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In his first season back in the SEC, Van Chancellor sounded like he never left.

The LSU women's basketball coach hasn't directed a team in the SEC tournament since his final season at Ole Miss in 1996-97. Yet he still has the sales pitch for this event down pat, as demonstrated during a coaches teleconference this week to preview the event.

Four first-round games are to be played today at the Sommet Center in Nashville. The winner of No. 7 seed Florida versus No. 10 South Carolina will play second-seeded Tennessee at 3:30 Friday (TV: FSN).

"I think it's the second hardest tournament to win in the country,'' said Chancellor, ranking only the NCAA tournament as harder.

Although his Lady Tigers are regular-season champions and went undefeated in conference play, the conference coach of the year sounded a cautionary note with his usual flair.

"If you start thinking about who you want to play on Sunday, you end up going home on Friday,'' he said.

Chancellor added a personal touch, referring to his stint as a television commentator and his love for covering this tournament.

"That was my favorite thing of the year to do in TV, the SEC tournament,'' he said.

In this case, the tournament will be hard pressed to live up to Chancellor's hyperbole, along with its reputation for upsets and unpredictability. There's a degree of separation between the top three teams in the conference and the rest of the field.

Georgia coach Andy Landers, whose teams have pulled upsets and been upset in his previous 28 seasons with the Lady Bulldogs, appreciates the tournament's history. Still, it's hard for him to ignore the present circumstances.

"In one sense, you look at it as being very competitive and an opportunity for anyone if they're playing good basketball,'' he said. "On the other hand, LSU, Tennessee and Vandy have all separated themselves a little bit from the rest of the league in the manner in which they've played in the regular season. Either one of them could be favored to win it."

LSU has dominated nearly everyone, winning by an average margin of 22.9 points per game. The Lady Tigers thrashed Tennessee, 78-62, in Knoxville and beat Vanderbilt at home, 62-51.

The Lady Tigers' closest call was a 52-48 victory over Kentucky. The outcome might have been skewed by the game being played four days before their showdown with No. 1 Connecticut. The Lady Tigers had beaten Kentucky earlier in Lexington, Ky., 72-46.

Other than its loss to LSU, Tennessee handed Vanderbilt its other two SEC losses and achieved 13 league victories by an average margin of 23.9 points. The Lady Vols have won the tournament six times as a No. 2 seed.

Despite starting two freshmen and a sophomore, Vanderbilt won a program-best 11 conference games. The Commodores have won the tournament championship the other two times the event was played in Nashville.

"I'd have never guessed this would be the team to set the record,'' Vanderbilt coach Melanie Balcomb said. "It's interesting when you don't feel like you have pressure and it's a free year."

No. 5 seed Georgia is the most obvious threat to bust the bracket. In their last appearance as the fifth seed, the Lady Bulldogs advanced to the tournament championship in 2004 in Nashville, beating South Carolina, Florida and Tennessee before losing to Vanderbilt in the championship.

The Florida-South Carolina game today could defy seedings. The teams split two games that were decided by three and four points, respectively.

"We're going to have to value every possession,'' Florida coach Amanda Butler said, "whether it's two seconds into the game or the last two seconds."

South Carolina is banking on the play of 6-foot-3 senior forward Lakesha Tolliver. She missed the first five conference games, including the Florida loss, because of exertion headaches. She recorded career highs for points (21) and rebounds (12) in a 65-57 upset of No. 4 seed Kentucky on Sunday.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.