1.  Here’s more on the promotion of Greg Sankey to Executive Associate Commissioner and COO of the SEC.  (Along with word that future scheduling formats for sports not named football and basketball should come out soon.)

2.  Florida’s Billy Donovan is proving again that he’s among college basketball’s coaching elite.

3.  Mike Gillislee is working on his pass protection skills while readying to be the Gators’ top running back this fall.

4.  The legal issues of Georgia starting corner Sanders Commings have been resolved.  (Probation, small fine.)

5.  With all eyes on UGA’s running backs position, Isaiah Crowell is the #1 back and he wants to make “a Heisman run.”

6.  Here are five questions about Kentucky as the Cats open spring drills.

7.  With UK preparing for a rematch with Indiana in the Sweet Sixteen, this writer looks back at how the Big Blue lost to the Hoosiers in December.

8.  Uh, wow.  Like Bobby Knight actually uttered the word “Kentucky” and Twitter shook.

9.  The results of South Carolina AD Eric Hyman’s previous coaching searches: Mixed.  (Of course, that’s pretty much the case with every other AD out there.  Hush Gator fans… remember Ron Zook?)

10.  Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall reportedly turned down a Nebraska offer worth nearly $2 million per year.  (And that type money might take him out of the Gamecocks’ price range.)

11.  With the season complete, Tennessee forward Jeronne Maymon had knee surgery yesterday.

12.  Renaldo Woolridge received a medical redshirt from the NCAA, but he’s leaving UT (and another spot is about to open up on Cuonzo Martin’s roster).

13.  Missouri’s Gary Pinkel says he’s not worried about what quarterback James Franklin’s health will be come fall.

Tennessee saw a six-year NCAA Tournament streak come to an end yesterday, but Cuonzo Martin isn’t complaining about it.  That’s because he knows that he took over a program in disarray.

Bruce Pearl had shockingly turned the Vol program into a national power, but through a series of bad decisions he brought the roof down on himself over what would have been — if handled properly — a secondary NCAA violation. 

In turn, Martin was left with a thin roster comprised of players who — for the most part — hadn’t played much or hadn’t played well under Pearl last season.  On top of that, Martin had to get those players to buy in to a completely different style of basketball than the one they’d signed on to play.

That starting point has apparently helped Martin deal with the fact that his team isn’t going to the Big Dance:


“I go back to the fact that it’s a body of work.  We got out of the gates slow, did a great job down the stretch (and) for me as a coach, I can’t be upset with our guys because I saw the progress they made.  Unfortunately we didn’t do the job up front, and I say unfortunate because we didn’t win games.  (The players) were also learning in the system trying to find their way how to compete and how to play hard, so it’s hard as a coach to be upset with your guys.

Now you bring me a year from now and we’re standing here and that happens, it’d be a problem.  Those guys understand the system, they know what’s expected and the level we have to play to.  Barring injury, we should be an NCAA Tournament team next year.”


There’s no danger in Martin saying that, in raising expectations for himself in 2013.  Tennessee fans will no doubt have an “NCAAs or bust” mentality next year anyway.

Much of my day will be spent on our nation’s interstates today, so let’s just jump right into Thursday’s headlines…


1.  The SEC ADs didn’t announce any schedule plans yet (and you shouldn’t expect them to).

2.  Unless Alabama gets bounced to the NIT again, JaMychal Green’s final home game was a success.

3.  Auburn’s defensive effort was undone by the Tigers’ poor offense.

4.  Look away, Barners… the Bammers and Nick Saban accepted the Iron Bowl trophy at last night’s basketball game.

5. Whether they’re playing Texas A&M or not, Arkansas definitely wants to keep playing games at Cowboys Stadium in the fertile Dallas area.

6.  LSU and Florida want to stop playing each other.

7.  The Tigers’ two-game losing streak in hoops has probably doomed them to the NIT.

8.  Following last night’s overtime win at South Carolina, Arnett Moultrie is now saying Mississippi State’s team is “together.”

9.  Florida’s got a tough regular-season finale against Kentucky on Sunday.

10.  Tonight, Georgia will try to repeat their 2009 win at UK’s Senior Night.

11.  Folks in the Peach State are already trying to get to know Missouri.

12.  UK’s John Calipari will start seniors Darius Miller and Eloy Vargas tonight.

13.  Kentucky basketball has changed a lot since Billy Gillispie’s team lost to UGA back in ’09.

14.  A buzzer-beating loss at home to MSU?  Just more agony for Carolina.

15.  Cuonzo Martin thinks Tennessee is “an NCAA Tournament team.”  (If the season had started in January, he’d be right.)

16.  Vanderbilt’s Kevin Stallings wants to coach for a minimum of seven more years.

17.  Here’s a look at each school’s spring practice dates… LSU kicks things off tomorrow.

When Tennessee visits LSU tomorrow night, the Vols will enter the game in a tie for fourth-place in the SEC.  If Vanderbilt can knock off Florida tonight in Nashville, the Vols will also have an outside chance of actually landing the #2 seed in next week’s SEC Tournament.

Head coach Cuonzo Martin is good with his team’s current position… especially considering the low preseason expectations:


“We’re in a good place right now as a team because we continue to get better, and that’s a good sign.  We didn’t have the luxury with a new coach of getting out of the gates with some confidence, getting your head up.  We had to have some tough losses, and eventually we started to learn from it…

We are fighting for our lives.  You have to get better every day.  There’s plenty of work to do.  Our guys are hungry right now.

We’re fighting.  We don’t have any luxury or margin for any error to be happy or be successful or thing we’ve done something special.  But we have every right just like everyone else to win ball games.”


The Vols are out of the NCAA Tournament hunt, but are still playing for an NIT bid.

1.  Tony Barbee wants his Auburn basketball team to toughen up.

2.  The Tigers could be without two suspended guards tomorrow in Tuscaloosa.

3.  Will the injured ankle of Alabama’s Trevor Lacey allow him to play against the Tigers?

4.  A tougher Tide team has emerged after multiple suspensions to key players.

5.  Arkansas hopes to send its seniors off in style when Ole Miss visits tonight.

6.  LSU will try to bounce back from a Rebel beatdown when Tennessee arrives for senior night tomorrow.

7.  The first hurdle has been cleared in LSU’s push to expand Tiger Stadium’s south end zone.

8.  Mississippi is aiming for a season sweep of Arkansas tonight.

9.  UM is also looking for some consistency.

10.  Florida starts the final week of the regular season with a tough road trip to Vanderbilt.

11.  A win locks up the #2 seed in the SEC tourney for the Gators.

12.  Here’s a breakdown of Georgia’s tournament outlook.

13.  Kentucky has made the hire of receivers coach Pat Washington official.

14.  South Carolina fans haven’t exactly been filling up Colonial Life Arena.

15.  Cuonzo Martin’s steady leadership is paying dividends for Tennessee.

16.  Vandy’s veterans will try to keep their emotions in check when Florida visits on senior night tonight.

Tennessee likes playing Memphis in basketball for recruiting purposes, but they don’t like playing the Tigers in football (there’s more to lose than to gain).

Memphis likes playing Tennessee in football for financial reasons, but they don’t like playing the Vols in basketball (because it gives UT a recruiting foothold in the Bluff City).

With Memphis joining the Big East, the two cross-state schools may finally be axing their relationship.  Tiger hoops coach Josh Pastner wants to kill the series and further build a wall around Memphis.  He also wants to avoid playing Arkansas in Memphis.  Why let nearby schools woo his local talent?

In the past, UT has told the Memphians that if they continue to want to get nice paydays from Vol football games, they would have to keep scheduling the Vols in hoops.  For that reason, Memphis AD RC Johnson has always kept both series alive.  But Johnson is now stepping down and the Tigers are entering a BCS-level — read: more monied — conference.  So he’s tune is changing:

“Particularly now with the Big East, I think that should be a decision now between Josh and the next athletic director. That’s changed a lot now.  We used to worry about our (nonconference) schedule for name and RPI. Now, that’s basically been a role reversal. It’s not nearly as significant.

I don’t have any influence on whatever the next athletics director decides he or she wants to do. But from a personal standpoint and as an AD, I always felt it was to our advantage. Every coach I worked with didn’t want to play them, and I understand that. But the in-state thing I always thought was kind of a special thing.”

Pastner’s take is written in stone:

“I do know that the Tennessee series needs to be cut after next year. Whether we’re going into the Big East, Conference USA, any other league, we don’t need to play that series. No disrespect to Cuonzo Martin, because I think he’s a heck of a person and he’s done a great job. This is just strictly about I believe what (former Tigers) Coach (John) Calipari felt about it. There’s no need to play it, and I’ve not wavered on that stance since Day One I got the job.

So next year is the last year of the contract. I expect and hope that we are done with them in terms of playing them in the nonconference, obviously unless the Big East-SEC Challenge forces you to do that. That’d be out of our control.”

Calipari actually suggested the game be played in Nashville each year as part of a “Governor’s Cup” type series.  Anything to keep the Vols out of Memphis.  Pastner wants the rivalry dead, period.

And if he gets his wish, new Tennessee AD Dave Hart should scratch Memphis from his list of potential non-conference opponents for his football Vols.

Signing day is coming up on Wednesday and we’ll be prepping for our coverage of that event today.  We’ll also be putting together a special schedule-related piece for your viewing this week.

With less time on our hands, we jam the day’s headlines into a single post.  As usual, there will be a number of additional stories over on our Recruiting Page.  Here goes…


1.  SEC schools are learning to live with the league’s new soft 25-man signing cap.

2.  The SEC has named its basketball Players of the Week.

3.  Auburn got outhustled at Tennessee over the weekend.

4.  Gene Chizik’s seen a lot of attrition from two of his Tiger signing classes.

5.  ESPN will premier it’s documentary “40 Minutes of Hell” on February 11th after Arkansas plays South Carolina.

6.  Following a report yesterday that Renardo Sidney might leave MSU at the end of the season, Rick Stansbury says he’s not talked about the future with his controversial big man.

7.  Florida got an RPI boost by sweeping Ole Miss and Mississippi State last week.

8.  Is Georgia’s hoops team a bigger disappointment than Georgia Tech?

9.  Kentucky is still a clear-cut #1, but their RPI is hurt by the Cats’ strength of schedule.

10.  Cuonzo Martin says Tennessee is “a better team” as it prepares to face Kentucky for the second time.

A day after seeing his Tennessee team pounded 65-47 at Vanderbilt, Cuonzo Martin spoke to a Knoxville booster club on Wednesday.  Asked for a bright spot from the previous night’s whooping, Martin delivered:


“When the bus starting rolling out of there.  That was the bright spot.”


For now, Martin is trying to build a program out of the spare parts left behind by a coach who brought the NCAA down on his own head.  But Martin’s not complaining.

“One day,” he said, “this team will be the last team standing.  I really feel that.  I don’t say that jokingly, I don’t say it, like, ‘Oh, man, give him another year on his contract.’  I say it because I truly believe it.”

Of course, a lot of coaches truly believe that when they take over a new job.

A day after seeing his Tennessee team pounded 65-47 at Vanderbilt, Cuonzo Martin spoke to a Knoxville booster club on Wednesday.  Asked for a bright spot from the previous night’s whooping, Martin delivered:


“When the bus starting rolling out of there.  That was the bright spot.”


For now, Martin is trying to build a program out of the spare parts left behind by a coach who brought the NCAA down on his own head.  But Martin’s not complaining.

“One day,” he said, “this team will be the last team standing.  I really feel that.  I don’t say that jokingly, I don’t say it, like, ‘Oh, man, give him another year on his contract.’  I say it because I truly believe it.”

Of course, a lot of coaches truly believe that when they take over a new job.

1.  Florida center Patric Young will probably be in the starting line-up against Ole Miss tomorrow.

2.  Georgia’s Mark Fox says Kentucky can simply “overpower you” on the defensive end.

3.  His players seemed to enjoy just being in a big-time matchup with America’s #1 team.

4.  The Wildcats continue to play unselfish basketball.

5.  South Carolina will try to record its first SEC win of the season when it hosts Alabama tonight.

6.  The Gamecock football team will have to develop a downfield passing attack next season.

7.  Tennessee is experiencing some serious ups and downs as it rebuilds under Cuonzo Martin.

8.  Vanderbilt gave UT its “most physical” game of the season and “a couple of guys got rattled.”

9.  The Commodores proved they could be tough when needed.

10.  And Kevin Stallings was pleased with his team’s defense.