The Southeastern Conference Tournament gets underway in Nashville tomorrow — be sure to grab a brew and some barbecue at Rippy’s across from the Bridgestone Arena if you’re goin’ — and we’ll have plenty of tourney projections for you today.

If you missed it, last night we posted as detailed a breakdown of the SEC’s bubble teams’ chances as you’ll find anywhere.  If you want to know what numbers the selection committee will be studying this weekend, click the above link.

As for our thought/lyric of the day, the Doors take center stage.  The MrSEC.com iPod spat forth an obscure one from the legendary band, but it’s still a good one.  It’s a personal favorite, actually.  “Hyacinth House” was released as part of the “L.A. Woman” album in April of 1971.  Jim Morrison died in Paris at age 27 less than three months after the album’s release.

Having been to Paris and to Morrison’s grave, this song captures — for me anyway — the mood and melancholia of a visit to Pere Lachaise Cemetery.  There’s a palpable sense within that yard of youthful promise and exuberance actually giving way to human frailty.  The dream is the Doors’ music.  The reality is the small grave marked “James Douglas Morrison” that’s nearly lost amidst row after row of overcrowded stones.

“I need someone, yeah, who doesn’t need me.”

A day later than expected, Arkansas finally has the signature of South Florida running back Alex Collins on a national letter of intent.  But unfortunately, the story doesn’t end there.  While Collins had his father, Johnny Collins, sign the document, his mother is still out to block her son’s decision to play so far away from home.  Andrea McDonald made national news yesterday when she refused to sign her son’s letter of intent and — according to reports — grabbed it and made off with it, forcing her son to cancel his signing/announcement ceremony.  Today, she’s going a step further.

McDonald has hired legal representation.  

And not just any legal representation.  She’s hired Jack Paris of the Cochran Firm as her attorney.  Yes, the same Cochran Firm founded by famed “OJ Trial” lawyer Johnnie Cochran.  (Cochran died in 2005.)

Collins told WFOR-TV in Miami that his mother wasn’t able to attend today’s signing ceremony, but did approve of his decision.  He said that rather than trying to block his move to Arkansas, his mother wanted to make sure yesterday that her son had taken enough time to think through his decision to go so far away from home.

So what’s with the lawyer?

“Alex’s family has been overwhelmed with media inquiries regarding their impending decision,” Paris said. “They want to make a clean choice that is free of any outside influences. This is a very tough decision and they are weighing their options very carefully. In the meantime, they have requested The Cochran Firm’s assistance in clearing up any false or inaccurate statements in the press.”

So the story goes on.  Where it goes, no one knows.  But at least it appears Collins will be going to Arkansas just as he’d wanted all along.