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NCAA Tournament Is What It Is – Just Perfect

admin — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:19:59 +0000

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Anybody out there still think the NCAA Tournament field should be expanded to 96?

Hello? Anybody?

SEC West Headlines – 3/19/10

John — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:03:21 +0000

1. Former Alabama cornerback Kareem Jackson’s NFL draft stock is soaring.

2. Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi said yesterday that he can’t afford to give Tubby Smith a raise above his current $1.75 million per year salary. Are you listening, Jay Jacobs?

3. Maturi said he’s “heard the rumors” that AU might be interested in Smith, “but I haven’t gotten the call.” Minnesota plays Xavier today… and Maturi isn’t happy about the timing of rumors connecting Smith to both Auburn and Oregon.

4. LSU’s Stefoin Francois is following in Harry Coleman’s footsteps and moving from safety to linebacker.

5. New right tackle Alex Hurst says the Tigers’ offensive line is “starting to pick it up.”

6. North Carolina’s Roy Williams says Rick Stansbury is “a big-time quality coach.”

7. Williams said his team is happy to still be playing. (Even if it means playing in Starkville at noon ET tomorrow?)

8. No introductions will be necessary when Ole Miss and Memphis hook up this evening in the NIT.

9. Tad Smith Coliseum hasn’t been “home sweet home” for Andy Kennedy’s club this season.

10. The Rebels have a deeper bench than the Tigers.

11. Speaking of Memphis, it’s looking like their appeal of NCAA sanctions will be denied. So if John Calipari wants a Final Four to appear officially on his resume, he’s going to need to reach one with Kentucky.

12. Even after his horrible season last year, one group still ranks Jevan Snead as the #7 quarterback prospect in their year’s draft.

With UT Win, SEC Goes 2-2 On Day 1

John — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:49:50 +0000

With Tennessee’s 62-59 win over San Diego State last night, the Southeastern Conference wrapped up the day at 2-2. It wasn’t the kind of performance the league was looking for, but it could have been worse.

As we showed you all week leading up to the tournament, many national analysts believed Kentucky would be the only SEC club standing at the end of yesterday’s action. They were almost right.

Florida fell to Brigham Young to get things started. Next Vanderbilt was upset on a buzzer-beater by Murray State of the OVC. After an expected UK win, Tennessee had to hold off #11 seed San Diego State which had a chance to tie on a last-second three-pointer.

Had the Aztecs pulled the shocker — and that was THE vogue pick for a first-round upset — the SEC would have really had some egg on its face.

As it stands, the league actually has a pretty good shot at having two teams reach the Sweet Sixteen.

Kentucky will face Wake Forest at 8:15pm ET on Saturday. Wake (a #9 seed) came from behind to slip past Texas in overtime last night. Having played in a power conference and been on the NCAA stage many times before, it’s doubtful that the Demon Deacons will be intimidated by the name on UK’s jerseys. Still, it would be a major, major upset for the Wildcats to lose.

Tennessee will play at 3:35pm ET against Ohio. The #14 seed Bobcats whipped up on Georgetown yesterday. If Ohio can repeat their 13-of-23 shooting performance from three-point range they might just take down Tennessee, too. But if you look at their full body of work, Ohio is a much more desirable opponent for the Vols than the Hoyas would have been. Ohio was just 20-14 coming into the tourney and had to win the MAC tournament to get a bid.

If the SEC can land two teams in the Sweet Sixteen it would constitute a respectable performance for a league that just had four teams invited.

But if the SEC wants to impress folks around the country, it needs Kentucky and Tennessee to not only reach the next round… but the one after that. If two league schools can reach the Elite Eight THEN the SEC might start to regain some national respect.

After Day One, at least that remains a possibility.

(It was a first day that some are calling the best ever thanks to seven upsets by seed out of the 16 games played.)

SEC West Headlines 3/18/10

John — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:07:21 +0000

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.

Mallett’s Scooter Drawing Laughs

John — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:10:46 +0000

An LSU fan has started an internet sensation add music to and then posting video of Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett tooling around the UA campus on a device designed to protect his surgically-repaired left foot.

Mallett is well aware of the video, too. He’s been emailed about it several time.

“You’ve got to take it with a grain of salt. There’s going to be people from other teams putting it on the internet. A million people have sent it to me in my email. I just laugh every time. It doesn’t get to me or anything.”

As you can see in the video, the contraption Mallett is having to use is a bit odd looking.

Mallett is off his feet and out of full football action for the next couple of months while his broken foot heals. Mallett is still able to throw.

He expects to be back to full speed by July. Until then, he’ll just be ridin’ dirty.

SEC West Headlines – 3/17/10

John — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:34:14 +0000

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.”

More Confusion Over Lane Violation Rules

John — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:41:49 +0000

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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Lunardi Not Real Big On The SEC

John — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:16:30 +0000

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.

The Truth About Seeds, Rankings And RPI

John — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:58:59 +0000

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.

Top 25 Rank	School	“Expected” Seed	Actual Seed	Difference
1	Kansas	1	1
2	Kentucky	1	1
3	Duke	1	1
4	Syracuse	1	1
5	Ohio State	2	2
6	West Virginia	2	2
7	Kansas State	2	2
8	New Mexico	2	3	Down 1
9	Villanova	3	2	Up 1
10	Purdue	3	4	Down 1
11	Butler	3	5	Down 2
12	Temple	3	5	Down 2
13	Michigan State	4	5	Down 1
14	Georgetown	4	3	Up 1
15	Tennessee	4	6	Down 2
16	Wisconsin	4	4
17	BYU	5	7	Down 2
18	Pittsburgh	5	3	Up 2
19	Baylor	5	3	Up 2
20	Maryland	5	4	Up 1
21	Vanderbilt	6	4	Up 2
22	Gonzaga	6	8	Down 2
23	Texas A&M	6	5	Up 1
24	Richmond	6	7	Down 1
25	Xavier	7	6	Up 1

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…

RPI Rank	School	“Expected” Seed	Actual Seed	Difference
1	Kansas	1	1
2	Kentucky	1	1
3	Duke	1	1
4	West Virginia	1	2	Down 1
5	Syracuse	2	1	Up 1
6	Kansas State	2	2
7	Georgetown	2	3	Down 1
8	Temple	2	5	Down 3
9	Baylor	3	3
10	New Mexico	3	3
11	Villanova	3	2	Up 1
12	Butler	3	5	Up 2
13	Texas A&M	4	5	Down 1
14	Tennessee	4	6	Down 2
15	Pittsburgh	4	3	Up 1
16	Purdue	4	4
17	Northern Iowa	5	9	Down 4
18	San Diego State	5	11	Down 6
19	Xavier	5	6	Down 1
20	California	5	8	Down 3
21	Wisconsin	6	4	Up 2
22	Ohio State	6	2	Up 4
23	BYU	6	7	Down 1
24	Maryland	6	4	Up 2
25	Richmond	7	7

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.

Top O’ The Mornin’ To Ya

John — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:04:58 +0000

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.

SEC West Headlines – 3/16/10

John — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:30:08 +0000

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.

Arkansas Basketball: Rumors And Changes

John — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:03:15 +0000

Arkansas officially announced yesterday that assistant coach Isaac Brown was being re-assigned to an administrative position on John Pelphrey’s coaching staff. Fellow assistants Rob Evans and Tom Ostrom will continue in their current roles.

UA announced the move in a press release yesterday. And Pelphrey vowed to turn things around in Fayetteville.

“As part of our ongoing commitment to improving our program, I believe these changes will result in the development of both a stronger coaching and support staff,” Pelphrey said in the release. That’s quite the kick to the groin for Brown isn’t it?

“After making my recommendation, Jeff Long assisted me in creating this opportunity. I appreciate the support of our administration and their continued assistance in providing our basketball program the resources and the opportunity to succeed. I appreciate what Isaac Brown has brought to our program and look forward to working with him in his new administrative role.”

“On the court, while we have had some success, our coaches and student-athletes understand the expectations of the Razorback program is to compete for championships and win consistently in the Southeastern Conference and nationally. We will continue to work every day in all facets of our program to meet those expectations.”

Meanwhile, the release underscores the fact that athletic director Jeff Long remains patient with his head coach. “We have asked John and his staff to do more than win basketball games, we have asked them to build a program on and off the court of which our University and supporters can be proud. This process will take additional time.”

Rumors continue to swirl about who will replace Brown on the Hogs’ bench… and about more potential moves.

An Arkansas television station has reported that former Alabama coach Mark Gottfried (now with ESPN) and former Texas Tech coach James Dickey would be joining the Razorbacks shortly.

“I have absolutely no idea where that got started,” Gottfried said of the report.

And Gottfried wasn’t the only person shooting down rumors yesterday.

UA guard Rotnei Clarke said in a statement last night that it was never his intention to leave the Razorbacks, despite a television report that suggested otherwise.

“Contrary to a local television station report over the weekend that I was ’seriously considering’ transferring, I wanted to make clear to the Razorback fans that I will return to play basketball for the University of Arkansas next season.”

The apparent lesson? Don’t get your news from Arkansas television stations.

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Getting The Calls: An SEC Statistical Breakdown

John — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:07:20 +0000

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

School	Fouls Against Opp. Per Game	SEC Record
Vanderbilt	22.87	12-4
Kentucky	20.75	14-2
Arkansas	19.56	7-9
Tennessee	17.81	11-5
Auburn	17.62	6-10
Florida	17.00	9-7
Mississippi State	17.00	9-7
Ole Miss	16.50	9-7
Georgia	16.06	5-11
Alabama	15.87	6-10
LSU	15.68	2-14
South Carolina	15.00	6-10

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

FEWEST FOULS CALLED AGAINST PER GAME

School	Fouls Called Against Per Game	SEC Record
Florida	14.06	9-7
Mississippi State	15.06	9-7
Georgia	16.37	5-11
LSU	17.00	2-14
Kentucky	17.12	14-2
South Carolina	18.00	6-10
Alabama	18.18	6-10
Arkansas	18.50	7-9
Tennessee	18.87	11-5
Ole Miss	18.93	9-7
Auburn	19.75	6-10
Vanderbilt	19.87	12-4

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

School	Differential in Fouls Called Per Game	SEC Record
Kentucky	3.63	14-2
Vanderbilt	3.00	12-4
Florida	2.94	9-7
Mississippi State	1.94	9-7
Arkansas	1.06	7-9
Georgia	-0.31	5-11
Tennessee	-1.06	11-5
LSU	-1.32	2-14
Auburn	-2.13	6-10
Alabama	-2.31	6-10
Ole Miss	-2.43	9-7
South Carolina	-3.00	6-10

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

School	Differential in Fouls Called Per Game	Home Record
Florida	6.87	6-2
Kentucky	5.78	8-0
Vanderbilt	5.00	6-2
Arkansas	4.00	5-3
Georgia	3.12	5-3
Mississippi State	2.88	6-2
Auburn	1.88	5-3
Tennessee	0.88	7-1
LSU	0.87	2-6
Alabama	0.37	4-4
Ole Miss	-0.38	4-4
South Carolina	-1.87	4-4

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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SEC West Headlines – 3/15/10

John — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:45:46 +0000

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.

Updated “Everyone Cries” Post

John — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:28:01 +0000

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.

Four SEC Teams Get Bids, Two Don’t, Everyone Cries

John — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:45:44 +0000

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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SEC notebook: Kentucky coach feels like baby-sitter

admin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 11:58:40 +0000

When Kentucky’s freshman act like, well, freshmen, John Calipari is usually willing to cut them some slack.
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SEC Notebook: UK fans descend as ticket costs rise

admin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 11:55:39 +0000

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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MrSEC.com’s Predictions For Round Two

John — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:23:57 +0000

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.

SEC West Headlines – 3/12/10

John — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:10:30 +0000

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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NCAA Tourney Projections For The SEC

John — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:52:54 +0000

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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Tourney Game Four – Georgia 77, Arkansas 64

John — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:23:18 +0000

It took about two minutes for Georgia to grab the lead in Game Four of the SEC Tournament. And they never gave it up over the final 38.

Behind 23 points, 14 rebounds and 6 assists from Trey Thompkins, Georgia sent Arkansas to its sixth straight defeat, 77-64 in Nashville tonight.

Analysts agreed that the Razorbacks would need to hit threes if they were going to survive tonight. Turns out they hit only 1-of-12 for a chill-inducing 8%.

Georgia dominated on the glass, outrebounding the Hogs 41-25. In addition, four Dawgs finished in double digits (Thompkins, Travis Leslie with 21, and Ricky McPhee and Dustin Ware with 10 each).

For Arkansas, Michael Washington led the way with 20 points, followed by Courtney Fortson’s 16 and Marshawn Powell’s 10. Powell, who said earlier this week that UA was his team and that he would lead them, managed only three buckets from the field.

The Razorbacks finished the season 14-18 while Georgia improved to 14-16 and will now face Vanderbilt in tomorrow’s nightcap.

Several Commodore players made it clear on Wednesday that they would have preferred to play Arkansas… saying that they don’t match up well with the Bulldogs. We’ll see if Vandy looks the least bit timid tomorrow.

On a sidenote, we here at MrSEC.com went 4-for-4 in our Round One tourney picks. So what do you want to bet we pull a doughnut tomorrow?

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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.

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.

Tourney Game Four – Arkansas Vs Georgia

John — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:30:13 +0000

1. John Pelphrey has tried to downplay Marshawn Powell’s comments about a supposed lack of leadership in Arkansas’ locker room.

2. The Razorbacks hope to follow in the footsteps of the last two SEC tourney champs. MSU and Georgia also had to win four games in four days.

3. The Dawgs feel that they can make another four-game run… this time without a tornado.

4. Georgia has lost three of its last four. Arkansas has lost five straight.

5. Mark Fox says that if UGA can play mistake-free ball, “we’ve got just as good a chance as a lot of teams.”

6. Former walk-on Ricky McPhee is living his dream with the Bulldogs.

7. This writer expects Trey Thompkins to return to Athens next season.

8. Fox says his team needs “to have a good tournament” in Nashville before he’ll accept a bid to a lesser postseason tourney.

9. By lesser tourney, we’re talking about the CBI and CIT. Yep, nothing like two teams with losing records battling it out in the postseason.

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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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)

Please Don’t Cry About Awards

John — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:20:36 +0000

Ever notice how the fans of a school always feel that their coach is the most deserving of Coach of the Year honors? Or that fans of a school feel that their players are most deserving of postseason laurels?

Well, not every player and coach can take home a gold trophy when the season’s complete. And personally, I’ve never really understood why folks care so much about MVPs and All-Conference teams.

Still, in the last two weeks I’ve heard tell of at least five — yes FIVE — SEC East Division coaches that “deserved” to win Coach of the Year honors in the league.

Last week, Mark Bradley of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution suggested that UGA’s Mark Fox be honored.

A friend of mine covering the Florida-Tennessee basketball game two weeks ago told me that someone on press row told him that Billy Donovan should be the SEC’s COTY.

Vanderbilt and Tennessee fans have already emailed me to say: a) Why is everyone complaining that Kevin Stallings won the award? and b) Why didn’t Bruce Pearl win it? You can do the math as to which fans said what.

Now, folks in Lexington are upset that John Calipari didn’t get the award. DeMarcus Cousins and John Wall said they didn’t even know who Stallings is.

As I’ve previously stated on this site, I believe that any of those last three coaches mentioned could have easily laid claim to the COTY prize. And I don’t disagree with CBS’ Gary Parrish who suggested the other league coaches didn’t vote for Pearl or Calipari because they simply don’t like them.

But just to throw a little water on all the “how could our coach not win it” nonsense, let’s look at some of the reasons those five SEC East Division coaches might not have won:

John Calipari

Pros: Recruited a stellar cast of freshmen and then led UK to a 29-2 regular season record. He did a fabulous job of keeping a team of young egos together.

Cons: Easily had the best talent in the league. He should have had a great year. His own players were aiming for an undefeated season. The All-SEC team reads like a UK roster. The award goes to Coach of the Year, not Recruiter of the Year.

Bruce Pearl

Pros: Pearl had to abandon his usual style of play due to a major off-court issue (four players arrested on New Year’s Day) and numerous injuries. He used a variety of line-ups to somehow lead UT to an 11-5 conference record and upset wins over Kentucky and Kansas.

Cons: Who recruited the four players who were arrested on New Year’s Day? Oh, yeah. So you could say Pearl had to clean up a mess that was partially his own creation.

Billy Donovan

Pros: Well, to be honest, I have no idea how anyone could push Billy D for COTY this season. I guess he got as much out of a thin backcourt as could have been expected. Maybe?

Cons: The Gators lost their final three games when all they likely needed was one win to wrap up an NCAA bid. And UF’s guard depth was hurt when Nick Calathes — who Donovan couldn’t get along with — left for a Greek professional league early.

Mark Fox

Pros: Georgia was a tougher team — at home at least — than most folks expected. UGA upset Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Florida in Athens. Fox gave Bulldog fans reason to be optimistic about the future.

Cons: Georgia finished the season 13-16, 5-11 in the SEC. End of argument.

Kevin Stallings

Pros: Vanderbilt overachieved. Picked for third in the East, the Commodores hung close to league champion Kentucky for much of the season. The surprisingly consistent ‘Dores finished 12-4 in league play and were unexpectedly physical in doing so.

Cons: I can’t think of any. Really. There are no glaring holes. Nothing that could really be spun as a reason not to give Stallings the prize.

I know, I know, I’ve just ticked off four different fanbases. And Vandy fans will probably be mad because I wasn’t glowing enough in my praise of Stallings.

But again, I think any of those top three guys could have won the award. Plus, I don’t really understand folks’ fascination with these types of honors anyway.

And I’d be willing to bet that if Kentucky wins the national title, Calipari probably won’t be thinking about the SEC’s Coach of the Year award when he’s up on a ladder cutting down a net.

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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SEC West Headlines – 3/9/10

John — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:11:11 +0000

1. Alabama did the Presidential visit thing yesterday in Washington, DC.

2. Bama’s defensive line should have plenty of experience this fall.

3. Bobby Petrino says Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett broken foot may have been a result of two previous injuries dating back to last August.

4. There are no concerns about Mallett packing on pounds due to his injury.

5. LSU basketball player Dennis Harris won’t miss any games, but Les Miles is still waiting to rule on the arrest of football player Terrance Toliver.

6. Toliver was tasered not once, but twice following his “fistic encounter” over the weekend.

7. Trent Johnson’s team is hoping to play spoiler in Nashville.

8. Andy Kennedy doesn’t want his team to worry about Bracketology reports.

9. ESPN’s Jimmy Dykes says Ole Miss must hope for a win over Tennessee in Nashville.

10. MSU’s Rick Stansbury says the four top teams in the SEC East were better than everyone else.

11. State is looking for a repeat of their SEC tourney championship from a year ago.

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

Lunardi Has Four SEC Teams In The Tourney

John — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:04:39 +0000

Joe Lunardi posted his latest Bracketology report on ESPN.com yesterday and he still sees four SEC squads currently in the field of 65. Two more schools are just on the outside, too. (That link may require you to register with ESPN.com.)

In Mr. Lunardi’s view, here’s how the SEC’s still-alive teams currently rank:

Kentucky — #1 seed in East (Syracuse) Regional versus the winner of the play-in game

Vanderbilt — #4 seed in Midwest (St. Louis) Regional versus #13 seed Kent State

Tennessee — #4 seed in West (Salt Lake City) Regional versus #13 San Diego State

Florida — #11 seed in South (Houston) Regional versus #6 seed Georgetown

Ole Miss is the fourth team outside the field.

Mississippi State is the seventh team outside the field.

Mr. Lunardi keeps a close eye on the resumes of all the at-large hopefuls, so he deserves the benefit of the doubt. But I’ll still say that in an average year — when West Coast basketball was not so bad — Florida, Ole Miss and Mississippi State’s resumes would not be tourney-worthy at this point.

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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 – Arkansas Vs Georgia

John — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:50:59 +0000

GAME FOUR
Thursday, 9:45pm ET
SEC Network

West #3 Seed — Arkansas
Overall Record: 14-17
SEC Record: 7-9
Current Streak: Lost 5
Last 8 Games: 2-6
RPI: 145
SOS: 36
Top 50 RPI Wins: None
Losses Outside Top 100 RPI: Morgan State, E. Tennessee State, S. Alabama, Oklahoma, Auburn, LSU
2pt Shots (% of Total Points): 52.4%
3pt Shots (% of Total Points): 25.8%
Free Throws (% of Total Points): 21.8%
Bench Minutes (% of Total Minutes): 37.1%
Playing For: To extend their season, Arkansas will need to win the whole darn tournament

East #6 Seed — Georgia
Overall Record: 13-16
SEC Record: 5-11
Current Streak: Lost 2
Last 8 Games: 3-5
RPI: 99
SOS: 14
Top 50 RPI Wins: Georgia Tech, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
Losses Outside Top 100 RPI: Arkansas, Auburn, LSU
2pt Shots (% of Total Points): 57.0%
3pt Shots (% of Total Points): 21.5%
Free Throws (% of Total Points): 21.5%
Bench Minutes (% of Total Minutes): 30.0%
Playing For: Like Arkansas, Georgia will have to win the tournament championship to keep their season alive

Previous Meeting: Arkansas 72, Georgia 68 in Athens on February 3rd

Fast Facts: Until their recent skid, Georgia was a team that had been showing improvement. The same could be said for Arkansas which got a big boost from the return of Courtney Fortson… only to watch a West Division lead crumble into an 0-5 finish. Fortson had to lead a 15-point rally (with 27 points of his own) in UA’s victory over the Dawgs earlier this season.

Edge: If the Hogs get hot from three-point range, they can do some damage. But I’ll take Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie to lead Georgia to a slight upset. (The ridiculous East/West seeding system would make this look like a bigger upset than it would actually be.)

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.

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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Ole Miss’ late rally stuns Arkansas 68-66

admin — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 14:59:25 +0000

Rebels earn a share of the SEC West title.
(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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