ESPN’s Super Tuesday college basketball package will feature eight SEC games and seven SEC teams between January and February.  The league unveiled the schedule today:

January 10th, 7pm ET, Georgia at Florida
January 17th, 9pm ET, Arkansas at Kentucky
January 24th, 9pm ET, Kentucky at Georgia
January 31st, 9pm ET, Vanderbilt at Arkansas
February 7th, 7pm ET, Florida at Kentucky
February 14th, 7pm ET, Florida at Alabama
February 21st, 9pm ET, Kentucky at Miss. State
February 28th, 9pm ET, Florida at Vanderbilt

As we wait for Les Miles to begin his meeting with the writers — he was supposed to start at 1pm ET — we steer you to an interesting stat.  Brett McMurphy of CBSSports.com tweeted the following just a few minutes ago:


“Genius of Les: In last 6 years, Miles is 25-10 in games decided by 8 pts or less, nation’s best mark.”


I don’t know who did the research on that one, but I’m going to accept it rather than try to verify it.  My fingers are already numb from typing the past three days.

But the interesting thing about that stat is that it flies completely in the face of Miles’ reputation.  Does he win?  Oh, yes.  Has he got a national title?  Yep.  Is he known for his late-game clock management skills?  Absolutely not.

Maybe we should all push the 2009 Ole Miss game out of our heads.  Or try to remember that the end of the 2010 Tennessee game actually resulted in a Tiger win.

Impressive numbers.

Today, the SEC released the TV listings for the first three weeks season.  Below are said listings.  Enjoy:

Thursday, September 1st

Kentucky vs W. Kentucky (at Nashville, TN) — ESPNU, 9:15pm ET
Mississippi State at Memphis — FSN, 8:00pm ET

Saturday, September 3rd

Utah State at Auburn — ESPN2, 12:00pm ET
Kent State at Alabama — SEC Network, 12:21pm ET
BYU at Ole Miss — ESPN, 4:45pm ET
Florida Atlantic at Florida — ESPNU, 7:00pm ET
East Carolina vs South Carolina (at Charlotte, NC) — FSN, 7:00pm ET
Elon at Vanderbilt — CSS, 7:30pm ET
Oregon vs LSU (at Arlington, TX) — ABC, 8:00pm ET
Boise State vs Georgia (at Atlanta, GA) — ESPN, 8:00pm ET
Missouri State at Arkansas — PPV, 7:00pm ET
Montana at Tennessee — PPV, 6:00pm ET

Saturday, September 10th

Central Michigan at Kentucky — ESPNU, 12:00pm ET
Mississippi State at Auburn — SEC Network, 12:21pm ET
Alabama at Penn State — ABC, 3:30pm ET
Cincinnati at Tennessee — ESPN2, 3:30pm ET
South Carolina at Georgia — ESPN, 4:30pm ET
S. Illinois at Ole Miss — PPV, 6:00pm ET
New Mexico vs Arkansas (at Little Rock, AR) — ESPNU 7:00pm ET
UAB at Florida — FSN, 7:00pm ET
Connecticut at Vanderbilt — CSS, 7:30pm ET
Northwestern State at LSU — PPV, 8:00pm ET

Thursday, September 15th

LSU at Mississippi State — ESPN, 8:00pm ET

Saturday, September 17th

Auburn at Clemson — ABC, 12:00pm ET
Ole Miss at Vanderbilt — SEC Newtork, 12:21pm ET
Tennessee at Florida — CBS, 3:30pm ET
Navy at South Carolina — ESPN2, 6:00pm ET
N. Texas at Alabama — FSN, 7:30pm ET
Louisville at Kentucky — ESPNU, 7:00pm ET
Troy at Arkansas — CSS, 7:30pm ET
Coastal Carolina at Georgia — PPV, 1:00pm ET

1.  Kids are taking to new black bear mascot at Ole Miss — and that should be all that matters.  (Again, if you’re an adult upset over the stuffed animal suit some guy or gal is wearing, you’ve got way too much time on your hands.)

2.  Kentucky opens its football season in Nashville on a Thursday night at 9:15pm ET against Western Kentucky.  Yet the powers-that-be still expect a good crowd.

3.  Outgoing AD Mike Hamilton started the ball rolling on his resignation, not Tennessee officials.

4.  Cuonzo Martin has rehired an ex-Bruce Pearl aide as UT’s video coordinator.

1.  Tickets for South Carolina’s season opener against East Carolina went on sale today.

2.  Alabama redshirt freshman running back Corey Grant is planning to transfer.

3.  You can watch Auburn’s 3pm ET visit to the White House live by clicking right here.

4.  This writer says it’s time to move on from Auburn’s 2004 season.

Mississippi State athletic director Scott Stricklin announced today that Fox Sports Network has picked up to Bulldog football games for the fall.

MSU’s season opener at Memphis will air at 8pm ET, September 1st on FSN.  And the Dogs’ October 8th trip to UAB will be carried on FSN at noon ET.

Why all the interest in spring games?

When the offense looks good, couldn’t it mean that the defense is bad?  Can fans know when an offensive coordinator is actually trying to put up points… and when he’s just trying to get a left guard’s handling of a specific play on film?  To the fans it’s a game, but to the coaches it’s a practice.

Yet spring games have become a staple of April television.  And that’s especially true in the SEC:


Florida’s spring game — Tomorrow, 12pm ET, Sun Network

South Carolina’s spring game — Tomorrow, 1pm ET (ESPN3.com)

LSU’s spring game — Tomorrow, 4pm ET, ESPN

Mississippi State’s spring game — Tomorrow, 6pm ET, CSS

Georgia’s spring game — April 16th, 1pm ET, CSS

Tennessee’s spring game — April 16th, 2pm ET

Alabama’s spring game — April 16th, 3pm ET, ESPNU

Arkansas’ spring game — April 16th, 3pm ET, ESPN

Auburn’s spring game — April 16th, 3pm ET, CSS

Ole Miss’ spring game — April 16th, 5pm ET (tape delay on CSS)

Vanderbilt’s spring game — April 17th, 7pm ET

Kentucky’s spring game — April 23rd, 3pm ET


Seven of the league’s 12 spring games will carried live on television.  One more will be tape delayed.  And another will air live on the internet.

But there’s a tradeoff for that added exposure.  For one, the television networks want the action to look more like a game and less like a glorified practice.

“In the old days, you got more accomplished in the final practice,” Les Miles told The New Orleans Times-Picayune.  “You pointed specifics that you just had to get accomplished.  You could probably gone three practices in a week.  That’s the ideal, rather waste a practice dividing your teams and going through some of the specific issues that a team runs into when they divide the players for a competitive game.”

“Is it good,” the coach asked rhetorically.  “Yeah, I think it’s good.  I think our guys love playing on television.  It gives an air of a big game, and a want to play better.  I think it’s good.  I know our guys enjoy it.”

It’s just that coaches might be able to accomplish even more if that final practice of spring weren’t geared toward a television audience.

Leading scorer JaMychal Green says he’ll be back in Tuscaloosa when the 2011-12 season gets underway.  As a player, not as an observer.  Green says his decision to put off a jump to the NBA is based on deep thought, not emotions.

“Nothing is going to convince me to leave.  I talked to my mom and my dad and we made up our mind that we were coming back and (would) play another year.  I have more things to work on and get my education.”

Anthony Grant told The Montgomery Advertiser he was surprised by Green’s decision.  “He caught me off guard there after the game.  It’s not something that I expected at that time.  But it was a pleasant surprise.”

Indeed.

Green and the Tide face Colorado tonight at 9pm ET in the NIT semifinals.

If you’re looking for today’s NCAA Tournament games involving Georgia and Tennessee, here’s where you’ll need to tune your TV to:


#9 Tennessee vs #8 Michigan
12:40pm ET on TruTV


#10 Georgia vs #7 Washington
9:45pm ET on CBS


Good luck to both squads today.

In case you’re needing a little help tracking down the three NCAA Tournament games involving SEC squads today… here goes:


#4 Kentucky vs #13 Princeton
2:45pm ET on CBS


#5 Vanderbilt vs #12 Richmond
4:10pm ET on TBS


#2 Florida vs #15 UC-Santa Barbara
6:50pm ET on TBS


The full NCAA tourney schedule — complete with start times and networks — can be found right here.