1.  When you watch the NCAA tournament you’ll see a lot of players from Alabama… who got away from the Tide and Tigers.

2.  Former Auburn tailback Ben Tate won’t be changing his lifestyle until the NFL cash starts pouring in.

3.  Have you seen Auburn football’s flashy new website?

4.  Bobby Petrino is looking forward to seeing his four running backs compete during spring practice.  (Arkansas will do some running from the “pistol” formation this year, too.)

5.  Ryan Mallett says he feels great.  Despite his healing left foot.

6.  Les Miles is hoping Stevan Ridley and Richard Murphy can carry the load at running back for LSU.

7.  With Ole Miss students on Spring Break, there wasn’t much enthusiasm surrounding last night’s NIT win over Troy.

8.  Terrico White’s 27-point night was a pleasant surprise.  “Certainly he has the ability to do that, and we’d like to see it every night,” Andy Kennedy said.  “Maybe he’s just not ready to do it every night.”

9.  The Rebels looked “looser” last night than they did in the SEC tournament.

10.  Dexter McCluster is ready to improve on the 40 time he ran at the NFL combine.

11.  Mississippi State fans — many of whom believe MSU gets no respect — love the fact that Rick Stansbury is complaining about the missed lane violation call.

12.  As expected, tickets for State’s NIT contest with North Carolina are going fast.  “Those teams don’t come to Starkville, that’s just the way it is.”

13.  In case you missed it, here’s the crotch punch that Dee Bost took in Tuesday’s Jackson State game.

Before we get to the headlines today, let me answer an email I got yesterday.  “Why do you always put more East stories up than West stories?”

Currently, there are four East teams alive in the NCAA tournament.  So obviously there are more stories being written about East Division teams.

And with that…

1.  Charles Barkley says he’ll help Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs with his coach search.  But he added, “I don’t pull any strings at Auburn. … If I ran the program Mike Anderson would have the coach last time.”

2.  Former Arkansas safety Matt Harris is still dealing with the fact that he missed his last college football game because of a suspension.

3.  Mitch Petrus — who took part in yesterday’s Pro Day in Fayetteville — says that Bobby Petrino’s all-business demeanor has helped him prepare for the NFL.

4.  LSU held its Pro Day yesterday, too.

5.  Ole Miss AD Pete Boone doesn’t believe Andy Kennedy is losing momentum in Oxford.  (It’s not a good sign that he’s even having to answer such questions.)

6.  Despite having a better season this year than last, UM still saw attendance drop at Rebel basketball games.

7.  Troy is “very excited” to be getting a shot at Ole Miss in the NIT tonight.

8.  Arizona State was upset last night, which means if the Rebels keep winning the road to Madison Square Garden will go through Oxford.

9.  This writer believes Mississippi State is the best team in the NIT field.

10.  The Bulldogs were sluggish early in last night’s win over Jackson State.  “Considering it was our fourth game in five days, I was proud of the way our guys came out and played.”

11.  Dee Bost scored 15 of this 18 points after taking a cheap shot to the groin.

12.  Rick Stansbury says the MSU’s next opponent — North Carolina — is still NORTH CAROLINA.  “Seven McDonald’s All-Americans.  There won’t be no more talented team than what they have.”

When Monday morning rolled around, I never dreamed that I would type the words “lane violation” so often this week.  But the end of the Kentucky/Mississippi State game on Sunday has folks on both sides of the battle shouting to the heavens.

First came the emails from MSU fans regarding John Wall stepping over the three-point arc on Eric Bledsoe’s “I’m gonna miss this on purpose” free throw attempt.

Then came more MSU emails pointing out that Darnell Dodson was also over the line.  And Eric Bledsoe had jumped the gun and stepped over the free throw line, too.

Yesterday, after posting our follow-up to the story — because Rick Stansbury was talking about it — UK fans got in on the action.  I received four different emails from folks saying that it was a good “no call” because State’s players on the lane itself all jumped into the paint before the ball hit the rim.

And that’s why I think it’s time for some more clarification.  Here’s the deal on lane violations:



1.  Players lined up outside the three-point arc (and the extended lanes) cannot cross inside the three-point area (or the extended lanes) until after a free throw attempt has hit the rim.  Both Wall and Dodson appear to have done just that.  MSU’s Dee Bost might also have jumped the gun on this area.  In Stansbury’s view, the whistle should have been blown when Wall crossed the line, so it would not have mattered what Bost did after that point.

If this violation had been called against either UK player, Mississippi State would have been given the basketball with a two-point lead and 4.9 seconds remaining on the clock. 

2.  The shooter can not step across the foul line until his attempt hits the rim.  Bledsoe did.  In this case, however, he fired up a lollipop of a shot in order to force a big rebound.  He stood his ground for a second before moving forward.  I’m guessing the official watched his feet, saw that he didn’t come immediately across the line, and then eyed the ball… thus missing Bledsoe’s violation.  Still, this WAS a violation of the rule.

3.  Players along the lanes (be they Kentucky or MSU players) can’t go into the paint until the shot has been released from the shooter’s hands.  On replay, it looks like the players for both teams waited until after Bledsoe released his shot before they jumped into the paint.  So there was no violation.  Meaning that this was NOT a good “no call.”

Here’s the video one… more… time.



Hopefully that puts an end to this discussion until the SEC comments on the play… or fines Stansbury for doing so.

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ESPN’s Joe Lunardi is considered to be THE bracket expert when it comes to the NCAA tournament.  Now, he does do a good job of predicting the 65-team field, but I’ve never gone back to check his accuracy on predicting seeds.  In other words, “field” expert might be a better term than “bracket” expert, but that’s neither here nor there.

For those of you who do view Mr. Lunardi as a tourney guru, he’s now posted his tourney picks for you.  And SEC fans won’t be real happy about them.

In the Midwest, he has Tennessee losing to San Diego State in the first round.

In the West, he has Vanderbilt losing to Murray State in the first round.

Still in the West, he has Florida losing to BYU in the first round.

In the East, he does have Kentucky reaching the Sweet 16… before falling to #4 seed Wisconsin. 

That’s right, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has the SEC out of the tourney before the round of eight.  And that includes UK.

Looking around the nation at other experts’ picks, it’s obvious that the SEC is fighting a pretty big perception problem.  Very few analysts expect Florida to win a game.  Several see Vandy as an early upset victim.  And Tennessee is perhaps the trendiest pick in the field to fail in its opener.

There’s only one way to change what folks think about SEC basketball — win. 

But if the SEC’s teams go belly-up as Mr. Lunardi and so many others expect, those of us down south shouldn’t complain about a lack of respect.  The SEC’s schools will have earned it.

It’s Wednesday and I just found yet another note in my email box from a Tennessee fan upset that I defended the NCAA (sort of) in their seeding of the Vols.

Apparently 48 hours isn’t enough time to move on from the fact that Bruce Pearl’s team was seeded sixth instead of fifth.

Well, in response to the cries of “We wuz robbed!” I thought I’d take a look at this year’s NCAA tournament seeds and see if Tennessee truly was singled out for a spanking.

A quick comparison of the selection committee’s seeds to the national rankings and RPI rankings shows that the “eyeball test” of human voters is a more accurate predictor of seeding.

Below you’ll see the Top 25 going into Sunday’s selection process.  At right, you’ll see three columns.  The first shows where each team should have been seeded IF seeding were based strictly on national rank.  The second shows their actual seed.  The third shows how much up or down they moved.

So what do we see?  First, it’s pretty obvious that the committee gave extra credit to teams from the Big East and Big 12, the perceived two best conferences all season.  Villanova, Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Baylor and Texas A&M were all seeded a bit higher than their national ranking would have indicated.

We also see that no team fell or rose more than a couple of spots from where they were expected to land.  Overall, eight teams moved up and nine teams moved down.

Tennessee dropped two slots along with Butler (who has been a fixture in the Top 12 all year), Temple, BYU and Gonzaga.  Hard to say, then, that UT was singled out.

One of the biggest risers was Vanderbilt.  The Commodores — ranked 21st — would have been expected to be a #6 seed, but instead they received a #4 seed.  That might give some Vol fans something to complain about, but Vanderbilt beat Tennessee handily in both of their contests this year, finished ahead of them in the SEC standings and went 4-2 against Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida.  As Pearl himself noted, the Vols went just 2-5 against Kentucky, Vandy and the Gators.



Now, on to the RPI comparison…

Clearly, RPI is used only as a “guide,” just as various committee members say each year.  There was much more variation in this chart than in our first one.  Temple, Northern Iowa, San Diego State, California and Ohio State all moved up or down by three or more slots.

Again we see that Tennessee moved down two lines while Vandy climbed two.

As for the school that got “most hosed” in both charts, that would be Temple.

But knowing that this is a fluid process that seems to change a bit from year to year, it’s hard for me to say, “Yes, this team’s fans should be crying.”  We’re talking about a seed line or two… not a tourney snub.

If the teams who feel snubbed are upset, they’ll have every opportunity to prove the experts wrong starting tomorrow.  And if Tennessee isn’t good enough to get by San Diego State, how much farther would they have gone as a #4 or a #5?

And for the record, I’d have had Kentucky a #1, Vandy a #4 and Tennessee a #5.  But that’s just me.  And judging from my inbox, many of you disagree.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day from Mr. SEC.com!

Nothing like Irish Serbs to kick off your morning.  Enjoy this — and an early morning black and tan — as we put together your morning news.



And as our photo clearly shows… be smart today and don’t have TOO many black and tans.

1.  Alabama’s Mal Moore is a finalist for the Athletic Director of the Year award.

2.  Cornerback Kareem Jackson is boosting his stock with pro scouts.

3.  Arkansas running back De’Anthony Curtis is moving to wide receiver.

4.  Courtney Fortson was named honorable mention on the AP’s All-SEC team.

5.  This writer thinks Arkansas is making a mistake by comparing John Pelphrey’s three-year record to that of legendary Hog coach Nolan Richardson (after his first three years in Fayetteville).

6.  LSU’s Pro Day brought in scouts from nearly every NFL team.

7.  Brandon LaFell and Chad Jones were happy with their work in front of the NFL officials.

8.  One draft analyst says former Tiger tackle Ciron Black — once a first-round prospect — has put on too much weight over the last couple of years.

9.  Andy Kennedy knows why his team is in the NIT — Ole Miss was 0-7 against the other SEC teams still playing basketball.  “We have no one to blame but ourselves.”

10.  Kennedy says he hasn’t given up on Eniel Polynice, but has the guard given up on the Rebels?

11.  Kennedy says his program is “so very close” to getting over the proverbial hump.

12.  Will Terrico White and Chris Warren leave UM early to play pro ball?

13.  Jarvis Varnado was named first-team All-SEC.

14.  Mississippi State hosts Jackson State in the NIT tonight, but Rick Stansbury is still upset that his team missed the NCAA tournament.

15.  For a team that lost five games to teams outside the RPI Top 100, it’s important for the Bulldogs to focus on their game tonight… and not the NCAAs.

16.  Will the SEC take action — or even comment on — the missed lane violation call in Sunday’s MSU-Kentucky game?  State fans want to know.

16. 

A year-and-a-half ago, Columbus, Georgia native Sam Mitchell was a head coach in the NBA.  Now, 15 months after being fired by the Toronto Raptors, Mitchell says he’d be willing to talk about a job in the college ranks.

“I’m a coach and I want to coach.  I haven’t closed my mind off to having an opportunity to coach in college.”

He also campaigned a bit for the Auburn gig.  “I think Auburn would be a great job.  I think you have a lot of potential, a lot of possibilities.  I just think the most important thing for Auburn, and they would say the same thing, is getting the right person who is going to push the program and build a program to a national power, like it used to be in the early ’80s.

“We’ve got enough talent in the South to do that.  I just think somebody’s got to come in and stop everybody from all around the country from walking off with all the talent.”

Speaking of “getting the right person,” former Auburn player Chuck Person continues to be a hot name among many Tiger fans.  But Person’s background has been only in the pro ranks and only as an assistant coach (currently with the Los Angeles Lakers).  Mitchell at least has head coaching experience, even if it didn’t come at the college level.

Mitchell was named the NBA’s Coach of the Year as recently as 2007.

Whoever does wind up on The Plains will inherit a team that’s losing six seniors.  That leaves six players who saw some action in 2009-10, four who didn’t and six incoming freshman.  Of course, who knows which of those newcomers will actually arrive in Auburn now that Jeff Lebo has been fired.

Athletic director Jay Jacobs has warned fans that his search will not be rushed.

“Rumor and speculation will be rampant in the coming days.  As in past searches, much, if not most, of what you may read or hear will be wrong.  We will not refute rumors or comment on who will or won’t be considered or who has or hasn’t been interviewed.  Our sole goal is to find the right man for Auburn.”

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In football, Alabama and Florida supposedly got all the calls this past fall.

In basketball, it’s Kentucky that’s been “taken care of.”

At least that’s the way many SEC fans saw things this year at least.

I don’t know who thought Kentucky was getting all the calls when Billy Gillispie was missing the NCAA tournament last year.

And I don’t remember anyone talking about Bama getting help from officials during Nick Saban’s first 7-6 season in Tuscaloosa.

But, hey, the perception is that good teams really aren’t that good… they’re just being aided by the refs.  Or so a lot of people seem to think.

So I’ve gone back through every Southeastern Conference basketball game this season (that’s 96 regular season games) and tallied up all of the fouls called in each game.  Below you’ll see which teams were whistled for the most fouls, which teams saw their opponents most often called for fouls, and which teams got the biggest boost in foul differential per game.

Keep in mind, this is purely a numbers exercise.  There’s no way to know how numbers are skewed by the fact that good teams usually lead and therefore their opponents are forced to foul more at the ends of games.

In other words, are fouls called because a team is good or is a team good because fouls are called?  Depending on your belief in conspiracy theories, that can go either way.

Also, it would stand to reason that more talented teams would force their opponents to foul more in an attempt to even the playing field.  In other words, not everyone has a guard as fast as John Wall, so it would figure that Wall might draw more slaps on the arms as he blows down the lane.

In addition, more physical teams — like Vanderbilt — probably get a foul advantage because other teams have to use multiple players to bang around inside with them.

Personally, I’m not a believer in conspiracy theories.  I believe home teams get more calls because officials get caught up in crowd noise just as players do (and we’ll show you those numbers, too).  I believe more talented teams get “benefit of the doubt” calls.  And I believe teams that have a reputation for being physical get more calls in their favor as well.

But I don’t believe officials take care of certain teams in order to protect their rankings, seedings, etc.  You might, but I don’t.

All that said, here are the numbers:

MOST FOULS CALLED AGAINST OPPONENT PER GAME

It seems that Auburn and Arkansas tend to spoil the conspiracy theory on this one.

FEWEST FOULS CALLED AGAINST PER GAME

Again, I’m not seeing any evidence of conspiracies here.  Vanderbilt saw it’s opponents whistled for more fouls than any other school.  Yet the Commodores also led the league in the number of fouls that were called against them.  That seems to suggest that style of play is a pretty big factor.

As for Kentucky, the Wildcats were actually whistled for more fouls than Florida, Mississippi State, Georgia and LSU.  That would be 2-14 LSU, by the way.

FOUL DIFFERENTIAL PER GAME

Finally.  Something for the folks in the tin foil hats.

No school sees a bigger difference between their own number of fouls and their opponents’ fouls than Kentucky.  Of course, the SEC refs are having to be awfully sneaky about this if it’s planned out… because UK doesn’t lead either of the two individual categories (above) that are used to determine this number.

But what about homecourt advantage?  Is it real?

Oh, yes.  There’s a reason 76% of BCS league games have been won by the home team in recent years.  A loud crowd influences players AND officials.

All 12 teams in the SEC this past year saw more fouls called against their opponents at home than on the road.  All 12.

And all 12 SEC teams saw fewer fouls called on themselves when playing at home, too.  Again, all 12.

But of all the official-affecting home gyms in the SEC, here are the ones that provide the best advantage for their occupants:

FOUL DIFFERENTIAL AT HOME

As you can see, only two SEC teams (Ole Miss and South Carolina) averaged more fouls called against them than their opponents at home.  Every other team had a positive foul differential in their own gym.

Of all the gyms in the SEC in 2010, the O’Connell Center in Gainesville was the most inhospitable to visitors looking to get a call or two.

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1.  Alabama will be staying at home this March after missing an NIT bid… an expressing not interest in a CBI or CIT bid.

2.  There were some bright spots during Anthony Grant’s first season in Tuscaloosa despite numerous injuries.

3.  After three years on John Pelphrey’s staff, Isaac Brown is not expected to return for Year Four.

4.  Brown isn’t commenting on the reports.  “You’ve got to call Coach Pel.  I’m not doing no talking.”

5.  Jordan Jefferson is taking ownership of LSU’s football team.

6.  Yesterday’s tight loss to Kentucky hurt Mississippi State in more ways than one.

7.  First came the loss, then came an NCAA snub.  (I’m not sure I’d call it a “snub.”)

8.  Rick Stansbury called Sunday a “double disappointment.”

9.  Though painful, MSU fans can take solace in their team’s gritty effort versus Kentucky.

10.  Athletic director Greg Byrne wants to talk to the NCAA selection committee.  (Hopefully they’ll tell him not to lose five games to teams ranked outside the Top 100.)

11.  While State and UM didn’t get the invites they wanted, their seasons will continue.

12.  The Bulldogs will host SWAC champion Jackson State on Tuesday night in the NIT.

13.  Ole Miss will host Sun Belt champ Troy on Wednesday night.

As many of you know, we here at MrSEC.com do radio interviews across the Southeastern Conference each and every week.  Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve taken the same two questions numerous times:

1.  Will Jeff Lebo be back?  (We obviously know the answer to that one.)

2.  Can Auburn win in basketball?

The second question is interesting.  It’s interesting because so many people outside of southern Alabama have been asking it.  There’s a very real perception out there that Auburn is simply a football school and that nothing will ever change that.

And I couldn’t disagree more.

In answering that question, I’ve chosen to query the questioner with this follow-up: “Could John Calipari win at Auburn?”

The answer, of course, has been “yes” time and again.

Auburn can win in basketball IF it hires the right coach.  We all know that John Calipari won’t head to The Plains, but that doesn’t mean another quality coach won’t.

Auburn fans should be hoping to mimic one of their SEC rivals — Tennessee. 

Bruce Pearl immediately turned around a moribund program.  A perceived football school (at least it used to be) is now one of the nation’s leaders in basketball attendance and a yearly invitee to the NCAA tournament.

Pearl was forced to walk in the wilderness of Division II for nine years at Southern Indiana.  He became one of the nation’s winningest coaches and won a national title for SIU before finally getting a shot at Wisconsin-Milwaukee.  Then came the move to Tennessee and the rest is history.

Jay Jacobs at Auburn should be eyeballing men with proven track records of building and sustaining programs.  Pearl had that. 

Most of the men being mentioned in connection to the Auburn job do not.

In talking to folks in Alabama, I’ve heard the following names tossed about in connection to AU’s search:

Mike Anderson (Missouri) — Georgia went for him last year and couldn’t get him.  Why would he leave Missouri for Auburn?  That’s not going to happen unless the Tigers are REALLY ready to pay.

Frank Haith (Miami) — Just the type of re-tread hire that I would expect Auburn to make.  Think Cliff Ellis.  Has Haith turned Miami into a national power?  No.  So what’s the draw? 

John Brady (Arkansas State) — Ditto.

Tony Barbee (UTEP) — In his fourth year at UTEP, Barbee has rebuilt the Miners’ program.  Texas El-Paso has gone from 10th place to sixth to fourth to first in Conference USA.  He is also a former John Calipari assistant at Memphis so he has some ties to the South.  Problem is, we’ve seen only that he can build a program, not that he can sustain one.  Jeff Lebo, anyone?

Chuck Person (LA Lakers assistant) — Here’s the hire that many Auburn fans would like to see.  The idea of bringing in the school’s all-time leading scorer as the new head man is alluring.  Only that kind of thing seldom works.  First, Person has no head coaching experience.  Second, he has no college coaching experience, either.  And third, what happens if things don’t work out?  I don’t like alumni hires.  They’re usually messy in the end.  See: Mark Gottfried/Alabama.  Better yet, do a little research on Houston’s hire of Clyde Drexler earlier this decade.  That was an eerily similar situation to the potential marriage of Person and Auburn.



So who do I think the Tigers SHOULD be looking at?  First, I believe Auburn — if they can afford it — should make a run at someone with a real track record of success.  Missouri’s Anderson makes sense if, as I said before, Jacobs is ready to pull out his checkbook and write out a number with a lot of zeroes.

If the Tigers aren’t ready to throw big dollars around, then I believe they should look for someone who has proven that he can build a program… and sustain a program.  Hiring whoever takes a Cinderella to the Sweet 16 this year might generate some media buzz, but it’s not a smart move.  Ask Arkansas fans about Stan Heath.

No, in my view, AU should be looking at someone like Mike Leaf at Winona State.

Who?

Leaf is in his 12th season as head coach at the Division II school in Minnesota.  He’s been there for more than 20 years counting his seasons as an assistant.  He’s been named the National Coach of the Year, he’s won two national titles and he’s reached the Division II finals in three of the last four years.

A lifetime Minnesota man, would Leaf ever consider leaving his small northern (frozen) pond for the much bigger southern pond of the SEC?  Maybe, maybe not.  But he’s exactly the type of coach Auburn should be trying to find.

A builder.  A sustainer.  And a longtime proven winner.

Any hire is a roll of the dice.  But I’d rather take my chances with someone proven in the Division II or Division I-AA ranks than with someone who’s never coached a college game or someone who’s only had one or two winning seasons under his belt.

Auburn can win in basketball.  Jacobs just needs to get serious about his hire.  He didn’t worry about fan/media reaction when he hired Gene Chizik and the early results on that one are all positive.  He shouldn’t worry about “Who’s that?” talk during his basketball search, either.

Quick note… we’ve added Ole Miss and Mississippi State to our “Who’s got a right to cry?” post from earlier today.

As you’ll find, I don’t think any of the SEC teams have many reasons to be whining today. 

Scroll down or click here to see the updated post.

Congratulations to Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Florida for making this year’s NCAA tournament. 

And condolences to Ole Miss and Mississippi State for missing out.

Now that the brackets have been announced, a quick check of the messageboards for each school reveals a lot of upset feelings, a lot of complaints about seeding, respect, travel, etc. 

Johnny Cash summed up the mood nicely…




So which schools/teams/fans really do have reason to cry?  We’ll tell you below:



Kentucky — RPI of 2, SOS of 31, 5-1 vs RPI Top 50
#1 seed
East Regional vs #16 ETSU
Thursday at 7:15pm ET in New Orleans

The Cats got their #1 seed but they didn’t get the #1 overall.  UK fans shouldn’t cry too much about that one.  Kansas was 12-2 against Top 50 RPI teams while Kentucky was just 5-1.

But the selection committee didn’t do the Wildcats any favors.  In the second round, they will face the winner of Texas and Wake Forest.  Those are two power programs from power conferences who won’t be intimidated to stand on the same court with the Wildcats.  They’ve been on the big stage before.  (Kansas’ 8-9 teams are UNLV and Northern Iowa, for comparison.)

Path to the Final Four (by highest seed):
16  ETSU  (121)
8  Texas  (29)
4  Wisconsin  (21)
2  West Virginia  (4)

That’s not a real easy path to Indianapolis.  You could argue pretty easily that West Virginia is the best of the #2 seeds.

VERDICT:  No crying.  You can’t cry when you get a #1 seed.  You just can’t.



Vanderbilt — RPI of 26, SOS of 25, 4-2 vs RPI Top 50
#4 seed
West Regional vs #13 Murray State
Thursday at 2:30pm ET in San Jose

Vanderbilt fans won’t be happy with being shipped so far away from Nashville.  Some are saying that that amounts to a punishment for a team that was clearly the second-strongest SEC squad all year long.  But those ‘Dore fans don’t have much of an argument to make.

The other #4 seeds were shipped off as well — Purdue to Spokane, Wisconsin to Jacksonville, and Maryland to Spokane.

Vandy’s first-round game is a good one.  Murray State’s RPI is #57, but the Racers played only one Top 50 club all year (losing to Cal in their season opener).  Of the #13 seeds, Wofford (which beat Georgia and South Carolina) and Houston would have both been more dangerous (on paper) than Murray State.  And Vandy fans would have wanted no part of another first-round battle with Siena, either.  The Saints toppled Vandy in the 2008 first round.

Path to the Final Four (by highest seed):
13  Murray State (57)
5  Butler (12)
1  Syracuse (5)
2  Kansas State (6)

Overall, that’s a mighty steep hill to climb for the Commodores.  A second-round game with Butler could be one of the best games in the tourney.  Two smart, patient, well-coached teams.  It’ll be a throwback to 1955.

VERDICT:  Maybe some grumbling about the path, but no real reason to cry.  If VU wanted a better seed, they shouldn’t have dropped two of their last three games.



Tennessee — RPI of 14, SOS of 19, 2-5 vs RPI Top 50
#6 seed
Midwest Regional vs #11 San Diego State
Friday at 9:45pm ET in Providence

Oh, boy.  The weeping/anger in East Tennessee is pretty loud this morning.  After becoming the first team since 2002 to knock off a #1 and a #2 in the same season, Vol fans expected no worse than a five seed.  Most projections listed UT as a #4 seed prior to the selection show.

Instead, they get a long trip.  A late game.  And a matchup with one of the tournament’s true sleeper teams.  In fact, San Diego State plays the deliberate, patient (ie: they won’t turn the ball over again and again) ball that has given UT trouble all season.

The SEC was not viewed as a power conference, and UT’s record against the other SEC teams to make the field (2-5) had to have worked against them.

Path to the Final Four (by highest seed):
#11  San Diego State (18)
#3  Georgetown (7)
#2  Ohio State (22)
#1  Kansas (1)

Baaaa-rutal.  That’s a real murderer’s row for the Vols.  Especially considering how limited UT is offensively.  Without turnovers and transition baskets, the Vols can’t seem to score.  For proof of that, just consider Tennessee’s 21-point first half against LSU and their 19-point first half against Kentucky in the SEC tourney.  It looks like the committee did.

VERDICT:  UT’s path is tough, but fellow #6 seed Notre Dame got a rough one, too.  No room for crying.  Aside from the Kansas and Kentucky wins, Tennessee doesn’t have a whole lot to hang its hat on.



Florida — RPI of 56, SOS of 36, 3-8 vs RPI Top 50
#10 seed
West Regional vs #7 BYU
Thursday at 12:20pm ET in Oklahoma City

I’m shocked that the Gators got in in the first place.  They were just 3-8 against top 50 opponents, they had two losses to teams outside the RPI Top 100, and they finished the season by losing four of their last five games.  Rhode Island, Memphis, Virginia Tech and Seton Hall all have to be wondering about this one.

The first-round matchup with BYU isn’t a bad one, either.  The Cougars were just 4-5 vs Top 50 squads.  However, Brigham Young does have the highest RPI (23) of all the #7 seeds.

Path to the Final Four (by highest seed):
7  BYU (23)
2  Kansas State (6)
3  Pittsburgh (15)
1  Syracuse (5)

The Gators got one of the toughest paths for a #10 seed, but seeing as how they barely got in, there’s no room for whining.  With their resume, UF could have easily landed an #11 or #12 seed.  Or not gotten in at all.

VERDICT:  Are you kidding me?  Count your blessings, Gator fans.  The NCAA drought is over.  Just enjoy being back in the Big Dance.  No tears allowed.



Mississippi State — RPI of 54, SOS of 74, 2-5 vs RPI Top 50
No NCAA bad… NIT bid instead

The Bulldogs showed a lot of heart in Nashville.  They came within a tick of the clock — and a possible John Wall lane violation — of earning a bid via the conference tourney for the second consecutive year.

(By the way, at tournament time, I’ll take Rick Stansbury over every other SEC coach.  The guy knows how to prepare his team for tournaments.)

But for those who feel bad for the Dogs, remember, this is a team that played a soft non-conference schedule, blew two chances late in the season to lock up an NCAA bid (at Auburn and at home against Tennessee), and it’s also a squad that dropped five games to teams ranked outside the RPI Top 100.

VERDICT:  No crying, State fans.  Your team had its chances long before the closing seconds of the SEC tournament.  They just couldn’t capitalize.



Ole Miss — RPI of 61, SOS of 71, 2-6 vs RPI Top 50
No NCAA bid… NIT bid instead

The Rebels were done-in by two things: an injury to Reggie Buckner midway through the SEC season and two costly losses to Mississippi State.

UM’s fortunes began to fade without Buckner in the middle and they only started to rise again once he returned to 100% late in the year.  But the two losses to State that were the nails in the coffin.  Had the Rebels won one of those games, their resume would have looked better than MSU’s (pre-conference tourney).  Had they swept State, the Rebs might be dancing today.

VERDICT:  The only thing UM fans should be crying about is a season of missed opportunities.  The Rebels didn’t earn a bid this year.

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When Kentucky’s freshman act like, well, freshmen, John Calipari is usually willing to cut them some slack.
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NASHVILLE — Having Kentucky, Tennessee and hometown team Vanderbilt among the SEC tournament’s four semifinal teams created the perfect storm on the ticket-buying market. The face value for Saturday’s two-game session was $55. Scalpers on the street said they are selling the ticket for $450-$650.
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Search to fill head job will be lengthy
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For moments, when he contemplated the future of Auburn’s basketball program, Jay Jacobs pretended that the big, new, $92.5 million arena sitting outside his window was a mirage.
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According to The Birmingham News, Jeff Lebo was informed today that he will not return as Auburn’s head coach.

Sources had said that Lebo expected to be fired after finishing with a losing record yet again.

Lebo was 96-93 overall in six season with the Tigers. 

Yesterday we posted our picks for the entire SEC tournament… and thanks to a blistering 4-for-4 start, we can simply link you to that post for our second round picks (and beyond).

Of course, the fact that we went 4-0 yesterday almost guarantees that we’ll plummet to 0-4 today. 

Nevertheless, for our take on Kentucky/Alabama, Ole Miss/Tennessee, Mississippi State/Florida and Vanderbilt/Georgia, just click right here.

1.  Rolando McClain’s Crohn’s disease isn’t expected to affect the former Alabama linebacker’s NFL draft stock.  Good.

2.  Here are five things to watch as the Crimson Tide kicks off spring practice today.

3.  Ah, heck… here are five more things to watch in Tuscaloosa this spring.

4.  This writer says Alabama has no reason to fear Kentucky in today’s second-round game.

5.  Love Paul Finebaum?  Hate Paul Finebaum?  Well, you’ll soon be able to hear him nationwide on Sirius XM radio.

6.  Arkansas AD Jeff Long continues to stand behind John Pelphrey despite yesterday’s first-round loss to Georgia.

7.  Ah, but will all of Pelphrey’s assistants be back next year?

8.  Georgia made life tough on the Hogs’ Rotnei Clarke.

9.  Marshawn Powell says he’ll use the Razorbacks’ six-game, season-ending losing streak as motivation for next year.

10.  Pelphrey remained upbeat about the program’s future after the loss.

11.  That said, nobody is crying to see UA’s season come to a close.

12.  This writer believes Arkansas is losing recruits because its “coaches are being outworked,” not because the Razorbacks lack a basketball practice facility.

13.  Receiver Terrance Toliver was back at practice for LSU yesterday… cast on his broken hand and all.

14.  It seems that Les Miles has found a starting offensive line that he likes much quicker than even he imagined.

15.  Trent Johnson admitted that his Tigers had no room for error, which is why an 8-0 Tennessee run in the second half meant curtains for LSU.

16.  In the final game of a tremendous career, Tasmin Mitchell could come up big for the purple and gold.

17.  Mitchell said his team’s zone defense caused problems for the Vols.  “They’ve never been a real good shooting team beyond the arc.”

18.  Mississippi State’s Chad Bumphis could be used as more than just a receiver this year… a la Percy Harvin.

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Will Jeff Lebo be back at Auburn next year?  That’s the big question around the state of Alabama this morning.

1.  After Auburn’s 78-69 loss to Florida, Lebo said, “We’ve got a good recruiting class coming in.  We’ve got to get some guys who need to get better.”  Not sure what that last part means.  He also said that he hasn’t given any thought to his “body of work.”  (He better hope Jay Jacobs doesn’t either.)

2.  As for when he’ll learn of his fate from Jacobs, Lebo said, “We’ll meet like we always do.  It’ll be private.  It’ll happen soon, I’m sure.”

3.  Lucas Hargrove believes his coach “definitely should have a chance” to recruit to AU’s new arena.

4.  Not surprisingly, Lebo’s players rose to his defense.

5.  Jacobs has a lot of questions to answer concerning his coach’s future.

6.  And this probably isn’t good for Lebo — all-time AU scoring leader and current Lakers assistant Chuck Person said he would “look into it” if “a good college job in a good conference” came open.  (Maybe a former Tiger would think that the Auburn job IS a good college job.)

7.  According to this Auburn site, Lebo has told friends “that he does not expect to be invited back.” 



Lebo has a 96-93 record at Auburn through six seasons.  He has had five losing conference records in that time.  He has taken the Tigers to one NIT and no NCAA tournaments.  This year’s 15-17 squad featured six seniors.

If Lebo survives, it will be a pretty big shock.  And it will likely have to do with financial considerations above all else.

Wanted to update you on a few NCAA tournament projections from some of the media big boys today.  Here’s what’s out there:



The Sporting News — 5 teams in

Kentucky:  #1 seed

Tennessee:  #5 seed

Vanderbilt:  #5 seed

Florida:  #10 seed

Ole Miss:  #11 seed



ESPN — 5 teams in

Joe Lunardi still says that only three SEC teams are “locks” to make the tournament.  After yesterday’s action, Florida and Ole Miss are “in” from his bubble watch area.  Mississippi State is not.

In his opinion, those three SEC schools are competing with Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, San Diego State, Illinois, Washington, Arizona State, Memphis, Rhode Island, Seton Hall, Dayton and Minnesota for at-large bids. 



Bracketography.com — 5 teams in

Kentucky:  #1 seed in East (Syracuse) Region vs play-in game winner

Vanderbilt:  #4 seed in South (Houston) Region vs #13 Akron

Tennessee:  #5 seed in West (Salt Lake City) Region vs #12 Siena

Florida:  #10 seed in East (Syracuse) Region vs #7 Notre Dame

Ole Miss:  #12 seed in Midwest (St. Louis) Region vs #5 Maryland



CBS Sports — 5 teams in

Kentucky:  #1 seed in East (Syracuse) Region vs play-in game winner

Tennessee:  #5 seed in Midwest (St. Louis) Region vs #12 Utah State

Vanderbilt:  #5 seed in South (Houston) Region vs #12 California

Florida:  #10 seed in West (Salt Lake City) Region vs #7 Clemson

Ole Miss:  #11 seed in East (Syracuse) Region vs #6 Xavier



Keep in mind that some of these links will be updated throughout the day… so in a few hours, my comments may no longer hold true.

Also, some of the above links may require free or paid registration.

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Is it enough to get Florida into the NCAA tournament?

Is it enough to cost Jeff Lebo his job at Auburn?

Those are two questions that will be asked tonight following Florida’s
78-69 win over Auburn in Game Three of the SEC tournament.

As expected, Alex Tyus and Chandler Parsons caused matchup problems for
Jeff Lebo’s team, scoring 22 and 21 points respectively for the Gators.

Florida led by as many as 14 in the first half only to see Auburn nearly
pull even at 42-41 with less that 16 minutes to play.  But the Tigers
– behind Frankie Sullivan’s 25 points — could get no closer. 

The Gators stroked 7-of-15 from beyond the three-point arc.

According to most bracket gurus, Florida came into the tournament
needing one or perhaps two more wins to lock up an at-large NCAA bid. 
So is a nine-point win over Auburn enough to do the trick?

For the Tigers, Jay Jacobs now becomes the man in the spotlight. 
Auburn’s athletic director will have to decide whether or not Lebo will
get a seventh year on The Plains… despite a poor track record through
his first six seasons.

During today’s games, ESPN analyst Jimmy Dykes campaigned often for Lebo
to get more time.  Judging by this year’s attendance, it would seem
most Tiger fans probably see things differently.  Either way, everyone
will now have to wait for Jacobs’ final verdict.

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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.

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.