SEC tourney pairings set, including No. 6 seed Georgia vs. Arkansas (UPDATED)
(Updated 7:15 p.m.)
It’ll be the Dogs vs. the Hogs at the SEC men’s basketball tournament.
Georgia and Arkansas will meet in a first-round game at 9:45 p.m. Thursday in Nashville. Georgia will be the SEC East’s No. 6 seed and Arkansas the West’s No. 3 seed.
The matchup was determined before Georgia’s 50-48 loss at LSU on Saturday. Earlier in the day, South Carolina’s upset victory at Vanderbilt had ensured that Georgia would be the East’s No. 6 seed and Arkansas’ home loss to Ole Miss had ensured that the Razorbacks would be UGA’s first-round opponent.
Thursday’s full first-round schedule (all times Eastern, divisional seeds in parentheses):
1 p.m.: (E5) South Carolina vs. (W4) Alabama.
3:15 p.m.: (W6) LSU vs. (E3) Tennessee.
7:30 p.m.: (W5) Auburn vs. (E4) Florida.
9:45 p.m.: (E6) Georgia vs. (W3) Arkansas.
And Friday’s quarterfinals:
1 p.m.: South Carolina-Alabama winner vs. (E1) Kentucky
3:15 p.m.: LSU-Tennessee winner vs. (W2) Ole Miss
7:30 p.m.: Auburn-Florida winner vs. (W1) Mississippi State
9:45 p.m.: Georgia-Arkansas winner vs. (E2) Vanderbilt
A Georgia win at LSU Saturday would not have affected the Bulldogs’ tournament seeding because South Carolina clinched the East’s No. 5 seed with the victory at Vanderbilt. Even if Georgia had beaten LSU to match South Carolina’s 6-10 league record, the Gamecocks would have gotten the higher seed on the basis of the third tiebreaker, which is record vs. the division’s top seed (Kentucky). South Carolina is 1-1 vs. Kentucky, Georgia 0-2.
Georgia’s loss to LSU dropped the Dogs to 5-11 in the SEC and put them alone in last place in the East standings.
One advantage of the East No. 6 seed, as opposed to No. 5, is that it placed Georgia in the opposite half of the tournament bracket from Kentucky. While the Georgia-Arkansas winner will play Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals Friday, the South Carolina-Alabama winner will face Kentucky.
Arkansas will enter the tournament on a five-game losing streak and Georgia on a two-game skid. In the teams’ regular-season meeting — Feb. 3 in Athens — Arkansas won 72-68 after Georgia led by 15 points at halftime.
The loss at LSU means that Georgia finishes the regular season without a road victory (0-11 in opponents’ arenas).
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
107 comments Add your comment
BuLLdawg
March 8th, 2010
1:58 am
Thank you Patrick.
There are those who say that UGA is 4th in The SEC today.
Clearly Florida is better than us, right ?
Certainly LSU is better than us, right ?
Alabama, have they passed us by or not ?
We are talking about within The SEC alone. And, there are lots of other conferences. Big XII, PAC-10, Big 10, Big East, ACC and now the others too, right ?
National Stage, to get on it, you have to play a Top 10 Final AP Poll team in a Big Bowl Game and win it. We’ve absolutely not done that yet in the Coach Richt Era.
To get there, you have to be better than 3rd in The SEC before Alabama last year also passed us by making us 4th in The SEC. And, of course we are talking about in The Coach Richt Era.
10-10 vs The SEC East Last 4 years.
1-3 vs Florida Last 4 years.
1-3 vs Tennessee Last 4 years.
This is in our own Division of our own Conference.
So, I am asking Patrick about the last 2-4 years. Over the last 4 years, we have been not up to UGA Football standards.
4 Years
Not 2-4 Years
4 years 14 interceptions per year
4 years 21 fumbles per year
4 years # 96 average rank NCAA Penalties
We cannot line up and run a play without a penalty. What are we practicing ?
When we do execute the play called, we either fumble or throw an interception. What are we practicing ?
We have seriously wasted talent on Offense the last 4 years. Knowshon Moreno redshirted so that we only got to see the best running back at UGA in 3 decades 2 years only. Washaun Ealey redshirted until the 3rd quarter of the 5th game last year. Also last year, Orson Charles not made Starter at Tight End until the 12th game of the 13-game season. Marlon Brown thrown 2 passes all season long, just as we threw only 2 passes to Branden Smith all season long last year too.
Logan Gray now is criticizing the Offensive Coaching Staff at UGA today in the newspaper stating that there should have been competition last year for Joe Cox as our Quarterback. I certainly felt that with Joe Cox’s chronic shoulder and Flu the 1st week, that Zach Mettenberger would have put up more than 10 points against Oklahoma State who did not even end up in the Top 25 Final AP Poll beat by Houston for example, but not by us.
With all the struggles we had running the football last season when we were hyped that the OL was so great, Starting Richard Samuel at Tailback when he had just lost the Georgia tek game with a fumble, we never did hand the football to either Shaun Chapas or Fred Munzenmaier.
Richard Samuel this year, the same Offensive Coaching Staff has kicked him off the Offense completely. It is said he is facing a redshirt season now too to learn another position, over on any side of the ball but Offense.
We lost 5 SEC East Games in a Row over the last 4 years now. That is every SEC East team in a row consecutively beat us.
10-10 SEC East last 4 years.
5 SEC National Championships in a row.
We do not measure up to ANY of those Football Programs, not on March 7, 2010.
We cannot even beat Tennessee the last 4 years at 1-3, as you point out in your response Patrick.
We’ve played 11 games vs Top 10 Final AP Poll teams in The Coach Richt Era and lost 8.
We’ve played 36 games vs Top 25 Final AP Poll teams in The Coach Richt Era and lost 19.
Most troubling of all is 8 Losses in The Coach Richt Era against teams not even ranked in the Top 25 Final AP Poll the year we lost to them.
No. An analysis of UGA Football Program March 7, 2010 would put us no higher than # 4 in our own Conference.
We just are not getting on the National Stage, and the problems are on Offensive Coaching Staff.
The facts about the state of our football program right now are that we are clearly # 4 or worse in our own conference, never mind the National Stage beyond our own Conference. And, there is no better place to see that than in our own state being unable to actually get any of all the Offensive All-Stars here to play for this woebegone Offensive Coaching Staff, as none of the recruits in the state of Georgia on Offense came here this year. What does that tell you Patrick ?
Mark Fox
March 8th, 2010
4:48 am
TWEET!
I want to thank all the dawg fans out there for my raise! My goals for next year are beating LSU and Wofford and qualifying for the NIT!
» SEC links: League heads to Nashville for tournament John Clay’s Sidelines
March 8th, 2010
6:36 am
[...] Tim Tucker of the AJC has the SEC pairings. [...]
Rocky Topper
March 8th, 2010
6:41 am
No road victory all season? LOL Sounds like a great team you dogs have! Enjoy your one and done tournament game bottom dwellers!
SaintSimons
March 8th, 2010
7:27 am
45-42 ahhaha
highschoolhoops
March 8th, 2010
8:13 am
Come to http://norcrosshighbasketball.blogspot.com/ to see the video of the Norcross Milton controversy. What is your opinion?
AceDawg
March 8th, 2010
10:51 am
UGA is capable of beating everyone but Kentucky when Kentucky is playing well. That said, we can’t ignore the fact that UGA is 5-11 in the SEC, and going on a multi-game winning streak to reach the final is unlikely. Then again, somebody has to do it, and most other SEC teams seem no better off than the Dawgs.
UGA has kept it interesting all year and is MUCH MUCH MUCH better than a year ago, so I’ll I’ll be cheering with interest and hope.