HoopNotes: SEC Showcase Time

#1
orange+white=heaven

orange+white=heaven

VN GURU
Joined
Feb 16, 2005
Messages
30,513
Likes
3
#1
By most accounts, this figures to be a truly exciting tournament weekend for our grand ole conference...

Oh, the anticipation!

TheNotes... TourneyTime edition.

Mark Weidmer has a really nice summary piece on his memories of SEC touneys past. Give it a click if your hoops memories run deep. He goes pretty far abck with some of it..

tfp:Weidmer remembers 28 years of SEC

He winds up making his pick for this year, and that is all I'll quote here...Weeds is no homer for UT. I was surprised by his pick.
So who wins it? Back in 1979, Kentucky limped into the event with only eight healthy scholarship players. But it had grand guards in Kyle Macy, Truman Claytor and Jay Shidler. After a semifinal win over LSU, Shidler dropped a celery stalk into a drink glass from two stories above the Sheraton’s lobby.

“That’s how hot we were,” he said years later.

The only player who could make that kind of shot is Lofton. Give this one to the Vols, the first of many for UT coach Bruce Pearl.
Click to expand...

A few bits from the Piece on Lofton's POY...


tfp:Lofton's Year

Ever the wordsmith, Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl searched for a line to promote star Chris Lofton for awards without slighting other players.

Pearl settled on this: “He is the difference-maker between being competitive and being successful.”
Click to expand...

Lofton was the only Tennessee player to make an all-conference team. He becomes the sixth Vols player in history to be player of the year. Ron Slay in 2003 was the fifth.
Click to expand...

Tennessee won seven of its final eight regular-season games with Lofton, who says he still isn’t 100 percent recovered from the sprained ankle.

“With him,” Pearl said, “we were pretty good.”
Click to expand...

Lofton said individual awards aren’t distracting him during SEC tournament week. More pressing is the memory of last year’s opening loss to South Carolina in Nashville.

“It was a big letdown for us,” Lofton said. “We got that No. 1 seed in the East and we go in there and lose first round — it was a difficult time for us. Hopefully, we’ve learned from that last year and can change it this year.”
Click to expand...

With just four SEC teams in the dance a real possibility, SEC coaches in Atlanta discuss their plight..Not gonna quote this, but its an interesting summary piece...
tfp:Madness in March


Did You Know...
Where’s the Red Bull? If it seems the Volunteers always play the late game in the SEC tournament, that’s because they often do. Tennessee is playing the late game Thursday for the eighth time since 1992, a span of 16 tournaments. Thursday’s game against LSU isn’t expected to start until after 10 p.m.
Click to expand...

Ryan Childress is a good story for the Vols. The kid deserves some love from the press...
tfp:UT sixth man

coaches in the Southeastern Conference probably didn’t anoint Tennessee’s Ryan Childress the league’s sixth man of the year. But they could have.
The sophomore forward was on the ballot. Therefore, others besides Volunteers coach Bruce Pearl have noticed the change in Childress.

“I don’t know that there’s a more improved player in the league,” Pearl said, “especially as how far he had to go.”
Click to expand...

Childress heads into this week’s SEC tournament averaging 5.2 points and 3.9 rebounds in 15:30 minutes per game. Those statistics nearly match career highs in points (six) and rebounds (four) from his freshman season.

“When it came down to it, I wasn’t physically ready when I came in last year,” Childress said. “I tried to put on a bunch of weight to back up Major (Wingate) at center, and that wasn’t the type of role I was needing to play.

“Obviously, I play a lot better at a lower weight, and I got myself in great shape.”
Click to expand...

“Some of it is quickness. Some of it is just him believing in himself,” UT guard Jordan Howell said. “I think he believes, since he’s 15 pounds lighter, he can do more on the court. He’s been one of our most consistent players night in, night out, all year long.”
Click to expand...

“I know what my game consists of,” Childress said. “I just try to gobble as many rebounds as I can, be the guy that does the dirty things, the little things that don’t get noticed as much.

“I take pride in doing that.”
Click to expand...

“He’s put in the work, and he’s benefiting from it this year,” associate head coach Tony Jones said. “For him to be an integral part of the team and to be in the rotation, he had to improve, and that’s what he did.”
Click to expand...

“Last year, our rotation was down to seven and a half, eight people, and it really hurt us trying to play our style,” Jones said. “This year, we’re finishing strong. I think our players are really hitting a stride now, and it’s probably due to our rotation, being able to play nine to 10 players.”
Click to expand...

This article reminds me to give some love here for the work that Tony Jones has done this year. What a great coach to have on your side...


It's almost time.. Tourney Time... Can you smeeeellllll... what the OWH... is Cookin'!!!

Go Vols!!!
 
#2
#2
Great article!

My greatest fear is not that Bruce will be leaving soon, but that Tony Jones may be hired away. He brings a lot to the program. Just like Trooper Taylor contributes much to the football team, Jones contributes much to the basketball team. I hope Hamilton will be giving Tony Jones a raise after this season.
 
#4
#4
orange+white=heaven said:
Weeds is no homer for UT. I was surprised by his pick.
Click to expand...

Strangely, I have seen several prognosticators pick UT. While I think on the surface it makes some sense--we have had some big wins late in the season, coupled with Florida's fall from grace and the overall mediocrity of the rest of the conference--I really think these pickers underestimate the difficulty of winning the tourney after having to play on Thursday.

I'd be very happy to see it happen, but I just don't see us marching through four games in four days against the rest of the conference. And if memory serves me correctly, no team has ever accomplished that feat.
 
#5
#5
cotton said:
....but I just don't see us marching through four games in four days against the rest of the conference. And if memory serves me correctly, no team has ever accomplished that feat.
Click to expand...

On the comcast thing, "talkin Hoops", Sonny Smith and Wimp Sanderson said they'd had teams of their's to do it, but that those were pre shot clock days...

Not sure about modern era..anyone?
 
#6
#6
cotton said:
I really think these pickers underestimate the difficulty of winning the tourney after having to play on Thursday.
Click to expand...
I that is the one reason that I don't think we will win the tourney. If we were to get past UF after playing two straing 10 o'clock games, I don't think we would have enough left in the tank for the final game.

It would be interesting to see how many teams have won the tourney that had to play on Thursday.
 
#8
#8
utvol0427 said:
It would be interesting to see how many teams have won the tourney that had to play on Thursday.
Click to expand...

OK, I'm having to extrapolate a little here, but here is a list of tournament champions since the reinstatement in '79 followed by their regular season conference rank:

79--Tennessee 2
80--LSU 2
81--Ole Miss 6
82--Alabama 3
83--Georgia 4
84--Kentucky 1
85--Auburn 7
86--Kentucky 1
87--Alabama 1
88--Vacated (KY, 1)
89--Alabama 2
90--Alabama 2
91--Alabama 3
92--Kentucky E1
93--Kentucky E2
94--Kentucky E2
95--Kentucky E1
96--Miss St W1
97--Kentucky E2
98--Kentucky E1
99--Kentucky E2
00--Arkansas W3
01--Kentucky E1
02--Miss St W2
03--Kentucky E1
04--Kentucky E1
05--Florida E2
06--Florida E2

I couldn't find brackets for all of the years listed, but Arkansas certainly had to play 4 games to win the tourney in '00 as a 3rd seed in the West, and Auburn probably had to win 4 as a 7 seed in '85.
 
#11
#11
cotton said:
OK, I'm having to extrapolate a little here, but here is a list of tournament champions since the reinstatement in '79 followed by their regular season conference rank:

79--Tennessee 2
80--LSU 2
81--Ole Miss 6
82--Alabama 3
83--Georgia 4
84--Kentucky 1
85--Auburn 7
86--Kentucky 1
87--Alabama 1
88--Vacated (KY, 1)
89--Alabama 2
90--Alabama 2
91--Alabama 3
92--Kentucky E1
93--Kentucky E2
94--Kentucky E2
95--Kentucky E1
96--Miss St W1
97--Kentucky E2
98--Kentucky E1
99--Kentucky E2
00--Arkansas W3
01--Kentucky E1
02--Miss St W2
03--Kentucky E1
04--Kentucky E1
05--Florida E2
06--Florida E2

I couldn't find brackets for all of the years listed, but Arkansas certainly had to play 4 games to win the tourney in '00 as a 3rd seed in the West, and Auburn probably had to win 4 as a 7 seed in '85.
Click to expand...


Geez, that's a lot of Wildcat Blue in there.
 
#12
#12
lawgator1 said:
Geez, that's a lot of Wildcat Blue in there.
Click to expand...

43 SEC regular season titles won or shared (followed by UT and LSU with 8 each,) 25 tournament titles (followed by Bama's 6.) It is disgusting.

EDIT: There is some overlap in those numbers. From secsports.com:

"From 1933-1950 the SEC Champion was determined bya tournament, except for 1935. Since 1951, when the round robin schedule was introduced, the title has been decided by a winning percentage on the conference schedule." So I believe any tournamnet title between 33-50 would count in both numbers. It is still impressive and disgusting, though.
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.
Advertisement



Back
Top