Tennessee Men's Basketball
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee is ranked 15th in the country and went 11-5 in the Southeastern Conference. So of course, the Volunteers are enjoying a first-round bye at the league tournament, right?
Nope.
Tennessee (23-7) wound up as the Eastern Division's No. 3 team and playing Thursday against LSU, the sixth-seeded team from the West. The Volunteers aren't alone. Florida combined with Tennessee, No. 2 Kentucky and 20th-ranked Vanderbilt to sweep all 24 games they played against the SEC's Western Division, and the Gators will play Auburn on Thursday night.
The disparity and the first-round byes enjoyed by Mississippi State (21-10, 9-7) and Mississippi (21-9, 9-7) have prompted talk of reseeding teams one through 12 for the SEC tournament rather than by divisions with the top two teams in each division getting byes.
It's a topic Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl will be happy to talk about when the season ends.
"Today the format is we play LSU at 2:15 tomorrow. That's the only answer I have as it relates to the format today. In the offseason, I'll comment on how conference tournaments ... how we think their formats can be improved. Right now, we play LSU tomorrow at 2:15. It's a fair question. I just don't want to answer it right now," Pearl said.
Pearl said he has noticed a discrepancy between the East and West since he arrived at Tennessee in 2005. He noted the Vols played before sold-out, or nearly sold-out, crowds while on the road against the Eastern Division. Empty seats were quite noticeable when playing against the Western Division.
"That opens the door for road teams to be able to come in there and win. What's impressive as being 24-0 is however many games, 12-0 I guess, on the road," Pearl said.
That's exactly what Auburn coach Jeff Lebo is using as motivation for his Tigers in Thursday night's first-round game with Florida (20-11, 9-7) — win one for the West.
"We know there were a lot of close games with the top four teams in the East," Auburn senior Tay Waller said.
___
DESPERATION TIME: Tournament time means lose and go home for a handful of teams here, but South Carolina and Georgia are among the more dangerous opponents. South Carolina beat Kentucky and is coming off a road win over Vanderbilt last weekend. Georgia knocked off Tennessee and Vanderbilt this season.
"It's do or die. We're approaching every game as if it's our last," Gamecocks senior guard Brandis Raley-Ross said. "We know if we can get some wins and get some momentum, I think we'll be fine. We're just going to approach it one game at a time and not think about past events."
The Georgia Bulldogs are very aware of what the program accomplished two years ago at the Georgia Dome by winning four games in four days, even despite the distraction of a tornado that forced a mid-tournament move to a small arena. Now senior guard Ricky McPhee redshirted that season, while sophomore forward Trey Thompkins watched on TV as a signee.
Georgia coach Mark Fox said a photo of that team holding the tournament trophy is in the Bulldogs' locker room.
"I'm not going to pray for a tornado," Fox said to laughs.
This team has 13 wins — just like that 2008 team. Now they start Thursday night in the last game of the first-round against Aransas (14-17, 7-9) and the No. 3 seed in the West to become the fourth Georgia squad since the SEC tournament resumed in 1979 to reach the title game.
"Outside of telling them to pack for a week, our entire focus has been on playing well on Thursday night," Fox said.
___
PLAYING FOR JOB SECURITY: Of the coaches needing wins, none may need a victory or two here more than Auburn coach Jeff Lebo. His Tigers are 15-16 (6-10 SEC) in his sixth season, and his record is 96-92 in that time. The worst stat is no NCAA tournament berths and only one NIT appearance in 2009.
It won't be easy with Auburn playing Florida with the Gators needing a win or two to secure their first NCAA berth since their last national championship in 2007.
"I'm focused on this team, focused on the tournament and focused on Florida, and that's my total. That's where all my energy has gone right now and to these kids. As in most cases, I think when the season's over I'll sit down with my AD and when the season's complete we'll have a conversation at that point," Lebo said.
Lebo later talked with reporters in the hallway when Georgia coach Mark Fox walked by and patted Lebo on the shoulder.
Tennessee's signing class for 2012
Tennessee defeats Georgia 3-2 in…
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 31
CoverOrange writes:
The tourney has been this way for 18 years and now somebody thinks it is worng? I'd rather they disinvite the bottom 4 and everybody play over three days but the driver is money and that'll never happen. Or maybe the NCAA expands to 128 and just do away with the conference tourneys.
armyvol22 writes:
I like the divisions just like the football and baseball teams, split into East and West. I do not like the ACC where basketball is one big group and all the other sports that have twelve teams are split in Coastal and Atlantic divisions. If Tennessee wanted a by they should have beaten Vandy.
GBO beat LSU today and get on a good run.
jakethevolguy writes:
If you look at the tourney format of the other conferences most of them give byes to the top two or four in their conference. The SEC is in the minority (may be the only one) that uses the East vs West format. This can put the third or fourth ranked team at a disadvantage in NCAA seeding when they are in the same division (like this year) and have to play a team with a very low RPI. I like the idea of seeding the tourney as just one division.
VOLsince68 writes:
Guys, we're the ONLY conference in the country that does it this way. This is ridiculous. We can still keep the East and West divisions and schedule the way they currently do, they would only re-seed them for the SEC tournament. There is nothing wrong with that.
I think it should be done no matter who gets the Bye. We've got 3, maybe 4, teams in the East that are definitely going to the dance and the two West teams with a Bye in the SEC tourney are very much on the bubble. From all accounts I've heard, they need more wins in this tourney to get there (Oh, and we beat them both). The way it's setup does not necessarily reward the correct 4 teams with a Bye in the SEC tourney. It needs to be fixed.
And I would say this no matter who the teams are. It's just the fair way to do it. And again, we are the ONLY conference in the country that does it this way.
GO VOLS!!!!!!!
easleychuck writes:
Seeding for any tourney should be based on the records achieved in overall league play and stacked 1-12, in the case of a 12 team league.
The decision on whom receives 1st round byes is open for discusssion once the seeds are established fairly.
The current system takes one of the reasons for playing well in the regular season (to receive a better tourney seed) and throws it out the window.
The fact that UT and UF were hosed this year makes no difference. It should not happen to any team.
Things can be changed, remember back to when the tourney was reinstituted and the 2 division winners received byes to the semi-finals. That was quickly corrected because it was not a good idea.
kyvol98 writes:
Another way to look at it is the emphasis it puts on divisional games. I think there are arguments both ways, but seeding as a whole would be a reward for a good season.
Futurecoach16 writes:
If you're going to get rid of divisions for the tournament, you'll have to get rid of the divisions during the regular season. You'll also have to stop playing certain teams twice, thus reducing the conference schedule to 11 games. As much as it pains me to see MSU and Ole Miss get byes, they took care of business in their division, where we could not (5-5 in the East). I hate the baseball tournament format (taking the top 8 teams regardless of division). That makes it where potentially 5 or 6 teams from one division make the tournament. Having the tournament this way puts more importance on performing well in your division and winning it.
cloudodust writes:
Who knows..? Let's tip the rock and GBO.
easleychuck writes:
I do not understand your post as it relates to why the divisions would need to be discarded in the regular season. This just seems to be a case of adjusting a weakness in the format. The ultimate goal is to make the NCAA tourney. Making the NCAA tourney would be enhanced by seeding the SEC "correctly". You make that tourney on many more factors (W-L record overall and in the league, good wins/good losses, RPI, strength of schedule, how you finish the last 10 games or so, etc.) and how you perform in the SEC tourney.
The current SEC seeding can reward a weak performance based on 2 plus months of action or punish a strong performance just based on what division you are assigned to. The divisions serve their purpose, but they should not and never should be the basis for seeding an overall league tourney. Excellence on the court should be rewarded. The SEC, with their format, allows a weaker team the opportunity to detract from the better teams that the conference has to offer just because the legs can only take so much pounding.
Again, excellence during the regular season should be rewarded when it comes to establishing the overall seeds.
VolFaninDC writes:
Why not do this in football then for the SEC Championship game? If Tennessee and Florida end up with the two best records in the conference (let's say both 7-1), why not let them be in the championship game instead of a multiple loss LSU (5-3) as happened in 2001?
usnavyvolfaninva_still_getting_paid writes:
I agree.
johnlg00#206211 writes:
Some good arguments for both changing the format and keeping it the way it is. It makes more sense to me to change it for basketball in the tourney while keeping the current division setup for scheduling purposes in the regular season. The imbalance between the divisions in basketball has been apparent for several years now. It is a long time since Arkansas won a national championship or LSU made a Final Four.
That is not the case in football, where there has not been as pronounced a difference in the strength of the divisions. Even so, VolFaninDC makes a good argument for his proposed setup for the conference championship game. Probably the best overall argument for changing the seeding in basketball is that no other conference does it the way the SEC does. The current setup doesn't do enough to ensure that our best teams have the best chance to make the NCAA tournament.
Futurecoach16 writes:
What you are suggesting is like saying in professional sports, the top teams, regardless of division, make the playoffs. So why even have divisions at all? If a team earns the top spot in its division, why punish them?
lomas98 writes:
Then why not have a tournament for football? Football and Basketball are 2 completely different sports. I think both sides of the sec tournament argument are valid. It only matters when one division is a lot weaker compared to the other, like this year. I don't recall there being a big argument over this in years past because the division winners were pretty much deserving of a bye.
lomas98 writes:
If they did group them all together this year, I think this is what the bracket would like and it is interesting. If you take the top 4 and give them byes, 1 would play winner of 8&9, 2 would play winner of 7&10 and so on.
Bama (8)-SC (9) winner to play KY (1)
Miss St. (5)-LSU (12) winner to play FL (4)
Ole Miss (6)-GA (11) winner to play TN (3)
Arkansas (7)-Auburn (10) winner to play Vandy (4)
TN would still probably play Ole Miss on Friday and not have to play an additional game, but would not be in KY's half of the bracket. Just like the NCAA tournament any upsets would benefit the next round opponet even more. One think I think the ACC tourney has done in the past is make sure their overall number 1 seed plays one of the bottom 2 teams in case of an upset.
ArealVolFan writes:
Honestly, how does Lebo still have a job?
easleychuck writes:
Did not say or suggest that at all. Everybody makes the SEC tourney in basketball, not the case in the NFL. You introduced the NFL into this discussion and that is a red herring and by doing so is oomparing apples to oranges.
There are divisions in SEC basketball for various reasons. The primary one is to mimic the football set-up that exists only for the reason of having a championship game to create revenue.
With that in place, you do not want your teams to play a 22 game league schedule so you do the home and home within the division and rotating home and away outside the division. You create some natural rivalries, and cut down on some travel time.
BUT when the ENTIRE league comes together for an all-inclusive SEC tourney, what you did overall in the league should determine your seed not divisional order. Best team in a league should be #1 and the worst should be #12. Everybody else in spots #2 through #11 earn their seeds based upon performance.
BeRealistic writes:
Let's play basketball VOLS, whatever happens we have to go on. Would love to see you get to KY Saturday. These posters opinons on changing SEC tourney is like taking a leak in the wind.
jakethevolguy writes:
So, what you are saying is that all the other conferences are wrong and the SEC is right? I have to disagree with you FC. This is a tournament where all teams participate. Not a playoff where just the division leaders and a wildcard are playing.
CrankE writes:
During the season, it's about conference record only.
Yet during the conference tournament, the emphasis is not on conference RECORD, but their division RANK. (E1, W2, etc.)
Why bother with a tournament at all if you're not going to seed the teams the same way that they shake out by conference rank at the end of the season?
Vol_In_Ohio writes:
A little off topic, but I think the site should be determined by whichever team wins the regular season. Some of the smaller conferences do this. Puts some additional meaning into winning the conference.
I'm sure the money doesn't work out right though.
FWBVol writes:
We are 5-5 against division opponents because the East is clearly the stronger division. We also are 6-0 against the West and have a win at Mississippi State, the No. 1 seed from that division. I think it's ridiculous that two teams we beat, and have a better record than, are watching today while we play.
You can still play 16 games and have the divisions during the regular season, but come tournament time do a straightline conference standings and seed 1-12 based on that.
CrankE writes:
If this tournament seeding plan is so great, then why don't we call Mississippi State and Kentucky SEC regular season champions? After all, they both won their division...
I'd better watch out. Slive will fine me.
johnlg00#206211 writes:
Good point. How about reserving one bye for each division champ and seeding the other two spots by overall record? That is the way all the pro sports do it. Only the division champ is guaranteed to make the playoffs in pro sports; all other participants or high seeds are based on season records.
johnlg00#206211 writes:
One other minor tweak to the setup I suggested above: A division champ is guaranteed one of the four byes, but whether it is a 1, 2, 3, or 4 seed in the tournament depends on the the overall records of the teams involved.
osbymartin#581730 writes:
Everything can stay exactly the same the ONLY difference would be seeding the tournament 1-12. The schedules do not have to change at all just no division standings. Its a simple fix
johnlg00#206211 writes:
Well, Florida won TWO of them in the last five years! LSU also made a Final Four in recent memory. I can tell you aren't much of a basketball fan, at least not of the SEC(;-P)!
10Vol85 writes:
Eastern and Western Divisions play different schedules. If you look at intra-divisional and inter-divisional results over the years and adjust records to account for disparity of scheduling (double the interdivisional results, for instance), I think you'd find that seeding 1 to 12 according to record will result in an unfair seeding more often than the current format.
I think it should stay as is.
One thing I do not like is awarding the team with the best record the regular season championship. For instance, LSU won it the one year when they were in the weaker west while the East teams (TN, FL) were beaten up with a tougher schedule.
back2backchamps writes:
If you are going to change the format for the tourney, and I see both sides of the argument, then there is absolutely no need to have divisions (the ladies already play this way). Its also not equal scheduling to have UF and UT play KY twice during the regular season every year. If they change the tourney format, they should adjust the regular season schedules at the same time.
10Vol85 writes:
I think more concern should be about changing the football championship. Division rep should be decided by division record, not conference record. 1st tiebreaker should be head-to-head. 2nd should be conference record or some derivative thereof. Why use the 3 inter-divisional games to determine the divison rep when the games are against varying opponents.
Futurecoach16 writes:
I'm not saying they are wrong and the SEC is right. The other conferences seed EVERYONE 1-X, giving byes to the top 4 or maybe even 8 teams. However, they do not have divisions for the regular season, so the system works for them. If the SEC was to go to that type of seeding, then it needs to get away from regular season divisions.
Share your thoughts
Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.