DESTIN, Fla. — When the SEC’s men’s basketball coaches meet Wednesday to discuss a potential banishment of the current division setup, Cuonzo Martin plans to sit quietly and listen.
That’s not because the Tennessee coach is afraid to speak up because of his “new guy” status. That’s just his personality.
“I kind of like to observe everything before I start to speak because you’ve got guys that have been in this league 10-plus years and understand what’s going on. Understand the lay of the land,” Martin said Tuesday. “You want to hear their point of view before you speak on things.”
Multiple coaches indicated that there is a groundswell of support building to change the current system. That would be a change from last year, when SEC West coaches revoked a proposal to change how the conference seeded its postseason tournament.
Despite receiving byes in the SEC tournament because they finished first and second, respectively, in the SEC West, Alabama and Mississippi State were not invited to the NCAA tournament. Mississippi State didn’t even make the NIT field.
“I think we have to look very hard at going away from being in divisions,” Georgia coach Mark Fox said. “For the health of our league, I think we have to look at it.”
SEC commissioner Mike Slive said Tuesday’s discussions merely “began some dialogue” about the topic, which also includes the possibility of expanding the conference schedule from 16 to 18 games. Because the 2011-12 schedule is already set, the expansion would have to wait, but changing how the tournament is seeded, at the least, could be enacted immediately, Slive said.
“We can decide sometime this fall if we want to make changes moving forward,” Slive said.
Because of his Big 10 and Missouri Valley Conference roots, Martin said he’s always been a “one big league guy.”
But he could always change his mind.
“You have to hear the pros and cons,” he said, “because there’s so much tradition with two big leagues.”
Pearl Supporter: Florida basketball coach Billy Donovan said he called former UT coach Bruce Pearl, who was fired at the end of the season for his involvement in NCAA violations.
“A lot of times when things like that happen, people want to push back and stay away,” Donovan said. “I don’t know all that went on, but I just felt like from my perspective it was right to reach out and call him and see how he’s doing.
“I think his mind-set is to move forward.”
John Adams contributed to this report.
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Comments » 19
KJVol writes:
If John Adams falls on the way to the toilet at the KNS offices, does it make any noise?
born2ride writes:
It would be better for the Vols to keep the divisions and play UK, Florida & Vandy twice. We would have a better chance to get in the NCAA tourney each year.
Martin needs to speak up for what is best for Tennessee. He is not in the MVC anymore.
CoverOrange writes:
Alabama deserved to go to the NCAA more than Tennessee this year. That team had already quit and Bama was still hungry. Not sure how rearranging the tourney seedings would have changed the results though.
vol75 writes:
CMart displays wisdom every step of the way. He's built for the long haul.
Pullingguard writes:
Why would you ask the question when you reside there and should know.
Huttdawg100 writes:
News is breaking on Scout and Rivals that Janzen Jackson will return to the football team in July.
I'm on twitter: the7maxims
ArealVolFan writes:
First off, getting rid of the divisions would be terrible.
Second, Jackson coming back is far from certain. Dooley just stated that if he kept on the path he is on he is optimistic that he will return. Did not confirm he would 100%.
Rich_Is_Re-born writes:
I think they should keep the divisions for league play, but scrap them for conference tourney play. There have been times where a phooey team wins the west and gets a higher seeding than a dominant team from the east just for winning the west. I want to say UT fell victim to this in the elite 8 season. rather than having a buy, they had to play 3 straight days...two games being less than 24 hrs apart. I could be wrong though.
budd#207344 writes:
Agree with your idea. Division play is more exciting and builds rivalries.
lomas98 writes:
TN had to play KY that year in the semi's after squeaking by LSU and beating Ole Miss. I don't think things would have changed that much if format was changed other than the 3rd game. I think that is all overrated. When you are 18-22 years old playing that much basketball in a row is not a big deal, but is always the first excuse you hear. UConn sure didn't use it as an excuse when they had to win 5 games in 5 days in the Big East tourney last season and then won 6 games in the NCAA.
b4allkids writes:
It's refreshing for someone to want to listen for information and perspective--and to do so BEFORE speaking out is even more impressive.
brod writes:
i would like to see the end of divisional play in sec basketball. but...for it to work, each team would really have to play every team twice. that would result in 22 games instead of 16. for now, i think that they should just stick to changing the sec tournament format to be non-divisional. the seeding should be based on overall record within the conference, not overall record within the division. if arkansas were to drop out of the conference, then we're talking a whole different ball game in basketball and football.
tmartin writes:
GVX is not for the casual reader. Move along now.
Rich_Is_Re-born writes:
You are correct. If I'm not mistaking, didn't South Carolina have a higher national ranking in baseball than a SEC tournament seed? I think it was SC, I know someone did.
bspurlingcac#225603 writes:
Yes...It sounds like a little girl screaming.
BigOrangeSmoker writes:
That right there is funny i dont care who ya are LMAO
licknpromise777#651578 writes:
CBS sports has reported at 6pm; coaches voted unanimous to return to the old format of one league in regular season basketball..Tournament byes granted to the top 4 teams
Franktown writes:
How did the Gators win the SEC Championship when they were hammered by 16 by Kentucky in the Finals? The winner of the SEC Tournament is considered the Conference Champion for NCAA automatic bid purposes.
Franktown writes:
Sorry. I thought your post said basketball, not baseball.
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