THE CHATTER
On the day that Seton Hall knocked off the Big East’s top seed, No. 3 Villanova, in their postseason tourney in New York, word comes through staff writer Chip Towers that Georgia entered into an agreement March 6 with the Pirates to play a home-and-home basketball series beginning Dec. 21 in Athens.
The Bulldogs are expected to play a more competitive non-conference schedule than this season. The Bulldogs are scheduled to open next season in the 2014 NIT Season Tipoff as one of four regional hosts.
SURPRISES
There couldn’t have been a more surprised man in Atlanta on Wednesday than Auburn coach Tony Barbee.
First, his Tigers lost in an upset to South Carolina, and within a couple of hours he was told at the team hotel that he was out of the job.
“I believe we should compete for championships in men’s basketball,” Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs said in a statement around 11 p.m. Wednesday. “It’s time for somebody else to have a turn.”
Barbee was 48-75, including 18-50 in SEC games, with no league tournament victories, including one, apparently, last-straw loss. The loss to the Gamecocks looked less stunning after South Carolina knocked off Arkansas on Thursday.
CELEBRITY TWEET
“They’re already firing coaches at the SEC tournament? Ouch. Some of the teams don’t even play until Friday.” — @slmandel (Stewart Mandel, SI.com college football writer)
BY THE NUMBERS
31 Average point margin (38, 28, 27) in the past three victories for Tennessee.
10 Number of SEC teams in any sport ranked No. 1 nationally as of today: Florida in men's basketball. The other sports: baseball, softball, gymnastics, equestrian, men's golf, men's and women's swimming, and men's and women's indoor track.
HE SAID IT
“When the ball goes up in the air, I don’t think our guys are running around saying, ‘We’re No. 1 in the country, we’re No. 1 in the country!’ They’re just playing. All this other stuff that gets hyped up before a game — seeding, ranking, record, all that — goes out the window. That’s the one thing I love about competition: It’s totally unbiased. You have to go out there and play. It doesn’t make a difference what you did last possession. It doesn’t make a difference what you did last week or the other day. It’s a brand new competitive experience, and you’ve got to be able to go out there and handle that next experience.” — Florida coach Billy Donovan
TWEETABLE
Three active SEC coaches are the winningest coaches at their schools: Ole Miss’ Andy Kennedy, Vandy’s Kevin Stallings and Donovan.
COMING SUNDAY
Staff writer Tim Tucker says thanks for the memories to the SEC as he revisits the tournament’s history, from Kentucky’s thrilling victory over defending national champion Arkansas in 1995 to the tornado-tossed event in 2008. The SEC tourney has made its mark on the Georgia Dome. But after Sunday’s championship game, it will be only history. The tournament has been played in the Dome 11 times, more than in any other venue since its rebirth in 1979, but never again.
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