s research — relative to their on-field performance. Solomon rated the top 25 teams in recruiting based on Rivals.com ratings.

Here are those ratings:

1. USC
2. Florida
3. Georgia
4. Florida State
5. Oklahoma
6. (tie) LSU and Michigan
8. Miami
9. Ohio State
10. Texas
11. Alabama
12, Auburn
13. Tennessee
14. Notre Dame
15. Nebraska
16. (tie) Texas A&M and California
18. South Carolina
19. Penn State
20. Clemson
21. Oregon
22. UCLA
23. Ole Miss
24. Virginia Tech
25. Maryland.

Keep in mind, this does NOT include teams that didn’t make the top 25 in recruiting, like Utah, Boise State, and TCU.

Here are the six teams that did the most with the least.

1. Virginia Tech. The Hokies barely made the recruiting top 25, yet Frank Beamer’s team has won three ACC titles and at least 10 games each of the past five years. They’ve been to three BCS bowls.

2. Penn State. Despite a #19 ranking, the Nittany Lions of Joe Paterno have won two Big Ten titles and averaged 10 wins over the past four years. Paterno has also gone 3-1 in bowl games during that time.

3. Ohio State. Based on NFL talent and BCS results, you wouldn’t have the Buckeyes as overachievers. Based on recruiting rankings, you would. Ohio State comes in #9 in recruiting but Jim Tressel has won four Big Ten titles, played in four BCS games and two national championship games.

4. Texas. You can’t call Mack Brown’s Longhorns underachievers. Texas ranks #10 in recruiting, yet has won 56 games the past five years, one national title and three BCS games (two Rose Bowls and a Fiesta Bowl).

5. California. The Bears have averaged more than eight wins over the past five seasons, and won four bowls. That’s pretty good stuff, considering Cal was 1-10 as recently as 2001. Kudos to Jeff Tedford.

6. Oregon. The Ducks have averaged almost nine wins the past four seasons under Mike Bellotti and won back-to-back bowls. A win over USC in 2007 was a huge highlight.

Honorable mention: Auburn.

Here is a look at the six teams that have underachieved.

1. Miami. Of the top 10 teams in recruiting, Miami is the only one that hasn’t won a conference title. It’s one of two teams that hasn’t mustered a 10-win season. The Hurricanes have only 19 wins over the last three seasons.

2. Florida State. The Seminoles have won one ACC title since 2004, keeping Bobby Bowden ahead of Miami. But the Seminoles have won just 23 games over the past three years, and Bowden has fallen behind Paterno on the all-time wins list.

3. Michigan. The Wolverines went 11-2 in 2006 and won a share of the Big Ten, but that’s the lone 10-win season over the five-year span. A 3-9 record last year and a loss to Division 1-AA Appalachian State are the low water marks.

4. Georgia. With a #3 in recruiting, I was initially tempted to put Georgia at the top of this dubious list. But I couldn’t ignore that Mark Richt’s team has recorded four 10-win seasons and four top-10 rankings in the past five seasons.

5. Notre Dame. Charlie Weis looked like a great hire when he took the Irish to 19 wins and two BCS bowls in his first two seasons. Since then, Notre Dame has won only 10 games and Weis is on the hot seat.

6. Alabama. The Crimson Tide has had two 10-win seasons since 2004, but three seasons with no more than seven wins. Nick Saban’s 12-0 start to last season and one-sided victories over Clemson and Georgia have Alabama pointed in the right direction.

Dishonorable mention: Tennessee, Clemson, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and UCLA.

Last week, I thought Kentucky was the best team in the SEC.

The Wildcats were 5-0 in league play, won at Tennessee by 18, had the best 1-2 punch in the league and led the nation in field-goal shooting.

Then Billy Gillispie’s team lost to two second-tier teams in the SEC — Ole Miss and South Carolina.

At least, I thought Ole Miss and South Carolina were second tier teams.

How do you figure Ole Miss? The Rebels lose three starting guards in a guard-centric game, fall at home to LSU by 32, then beat Kentucky and Mississippi State.  It was just the Rebels third win in Starkville since 1984.

South Carolina, which lost by 17 at LSU and trailed Tennessee by 19 in Knoxville, beat Florida and won in Lexington for the second time in history.

Tennessee, a team that can’t shoot threes, nailed 12 from beyond the arc to rout Florida after losing four of five at home.

Now, it appears LSU — my preseason pick to win the West — might be the SEC’s best team. One AP voter has the Tigers #22 in his poll. But LSU isn’t ranked in the overall poll.

Neither is any other SEC team, the first time that’s happened in 20 years.

But who knows anything at this point?

I like LSU because it has a veteran lineup and a first-year coach pushing the right buttons. Trent Johnson has the Tigers playing solid defense with discipline. He’s also found a much-needed point guard in Bo Spencer.

Still, I’ve never seen the SEC so unpredictable.  I’ve never seen it harder to project.

And the fun has just begun.

We’re one-third of the way through conference play and we’ve got four teams tied in the loss column atop the East Division and two solid teams in the West who are capable of making a run to the Big Dance.

Who says the SEC might only get three teams in the NCAA Tournament? It could be five or six.

Who says the best team in the SEC couldn’t beat the top eight teams in the Big East? (Oh, it was Dick Vitale who said that. Did he forget Tennessee has already beaten Marquette and Georgetown?).

The East race will be intriguing in that Florida and South Carolina have better point guards than Kentucky and Tennessee, but Kentucky and Tennessee have better front-court players. Florida can’t defend, South Carolina has no inside punch, Kentucky can’t hold onto the ball and Tennessee can’t shoot from outside.

Should be some race.

The two best teams in the West have good young point guards — Spencer at LSU and Dee Bost at MSU. Will they hold up through the grind that is the SEC?

The league has at least eight teams ranked among the nation’s 50 youngest in terms of experience.

That bodes well for the future of the league.  It also suggests more wild upsets for this season.

Here are my rankings of the best teams in the SEC:

1.  LSU
2.  Kentucky
3.  Tennessee
4.  Florida
5.  South Carolina
6.  Mississippi State
7.  Ole Miss
8.  Vanderbilt
9.  Auburn
10.  Alabama
11.  Arkansas
12.  Georgia

Keep reading for more on Bobby Knight and Georgia rumors… on Billy Donovan’s rationale for using more zone… and more.

Read the rest of this entry »

Alabama coach Mark Gottfried was fired four-and-a-half years after taking the Crimson Tide to its one and only Elite Eight appearance.

Georgia coach Dennis Felton was fired 20 games after he led Georgia to the SEC Tournament championship.

I can’t recall two SEC basketball coaches getting the axe in January.

Did somebody forget this is a football conference?

The expectations of fans and administrators — and the money coaches make — has shortened the patience level even for basketball coaches.

One thing that really hurt Gottfried were the injuries to star point guard Ronald Steele, who hasn’t done much the past two-and-a-half years, then abruptly quit early this month in apparent conflict with Gottfried.

Should Steele be allowed to return to the team now that Gottfried’s gone?

Absolutely not. Unless Gottfried badgered Steele — and there’s evidence that he did — then Steele must lie in the bed he made. Maybe Steele was trying to make things easier for his younger brother (a true freshman on the team).

No matter. Allowing Steele to return sends the wrong message — that a player can dictate whether a coach is kept or fired. That might happen in the NBA. It should never happen in college.

Regarding Felton, whom I liked as a coach at Western Kentucky, his misfortune apparently was being too uncompromising. He lost for various reasons players like Mike Mercer, Billy Humphrey and Channing Toney, and signed a terrific high school player, Louis Williams, who went pro. Felton was unable to overcome those defections and the NCAA probation riddled program he inherited.

Felton will resurface as a coach at a smaller school. And he’ll have success. But you wonder if he’ll have to go Tom Coughlin and lighten up to succeed at a high level.

So, which is the better job: Georgia or Alabama?

Georgia has more prospects in the surrounding area but little tradition.

Alabama has much more tradition — and no shortage of talent.

Georgia is 5-8 in eight NCAA Tournament appearances.
Alabama is 18-18 in 18 NCAA Tournament appearances.

Georgia has one SEC Championship. Alabama has seven.
Georgia has one SEC Tournament title. Alabama has six.

Georgia has 1,245 all-time wins and a win percentage of .520.
Alabama has 1,476 all-time wins and a win percentage of .624.

So the best job: Alabama.


   
Donovan disagrees with prospect definition

Count Florida coach Billy Donovan among the coaches who disagrees with an NCAA proposal to declare a seventh grader a prospective prospect.

Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie seemed to stir the pot in that direction by offering eighth graders a scholarship. Donovan thinks it’s unwise to go after such young kids.

“We’re in a bad cycle of recruiting because kids are making decisions earlier and earlier about where to go to school, and the transfer rate is at an all-time high,’’ Donovan said. “We’re not getting a chance to know the kid and the kid isn’t getting a chance to know you.’’

Donovan said college coaches are able to work camps with seventh and eighth graders, thus the process starts sooner than it should.

Mitch Barnhart, athletic director at Kentucky, defended Gillispie’s practice of offering to eighth and ninth graders because Gillispie has targeted good kids from two parent homes.

Donovan said it can be “very flattering’’ for a seventh or eighth grader to get an offer from a major college, but it’s “not the best thing for kids that young.’’
 


LSU’s all-time best 5 is the best in SEC

During the LSU at Tennessee game, I sat on press row behind Collis Temple Sr, the first black player to don an LSU uniform. He played in the early 1970s.

Temple has had three sons play for LSU, with one having been recruited to Navy by former Tennessee coach Don DeVoe.

I asked Temple if he would play in Saturday’s alumni game as part of the 100th anniversary of LSU basketball. He laughed and said no. He’s in his mid-50s, not the age to be running up and down the court.

But the gala is expected to attract more than 150 former LSU players and LSU’s all-century team will be announced. I’m going to guess Pete Maravich, Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Jackson and Bob Pettit will make the team. The other might be Rudy Macklin.

While LSU’s basketball tradition pales to that of Kentucky, nobody in the SEC could put a better all-time starting five on the court than LSU. Nobody. Not Kentucky, not Tennessee, not Florida or Auburn or Alabama.

Kent Lowe, LSU’s basketball sports information director, told me O’Neal was upset that he has a game with the Suns on Saturday and can’t make the alumni game.

Can you imagine O’Neal posting up against Stanley Roberts or trying to dunk over John Williams?

One reason for the great turnout of ex-Tigers is the departure of former LSU coach John Brady, who, according to Baton Rouge media, never embraced Dale Brown or his players. That’s a 25-year gap.

New coach Trent Johnson has taken a different approach. He’s reached out to Brown and his former players. He’s made them feel welcome.

That PR move should pay dividends when Johnson hits a bumpy road during his tenure with the Tigers. Brady never built up much good will. And that’s one reason he was fired less than two years after taking LSU to the Final Four.



Benefits to starting same lineup

LSU has had the same starting lineup for all 20 games. Several SEC teams have had more than six different lineups.

Is there an advantage to having the same starters for all — or most — of a season?

Donovan doesn’t think so.

I do.

Donovan says too many variables are at play. You could change the lineup for a certain matchup, or because a guy isn’t play well, or another guy is playing well, or due to an injury.

That’s my point. If you don’t change your lineup, that probably means you’re starters are playing well. It probably means you don’t have to adjust for matchups, that you’re not having injuries, and, more importantly, that you’re winning.

Of course, it could mean you have such a weak bench, you don’t have an option.

Still, give me a team that starts the same lineup over 30 games over a team that uses six to eight different lineups. My bet is the team that’s juggling the starters is the team that is looking for missing pieces or suffering injuries.



Tennessee student turnout dwindling

For the first time in Bruce Pearl’s four seasons at Tennessee, the Vols are struggling. They have lost four of five at home after a record 37-game home win streak. They have dropped out of the Top 25 after being a preseason top 10 pick. They are fourth in the East Division after being selected to repeat as SEC champions.

And Pearl has gone through more lineups than Baskin Robbins has flavors.

Pearl clearly raised the bar for basketball at Tennessee by going 3-1 against the two-time national champion Florida Gators, by finishing ahead of Kentucky each of his first three seasons, by garnering a #2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and be achieving a #1 ranking for the first time in Tennessee history.

Before the LSU game on Wednesday, Tennessee was ranked second in the nation in attendance to Kentucky — UT’s best mark ever.

But the attendance figures are destined to decline. Why? Student apathy.

Pearl proclaimed the LSU game a must-win in an effort to win the SEC regular season title. The Vols needed to defend their home court.

How did students respond? Only 761 showed up out of an allotment of about 3,000. The lower bowl accommodates 1,500 students, leaving a prime area half empty.

Pearl has purchased 3,000 tickets to give to students hoping to boost Saturday night’s attendance for the Florida game.

This year, for the first time, Tennessee varied the student allotment depending on the game, using previous year projections. Those tickets taken from the normal student allotment went on sale to the general public.

It’s interesting that the contest against Gonzaga — the first game back after the Christmas break — attracted 4,501 students while the game against rival Kentucky drew only 2,709 students — 100 more than attended the UT-Chattanooga game.

More than 3,200 showed up for Memphis, but only 1,073 saw South Carolina.

Of the 12 home games, the LSU game ranked 10th in student attendance and was the third game which had fewer than 800 students.

Is that an indication students have given up on this UT team? Perhaps.

Is it an indication UT will alter its ticket allotment to students? Yes.

“We’ll keep trying to tweak it,’’ said John Currie, associate athletic director.

In the last two months, football coaches have hopped from one SEC school to another faster than a rabbit in a mine field.

In fact, I can’t ever remember this many moves within the SEC in a single season.

Tennessee hired assistants from South Carolina, Alabama, Auburn and Mississippi State, and also got a strength coach from South Carolina while almost landing Georgia’s ace recruiter.

Mississippi State hired as its head coach the offensive coordinator at Florida, who brought with him an assistant from Florida.

Auburn hired Tracy Rocker from Ole Miss, which then hired Rocker’s cousin (from Auburn) to replace him.

Alabama lost a top recruiter to Tennessee, then raided Auburn’s staff for a former Tiger player who is an outstanding recruiter.

For the second year in a row, South Carolina hired a defensive coordinator from Arkansas. The Gamecocks also hired a former star running back from Tennessee.

LSU hired a 20-year assistant from Tennessee and a secondary coach from South Carolina.

Raise your hand if you didn’t hire a coach from South Carolina?

Steve Spurrier lost four assistants and a strength coach from his 2008 staff.

These changes don’t include SEC teams bringing back into the league Trooper Taylor and Carl Torbush.

With National Signing Day just over a week away, you’d think the SEC coach jumping has stopped. These days, you never know.

Now that the staffs appear to be complete, let’s rank the SEC football coaches.

1. Florida coach Urban Meyer. It’s hard to argue with what heâs done. Not only did he win at Bowling Green and Utah, he’s won two national championships in the last three years at Florida.

He will be favored by many to win a third in four years, matching what Nebraska did in the 1990s.

Meyer has proven the spread option works in the SEC. And he’s on his way to supplanting Steve Spurrier as the greatest coach in Gator history. He’s a better recruiter than Spurrier and maybe a better big-game coach.

2. Alabama coach Nick Saban. Saban proved he’s a terrific recruiter at LSU and Alabama. He proved he can maximize his talent this past season at Alabama. He won a national championship at LSU and left another title for Les Miles. And, like Meyer, Saban has proven he can win at more than one program.

Two knocks on Saban: He’s a bear (and I don’t mean Bryant) to coach for and he’s never had back-to-back 10-win seasons.

3.  Georgia coach Mark Richt. Georgia has been in the top 10 six of the last seven years – more than any other SEC program. And while Richt has averaged more than 10 wins in his eight years in Athens , his recent teams have had a tendency to flop in some big games.

It will be interesting to see how the Bulldogs respond to losing early to the NFL draft quarterback Matt Stafford and running back Knowshon Moreno.

4.  LSU coach Les Miles. Yes he makes some head-scratching decisions, and yes he won with mostly Saban’s talent his first three years. But I’ve got to give him some credit for winning a national championship, winning 34 games his first three seasons and routing each of his four bowl opponents.

Last season, LSU limped home to an 8-5 record. Miles made a mistake by naming co-defensive coordinators, but he fixed that problem by hiring John Chavis from Tennessee . And LSU didn’t have a quarterback. Ask Tennessee and Auburn what that’s like. This season will go a long way in defining Miles as LSU’s coach.

5.  Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt. He did a terrific job last season with Ed Orgeron’s talent… winning at Florida, winning at LSU and capturing the Cotton Bowl over a one-loss top-10 team from the Big 12. After a 3-4 start, the Rebels won six in a row.

But can Nutt sustain that success? Can he recruit enough good players? His recruiting at Arkansas was inconsistent. So were his records. He did win at least eight games in six of his 10 years at Arkansas. If he can do that at Ole Miss, he’ll be the program’s best coach since John Vaught.

6.  South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier. Once compared to Bear Bryant, Spurrier’s stock has plummeted like Wall Street. In four years at Columbia, he’s 28-22 with a losing record in SEC play. He’s lost two in a row to Vanderbilt. In 12 seasons at Florida, he lost 27 games.

What’s more, the biggest problem at South Carolina has been offense, not defense. And it appeared as though several players quit on him last year.

7.  Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino. I almost put Petrino ahead of Spurrier, but Petrino’s track record isn’t long enough. He had great success at Louisville against Big East competition. Can he do it in the SEC? Time will tell. Hog fans should be encouraged that he beat Auburn, Tulsa and LSU.

8. Vanderbilt coach Bobby Johnson. I wonder what Johnson could do if he had the talent of the upper tier teams in the SEC. Heck, I wonder what he would do if he had the talent of South Carolina and Ole Miss. He’s beaten Spurrier two years in a row and knocked off the Rebels last season. He also won the school’s first bowl game in 53 years. He’s a solid coach at a behind-the-eight-ball program.

9.  Kentucky coach Rich Brooks. Brooks has done something no other Kentucky coach has done — won three bowl games in three seasons. You’ve got to go back to the Bear Bryant days (1949-51) to find the last time Kentucky played in three consecutive bowls. Brooks took over a terrible program on probation and has turned it into a competitive SEC team with decent athletes.

10.  Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin. You can question Kiffin’s resume, but he has put together a strong staff of recruiters (although Ed Orgeronhas already been cited for a secondary recruiting violation). Kiffin’s charge will be to fix an offense that was one of the nation’s worst in 2008. If Lane can get production out of his quarterback, Tennessee should win at least eight games this season. While you’ve got to praise the hire of defensive guru Monte Kiffin, don’t expect the defense to be as good this season due to a new system and personnel losses.

11.  Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen. If you believe that you should scratch where it itches, then Mullen was the right choice for a program that has been deficient on offense since Sly Croom arrived five years ago. Mullen doesn’t have the offensive talent yet to make much noise, but he is a good play caller who should attract a good quarterback.

12. Auburn coach Gene Chizik. His record at Iowa State is hard to overlook, but he was considered a tremendous defensive coordinator — just as Will Muschamp is today — who helped Auburn to an undefeated season and Texas to a national championship. Chizik hired a solid staff. But he doesn’t have enough tools on offense to threaten just yet.

In the latest RPI, the Southeastern Conference in men’s basketball is seventh – as in, you stink in hoops.

Who would have thought that after Florida won back-to-back national championships that the league would sink this low?

Pat Forde of ESPN.com said he thinks the SEC is down because it doesn’t have many real good seniors or freshmen.

After researching that premise, we agree.

The SEC is not only void of quality seniors, it doesn’t have many seniors at all. Only 11 starters are seniors out of a possible 60.

Six schools — Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt — either don’t have a scholarship senior or don’t have a senior that’s playing.

Two of the worst teams in the SEC – Alabama and Auburn – combine to start five seniors. What does that say? I’m not sure.

You might suggest it indicates that if you’re still around for your senior year, you’re not a good player.

But that’s not always true.

Look at the seniors that graced the SEC last season. Vanderbilt’s Shan Foster averaged 20.3 points per game. Kentucky’s Joe Crawford (17.9) and Mississippi State’s Charles Rhodes (17.4) averaged over 17. Chris Lofton of Tennessee, Ramel Bradley of Kentucky, Quan Prowell of Auburn and Sonny Weems of Arkansas each averaged at least 15.

Dwayne Curtis of Ole Miss, Mykal Riley of Alabama, JaJuan Smith of Tennessee and Sundiata Gaines of Georgia each averaged at least 14.4 points, while Auburn’s Frank Tolbert averaged 13.4.

Halfway through this season, the seniors haven’t been as productive.

LSU’s Marcus Thornton is the top scorer (17.9 points) among seniors. Zam Fredrick of South Carolina averages 16.2. No other senior is over 14 points. Alonzo Gee of Alabama, Terrence Woodbury of Georgia, Ronald Steele of Alabama, Kovortney Barber of Auburn each average between 12.6 points and 14.5 points.

Other top seniors this season: Walter Hodge of Florida, Garrett Temple and Chris Johnson of LSU, Quantez Robertson of Auburn.

As you can see, the top 10 seniors this season don’t compare to the top 10 seniors of last year.

You could say the same for the elite freshmen.

How about this for an All-Freshman team: Patrick Patterson of Kentucky, AJ Ogilvy of Vanderbilt, Nick Calathes of Florida, Anthony Randolph of LSU and Chris Warren of Ole Miss. Each averaged more than 15 points.

Ogilvy was at 17 with 6.7 rebounds. Calathes led the SEC with 6.1 assists. Patterson grabbed 7.7 rebounds. Randolph averaged 8.5 rebounds and became a first-round NBA draft pick. Warren dished out 4.5 assists per game.

This year’s crop doesn’t compare. Arkansas’ Courtney Fortson is the only one averaging 15 points per game: he’s at 15.0 points with 6.5 assists and 5.5 rebounds.

Georgia’s Trey Thompkins is having a solid year at 13.7 points and 6.6 rebounds. Jeffrey Taylor of Vanderbilt is averaging 12.3 points, Rotnei Clarks of Arkansas 11.5, JaMychal Green of Alabama 8.6 points and 7.0 rebounds, and Scotty Hopson of Tennessee 8.6 points.

Point guard Dee Bost of Mississippi State is averaging 4.6 assists and has helped his team to a 3-0 start in the SEC.

Point guard Terrico White of Ole Miss has averaged 20 points in the last two games replacing the injured Warren.

With a drop in talent, we’ve seen a drop in performance.

Maybe the SEC will cycle back up next season. But this season, the league might have to make do with as few as three or four teams in the NCAA Tournament.

You can blame seniority – and a shortage of precocious freshmen.



Johnson was overcoaching Mitchell

After LSU junior forward Tasmin Mitchell exploded last week for 30- and 17-point outings, first-year coach Trent Johnson blamed himself for Mitchell not being more productive earlier.

“At times, I sort of hurt him or hindered him,” Johnson said.

What did Johnson mean? Simply that he was overcoaching Mitchell, who missed all but a few games last season due to a knee injury.

“Tas was always looking over (to the bench), wanting to know what the call was,” Johnson said.

Finally, Johnson just figured: “If you throw it in to him, he’ll just score.”

That’s been the case in recent games.

“He gets as much out of his game for a guy that’s not explosive as anyone I’ve seen,” Johnson said. “He scores in a multitude of ways.”
 


Calathes helped by Greek National Team experience

Florida coach Billy Donovan was asked if he thought guard Nick Calathes benefited from playing last summer with the Greek National Team.

The answer, basically, was yes. But the explanation was a bit surprising.

You figured Donovan would say international experience helped Calathes grow as a player. Not so. It’s what Calathes didn’t have that helped the most, Donovan said.

Donovan wanted Calathes to be in Gainesville the second semester of summer school to work with his teammates and become a leader.

But Calathes spent that time in Greece.

“Going through that experience, I hope he’s thankful and appreciative of what he has,” Donovan said. “He didn’t have rapport with any (Greek) players. He didn’t know the coaches. It was a different style, a different system, a different role.”

Donovan pointed out that Calathes was in a foreign country where he had a language barrier, even when it came to finding a place to eat.

“I hope he came back and appreciates playing in his home state and enjoys playing with his teammates and playing a lot,” Donovan said.     


 
Stallings surprised by Vandy defense

Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings was caught off guard to find his team ranked #1 in the nation in field goal defense last week.

“It’s been quite a surprise, to be honest with you, with our youth,” Stallings said. “Our players bought into what we asked them to do from a defensive standpoint. They’re an extremely coachable group.”

Stallings said the Commodores are more athletic and longer than in previous years. But he added: “We’re still maybe not as athletic as some people we compete against.”
 

In the aftermath of a disappointing 18-point home loss to Kentucky, Tennessee assistant Jason Shay tried to make light of a tough situation.

“I think if Jodie Meeks doesn’t play,” Shay said, “we’d have won the game 72-36.”

Alas, Meeks did play, and the brilliant junior guard set a Kentucky school and Thompson-Boling arena record with 54 points.

Tennessee couldn’t stop him.

And the Vols haven’t been able to stop several high powered backcourt players this season. An opponent has scored a career-high six times against Tennessee this season – five of them guards. And six different guards have scored at least 26 points.

That underscores the biggest problem for these underachieving Vols – lack of defense.

Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl says the problem is fixable.

But is it? Tennessee tried six different defenders on Meeks. None had success, although I think Bobby Maze held Meeks without a basket for 45 seconds.

“Maze did a good job (on Meeks),” Shay said. “We told him, `You have no other responsibility than to put your nose on his numbers.”’

That only worked for a short period of time.

If you keep getting burned by perimeter players, that tells me you don’t have the personnel to stop them – or your players aren’t trying. And I don’t think it’s a lack of effort.

How do you fix that? Can you get a fifth year of eligibility for JaJuan Smith?

Maze seemed to play solid defense earlier this season and Josh Tabb is supposed to be a defensive stopper. Neither has played good defense over the past few weeks.

“If we shore up our defense,” Shay said, “we can turn it around.”

In Tennessee’s five losses, each opponent has shot over 50 percent from the field.

“You can’t give up 50 percent shooting this day and age, not with the 3-point line,” said Pat Forde of ESPN.com. “I know they want to play at a certain tempt, but you can’t sacrifice defense along the way.”

It was evident that Kentucky was playing with more energy than the Vols.

“Kentucky has a lot of pride,” Shay said. “I’m sure they’re tired of hearing about Tennessee and Bruce Pearl. They were hungrier than we were.”

You wonder if this Tennessee team isn’t as hungry as it needs to be. You wonder if some of the talented newcomers play with a chip on their shoulder the way Dane Bradshaw, JaJuan Smith and Chris Lofton did.

I asked Pat Forde if Pearl is better off coaching a less talented team that is motivated or a more talented team that isn’t quite so hungry.

“That’s a good question,” Forde said. “I think he (Pearl) thrives a little bit off the underdog role and gets players who thrive off that. But I think every coach in the history of sport will tell you, `Give me more talent and I’ll take my chances.’

“If you want to play for it all, you want talented players. Maybe you can make them hungry or they’re already hungry on their own. But talent is the bottom line. You’ve got to have players who are really, really good. So I wouldn’t tell him to change his ways in recruiting.”

Perimeter defense isn’t the only concern. Three-point shooting has been horrible. The Vols are making 27 percent from long range over the last 10 games.

Shay said UT is down two made threes per game, or six points per game. Shay said UT’s guards shoot well from 3-point range in practice but it isn’t always carrying over to games.

“We need guys to have confidence making the threes,” Shay said. “When the game is on the line, they’ve gotta step up and make it.”

Shay said Kentucky packed in it and left open the outside shot against certain Vols, in essence, playing zone out a man to man.

One thing that seemed to bother Shay was that when Gonzaga snapped Tennessee’s 37-game home winning streak last week, “one guy tried to step up” – Wayne Chism, who had 19 rebounds.

“Hess was battling as best he could to preserve the win streak,” Shay said.

That’s a compliment to Chism. But what does it say about his teammates?