Saturday SEC Basketball
1. Arizona 65 – Florida 64. Gators give it away late – drop first game of the year. Arizona scored final seven points of game. Video highlights.

2. Auburn 64 – Furman 50. 17 points and career-high six rebounds for Chris Denson.

3. Arkansas 97 – Alcorn State 59. Fourteen Razorbacks played – 13 of them scored.

4. Vanderbilt 71 – Alabama A&M 46. Commodores win back-to-back games for the first time this year. Video highlights.

5. Loyola 59, Mississippi State 51. Bulldogs drop to 3-6 – shoot 37.5% from the field. Players from 1963 game on both sides honored at halftime.

6. Iona 81 – Georgia 78. Bulldogs now 2-7 – worst start since 1970-1971 season started 1-8.

7. VCU 73 – Alabama 54.  Third straight loss for Crimson Tide -didn’t make a field goal in the first 10 minutes.

8. Oklahoma 64 – Texas A&M 54. Scoring off the bench – 33 points for Oklahoma, 13 for Texas A&M.

9. Kentucky 88 – Lipscomb 50. First double-double of Kyle Wiltjer’s career – 23 points and 12 rebounds. Video highlights.

“Thanks, but no thanks.”  That’s what Shaka Smart told Illinois officials who offered him their head coaching job and a salary that was reported to be north of two-and-a-half million bucks per year.  (Anyone else think this guy will someday be stuck at VCU wondering why he didn’t get onboard when his ship came in?)

With Smart turning down the Illini, his old boss Anthony Grant could be next on AD Mike Thomas’ wish list.  It’s no secret that Illinois wants to hire an African-American coach to tap into the inner-city recruiting zones of Chicago and East St. Louis.  Grant is black.  He built VCU’s program before Smart took it over.  And he’s had some early successes at Alabama.

Still, some writers in the Land of Lincoln aren’t wowed by Grant’s resume or personality.  “The names that are mentioned as Plan B, Alabama’s Anthony Grant among them, wouldn’t even enthuse the Anthony Grant Fan Club,” writes Rick Morrisey of The Chicago Sun-Times.  Ouch.

Grant is also just one of a dozen names that have been kicked around when it comes to speculating about Bruce Weber’s successor.  And we at MrSEC.com have been told by multiple sources in Tuscaloosa that Bama’s coach is not interested in the Illinois job.

But until he officially shoots down the rumor or the Illini hire a new coach, expect Grant’s name to continue to mentioned in connection to that job.

1.  Mark Richt — as he’s wont to do — has given offensive lineman Brent Benedict an unconditional release.

2.  This writer says John Calipari won’t leave Kentucky for the NBA over money… or stay in Lexington because of money.  In other words, it ain’t about the money.

3.  This writer makes the case — a valid one, too — that paying huge dollars to coaches like Calipari doesn’t guarantee a school will get past Butler or VCU in the NCAA Tournament.

4.  So why did Clifford Snow leave Kentucky’s football operations job to take the same gig at Louisville?  He says because he wanted to work with Charlie Strong again.

5.  Tennessee linebacker Shane Reveiz sees his hard work pay off with a scholarship from Derek Dooley.

1.  Florida kicker Caleb Sturgis is close to being 100% after a back injury.

2.  Jon Gruden believes Charlie Weis will bring UF the best play-action passing game the best perimeter screen game in college football.

3.  Writer: Shaka Smart is not part of Billy Donovan’s coaching tree.

4.  Former Dennis Felton assistant Mike Jones has gone from Georgia to VCU… and the Final Four.

5.  Kentucky and UConn — who meet in the Final Four Saturday — both benefited from late-season losses.

6.  The Wildcats are now the favorite to win the whole NCAA tourney.

7.  Big Blue fans are snapping up the Final Four memorabilia.  (Nice photo, too.)

8.  South Carolina will hold its Pro Day for NFL scouts tomorrow.

9.  AD Mike Hamilton says of Cuonzo Martin: “We just knew he was the guy.”

10.  Ohmygodohymygodohmygod!  Pat Summitt learned of Martin’s hiring from ESPN.  Heads must roll!  (How did UT’s track coach find out?  The swimming coach?  And why must the women’s basketball coach be alerted?)

11.  The Vols want to win… and do it the right way.

12.  The people closest to Martin continue to talk him up.

13.  There will be no quick decision in Vanderbilt’s quarterback race.

The hottest name in the coaching world today is Shaka Smart.  VCU’s second-year coach has his Rams all the way through to the Final Four.  It’s a near-miracle run for a team that most ESPN pundits pointed to as the least deserving at-large team in the field.

But while America gushes over Smart’s run — and we at MrSEC.com quietly murmur a warning: “Stan Heath” — some credit should be given to the guy who built the VCU team with which Smart is excelling. 

When Anthony Grant takes his Crimson Tide into its NIT semifinal game against Colorado tonight, Bama’s coach can know that he’s had a hand in two Final Four runs this year.  He built the roster for VCU’s journey and he’s coaxed 24 wins out of the roster he inherited — to a large degree — from Mark Gottfried.

At VCU, Grant recruited the Rams’ current juniors and seniors.  Here’s what Kansas Bill Self had to say about them after Sunday’s loss to VCU:  “You can usually tell who can really recruit, what programs do the best job recruiting, because they’re playing with the guys that you look at them when they’re juniors and seniors and think, ‘How in the world did they get them?’  VCU’s program has done that.”

Kevin Scarbinsky of The Birmingham News takes that comment, combines it with Grant’s record in his second year at Bama and says UA’s young coach will have the Tide in an NCAA Final Four “sooner rather than later.”

At Alabama, the only current starter signed by Grant is excellent freshman point guard Trevor Releford.  The rest of the main pieces were left behind by Gottfried.

“He left behind a nice nucleus, which Anthony has molded into his image defensively and intensity-wise and grittiness,” said ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla.  “It’s all Anthony Grant basketball now.”

Yes, it is.  And way things have played out might be even more impressive than had the coach built and taken one squad to a Final Four.  Grant showed that he can build a high-caliber roster at VCU.  Then he moved to a new school and has shown that he can coach-up the pieces he inherited.

We at MrSEC.com aren’t ready to declare Grant to be one of the nation’s elite coaches yet.  At some point, he’ll have to take a team he’s built and coach it deep into the NCAA tourney.  And we also remember that John Pelphrey and Trent Johnson got off to fast starts in the SEC, too, only to cool quickly.  There are no guarantees.

But when it comes to Grant, there’s no denying that his work at Bama and his previous work at VCU certainly suggest the Crimson Tide program is headed in the right direction.

Next step: Tonight at 9pm ET versus Colorado at Madison Square Garden.

Tennessee defeated VCU, 77-72, Wednesday night to improve to 4-0 on the year and advance to the NIT Season Tip-Off finals on Friday.
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