MrSEC.com » Alabama

SEC Working On Changes To League Football Schedule

John — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:42:17 +0000

If you’re an SEC fan and you’ve already bought tickets (and/or hotels, flights, etc) to see your favorite team play a conference football game this season… you might want to pay attention to this:

The SEC still hasn’t officially released the league’s in-conference schedule (even though most schools have listed their tentative slates) because it is working to give Alabama some relief from a schedule quirk.

In the initial layout, the Tide was scheduled to face six teams coming off byes during their eight-game league schedule. That is a bit excessive. From time to time teams have faced multiple teams coming off bye weeks, but I can’t remember a school having six such games.

“This is something that’s important to the entire league,” said SEC associate commissioner Charles Bloom. “Because nobody wants to be in that same position a year or two from now. So we’re looking at a way to balance it out this year and for years to come. The different is that it might be a little tweak this year with more widespread changes coming in future years.”

Alabama is currently scheduled to face South Carolina, Ole Miss, Tennessee, LSU, Mississippi State and Auburn after those teams’ open dates.

I know that this will set off screams of favoritism and cheating, but it’s a senseable move by the conference. The trick will be to see how many games are moved to accommodate Alabama. Because that will be used as a guideline — by fans at least — when eyeing future schedules.

Tourney Game One – Alabama 68, South Carolina 63

John — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:28:50 +0000

For most of the game, it looked like I had missed on my Game One prediction. I was prepared to fall on my sword and say, “See, that’s why picking tourney games is foolish.”

But then Alabama jetted back to clip South Carolina 68-63 in tip-off to the SEC’s 2010 tournament. The Tide’s pressure defense took a toll on the Gamecocks in the second half… limiting USC to just one made field goal in the final 12 minutes of the game.

Carolina had led by as many as 15 points in the second half.

With Darrin Horn saying he would not accept an invitation to the CBI or CIT, the Cocks’ season ends at 15-16. Devan Downey finished career with yet another 20-point performance.

Alabama (17-14) advances to face Kentucky tomorrow afternoon.

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MrSEC.com’s Official Tourney Picks

John — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:51:59 +0000

If there’s anything sillier than trying to predict the outcome of a basketball game it’s trying to predict the outcome of a basketball game at tournament time. And doing so publicly only makes the move even sillier.

So that’s just what we’ll do in this post. If everyone else in the conference (seemingly) can boldly throw out crazed prognostications, so can we.

After all, just how many people correctly picked Mississippi State and Georgia as the league’s last two tourney champs?

That said, our picks:

Game One — Alabama over South Carolina. The Cocks are dangerous and should be looking for revenge, but Bama has been playing better of late and dominated on the glass in their last get-together… even without JaMychal Green who will play today.

Game Two — Tennessee over LSU. The Tigers are playing more zone than they were when they hung with the Vols back in February. But Tennessee is at full-strength this time around. And this game isn’t in Baton Rouge, either.

Game Three — Florida over Auburn. AU could be playing for Jeff Lebo’s job. That hasn’t helped them much this year. The Gators are playing for an NCAA bid. That hasn’t helped them much in the last couple of weeks. Today it will.

Game Four — Georgia over Arkansas. The Razorbacks have shown that if all their tumblers start to click they can win in the SEC — remember they led the West Division for a while. But those tumblers seem to have been glued into place the last few weeks. I’ll take Georgia in a slight upset.

Game Five — Kentucky over Alabama. The Cats might not have the SEC tourney as their main goal, but they won’t slip up in their first game.

Game Six — Tennessee over Ole Miss. Ole Miss is playing well and they took UT to overtime in Knoxville. Also, Tennessee’s terrible postseason history points toward yet another flame-out. But the East has SOOOO dominated the West this year that I’ll take the league’s clear-cut third-best team over it’s sixth-best one. I’m 50-50 on this one.

Game Seven — Florida over Mississippi State. Like the last game, I’m completely torn on this one. Florida was not as clearly ahead of the West as the top three teams in the East. Still they did knock off the Bulldogs in their first meeting. I’ll take the Gators. But not by much.

Game Eight — Georgia over Vanderbilt. I had Vandy penciled in to win the whole darn tourney… until I heard yesterday’s comments from VU’s players. They freely admitted that they’d prefer to play Arkansas in this round. I can’t picture a team as consistent as Vanderbilt going down in the first game, but as they said, they don’t match up well with the Dawgs. And the Dawgs appear to be in their heads a little bit. Also, I can’t keep going with the chalk. So I’ll take Georgia. (Which means in my view Vandy either loses their first game, or goes all the way.)

Game Nine — Kentucky over Tennessee. Kentucky was the class of the league by far this year. They’ll have a homecourt advantage all week, even against Tennessee. The Vols knocked off the Cats in Knoxville, but this one isn’t on UT’s campus. I’ll take UK.

Game Ten — Georgia over Florida. This side of the bracket is my “reach” side anyway. The Gators have been a streaky team all year, so after a two-game win streak, I see another loss coming. Georgia is a dangerous team. Probably not as dangerous as I’m making them out to be. But I’ll take ‘em through to Sunday nonetheless.

Game Eleven — Kentucky over Georgia. The Wildcats might not be focused. We have no idea how such a young team will play together in a tournament environment. And if they have to face Vandy in the title game, I’ll go with the Commodores. But since I’ve pushed UGA into the title game, I’ll take the Cats as tourney champs… even if John Calipari doesn’t care much about the SEC tourney. Heck, it’s awfully hard to pick against a team that went 14-2 in the regular season with both losses being close games on the road. Kentucky wins it all.

SEC West Headlines – 3/11/10

John — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:56:12 +0000

1. Kendall Kelly is expected to open spring practice for Alabama at safety, not receiver.

2. Bama’s secondary is a primary concern this spring. (Ha ha… get it?)

3. Former UA nose tackle Terrence Cody continues to drop pounds for NFL scouts.

4. Rolando McClain’s Crohn’s disease forced him to cut short his Pro Day workout yesterday.

5. ESPN’s Ivan Maisel calls Bama’s visit to the White House a trip to remember.

6. This Louisiana writer feels it’s time for the SEC to change the way it seeds its tournament.

7. LSU’s Trent Johnson was impressed by Tennessee’s win at Mississippi State on senior night.

8. Here’s a notes column on the SEC tournament.

9. This tourney preview says Kentucky has recaptured its “royal role.”

10. After going oh-for-24 against the top four teams in the East in the regular season, the West Division’s teams need to rack up some wins against their East rivals in Nashville.

11. That includes Ole Miss and Mississippi State who both need good runs to earn NCAA bids.

12. Ole Miss’ team bus rolled a little too close to some demolition explosives in Nashville today… but no one was hurt.

13. Houston Nutt will be looking to re-stock his secondary this spring.

14. MSU’s Phil Turner likes being the “energy guy” on the Bulldogs’ basketball team.

15. Here’s one writer’s predictions for Round One of the SEC tourney.

Media Survey Says… Pearl’s The Best

John — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:42:30 +0000

With many members of the SEC media brigade gathered in Nashville for the conference tournament, The Tennessean saw an opportunity. So the newspaper surveyed 12 members of the media and asked them a series of questions about the league, its players and its coaches.

In the spirit of Richard Dawson, survey says…

Best Coach — Bruce Pearl, Tennessee

Best Player — John Wall, Kentucky

Most Underrated Player — Trey Thompkins, Georgia

After Kentucky, Which Team Will Go Furthest In The NCAAs — Vanderbilt

Best Site For An SEC Tournament – Atlanta and Nashville tied

Best Fans — Kentucky (did they really need to even ask?)

Worst Fans — Auburn (did they really need to even ask?)

Best Homecourt Advantage — Kentucky

Arena That Should Be Demolished — Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum (which HAS seen its last game action)

Coach You’d Want To Have Dinner With — Bruce Pearl, Tennessee

Coach You’d Least Like To Have Dinner With — John Calipari, Kentucky

Kentucky Or The Field — Kentucky

Next Coach To Get Fired — Jeff Lebo, Auburn

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Tourney Game One – Alabama Vs South Carolina

John — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:11:31 +0000

1. Both Alabama and South Carolina are in full-blown survival mode.

2. The Crimson Tide seems to be finally putting things together going into the tourney…

3. But Anthony Grant says “We’re still not where we need to be.”

4. JaMychal Green will be in action today after missing UA’s win over Carolina last week.

5. That win helped boost Bama’s confidence.

6. South Carolina will have to do better on the glass against the Tide this time around. Much better.

7. This writer — who ranks the chances of winning the tourney for each SEC team — believes the Gamecocks can do some damage.

8. Freshman Lakeem Jackson isn’t worried about going 15-of-55 from the free throw stripe. (May he should be.)

9. Sam Muldrow might be more important to USC’s tourney success than Devan Downey.

10. Carolina will use its upset wins over Kentucky and Vanderbilt as motivation in Nashville.

11. Darrin Horn’s focus is still on the future, still on “building a program” in Columbia.

Bama’s McClain Has Crohn’s Disease

John — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:47:37 +0000

For much of the 2009 season, many Alabama players — including Heisman winner Mark Ingram — said that their most valuable teammate was Rolando McClain.

Yesterday, the all-star linebacker revealed that he has battled Crohn’s disease since his freshman year of high school.

“I got diagnosed with Crohn’s disease my freshman year of high school. I was in the hospital for like two weeks, lost like 60 pounds…” McClain said. “Coach (Nick) Saban knows about it, my training staff knows about it. I take four or five pills a day from (doctors). I give a lot of my success to them. They’ve done a great job of managing it and helped me get through a lot of games and a lot of tough practices.”

McClain made the announcement after a brief, but impressive Pro Day workout in front of NFL scouts. McClain is expected to be a first-round pick in this spring’s draft.

Don’t Forget Our SEC Tourney Breakdowns

John — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:24:27 +0000

Just a reminder that we’ve already posted our first-round breakdowns for today’s SEC tournament action.

You can get the statistical skinny on all eight teams in action today by clicking the links below:

Game One — Alabama vs South Carolina

Game Two — Tennessee vs LSU

Game Three — Florida vs Auburn

Game Four — Arkansas vs Georgia

SI’s Tourney Projection Has 5 SEC Teams In

John — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:19:57 +0000

With the SEC tournament set to tip off in just about four hours, the league currently has five teams projected into the NCAA field at SportsIllustrated.com.

Andy Glockner updated his brackets early this morning… and here’s how the SEC’s teams stand:

Kentucky — #1 seed in the East (Syracuse) Region vs #16 seed Quinnipiac (though he most likely meant Robert Morris, which topped the Q last night)

Tennessee – #4 seed in the West (Salt Lake City) Region vs #13 seed Murray State

Vanderbilt — #5 seed in the Midwest (Oklahoma City) Region vs #12 seed San Diego State (Vandy beat Tennessee twice head-to-head, finished ahead of them in the standings and still gets a lower seed?)

Florida — #11 seed in the West (Salt Lake City) Region vs #6 seed Michigan State (who the Gators beat earlier this season)

Ole Miss — #13 seed in the South (Houston) Region vs #4 seed Baylor (The Bears lost to Alabama early in the season)

SEC West Headlines – 3/10/10

John — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:49:26 +0000

1. NFL scouts are in Tuscaloosa for Alabama’s Pro Day.

2. Cornerback Walt McFadden ran a lightning fast 40-yard dash at Auburn’s Pro Day yesterday.

3. Gabe McKenzie had a surprisingly good day in front of the scouts, too.

4. Ben Tate focused on showing scouts that he could catch the ball out of the backfield.

5. Arkansas AD Jeff Long says his support for John Pelphrey “has not changed” since the beginning of the season.

6. Freshman Marshawn Powell drew “wows” from the press by saying that he’s going to step up as the team leader because “we haven’t had that all year.”

7. Powell: “I believe this is my team. I’m taking it and putting it on my back.”

8. This isn’t the first time Powell has spoken up during his freshman year.

9. Les Miles believes forcing Terrance Toliver to practice with a broken hand is a good punishment.

10. Miles also said of his senior, “It’s interesting that a guy who is a pretty good egg, a good student, and does the right things can make mistakes.”

11. Trent Johnson prefers man-to-man defense, but a 2-3 zone has been working better for his Tigers.

12. Andy Kennedy has reinstated Eniel Polynice to the Ole Miss team after a one game suspension, but he’s not sure if he’ll play in the SEC tourney on Friday. (With an NCAA bid possibly on the line, I’d be awfully impressed/surprised if the coach kept Polynice on the bench.)

13. The team’s assist leader will have to do a bit more work to earn some playing time.

14. Who’s more deserving of an NCAA tournament bid: Ole Miss or Mississippi State?

15. Jarvis Varnado said of his Defensive Player of the Year award: “The SEC is full of great players, and to be mentioned with those guys is humbling.”

16. The last few years, State has been better against good teams in the SEC tourney than they have against good teams during the regular season.

17. Some good news to close with — Brad Locke of The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal is back at work (with new perspective) following a car accident last month.

Tourney Tickets A Hot Commodity In Nashville

John — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:26:41 +0000

There aren’t a lot of SEC tournament tickets left (thanks, Kentucky fans) for folks heading to Nashville tomorrow. And those that do remain are pretty pricey.

Try $4,500 for a center court seat to all 11 games. A single-game, upper-deck seat is currently going for about $125.

If you make it to the Bridgestone Arena and find that tickets are just too expensive, well, at least there’s Robert’s right across the street.

More People Want Changes To SEC Tourney Seeding

John — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:19:11 +0000

Jon Solomon of The Birmingham News is the latest Southern writer to jump on the “it’s time to re-seed the SEC tournament” bandwagon.

Earlier this week we told you why and we showed you how we would re-seed the league’s bracket from 1 through 12 rather than by divisions.

Today, Mr. Solomon tackles the issue.

He spoke with ESPN announcer Jimmy Dykes and SEC Executive Associate Commissioner Mark Womack about the league’s tourney layout.

Dykes: “You want to reward and protect your top four teams. It makes a lot of sense to give your top four teams a bye, just like the Big 12 does. It’s at least worth a conversation.”

Womack: “You could do it that way. I think when you have something unusual that happens it probably brings it to the table for discussion a little more than when it’s balanced a little bit more. There’s certainly interest in winning a division championship and competing for seeds within that division.”

Personally, I don’t believe a division-winner at 9-7 in league play deserves much of a reward. If I were the SEC, I’d be trying to ensure that my top four teams looked good for the NCAA selection committee.

I’d also want to create a competitively balanced bracket that would appeal to my television partners. Rewarding or penalizing teams because of geography is ludicrous.

Here are the teams that were helped and hurt the most by the league’s East-West seeding plan:

Kentucky — After a dominant regular-season performance, UK might have to face the league’s third-best team (Tennessee) in the semifinal round.

Vanderbilt — Thanks to Tennessee’s inclusion on the other side of the bracket, Vandy would face the league’s fourth-best team in the semifinals… a team that would normally face the best team in the league. Traditionally, #2 meets #3 in most tourney semifinals.

Tennessee — The Vols finished with the league’s third-best record but will have to play a first-round game against LSU and would then have to play a rested Ole Miss team in Round Two if they beat the Tigers. (Ole Miss finished two games behind Tennessee in conference record.) The Vols are also on Kentucky’s side of the bracket.

Florida — The Gators will have to play a first-round game against Auburn and (if they win) take on a rested Mississippi State club in the second round. Florida and MSU both finished 9-7 in the regular season, but UF beat the Bulldogs head-to-head. On the plus side, the Gators are not locked into Kentucky’s side of the bracket… where they would have been placed if the league had seeded the tourney 1 through 12.

MSU — The Bulldogs get a bye into the second round.

Ole Miss — The Rebels also get a bye into the second round… despite the fact that the two Magnolia State schools actually finished 5th and 6th in the conference overall.

Auburn — The Tigers should be facing a 7-9 Arkansas squad, but due to the East-West nonsense, Jeff Lebo’s team draws 9-7 Florida in the first round instead.

Georgia — While the 12th best team in the league (LSU) faces 11-5 Tennessee, the 11th best team in the league will play 7-9 Arkansas thanks to the West 3 vs East 6 format. In reality, those two matchups are 12 vs 3 and 11 vs 7. Can you explain that to me?

Time to make some changes, SEC.

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Wall And Cousins Take Top SEC Honors

John — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:32:58 +0000

The SEC has announced its post-season awards today and a pair of Kentucky freshmen took home the top honors among players… though there is something odd about the way it all broke down.

Point guard John Wall was the SEC coaches’ choice as the league’s “Player of the Year.”

Okay. I can live with that. While I think DeMarcus Cousins was a tad better (and the stats in our own “Total Package” awards back that up), Wall was a very special player.

But if Wall is the Player of the Year, how did Cousins win the coaches’ “Freshman of the Year” award? If Wall was the best player in the league AND he’s a freshman, then it kind of stands to reason that he would also be the league’s top freshman. Doesn’t it?

Obviously the league’s coaches were just trying to spread the wealth. Joe the Plumber would not approve.

As for “Coach of the Year,” Vanderbilt’s Kevin Stallings took home that honor. A good case could be made for either John Calipari or Bruce Pearl, but I have no problems with Stallings taking home the award. All three coaches did stellar work this season.

Below are the SEC’s awards and honors as voted on by the coaches:

SEC Player of the Year: John Wall, Kentucky

SEC Coach of the Year: Kevin Stallings, Vanderbilt

SEC Freshman of the Year: DeMarcus Cousins

SEC Defensive Player of the Year: Jarvis Varnado

SEC Sixth Man of the Year: John Jenkins, Vanderbilt

SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year: Ray Shipman, Florida

First Team All-SEC (complete with eight members?)

Jermaine Beal (Vanderbilt), Wayne Chism (Tennessee), DeMarcus Cousins (Kentucky), Devan Downey (South Carolina), Patrick Patterson (Kentucky), Trey Thompkins (Georgia), Jarvis Varnado (MSU), and John Wall (Kentucky)

Second Team All-SEC (seriously, how are there eight members?)

Dee Bost (MSU), Courtney Fortson (Arkansas), Tasmin Mitchell (LSU), AJ Ogilvy (Vanderbilt), Jeffrey Taylor (Vanderbilt), Mikhail Torrance (Alabama), Erving Walker (Florida), and Chris Warren (Ole Miss)

All-Defensive Team

Patrick Patterson (Kentucky), Jarvis Varnado (MSU), Devan Downey (South Carolina), Sam Muldrow (South Carolina), and Jeffrey Taylor (Vanderbilt)

All-Freshman Team

Eric Bledsoe (Kentucky), Kenny Boynton (Florida), Reginald Buckner (Ole Miss), DeMarcus Cousins (Kentucky), John Jenkins (Vanderbilt), Tony Mitchell (Alabama), Marshawn Powell (Arkansas), and John Wall (Kentucky)

MrSEC.com’s “Total Package” Team For 2010

John — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:01:48 +0000

With the regular season behind us, it’s now time for everyone and their brother to start handing out awards. Player of the Year. Freshman of the Year. Comeback Player of the Year. Newcomer of the Year. The list goes on and on.

Here at MrSEC.com we wanted to take a different approach. Rather than just giving you our view on the league’s best player(s) in 2009-2010, we wanted to hand out awards featuring some statistical basis.

In an effort to judge which SEC players were the absolute most valuable to their teams during the regular season, we decided to compare players in six different categories.

Now, before we go further, let me just say this — don’t send me emails saying things like “blocks aren’t as important as assists” and so on. This is just a fun little exercise. And if I’d created a formula to weigh each statistic differently, I’d have heard from the math majors in that case, too.

So it what it is. Which is at least more fact-driven than a vote based on some sportswriter’s eyeball test.

To create our rankings, we added up each SEC player’s points per game, rebounds per game, assists per game, steals per game and blocks per game. Those stats show us a bit about each person’s offensive and defensive skills. Then we subtracted from that total each player’s turnovers per game.

Below you’ll find the 22 SEC players who tallied positive scores of more than 20.0 “good stats” per game.

When everything was tallied and figured, it should come as no surprise that South Carolina’s one-man band Devan Downey was the league’s best “total package” of the year.

But the race for the top spot was tighter than expected. Jarvis Varnado of Mississippi State finished just 1/10th of a point behind Downey for the season. LSU’s Tasmin Mitchell also finished within half-a-point of Downey.

Kentucky’s DeMarcus Cousins was the highest-rated freshman on the list, ahead of teammate John Wall and Marshawn Powell of Arkansas.

Kentucky had three players on the list (Patrick Patterson also made it)… and you have to wonder if any of those players would have racked up more positive stats had the Wildcats not been so dad-gummed balanced.

Below you’ll see our final rankings for each player. Only players who took part in 20 games or more were included (or else Arkansas’ Courtney Fortson would have made the list, too).

MrSEC.com “Total Package” Team for 2009-2010

Player	PPG	RPG	APG	STLPG	BLKPG	TOPG	Total Score
D. Downey (SC)	22.6	3.1	3.6	2.8	0	-3.6	28.5
J. Varnado (MSU)	13.5	10.6	.9	.6	4.8	-2.0	28.4
T. Mitchell (LSU)	17.0	9.5	1.8	1.3	.5	-2.1	28.0
D. Cousins (UK)	15.6	10.1	.9	.9	1.8	-1.8	27.5
T. Thompkins (UGA)	17.7	8.2	1.7	1.0	1.1	-3.1	26.6
J. Wall (UK)	16.8	4.0	6.2	1.8	0.5	-4.0	25.3
P. Patterson (UK)	14.9	7.5	.9	.7	1.3	-1.1	24.2
M. Powell (Ark)	15.1	6.7	1.4	1.0	1.3	-2.0	23.5
T. Leslie (UGA)	13.9	6.9	2.6	1.2	1.0	-2.6	23.0
M. Torrance (Ala)	15.4	3.9	5.3	.8	.3	-2.7	22.9
J. Green (Ala)	14.3	7.0	1.1	.9	1.7	-2.7	22.3
AJ Ogilvy (VU)	13.9	6.2	.8	1.1	1.5	-1.8	21.7
C. Warren (UM)	17.2	1.8	3.4	1.1	.2	-2.1	21.6
L. Hargrove (Aub)	12.9	6.9	2.7	1.3	.4	-2.7	21.5
W. Chism (UT)	12.4	6.8	1.1	1.2	1.5	-1.7	21.3
D. Reed (Aub)	16.1	2.5	4.3	1.4	.2	-3.2	21.3
T. Waller (Aub)	15.9	3.8	1.1	1.4	.2	-1.1	21.3
D. Bost (MSU)	12.9	4.5	5.4	1.2	.2	-3.3	20.9
C. Parsons (UF)	11.9	6.8	2.5	1.1	.1	-1.9	20.5
S. Warren (LSU)	11.6	7.2	.4	1.1	1.4	-1.5	20.2
T. White (UM)	14.4	4.4	1.5	.9	.2	-1.3	20.1
J. Taylor (VU)	13.9	5.1	1.8	1.2	.4	-2.4	20.0

MrSEC.com “Total Package” Player of the Year:
Devan Downey, G, South Carolina

MrSEC.com First Team “Total Package” Squad:
Devan Downey, G, South Carolina
Jarvis Varnado, F, Mississippi State
Tasmin Mitchell, F, LSU
DeMarcus Cousins, F, Kentucky
John Wall, G, Kentucky

MrSEC.com “Total Package” Freshman of the Year:
DeMarcus Cousins, F, Kentucky

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25 Reasons To Love SEC Basketball

John — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:24:03 +0000

With the SEC tournament tipping off in Nashville this week, that city’s newspaper has put together a list of 25 things “We Love About SEC Basketball.”

To view The Tennessean’s slideshow, just click right there.

But I’ll warn you, #1 on the paper’s list is Vanderbilt’s Memorial Gym. So clearly, this list is written with the hometown fans in mind… ’cause I know of no one outside of Nashville who loves Vandy’s funky bandbox.

Don’t Miss Our SEC Tourney 1st Round Breakdowns

John — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:14:55 +0000

For those you who have an aversion to the tedious act of scrolling, I thought I’d remind you that we posted yesterday our breakdowns of all the SEC tournament’s first round games.

Just click on the pretty red letters to find everything from teams’ records to their scoring breakdowns to their tourney resumes to their remaining tourney hopes.

We also give you our take on who’ll win in Round One, too.

Enjoy…

Game One — Alabama vs South Carolina

Game Two — Tennessee vs LSU

Game Three — Florida vs Auburn

Game Four — Arkansas vs Georgia

Sporting News, Kiper, Scouts Inc Talk NFL Draft

John — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:08:52 +0000

The Sporting News has posted its latest NFL mock draft and SEC fans will be happy with it. Seven former SEC stars are projected as being first round picks this April.

They are:

5th pick — Eric Berry, S, Tennessee to the Chiefs

7th pick — Joe Haden, CB, Florida to the Browns

15th pick — Brandon Spikes, LB, Florida to the Giants

18th pick — Rolando McClain, LB, Alabama to the Steelers

26th pick — Carlos Dunlap, DE, Florida to the Cardinals

29th pick — Dan Williams, NT, Tennessee to the Jets

31st pick — Jeff Owens, DT, Georgia to the Colts

Meanwhile, the folks over at Scouts, Inc. have their top 32 players ranked in order of overall grade. They, too, have seven SEC players rated as first round talent (the company’s grade for each player is at right):

3. Eric Berry, S, Tennessee — 98

6. Joe Haden, CB, Florida — 96

13. Rolando McClain, LB, Alabama — 95

19. Carlos Dunlap, DE, Florida — 94

20. Dan Williams, NT, Tennessee — 93

26. Maurkice Pouncey, C/G, Florida — 92

29. Kareem Jackson, CB, Alabama — 91

And finally, Mel Kiper ranks five SEC players on his most recent 25-man “Big Board.” Here they are:

3. Eric Berry, S, Tennessee

11. Rolando McClain, LB, Alabama

12. Joe Haden, CB, Florida

16. Dan Williams, NT, Tennessee

18. Maurkice Pouncey, C/G, Florida

Feeling Down? Watch This.

John — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:01:13 +0000

I hate Mondays. Even Monday evenings.

So in that spirit, I link you to this. It has nothing to do with sports, but it made me laugh. (Might take a second to warm up.)

SEC Tourney Breakdown – Alabama Vs S. Carolina

John — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:30:11 +0000

GAME ONE
Thursday, 1pm ET
SEC Network

West #4 Seed — Alabama
Overall Record: 16-14
SEC Record: 6-10
Current Streak: Won 2
Last 8 Games: 3-5
RPI: 98
SOS: 49
Top 50 RPI Wins: Baylor
Losses Outside Top 100 RPI: Arkansas, Auburn
2pt Shots (% of Total Points): 56.3%
3pt Shots (% of Total Points): 24.4%
Free Throws (% of Total Points): 19.3%
Bench Minutes (% of Total Minutes): 32.5%
Playing For: An NIT bid

East #5 Seed — South Carolina
Overall Record: 15-15
SEC Record 6-10
Current Streak: Won 1
Last 8 Games: 2-6
RPI: 84
SOS: 16
Top 50 RPI Wins: Richmond, Kentucky, Vanderbilt
Losses Outside Top 100 RPI: Miami (Fl), Boston College, Arkansas
2pt Shots (% of Total Points): 54.0%
3pt Shots (% of Total Points): 29.5%
Free Throws (% of Total Points): 16.5%
Bench Minutes (% of Total Minutes): 28.7%
Playing For: An NIT bid

Previous Meeting: Alabama 79, South Carolina 70 in Columbia on March 3rd

Fast Facts: Alabama is a bigger team that was able to dominate inside against Carolina in their previous meeting. Alabama is also the deeper team. Carolina is very much “The Devan Downey Show” and if he goes off, the Tide could be in trouble. Darrin Horn ripped his team publicly following the Cocks’ loss to Bama. They responded with a win at Vanderbilt on Sunday.

Edge: South Carolina has the motivation, but Alabama has a little bit better team. Bama should advance.

Bama Visits The White House, Can’t Escape Auburn

John — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:12:54 +0000

The Alabama football team visited the White House today for the traditional meeting with the Prez:

Photos, handshakes, “You guys were good,” “Here, have a jersey,” etc, etc.

But amidst all the usual hubbub and celebratory pats on the back came a shot from an Auburn man.

President Barack Obama’s press secretary Robert Gibbs tweeted the following as soon as the White House visit wrapped up: “As President welcomes Tide to White House, I prefer to remember the other 58 mins of Iron Bowl WDE!”

That would be “War Damn Eagle!” folks.

Obama also brought up the Gibbs-Bama situation: “I’ve got to tell you, everyone was really excited about this team coming today, except for my Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, because he was born and raised in Auburn. He’s hiding in his office right now.”

SEC West Headlines – 3/8/10

John — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:14:07 +0000

1. Alabama will have to find some new stars on their special teams’ units this fall.

2. Anthony Grant’s basketball team has gathered a little momentum heading into the SEC tournament.

3. Antonio Coleman and Walt McFadden will be back in Auburn for the Tigers’ pro day tomorrow.

4. Arkansas is hitting tourney time with a five-game losing streak… the worst close to a season in the Hogs’ 86-year basketball history.

5. LSU linebacker Kelvin Sheppard is ready to be a leader.

6. We’ve already told you about the arrest of Terrance Toliver, but I like the fact that the official charge is for “disturbing the peace by fistic encounter.” Gotta remember “fistic encounter.”

7. This writer believes — as do I — that folks should have seen a bad season coming for the LSU basketball team.

8. Rick Stansbury had a colorful post-game presser after MSU lost to Tennessee on Saturday.

9. State will likely need to win the SEC tourney to get an NCAA invite. Again.

10. Here’s what a number of bracket gurus say about the Bulldogs’ chances.

11. This writer believes Ole Miss will earn an NCAA at-large bid with a win over Tennessee in the SEC tournament.

12. Chris Warren will need some more help from his teammates if the Rebels are to earn a bid.

Expect Lots Of Blue In Nashville

John — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:45:11 +0000

If you’ve ever been to an SEC tournament, you know what color you’ll be seeing the most of in Nashville this week: blue. As in Big Blue.

Whether it’s Rick Pitino leading the Cats to a title, Tubby Smith dealing trying to weather ridiculous expectations, or Billy Gillispie driving Kentucky fans mad, the SEC tournament always turns into the UK Invitational.

Atlanta, Tampa, New Orleans, Memphis… doesn’t matter. Cat fans own the SEC’s annual party. And with the tourney being played in nearby Nashville this year, you can expect to see as much or more blue than ever.

In fact, there’s a good chance that John Calipari’s club could have a “home crowd” advantage in the tourney semifinals against Tennessee and in the final against Vanderbilt (if the bracket holds form) despite the fact that they’ll be playing in those schools’ home state.

That would be frustrating for Vol and Commodore fans. But it would also be par for the SEC tournament course. This year — like every other year — expect blue to be the dominant color inside the Bridgestone Arena.

Saban’s “Insult” Overblown

John — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:53:25 +0000

In case you missed it, while receiving the trophy from last November’s Iron Bowl game, Nick Saban mentioned the tremendous respect he has for “the University of Auburn.”

Trouble is… the school is called Auburn University, not the University of Auburn.

This all took part at halftime of Bama’s basketball victory over Auburn. Upon hearing Saban’s comment, some Tide fans booed the idea of having respect for the Tigers.

Somehow, Saban’s slip has made national news. Many Auburn fans claim he made the mistake on purpose. As if putting the word “university” before “Auburn” instead of after “Auburn” is a truly cutting insult. Please. (I suppose he used up all the glue before breaking Gene Chizik’s leg lamp, too.)

If Tiger fans want to feel insulted, they should focus on the fact that Bama’s fans booed their coach’s attempt at sportsmanship.

You’ve got to be pretty low on Alabama fans’ mental totem pole to get them to boo anything Saban says. That’s the insult. Not Saban’s “U before A” mix-up.

Ray Melick of The Birmingham News strikes the correct tone in his column covering the “controversy.”

How The SEC Tourney Bracket Should Look

John — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:31:06 +0000

(This post has been updated to correct a rather ridiculous typo on the author’s part… changes noted below.)

I am a fan of the SEC championship game in football. East versus West. One game, two division champions, winner takes all. That makes sense.

Too bad the SEC tournament is also set up in an East versus West fashion. Because in a basketball tourney, it makes no sense.

Oh, I’d be good with the SEC’s current seeding plan (East versus West in every game, teams seeded by division, with the top two seeds from each division getting first round byes), if only a few teams earned their way into the tourney. For example, if only eight teams made it in… then I would understand trying to place an even number of teams from each division in the tournament.

But everyone gets a shot in the basketball tournament anyway.

The SEC’s current seeding plan would make sense to me if each team from the West didn’t play each team from the East during the regular season. The tourney would be an opportunity to see matchups that hadn’t already been played.

But all of the teams in the West do play all of the teams in the East.

That’s why I believe it’s long past time the conference created a truly balanced tournament bracket. That could be achieved by seeding the tournament #1 through #12 from the SEC’s best to the SEC’s worst.

In the current set-up, a weak division can throw off the competitive balance of the entire bracket (on paper). Take the down year in the SEC West this season.

Ole Miss and Mississippi State — the fifth and sixth best teams in the league — will receive byes in this week’s tourney. Their placement forces the league’s clear-cut third-best team (Tennessee) into the same side of the bracket with top-seeded Kentucky.

Name me a tournament where #1 plays #3 in the semi-finals. That’s not fair to the #1 seed or the #3 seed.

Thanks to its location on a map, Arkansas will be rewarded with a #3 seed. That means the Razorbacks will get to play the worst team in the East in a first round game with Georgia. And what did they do to earn this honor? They finished 7-9 in SEC play, the seventh best record in the league.

The two worst teams in the conference this season were LSU and Georgia. LSU will face 11-5 Tennessee in the first round. Georgia, as we said, will face 7-9 Arkansas. Georgia’s game is whole heckuva lot easier than LSU’s. Why such a big reward for the second-worst team int the league?

If the league were seeded from 1 through 12 instead, here’s how things would shake out:

1 Kentucky 14-2
2 Vanderbilt 12-4
3 Tennessee 11-5
4 Florida 9-7 (by virtue of head-to-head tiebreakers with MSU and UM)
5 Miss. State 9-7 (by virtue of head-to-head tiebreaker with UM)
6 Ole Miss 9-7
7 Arkansas 7-9
8 S. Carolina 6-10 (by virtue of win vs UK tiebreaker with UA and AU)
9 Alabama 6-10 (by virtue of division record tiebreaker with AU)
10 Auburn 6-10
11 Georgia 5-11
12 LSU 2-14

If you create a balanced bracket based upon those correct seedings, you’d have a more competitive bracket than the actual one waiting to be played out in Nashville. See for yourself:

#9 Alabama would play #8 South Carolina with the winner facing #1 Kentucky

#12 LSU would play #5 MSU with the winner facing #4 Florida

#10 Auburn would play # 7 Arkansas with the winner facing #2 Vanderbilt

#11 Georgia would play #6 Ole Miss with the winner facing #3 Tennessee

(I have changed second-round matchups to more correctly match standard tournament format. I simply flip-flopped which games should have been matched with each team getting a bye. When posting dozens of stories and links per day, I occasionally flub up in my rushed state to write long posts like this one. This was one of those times. The point has not changed… 1-12 is the way to go. Sorry for any confusion! And please email me if you ever think I’ve mistyped something. Many thanks.)

The semi-finals — on paper — would feature the four best teams in the conference: Kentucky vs Florida and Vanderbilt vs Tennessee.

Under the current set-up, the SEC bracket has more to do with an atlas than it does actual wins and losses. And that makes for a less competitive tournament.

Especially in a season when either the East or West division is clearly inferior to its counterpart.

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The SEC Tournament Schedule

John — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:06:43 +0000

The field for this week’s SEC tournament in Nashville is set… though I think there should be some tweaks made.

Below you’ll see the full schedule for this week’s action. All times are Eastern.

THURSDAY

GAME ONE
E5 South Carolina vs W4 Alabama
1pm, SEC Network

GAME TWO
E3 Tennessee vs W6 LSU
3:15pm, SEC Network

GAME THREE
W5 Auburn vs E4 Florida
7:30pm, SEC Network

GAME FOUR
W3 Arkansas vs E6 Georgia
9:45pm, SEC Network

FRIDAY

GAME FIVE
E1 Kentucky vs South Carolina/Alabama winner
1:00pm, SEC Network

GAME SIX
W2 Ole Miss vs Tennessee/LSU winner
3:15pm, SEC Network

GAME SEVEN
W1 Mississippi State vs Auburn/Florida winner
7:30pm, SEC Network

GAME EIGHT
E2 Vanderbilt vs Arkansas/Georgia winner

SATURDAY

GAME NINE
Game Five winner vs Game Six winner
1:00pm, ABC

GAME TEN
Game Seven vs Game Eight winner
3:15pm, ABC

SUNDAY

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Game Nine winner vs Game Ten winner
1:00pm, ABC

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Alabama is West’s No. 4 seed, will open SEC tourney against South Carolina

admin — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 14:46:58 +0000

After beating Auburn, Alabama will face South Carolina to open the 2010 SEC tournament Thursday in Nashville.
(more)

UA closes out regular season with big win

admin — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 14:46:24 +0000

By Cecil Hurt
Sports Editor

TUSCALOOSA | Even in its new-look uniforms, the University of Alabama basketball team proved that there is no gray area when it comes to defense.
(more)

Alabama and Auburn football: Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban mangles Auburn’s name in praise attempt

admin — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 14:45:56 +0000

Expresses respect for ‘University of Auburn’
(more)

JaMychal Green reinstated to Tide basketball team

admin — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 11:14:10 +0000

After serving a one-game suspension, Alabama’s leading rebounder will be available for Saturday’s home finale against Auburn.
(more)

SEC Bowl Partners Shuffle Start Times

John — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:29:52 +0000

The Capital One Bowl is now just another bowl game when it comes to the SEC’s TV schedule on New Year’s Day.

For several years, the Orlando-based game had been guaranteed that no other SEC bowl partner would begin their game at the same time. That has changed.

The Capital One Bowl will move from ABC to ESPN this season and kick off at 1pm ET.

The Outback Bowl in Tampa will move from ESPN to ABC and will also start at 1pm ET this season… away from its traditional 11am ET kick. (The Outback Bowl is expected to announce a new four-year contract with the SEC in the coming days.)

The SEC will also have a third bowl game running on ESPN2 — new partner the Gator Bowl — which will start at 1:30pm.

From a fan’s perspective, it’s disappointing to see so many SEC bowl games played at the same time. After a month of watching drek like Troy versus Eastern Michigan, it would be nice to see a number of SEC teams play back-to-back.

However, from a “roadblocking” sense, the league is guaranteed to get eyeballs between 1pm and 5pm ET. Anyone across the country — including recruits — wanting to watch football in the heart of New Year’s Day will have a hard time avoiding an SEC team.

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SEC West Headlines – 3/5/10

John — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:41:41 +0000

1. Alabama will have plenty of depth at receiver this year.

2. Bama has seven of the top 100 football players in nation according to ESPN’s Joe Schad.

3. This writer has a special connection to Auburn’s Beard-Eaves Coliseum.

4. Ryan Mallett made Mr. Schad’s list as the #1 college football player to watch in 2010.

5. LSU’s Pep Levingston is moving from defensive end to defensive tackle this spring.

6. With their 72-59 loss to Ole Miss last night, the Tigers finished the regular season at 0-12 away from home. Ugh.

7. The win kept alive the Rebels’ slim hopes for an at-large bid into the NCAA tournament.

8. Trent Johnson said, “(Ole Miss is) not a bubble team, they’re an NCAA tournament team.”

9. Chris Warren was five-of-seven from three-point range to lead the Rebels.

10. Tennessee natives Jarvis Varnado and Barry Stewart hope to help their own NCAA tourney hopes by leading MSU against their home state school.

The SEC Goes HD… In The Replay Booth

John — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:54:57 +0000

NOW it’ll all be better.

According to David Parry, the national coordinator of football officials, the SEC will be one of several conferences putting HD monitors in its replay booths this fall.

Hip-Hip… yeah, it’s not going to stop all the complaining.

Look, I think the SEC should have already put HD monitors in its stadiums. Why not? A clearer picture might help an official see a blade of grass being kicked up from a player’s shoe as he tip-toes a sideline.

But the idea that this will somehow drastically “improve” officiating in the SEC is ridiculous. Because officiating in the SEC is no worse than officiating in any other league.

There are blown calls in every game. There always have been. The only thing that’s changed is the stuff that the fans control… away from the stadiums.

In the past, fans didn’t have 10 television angles to watch. They didn’t have slow-motion replays (the greatest injustice ever done to refs who must make split-second calls in real-time from one, fixed angle). They also didn’t have DVRs and TiVos to allow them to stop, freeze, back-up, and frame-by-frame the calls that they don’t like.

Twenty-five years ago, they didn’t have the means to complain loudly and rally their fellow conspiracy buffs, either. Talk radio and the internet changed all that.

Years ago, a ref might make a bad call and the game would go on. Now that bad call can be re-lived and re-visited for days, weeks and years after a game. As fury builds among those fans who feel shafted, so too grow the cries of “Cheating!”

Adding HD sets to the SEC’s replay booths? Smart move, but it won’t change anything. This fall, we’ll still hear from fans of losing teams who claim the refs and the league and Mike Slive and the Illuminati are out to get their beloved teams.

After all, even with HD replays in my home, I had a number of disagreements with colleagues who simply saw the same image I saw differently.

It’s called human judgement. Human error goes along with that. And until someone comes up with a way to rule out human error, we’re going to continue to hear folks cry about officiating.

Whether there are HD monitors in the SEC or not.

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Sports Illustrated Mock Draft Has 5 SEC’ers Going In First Round

John — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:18:24 +0000

Don Banks of Sports Illustrated has posted his most recent NFL mock draft and five former SEC players are projected to be snapped up in the first round.

They are:

5th pick — Eric Berry, S, Tennessee to the Kansas City Chiefs

7th pick — Joe Haden, CB, Florida to the Cleveland Browns

11th pick — Dan Williams, NT, Tennessee to the Denver Broncos

15th pick — Rolando McClain, ILB, Alabama to the New York Giants

23rd pick — Maurkice Pouncey, C, Florida to the Green Bay Packers

SEC West Headlines – 3/4/10

John — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:48:54 +0000

1. Alabama should be loaded at running back again this fall.

2. DeMarcus Milliner is already on UA’s campus (along with 10 other new signees) and he’s ready to compete for a starting cornerback job.

3. After blowing leads all year, last night’s 79-70 win at South Carolina featured an Alabama comeback.

4. Anthony Grant said, “The game today was a great character win” for the Tide.

5. Auburn’s 89-80 upset of Mississippi State gave them their first two-game SEC win streak of the season. (This article also features the best Jeff Lebo photo ever, by the way.)

6. Auburn’s coach received an enthusiastic cheer from the home crowd when he was introduced. Was athletic director Jay Jacobs listening?

7. Lebo said that he was dreading the game beforehand. “We had six seniors that you want to honor and send this place out in the right way.”

8. John Pelphrey said his team battled at Tennessee last night, but in the end the Razorbacks dropped their fourth game in a row.

9. The Hogs loss led this writer to post a list of sad facts about the current state of UA basketball.

10. While Pelphrey’s program struggles, the coach is doing good deeds away from the court. (Which doesn’t mean a thing to fans who want Ws.)

11. LSU’s football team will be putting on the pads today.

12. Another position switch for the Tigers: Jai Eugene has moved from corner to free safety.

13. Redshirt freshman slot receiver Chris Tolliver has caught Les Miles’ attention this week.

14. When Ole Miss hosts LSU tonight, they’ll be trying to keep their slim NCAA tournament hopes alive.

15. As the Tigers prepare for their final road game of the season, some folks are getting ready for life without Tasmin Mitchell next year.

16. Malcolm White — sitting out after transferring from Mississippi — is ready to contribute in Baton Rouge.

17. For the Rebels, tonight’s game still has plenty of meaning.

18. Ole Miss is still vying for a bye in the SEC tournament.

19. UM will be counting on Reggie Buckner to add to his freshman school record of 48 blocked shots.

20. Ole Miss defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix has been rewarded for his loyalty with a new $500,000 per year contract.

21. Co-offensive coordinator Dave Rader will make slightly less than Kent Austin earned last year (before heading to the ‘Nard Dog’s alma mater).

22. CSS will carry UM’s Grove Bowl live on April 17th.

23. Great line: “Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum will ultimately go up in smoke. Thanks to its occupant’s last game in the building, Mississippi State’s NCAA hopes could get there first.” Well played, Parrish Alford.

24. Rick Stansbury said after his team lost to Auburn, “This game has nothing to do with the NCAA tournament. We’ve got to go home and beat Tennessee. That’s the only thing that matters.”

If The SEC Tournament Started Today

John — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:37:40 +0000

With one mid-week game remaining (LSU at Ole Miss tonight), the SEC regular season is down to seven games total.

Heading into tonight’s action (and this weekend’s), here’s the way the SEC Tournament would shake out if it started today:

W5 vs E4: Alabama (15-14, 5-10) vs Florida (20-10, 9-6)
Winner vs W1: Mississippi State (21-9, 9-6)

E6 vs W3: South Carolina (14-15, 5-10) vs Arkansas (14-16, 7-8)
Winner vs E2: Vanderbilt (23-6, 12-3)

E5 vs W4: Georgia (13-15, 5-10) vs Auburn (15-15, 6-9)
Winner vs E1: Kentucky (28-2, 13-2)

W6 vs E3: LSU (10-18, 1-13) vs Tennessee (22-7, 10-5)
Winner vs W2: Ole Miss (19-9, 7-7)

Tiebreakers:

* Ole Miss would earn the West #2 seed over Arkansas because they currently have a better record (by a half-game). This one gets a little tricky. If the Rebels win tonight and beat the Hogs on Saturday, they will keep the #2 seed. If they lose tonight and beat Arkansas on Saturday, they will keep the #2 seed. If the Rebels lose tonight and lose on Saturday, Arkansas will grab the #2 seed. If the Rebels win tonight and lose on Saturday, Arkansas will earn the #2 seed based on their sweep of UM.

* Georgia would earn the East #5 seed over South Carolina because it currently has more division wins (4 to 3). If Carolina upsets Vandy on Saturday, Carolina would move past Georgia into 5th place — regardless of what Georgia does — based on the Cocks’ win over Kentucky.

Remaining SEC Schedule:

LSU at Ole Miss, Tonight, 9pm ET

Auburn at Alabama, Saturday, 1:30pm ET

South Carolina at Vanderbilt, Saturday 2:00pm ET

Ole Miss at Arkansas, Saturday, 4:00pm ET

Georgia at LSU, Saturday, 5:00pm ET

Tennessee at Mississippi State, Saturday, 6:00pm ET

Florida at Kentucky, Sunday, 12:00pm ET

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SEC West Headlines – 3/3/10

John — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:24:35 +0000

1. Quarterback should be the least of Alabama’s concerns in 2010.

2. Former corner Javier Arenas hurt his hamstring at the NFL Combine.

3. Here’s a bit more on Bama’s trip to the White House.

4. Here’s more on the suspension of Tide forward JaMychal Green.

5. His suspension means a tougher battle for Bama tonight when they face South Carolina and Devan Downey.

6. Former Auburn tailback Ben Tate believes he’ll go between the second and fourth rounds of the NFL draft.

7. Not only has Arkansas been losing lately, but they haven’t had a lead in more than 83 minutes of game action. Yikes.

8. LSU is changing its football season ticket policy.

9. Senior Joseph Barksdale is moving from right to left tackle.

10. Russell Shepard believes he can best help the Tigers as a receiver.

11. The coaches are talking about making the Bayou Bengals more physical, but this writer wants to see better playcalling, too.

12. The time is NOW for tailback Richard Murphy.

13. Malcolm White isn’t traveling with LSU for their game at Ole Miss tomorrow night. The former Rebel says he doesn’t think “it’s a good idea for me to be in Oxford right now.”

14. Mississippi State’s new defensive coordinator Manny Diaz will make $260,000 this year. His co-coordinator Chris Wilson will bring home $240,000.

15. MSU needs Kodi Augustus to step up in March just as he did last year.

16. When State closes down Auburn’s arena tonight it will mark the third time the Dogs have played the final game in an SEC gym.

17. Rick Stansbury knows it will be an emotional Senior Night for the Tigers.

18. MSU’s players know where they stand on ESPN’s projected tourney bubble.

19. The Ole Miss football team will finally get its Cotton Bowl trophy at halftime of tomorrow’s basketball game against LSU.

20. Is point guard Chris Warren learning how to be a better assist man?

The SEC’s Combine Winners And Losers

John — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:53:56 +0000

There must be a blue million of these “combine winners and losers” pieces floating around the internet today. I figured I’d share with you one that you might have missed.

Russ Lande of The Sporting News posted his victors and vanquished on offense and defense last night and the SEC players who made his lists are as follows:

Geno Atkins, DT, Georgia — WINNER
Personnel men were impressed with him at the Senior Bowl. And after he looked bigger than expected and bench-pressed 225 pounds a surprising 34 times and showed great athleticism in drills Monday, he is a second-round lock who could sneak into the bottom of the first round.

Eric Berry, S, Tennessee — WINNER
He already was a top prospect on most every team’s draft board, but his display of elite athleticism, body control and coordination likely pushed him into the top five of the draft.

Jeff Owens, NT, Georgia — WINNER
After the season, Owens was viewed as a solid third- or fourth-round prospect, but he then dominated at the Senior Bowl and moved into second-round consideration. At the Combine, he no doubt looked better than the other top nose tackles — Tennessee’s Dan Williams and Alabama’s Terrence Cody — and could slip into the bottom of the first round.

Joe Haden, CB, Florida — LOSER
He was the nearly unanimous #1 cornerback heading into the Combine, but some surely will question that after his 4.57-second 40-yard dash Tuesday. He showed poor technique Tuesday but looks faster and more athletic on film, and our opinion of him won’t change. That said, general managers drafting top 10 might be scared off by Tuesday’s poor performance. The pressure is surely on to show marked improvement at his on-campus workout March 17th.

Brandon LaFell, WR, LSU — LOSER
He had a disappointing senior season and then failed to show quickness and speed Sunday. He showed only adequate explosiveness and speed at the Combine and thus certainly will fall out of the first round.

Kendrick Lewis, S, Ole Miss — LOSER
Scouts around the league have been glowing about Lewis since the start of the ‘09 season, and many NFL evaluators have given him second-round grades. He struggled Tuesday at the Combine, and his stock could really suffer. Safeties who run the 40 in more than 4.7 seconds historically become late-round picks regardless of their on-field play.

Bama To The White House Monday

John — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:40:32 +0000

Alabama’s national championship team will be in Washington, DC on Monday for the traditional handshake/jersey-exchange with President Barack Obama.

In addition to meeting with the President and seeing the sights in DC, the Tide players will also meet with a group of area youths and encourage them to stay in school.

When Obama called Nick Saban after Alabama’s win over Texas in the BCS title game, Saban reportedly invited him to play in some coach-vs-coach basketball games that he and his staff will be holding this spring.

That’s a far cry from Saban’s snub of President George W. Bush while serving as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins. In the summer of 2006, Saban declined a Miami dinner invitation from the then-President in order to take care of his training camp duties.

“It was really a tough decision. I feel like my first responsibility is our team. That in no way disrespects the importance of the opportunity I would have loved to have had to spend dinner with the President.”

Either a) Saban has learned what kind of bad press a man can get from snubbing the prez or b) this is actually a team reward, so he has no problem making time for it.

Or c) he felt that Bush was doofus.

I’ll go with b.

Bama’s Green Suspended From BBall Team

John — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:30:01 +0000

Yesterday we told you Alabama sophomore forward JaMychal Green had announced that he would return to the Crimson Tide next year… rather than roll the dice in the NBA draft.

One has to wonder if those plans will change now that Green has been suspended indefinitely by coach Anthony Grant. According to The Tuscaloosa News, it appears that Green’s suspension is tied to academics.

In a related matter, there is no clear word on whether guard Senario Hillman will be back for tonight’s game at South Carolina. Hillman was suspended for Saturday’s loss to Ole Miss.

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If The SEC Tournament Began Today…

John — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:59:05 +0000

Wondering where your team stands as SEC schools jockey for SEC tournament positions? Below is how the league tourney field would look if the season ended today.

Obviously, with two games remaining for each team, this will change by next Sunday. But just for the sake of argument…

W5 vs E4: Alabama (14-14, 4-10) vs Florida (20-9, 9-5)
Winner vs W1: Mississippi State (21-8, 9-5)

E6 vs W3: South Carolina (14-14, 5-9) vs Ole Miss (19-9, 7-7)
Winner vs E2: Vanderbilt (22-6, 11-3)

E5 vs W4: Georgia (13-14, 5-9) vs Auburn (14-15, 5-9)
Winner vs E1: Kentucky (27-2, 12-2)

W6 vs E3: LSU (10-18, 1-13) vs Tennessee (21-7, 9-5)
Winner vs W2: Arkansas (14-15, 7-7)

For a two team tie, the league’s tiebreakers are as follows:

1. Head-to-head record

2. Division record

3. Record versus #1 team in division and then proceeding through team #6 if necessary

4. Non-division record

5. Record versus #1 team in opposite division and then proceeding
through team #6 if necessary

6. Coin flip

In the example above…

* Arkansas would get the West’s #2 seed because the Razorbacks are 1-0 against Ole Miss (with one head-to-head game to play.

* Tennessee would get the East’s #3 seed because it has a better divisional record than Florida.

* Georgia would get the East’s #5 seed because it has a better divisional record than South Carolina.

SEC West Headlines – 3/2/10

John — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:25:41 +0000

1. Alabama has announced the hiring of Kevin Sherrer as the Tide’s new director of player development for football.

2. Will Kirby Smart’s new $750,000 a year salary cause friction among the Bama staff?

3. Rolando McClain did not take part in combine drills yesterday due to a hamstring injury.

4. Terrence Cody has dropped 16 pounds… but he still looks to be a second-round pick. (Not in my book. I think someone will be getting a steal if he goes that low.)

5. Tide sophomore forward JaMychal Green says he’ll be back next year in Tuscaloosa.

6. This writer says Gene Chizik recognizes the importance of his coaching staff.

7. Wednesday will be the last men’s game ever played at Auburn’s Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum. And that’s a good thing.

8. Frankie Sullivan is questionable for Wednesday’s tussle with MSU due to a concussion he suffered in practice.

9. When Courtney Fortson returned from suspension, Arkansas thrived. Now that he’s struggling, so are the Hogs.

10. Arkansas’ NIT hopes appear to be all but gone at this point.

11. There are changes a plenty for several LSU players this spring…

12. And Russell Shepard is happy with the one moving him to wide receiver full-time.

13. The Tigers opened spring drills inside due to a driving rain yesterday.

14. LSU will have to replace seven starters on defense, but Les Miles liked what he saw form that unit yesterday.

15. Tasmin Mitchell credits Trent Johnson for making him a better basketball player.

16. Former Mississippi State linebacker Jamar Chaney helped his cause at the NFL combine.

17. MSU’s Jarvis Varnado was named the SEC’s Player of the Week. And he got the news on his 22nd birthday to boot.

18. It’s kind of obvious at this point, but the NCAA probably isn’t going to clear Renardo Sidney this season.

19. There’s still the possibility that Sidney could be deemed eligible to play next year… if he doesn’t turn pro.

20. It started out as a joke, but now the idea of Admiral Ackbar being named Ole Miss’ new mascot is even getting some love from “Star Wars” creator George Lucas and his company.

By The Numbers: Florida The SEC Team Of The Decade

John — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:04:30 +0000

The Mobile Press-Register is crunching numbers. Actually, I guess it’s just posting numbers. But still, for SEC football fans, the numbers are interesting to look at.

In an attempt to determine which program was the SEC’s best in the 2000s, the MPR has broken things down by overall record, conference record, non-conference record, record against other BCS leagues, record against non-BCS opponents and bowl record.

While the paper lets you make up your own mind with regards to who was tops for the decade, I feel it’s hard to argue with Florida.

The Gators won two national titles during the decade, won three conference crowns, had a better overall ranking than anyone else in the league, had a better conference record (by six games) and featured a Heisman Trophy-winner who just might be the most talked about college football player in the last 25 years.

Add it up and UF gets the edge in my book. LSU fans, feel free to argue.

Here’s the data from the MPR.

Bracketology Picks Five From SEC

John — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:29:39 +0000

He’s considered to be THE expert when it comes to predicting the NCAA tournament field. So when Joe Lunardi suggests that the SEC will get five teams into this month’s tourney, folks should pay attention.

Folks, other than me, of course… ’cause I believe Florida and Mississippi State still have some work to do. But that’s just me.

According to ESPN.com’s Bracketology report, Mr. Lunardi believes Florida is safely in the field while MSU would be one of the last four schools invited if the field were selected today.

His views:

Kentucky — #1 seed in East (Syracuse) Region vs #16 seed Stony Brook

Vanderbilt — #3 seed in South (Houston) Region vs #14 seed Weber State

Tennessee — #4 seed in Midwest (St. Louis) Region vs #13 Murray State

Florida — #10 seed in West (Salt Lake City) Region vs #7 Missouri

MSU — #13 seed in West (Salt Lake City) Region vs #4 seed BYU

Recruiting Update – 2011 Edition

John — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:02:12 +0000

I don’t know how you do it. I don’t know how some of you immediately begin following recruiting as soon as another signing day passes. Personally, I need a little time to decompress.

But for those who do follow recruiting year-round, ESPN’s Mark Schlabach tackles the issue of on-campus junior days today. He also discusses the resulting “speed up” of the football recruiting calendar.

For our part, we’ve put together the current number of 2011 commitments for each SEC school… as well as the amount of in-state commitments received by each. You can find that chart below.

And for all your recruiting news, check out Josh Ward’s recruiting page where he tracks the happenings for all 12 SEC schools. Year-round.

School	2011 Commitments	In-State Commitments
Alabama	4	2
Arkansas	3	2
Auburn	2	1
Florida	2	2
Georgia	4	4
Kentucky	2	2
LSU	9	8
Mississippi State	4	3
Ole Miss	0	0
South Carolina	0	0
Tennessee	0	0
Vanderbilt	0	0

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I Thought A Playoff Would Hurt Schoolwork

John — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:49:02 +0000

At some point this coming November, some media folks will start talking about the need for a college football playoff.

And sure as clockwork, some BCS school president will be quoted as pooh-poohing the idea because a playoff would cause student-athletes to miss more classtime.

Well, at least the NCAA and its academicians are consistent.

In case you missed it, the FCS (that’s the old Division I-AA to you and me) will be EXPANDING their playoffs to a 20-team bracket in the fall.

Hmmm. So more teams, more games, more missed classwork, huh? Interesting.

Why it’s almost as if the “missing classtime” argument is just one of a dozen other smokescreens that big schools use in order to avoid revealing their real reason for not wanting a playoff: They don’t want to share money with the little schools.

The BCS allows the vast majority of college football postseason revenues to be split among the 65 or so BCS schools. With a playoff, the NCAA would have to sanction the event which would lead to greater revenue sharing across all 120 FBS schools.

That’s what the playoff hold-up is all about. Not missed classtime. And the NCAA has proved that by just expanding its FCS playoffs.

SEC Tourney Watch – 3/1/10

John — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:51:13 +0000

Three SEC teams are definitely in.

One is still alive. One is climbing. And one is back in trouble… just as we thought it might be.

Below are the updated NCAA Tournament resumes for each SEC squad still POSSIBLY in the running for an at-large bid. Enjoy:

KENTUCKY

Records: 27-2, 12-2
RPI: 4
SOS: 37
Streak: Won 8 out of 9
True Road Games: 6-2

Vs RPI Top 50: 6-1 with wins over Connecticut (42), Louisville (41), Florida (46), Tennessee (14), and two over Vanderbilt (15)… loss to Tennessee (14)

Losses Outside RPI Top 100: None

Remaining Schedule (with RPI Rankings):
at Georgia (88)
Florida (46)

Projections: It’s hard to picture Kentucky not landing a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament… even if they drop a game this week. They have looked like one of the top four teams in America all season, their only losses have been close, and they travel ridiculously well. I’d be shocked if they don’t earn a top seed.

VANDERBILT

Records: 21-6, 11-3
RPI: 15
SOS: 22
Streak: Won 5 of last 6 with only loss to Kentucky
True Road Games: 6-3

Vs RPI Top 50: 5-2 with wins over St. Mary’s (45), Missouri (36), Florida (46), and two over Tennessee (14)… two losses to Kentucky (4)

Losses Outside RPI Top 100: Western Kentucky (128)

Remaining Schedule (with RPI Rankings):
at Florida (46)
South Carolina (82)

Projections: I don’t see it happening, but Vandy is just one game behind Kentucky in the East with two games to play. I’m just sayin’. The Commodores will get a tough challenge from a desperate Florida team this week, but if VU keeps playing the way it’s been playing, Kevin Stallings’ squad could still land a #3 seed in the NCAAs.

TENNESSEE

Records: 21-7, 9-5)
RPI: 14
SOS: 15
Streak: Just 3-3 in last 6 games
True Road Games: 4-5

Vs RPI Top 50: 3-4 with wins over Kansas (1), Florida (46), Kentucky (4)… losses to Purdue (8), Kentucky (4) and two to Vanderbilt (15)

Losses Outside RPI Top 100: Southern Cal (104)

Remaining Schedule:
Arkansas (143)
at Mississippi State (57)

Projections: The Vols are a real yo-yo team. Their highs (wins over #1 Kansas and #2 Kentucky) are very high. Their lows (road record, .500 down the stretch, loss to Southern Cal) are very low. In the end, a team that can play with KU, UK and a full-strength Purdue will get into the tourney… especially with that strength of schedule. UT could find itself anywhere from a #4 seed (if they get hot now) to a #7 seed if they falter.

FLORIDA

Records: 20-9, 9-5
RPI: 46
SOS: 44
Streak: Just 3-3 in last 6 games
True Road Games: 5-4

Vs RPI Top 50: 3-6 with wins over Florida State (35), Michigan State (27) and Tennessee (14)… losses to Syracuse (3), Richmond (26), Vanderbilt (15), Kentucky (4), Tennessee (14) and Xavier (18)

Losses Outside RPI Top 100: South Alabama (213)

Remaining Schedule (with RPI Rankings):
Vanderbilt (15)
at Kentucky (4)

Projections: We took a little guff from Gator emailers last week for suggesting that UF’s win over Tennessee didn’t make Florida the “lock” that some thought. One loss to Georgia later and our feelings have proven to be right (for once). Billy Donovan’s team just hasn’t played it’s best ball against the best competition. I think that will stand out to the NCAA selection committee. Florida needs to win at least one game this week and then reach the SEC tournament semi-finals to earn an at-large bid.

MISSISSIPPI STATE

Records: 21-8, 9-5
RPI: 57
SOS: 116
Streak: Won 5 out of 6 with only loss to Kentucky
True Road Games: 5-5

Vs RPI Top 50: 1-4 with a win over Old Dominion (39)… losses to Richmond (26), Vanderbilt (15), Florida (46) and Kentucky (4)

Losses Outside RPI Top 100: Rider (160), Western Kentucky (128), Alabama (111), Arkansas (143)

Remaining Schedule (with RPI Rankings):
at Auburn (139)
Tennessee (14)

Projections: The Bulldogs can’t afford to lose. They have to hope that a hot finish will direct attention away from the following numbers — RPI, SOS, just one win over a Top 50 club and FOUR losses to teams outside the Top 100. Even if the Dogs finish 11-5 in the West, they’ll still need the selection committee to look only at the big picture… and not nitpick the details. A win over Tennessee would be a big boost for MSU.

OLE MISS

Records: 19-9, 7-7
RPI: 53
SOS: 60
Streak: Won 2 in a row
True Road Games: 5-4

Vs RPI Top 50: 2-6 with wins over Kansas State (5) and UTEP (49)… losses to Villanova (9), West Virginia (6), Tennessee (14), Kentucky (4), Vanderbilt (14) and Florida (46)

Losses Outside RPI Top 100: Arkansas (143)

Remaining Schedule (with RPI Rankings):
LSU (221)
at Arkansas (143)

Projections: Ole Miss can’t afford a loss in the regular season… and they would probably need to reach the SEC tournament finals just to get consideration from the NCAA tourney selection panel. The Rebels have played a much tougher schedule than MSU, but the Bulldogs’ sweep of UM could be the difference between the two teams in committee members’ eyes. Even a split with State would have probably given the Rebels the edge.

Conclusions:

* Kentucky is definitely in and should get a #1 seed.

* Vanderbilt is definitely in and could make a long run in March Madness.

* Tennessee is definitely in, but road struggles make a Sweet 16 run questionable.

* Florida is in real trouble. I wouldn’t have them in the tourney at this point. Barring a strong SEC tourney performance in Nashville, I don’t believe they’ll get an at-large slot.

* Mississippi State is putting together nice numbers late, but their fate depends on how closely the tournament selection committee eyes them. A good SEC tourney run certainly isn’t out of the question (they won it last year)… and that might push MSU over the top.

* Ole Miss is the opposite of State. The details of their resume are a little better than the big picture… except for those two head-to-head losses to State. It’s unlikely that the Rebels will get an at-large bid.

* The SEC as a whole could be hurt by its #4 RPI among all conferences, but…

* The fact that West Coast basketball is so weak (the Pac-10 could be a one-team league) might open up an extra spot or two for the SEC’s bubble boys.

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SEC Releases Media Days Schedule

John — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:56:12 +0000

This summer, when you’re looking for the best live, comprehensive coverage of SEC Media Days… just look right here.

And for those already wondering which schools will be speaking on which days, here’s the schedule as provided by the SEC:

Wednesday, July 21st — Alabama, Mississippi State, Kentucky, Florida

Thursday, July 22nd — Georgia, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, South Carolina

Friday, July 23rd — Auburn, Tennessee, LSU, Ole Miss

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SEC West Headlines – 3/1/10

John — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:14:21 +0000

1. Nick Saban helped turn cornerback Kareem Jackson into a solid NFL prospect.

2. Jackson and fellow former Tide cornerback Javier Arenas may be small, but they both have fans in the scouting/draft analysis game.

3. Here’s more on the combine performance of former Auburn running back Ben Tate.

4. Antonio Coleman says scouts feel he’s “too small to play defensive end, too big to play linebacker.”

5. It was a good combine AND a bad combine for former Arkansas lineman Mitch Petrus.

6. Les Miles is tinkering with everything from starting jobs to practice schedules this spring.

7. There are 10 items of utmost urgency in Baton Rouge.

8. On the job just three days, is new tight ends coach Steve Ensminger ready for spring practice?

9. Thanks to tie-breakers, Mississippi State has already wrapped up the #1 West seed in the SEC tournament.

10. Some MSU fans don’t believe Jarvis Varnado got enough recognition for his shot-blocking record. (In truth, the record only dates back to the mid-1980s when shot blocks first started to be tallied officially.)

11. This writer believes the Bulldogs will definitely be in the NCAA Tournament with two wins this week (against Auburn and Tennessee).

12. Dexter McCluster was a Top 10 back in terms of vertical leap, bench press and the 40-yard dash.

13. Ole Miss’ tournament chances aren’t completely dead yet.

14. The Rebels are hurt by the fact that they’re 0-4 against MSU, Florida and Tennessee.

15. This writer won’t have many friends in Oxford after Rebel fans read this piece. Ouch.

16. Who was the SEC’s receiver of the decade?

Cody slims down for combine

admin — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 13:07:34 +0000

By Greg Ostendorf
Special to The Tuscaloosa News

INDIANOPOLIS | As Terrence Cody’s weight fluctuates, so does his draft stock.
During the season, the University of Alabama nose tackle played at around 350 pounds and wreaked havoc on opposing teams throughout the season.
He also was considered a lock to be a first-round pick in April’s NFL Draft.
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Bama blows another lead as Rebels rally for the victory

admin — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 13:06:12 +0000

By Cecil Hurt
Sports Editor

TUSCALOOSA | The University of Alabama men’s basketball team, having mastered the art of losing second-half leads, managed to do so twice on Saturday afternoon.
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