DESTIN, Fla. — The SEC adopted a new men’s basketball schedule format Friday that will make South Carolina the only regular twice-per-season opponent for Georgia.
The format calls for an 18-game conference schedule that will include home and away games against one “permanent rival” (South Carolina in Georgia’s case), four sets of home and away games against opponents that will rotate each season, and single games against the remaining teams in the league.
Georgia coach Mark Fox wanted Florida as Georgia’s standing, twice-per-season opponent, but the Gators were paired with Kentucky — an attractive matchup for TV.
South Carolina “makes sense from a proximity standpoint,” Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity said. “... Everybody is fine with it.”
During a three-year period, each SEC team will play its “permanent rival” six times and every other team in the league four times. Like last season, there will not be divisional play.
In women’s basketball, the SEC decided to stick with a 16-game conference schedule, including home and away games against a permanent rival, two sets of home and away games against rotating opponents and single games against the remaining teams in the league.
Florida was designated as Georgia’s permanent rival on the women’s side.
Payout rises again
The SEC announced that its 12 schools will receive $20.1 million apiece from the league’s revenue-sharing plan for the 2011-12 fiscal year — a record payout that is up 9.8 percent from last year and up 82 percent from three years ago.
The payout includes pooled money from football and basketball TV contracts, bowl games, conference championship football game, men’s basketball conference tournament and NCAA championship events.
The biggest chunk of the money — about 48 percent — came from football television deals, which currently are being renegotiated upward.
Etc.
The SEC presidents voted to add a conference championship in equestrian. Georgia, Auburn, South Carolina and league newcomer Texas A&M field teams in the sport. ... The SEC appointed a working group, chaired by Ole Miss chancellor Dan Jones, to study concussions in all sports. ... Georgia’s men’s basketball team will play at South Florida on Nov. 30 as part of the SEC/Big East Challenge. ... UGA’s Loch Johnson was honored at an awards dinner Thursday night as the inaugural winner of the SEC’s Professor of the Year award. He is a faculty member in the UGA School of Public and International Affairs. ... Former Georgia swimmer Wendy Trott was honored as the SEC’s Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
