Colorado State 84 — Missouri 72

1.  The Rams manhandled the Tigers, never allowing Mizzou to get within three points in the last 36 minutes of basketball.

2.  “The reality is that (Frank) Haith did a nice job of acquiring players to fill a depleted roster, but he did a poor job of turning that talent into a team that played with intelligence and toughness.”

3.  Last night’s lackluster curtain-dropper was a fitting finish to the Tigers’ season.

SEC Hoops today/NCAA Tournament

Ole Miss vs Wisconsin (12:40pm ET) and Florida vs Northwestern State (7:27pm ET)

Missouri fell 84-72 to Colorado State in its opening game of the NCAA Tournament
In postseason play the SEC is now 1-3 in NCAA and NIT action this year
Three Alabama reserves are no longer on the Crimson Tide football team as Nick Saban whittles his roster down to the 85-man scholarship limit
LSU will hold its first spring scrimmage tomorrow
Georgia QB Aaron Murray reported for spring practice eight pounds lighter than he weighed last season
Ole Miss AD Ross Bjork has been given a raise and a contract extension after his first year on the job
Ole Miss will spend $6 million on architects to design a new 10,000-seat basketball arena to replace the Tad Smith Coliseum
Today’s SEC action in the NCAA Tournament: Ole Miss vs Wisconsin at 12:40pm ET and Florida vs Northwestern State at 7:27pm ET

The Southeastern Conference has played four postseason games so far.  Kentucky lost at tiny Robert Morris.  Tennessee lost at home to tiny Mercer.  Missouri was about as much challenge to Colorado State last night as a tiny mouse to a big cat.

Half the SEC teams invited into the NCAA Tournament or NIT have been booted in their tourney’s first round.  (Sorry, NCAA, but we’re not going to call what’s really the first round the second just because you’ve stuck four play-in games in front of it.)

Ah, but Alabama knocked off Northeastern at home in its first NIT game.  Hurrah!  That’s the lone positive so far for the SEC.

Like it or not, unless Ole Miss and Florida both go on long, long tourney runs the rest of the nation will have its perception of the SEC — that it’s down — reinforced.  I would throw Alabama onto that list, but upsets make more of an impression on fans’ minds than who actually wins the NIT.  Can you even name last year’s champ?  (Stanford.)

Granted, Kentucky and Tennessee clearly had no interest of playing in a secondary tourney once their NCAA bubbles burst.  Unfortunately for them that point isn’t bolted to the box scores that have now been posted for all-time on hundreds of sports websites.  No one cares why they lost… just that they lost… to Robert Morris and Mercer.

Mizzou, well, it had no excuse.  The Tigers made the dance.  They faced a team from the Mountain West, a league that many of us down South said wasn’t worthy of five bids.  Well, as Charles Barkley said last night, the MWC was better at the top than the SEC this year.  Hell, it was probably better at the bottom, too, but that’s beside the point.  Missouri didn’t even bother to lead for 37 minutes and then choke the game away.  The Tigers looked like the lesser team from first tip to final buzzer.  So much for the SEC deserving one or two of the bids Mountain West teams received.

Amazingly, in our comment boxes have appeared this week suggestions that the NCAA selection committee chose to keep SEC teams out of the tourney because of a Northern bias.  We’ve also seen it proposed that dissing the SEC is a way for the NCAA to send money to other conferences who don’t win in football.  Riiiiiight.

Odd that LSU athletic director Joe Alleva — who was on this year’s committee — would help cover up such an anti-SEC conspiracy.  It’s equally odd that the last time the SEC got only three NCAA bids was in 2009 when league commissioner Mike Slive actually chaired the selection panel.  His response then: “We’ve got to schedule better.”

Clearly Slive must be a double-agent.  Perhaps he’s even a double-naught.  Probably got those Cuban cigars he loves from Castro his own self.

Hey, the SEC was shafted this season because it deserved the shaft.  A fourth SEC team could have gotten into the tourney.  Tennessee’s numbers made it bubble-worthy.  But Tennessee and the SEC didn’t get that fourth bid.  And Tennessee certainly didn’t set out to prove the committee wrong as it yawned its way through an embarrassing home loss in front of 5,000 people and a handful of crickets.

So let’s just stop all the whining and whimpering.  The SEC’s lack of bids doesn’t trace to a Free Masons plot.  It traces to a crummy non-conference schedule trumped only by a crummier non-conference record.

As for the NIT, sorry Arkansas fans, but the SEC’s overall suckitude in 2012-13 and so far in the postseason suggests once more that the Hogs shouldn’t be squealing about their omission from that tourney, either.  You guys finished behind the three SEC squads who’ve already slipped on banana peels.

If SEC fans want the league’s bid odds to improve next year, you better be pulling hard for Ole Miss today at 12:40pm ET (against Wisconsin) and for Florida tonight at 7:27pm ET (against Northwestern State).  So far the perception of a weak SEC has been reinforced in tournament play.  There’s only one way to change that perception going into next season — win some games with America watching.

Rebels and Gators, the SEC banner is in your hands.

Between the NCAA and the NIT, the SEC had six teams qualify for postseason tournament play.  Four games in, half of them are already done.  Missouri becomes the latest SEC squad to make a quick exit, falling to Colorado State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Tigers trailed by nine at half and proceeded to cut the lead to four points early in the second half.  They never got any closer.

Phil Pressey led Missouri with 20 points and seven assists.

- Colorado State doubled Missouri on the boards – outrebounding the Tigers 36-18.

-Missouri shot 42.1% from the field (24-57) while Colorado State shot 49% (25-51)

- Colorado State went to the free-throw line 14 times more than Mizzou – made 10 more (27 vs 17).

Missouri finishes the year 23-11; 17-0 at home and 6-11 in road/neutral court games.

Mercer 75 – Tennessee 67

1. Vols end the year at 20-13 after getting bounced by Mercer.  Trae Golden: “It was weird because when we played Missouri (in the regular-season finale), we felt like that was our last home game,”

2. Jarnell Stokes had 14 points and 13 rebounds. “”I don’t think we came out expecting to lose.”

3. Mike Strange: “Tennessee got Robert Morrissed on Wednesday night…”

SEC Hoops Tonight/NCAA Tournament

Missouri vs Colorado State (9:20 Eastern).  Florida and Ole Miss both play Friday.

Billy Napier is leaving Florida State to become the wide receivers coach at Alabama, according to a report from Noles247.com.

Napier will replace Mike Groh, who’s leaving for the Chicago Bears, according to the Noles247 report.

Napier’s decision to leave Florida State comes less than two months after his arrival in Tallahassee. He was hired as Florida State’s tight ends coach/recruiting coordinator on Jan. 15.

Napier, who served as Colorado State’s quarterbacks coach in 2012, was the offensive quality control coach on Alabama’s 2011 staff. He previously served on Clemson’s staff from 2006-10.

Napier, widely regarded as one of the nation’s top recruiter, will be filling big shoes in that area. Groh was recently named the Rivals’ Recruiter of the Year after he helped Alabama sign such highly-touted prospects as defensive linemen Dee Liner and A’Shawn Robinson and running back Altee Tenpenny.

Napier was twice recognized by Rivals as one of the nation’s top 25 recruiters during his time at Clemson.

Tennessee coach Derek Dooley might not have wound up on the Volunteers’ radar way back in January of 2010 had he not been an ex-assistant for current Alabama coach Nick Saban.  From Florida to Colorado State, if you worked for Saban, you’ve got a little extra juice these days.  Well yesterday, with his team riding high after a 35-21 opening night win over NC State, Dooley seemed to channel his old boss with regards to his own team possibly becoming complacent:

“Most teams never reach their dreams because they overestimate the event and underestimate the process…

Our biggest challenge is going to be not patting ourselves on the back and listening to everybody talking about how good we played and not remembering why we had success, which is the process these guys have been going through the last eight months.”

Ah, the process.

How long before Dooley suggests the media isn’t giving enough respect to Georgia State, Tennessee’s next foe?

1.  It appears as though there could actually be some serious discussion of raising the NBA’s minimum age limit.  (If that happens, the one-and-done rule could disappear.)

2.  The SEC will try out wireless communication for its officiating crews this fall.

3.  A great find.  Now you can read a letter Paul “Bear” Bryant wrote to an incoming Alabama freshman about 40 years ago.  (We pause for Tide fans to wipe their tears.)

4.  Think Nick Saban will remind his team about Jim Delany’s “that team” remark when they open with Michigan this fall?

5.  LSU chancellor Mike Martin is a finalist to become the chancellor at Colorado State.

6.  Here’s a look at Mississippi State’s safety position p0st-spring drills.

7.  And here’s a look at Florida’s receiving corps after spring practice.

8.  This writer tells you which nonconference teams he thinks Georgia should schedule in football.

9.  Kentucky hoops signee Nerlens Noel says the NCAA hasn’t contacted him directly and that he’s in “great position to qualify” academically.

10.  Steve Spurrier and Frank Martin visited Augusta, Georgia yesterday saying, “It’s great to cross the state line and still be in Gamecock Country.”

It’s not official yet, but multiple reports are claiming that University of Washington offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier has been hired to fill the same spot at Alabama. 

Prior to his stop in Washington, Nussmeier has served as a quarterbacks coach in the NFL (St. Louis Rams) and in the Big Ten (Michigan State).

Ironically, Nussmeier replaced Jim McElwain at Fresno State when Saban tabbed McElwain to run the Tide offense in 2008.  Now he’ll replace McElwain as the ex-Bama coordinator takes over as head coach at Colorado State.

Many view the Washington offense as being the baby of head coach Steve Sarkisian, rather than of Nussmeier.  Of course, some look at Bama’s defense as being Nick Saban’s rather than Kirby Smart’s.  Bottom line — Nussmeier and Sarkisian had the Huskies offense ranked 25th in the nation in scoring offense this past season.

The next couple of days, we’ll be taking some time off, meaning we’ll mainly have your headline fix each day and some breaking news items when they occur.  Let’s call ‘em “mental health days.”  We’ll be back to full speed next week. 

That said, here are the day’s headlines:


1.  Alabama offensive coordinator Jim McElwain — who will coach in the BCS title game — accepted the top job at Colorado State yesterday.

2.  If the Crimson Tide beats LSU next month, Bama will pay out more than $1 million in bonuses to its coaches.

3.  Auburn’s now in the market for two coordinators.

4.  New Arkansas defensive coordinator Paul Haynes has a reputation for being a “grinder.”

5.  Until Arkansas hosts Southeastern Louisiana Saturday, the hoops Hogs will have to continue to stew over recent losses to UConn and Oklahoma.

6.  More awards and honors pour in at LSU.

7.  LSU and Alabama will each get 17,000 tickets to the BCS Championship Game.  (But you can bet they’ll snap up a good portion of the remaining 38,000 tickets, too.)

8.  Uh-oh.  Tyler Russell “tweaked” his knee in practice yesterday and could miss MSU’s next two bowl practice sessions.  With Dylan Favre having transferred, depth at quarterback is becoming a major concern.

9.  Mississippi State survived a late scare to top Florida Atlantic 75-68 last night.

10.  New Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze took to Twitter — multiple times – to congratulate his old school and Gus Malzahn on their impending marriage.

11.  Andy Kennedy likes the depth on this year’s Rebel team.

12.  Ohio State’s Urban Meyer has raided Florida for a couple of support staff members.

13.  Check the depth chart and you’ll see that Georgia should be an SEC title contender next year, too.

14.  Kentucky linebacker Danny Trevathan is finally getting some postseason recognition.

15.  South Carolina freshman defensive back Martay Mattox has left the team.

16.  The Gamecock basketball squad needed a strong second half to avoid an upset at the hands of Presbyterian College last night.

17.  Forward Kenny Hall says Tennessee faces a “must win” game tonight at College of Charleston (a school that beat UT in Knoxville last year).

18.  Vanderbilt has already sold its initial allotment of 10,000 Liberty Bowl tickets.  (Kudos, Dore fans.)