Pairing set: UGA will open SEC tourney vs. Auburn
After his team finished the regular season with a victory at LSU on Saturday night, Auburn coach Tony Barbee gushed: “I know this. There are a lot of teams in the conference that are heading to Atlanta saying, ‘I hope we don’t match up with that Auburn team.’”
As it turns out, the first team that will match up with Auburn in the SEC men’s basketball tournament is Georgia, which will play the Tigers at 1 p.m. Thursday in the Georgia Dome.
Tournament pairings were set Sunday afternoon, when Kentucky’s 64-58 victory at Tennessee finalized the SEC East seeds. The win clinched second place in the division for Kentucky (10-6 in the league, three games behind runaway East winner Florida) and left Georgia and Vanderbilt (both 9-7) in a tie for third place. Georgia is the division’s No. 4 seed because of two regular-season losses to Vanderbilt.
The Bulldogs thus open the conference tournament against the No. 5 seed from the Western Division, an Auburn team that finished 11-19 overall and 4-12 in the SEC but lifted the spirits of its coach and players with back-to-back wins over Ole Miss and LSU to close the regular season. Georgia beat Auburn 81-72 on Feb. 5 in Athens, but had to go into overtime to do it.
The winner of Thursday’s Georgia-Auburn game — the tournament opener — will face Alabama, the SEC West’s No. 1 seed, in a quarterfinal at 1 p.m. on Friday. Either way, that quarterfinal will be an enticing matchup — a meeting of arch-rivals or a hasty rematch of a regular-season finale in which Alabama beat Georgia 65-57 in Tuscaloosa.
Other first-round pairings Thursday have South Carolina (the No. 6 East seed) vs. Ole Miss (No. 3 West) at 3:30 p.m., Tennessee (No. 5 East) vs. Arkansas (No. 4 West) at 7:30 p.m. and LSU (No. 6 West) vs. Vanderbilt (No. 3 East) at 10 p.m.
The South Carolina-Ole Miss winner will face Kentucky, the East’s No. 2 seed, at 3:30 p.m. Friday, followed at 7:30 p.m. by the Tennessee-Arkansas winner vs. East No. 1 Florida at 7:30 p.m. and the LSU-Vanderbilt winner vs. West No. 2 Mississippi State at 10 p.m.
By tying Vanderbilt for third place in the Eastern Division, Georgia broke a seven-year streak of finishing fifth or sixth in the regular-season standings.
As of Sunday, “bracketologists” were debating whether the Bulldogs (20-10 overall) already have done enough to secure a bid from the NCAA tournament selection committee, or whether they might need another victory or two in the SEC tournament to reach the Big Dance. CollegeRPI.com’s Jerry Palm was projecting Georgia as a No. 9 NCAA seed despite Saturday’s loss at Alabama, while ESPN.com’s Joe Lunardi had the Bulldogs narrowly missing the 68-team field.
Georgia coach Mark Fox made his case via Twitter on Sunday afternoon: “Regular season complete. Committee always talks body of work. 20-10, top 40 RPI & SOS, winning record in SEC & on road, no bad losses.”
Georgia ranks No. 40 in the RPI and No. 38 in strength of schedule.
“Coach always tells us don’t worry about it,” Georgia forward Trey Thompkins said of the NCAA tournament talk. “As far as our team goes, we just know we have the SEC tournament [this] week.”
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107 comments Add your comment
Worm
March 6th, 2011
8:16 pm
We should win 2 games in the tourney..If not, we shouldn’t be in.
Worm
March 6th, 2011
8:19 pm
@DeltaStewardess, It is AMAZING that Bill King actually writes for this paper?
long time dawg fan
March 6th, 2011
8:31 pm
looked like the bb dawgs were playing central florida at alabama…as usual the other team wanted it the most…get on with it…let the seniors and pro-wannabees go…let’s recruit folks who want to play for us because they want to, not because they could not get a better offer…so disheartening…we were picked first in the east, and finished 4th, probably deserving of 5th…
Tech 54
March 6th, 2011
8:42 pm
To make it fair for the wardamneagles will a peach basket tacked to the side of a barn be used for a goal?
GT is a 4th rate high school team
March 6th, 2011
9:54 pm
Barbee is just being delusional with his opinion. Actually he is hoping not to get fired soon.
MikeP
March 6th, 2011
10:00 pm
Auburn took UGA into overtime in Athens. Looks like a Tiger win on a neutral court. It could well be a forfeit. If AU suits Nick Fairley up, the Dawgs will be scared to leave the dressing room.
bitter larry munson (9") size does matter
March 6th, 2011
10:31 pm
to all trailer //collage park folk—AKA—-scam newton@pop-ppa——your day’s living the ho-kus–po-kus dream —– spending ALL-Burn funny money—providided by funny bosters——hahahahahahah
ps—————–rogue–boo–sters===== 10 years probation====looser’s=====hahahahahahah
BG
March 6th, 2011
10:46 pm
GO DAWGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bama fan
March 6th, 2011
11:26 pm
Good chance Leslie and Trey come back, or maybe just leslie, if so look out sec next yr, maybe even final 4 team, they would be that good, good luck in torn bulldogs. I am worried about playing you guys second time in a week, think in neutral site you guys win. I think y’all played bad and we made a lot of 3’s in second half which may have been lucky.
Bama fan
March 6th, 2011
11:28 pm
Long time dawg fine, nobody picked ga first in east, writers had Florida almost unaimous
Tim Tucker
March 6th, 2011
11:58 pm
Suches Dawg: Lunardi had UGA as an 11th seed in the Western Region in his bracket on Friday, but on Sunday he listed them as one of his “last four out.” I think he posts a new bracket on Monday.
TampaDAWG
March 7th, 2011
12:10 am
@ Committee on Anti-Alabama Activities
I wouldnt call an 8 point victory a beatdown especially when the refs were in your back pocket! I hope UGA beats Auburn so when they spank Bama on a neutral court you’ll be too embarrassed to blog on the AJC again!
Delta Stewardess
March 7th, 2011
12:19 am
TampaDAWG what would you call a beatdown in basketball? 8 points is at least 3 basket win.
TampaDAWG
March 7th, 2011
12:33 am
Delta Stewardess AKA techi somethin, a beatdown is a 15+ point win, not we are gonna hit a few free throws down the stretch to win. Also 8 points is 3 hole baskets isn’t that much, but like I said come back and talk if UGA plays UA in the SEC tourney, without homecourt and more importantly bad officiating.
Buckeye
March 7th, 2011
7:56 am
Delta,
See you missed me. What a performance and exclaimation point of winning the Big 10 Championship outright. Jon Diebler, 6/7 treys ( forgive me Howard (before I was Tret)). The team was 13/14 form 3 point range. Unreal.
Hope Howard ( before I was Trey) has a quiet week leading up to a big performance on Thursday. You are lurking to close to the bubble for some and I want to see you in the field. Seriously.
NOTE: I’m sure some saw some “Buckeye” posts over the weekend that were crude and over the top. Once again, some clown used my “Buckeye” name fradulantyl If the clown wants to hide behind something, go to Wisconsin – oops, Illinois -and be a Democratic Wisconsn Senator. You’d fit in well.
Musa Smith
March 7th, 2011
8:07 am
Wish i had played basketball too.
Cant Beat Gatuah
March 7th, 2011
9:02 am
No matter what…. them dawgs still cant beat dem gatauh’s.
Bawbie
March 7th, 2011
9:03 am
Fire Dave Perno !
B ball Fan
March 7th, 2011
9:08 am
Game 1, Ga. vs AU.
Ga. up 20 at the Half.
10 minutes to go, Ga up 8.
4 minutes to go, Score Tie.
Here We Go.
War Eagle Second Half.
Michael
March 7th, 2011
9:27 am
I wonder if Espn’s Joe Lunardi is aware that Georgia beat Colorado this season and has a better overall record, so, curious as to why he has Colorado in the tournament and Georgia out?
Delta Stewardess
March 7th, 2011
9:33 am
D A DoubleU G
Starts out the week at the top of the TPR. Keep it up you fool. I guess I will be reading your SHPR on the Dawg pages soon enough.
Somebody created the: Troll Post Ranking and the Stupid Homer Post Ranking.
For the UGA fans it seems to be a fight between
D A DoubleU G & DawginLex.
They even get called dumb on our UGA blogs. These 2 need to move-in together like Felix & Oscar.
Silly Puppies
March 7th, 2011
9:44 am
Wow! You little fellas sure are confident that you’re going to beat Aub on Thurs and Bama on Friday. That’s funny, considering you had to go to OT with Aub, yes, with Aub, and were completely DOMINATED by Bama on Saturday. Wake up and spell the tree poison, your athletic program is B-team, Jawja. Deal with it. See you in the NIT.
EDAWG
March 7th, 2011
9:46 am
Most of the games were ugly, outwilled and outhustled and if you lost it was no big deal.
Buckeye
March 7th, 2011
9:52 am
Another point of Buckeye distinction:
Ohio State Women win Big 10 Tournament.
uga women fall in semi’s to TN.
Winner
Loser
Perhaps we shoul follow the “social justice” way and just give everyone a trophy?
Alabama | MrSEC.com
March 7th, 2011
9:59 am
[...] NCAA tournament resume yesterday. (But does the selection committee follow Twitter?)3. Georgia will face an improving Auburn team in the first round of the SEC tourney.4. We don’t usually cover college baseball around [...]
Luke
March 7th, 2011
10:07 am
The difference is Colorado’s schedule. When you have wins against teams like Texas, Texas Tech, Kansas State, and close losses against teams like Kansas and TAMU, that is a lot more impressive to me then losing to the likes of Florida, Alabama, and Vanderbilt.
Not saying that UGA is a bad team, but the Big 12 is a far more of a difficult conference than the SEC. Personally, UGA is probably the better team and it will come down to how each fares in their respective tournaments.
DaMan
March 7th, 2011
10:10 am
Unreal, this is a basketball article and the UGA goons are still whining about getting their butt kicked in football….never seen such babies!!!! And one more game like this past year and your QB may permanently take up soccer……you need to coach your linemen to block, Murray is too good of a player to get beat up the whole game……but 6-7 may be a good year in 2011 with all of your players that left/suspended/arrested……go ahead and book the trip to Shreveport, I hear the Red Cherry Motel fills up fast, so hurry!!!
Luke
March 7th, 2011
10:14 am
DaMan-
If you’re going to talk trash about football, know that the SEC doesn’t have ties to Shreveport anymore, the ACC does. Come on man. That’s weak.
MS. Bully
March 7th, 2011
10:15 am
Georgia got the easy side of the tournament draw. I sure hope UGA isn’t scared to play Allbarn. That is the second easiest team in the SEC.
DaMan
March 7th, 2011
10:36 am
Luke-
Shreveport, Memphis…..doesn’t matter……and then losing to Central Florida (ouch!)…..I mean at least “represent” the SEC, come on……that’s embarrassing……
THE MAJOR
March 7th, 2011
10:48 am
UGA fans known as the whiniest in the country. Always remember
LOSERS COMPLAIN THAT WINNERS CHEAT!!!!!!
aprilglaspie
March 7th, 2011
11:29 am
Everything about this goes back to one horrendous non-call vs. UT. If those refs weren’t blind, they were cheating. And it wasn’t a foul, it was a physical assault. Delta Stewardess, ESL much? And Auburn paid Cecil Newton. Fact, jack? So, yeah, they cheated. And does your mom know who your daddy is? Herschel’s mom and dad bought that Trans-Am. And how in the world can an ESPN expert show UGA as an 11 and people are still talking about the bubble? That’s cognative dissonance, based on Paul Hewitt-level hoops expertise.
Michael
March 7th, 2011
11:45 am
The difference is Colorado’s schedule. When you have wins against teams like Texas, Texas Tech, Kansas State, and close losses against teams like Kansas and TAMU, that is a lot more impressive to me then losing to the likes of Florida, Alabama, and Vanderbilt.
Not saying that UGA is a bad team, but the Big 12 is a far more of a difficult conference than the SEC. Personally, UGA is probably the better team and it will come down to how each fares in their respective tournaments
Hey, Luke…to comment on your last statement…Georgia beat Colorado so I would say they are the better team..also, RPI and strength of schedule is much higher than Colorado so who cares if they beat Kansas State twice?…K-State isn’t even ranked in top 25 anymore nor is Texas Tech. Georgia beats Colorado and has much higher RPI and SOS.
Michael
March 7th, 2011
11:50 am
Hey, Luke….your statement… “Personally, UGA is probably the better team and it will come down to how each fares in their respective tournaments”…You know a good way to determine who is the better team is by a head to head matchup and result? So, guess what? Georgia beat Colorado this season so who do you think the better team is?
Jborodawg
March 7th, 2011
1:19 pm
Buckeye…you post well, usually. But, “Howard ( before I was Trey)” is getting old. Who cares?
DaMan…you seem the main one bringing up FB on a BB blog.
Saben
March 7th, 2011
1:25 pm
Dawgs lose by 50
MississippiDawg
March 7th, 2011
1:33 pm
I know I’m a day late but this has to be said: How big is that blown call in the TN (home loss) game now? Everyone knows that was an “over the back” foul sending UGA to the line for the win. The OT loss to UF was just bad luck…those two home losses might keep UGA out of dance. Can’t believe they “have” to win 2 games in tourney to be considered a lock…unreal how the “bracket experts” have become the tail that wags the dog (tourney selection comittee)….
Buckeye
March 7th, 2011
3:19 pm
Jboro,
Thanks for the remarks. Regarding Howard (biwt), just trying to remain consistent.
I kinda like the abbreviation. Easier to type. How about you, Jboro?
Tim Teblows!
March 7th, 2011
4:01 pm
Yes, I want the Dawgs to make the tournament, but does it really even matter?? Why do people care about getting into this tournament if they can’t be one of the contenders to win the whole thing. I think the Dawgs should be more worried about winning the SEC, and then they’ll be in the tournament anyway. I just don’t want them to be satisfied that they are in the top 68 in the country.
DawginLex
March 7th, 2011
4:45 pm
Delta Stewardess,
Go get my peanuts and Diet coke and STFU otherwise.
Glad to see i have a stalker since I had not even commented on this blog today. Which idiot are you?
My guess is either WDE or Yellow fuzz, two troll legends.
You need me to get my list back out for you?
Or should I just call you Gomer Gump and call it a day?
DawginLex
March 7th, 2011
4:47 pm
Colorado’s RPI is almost 30 points lower than UGA and UGA beat them head to head. It is a joke that Lunardi has them in.
DaMan
March 7th, 2011
5:04 pm
To make it even stranger, if UGA would have won against Alabama, they would have gotten a bye until Friday…..now they have to win 2 to get in (imho), that’s crazy and I’m not even a UGA fan……and to Tim Teblows, getting to the dance is one of the main goals for every team at the beginning of the year…..you only have to go back to last year to see why……did you have Butler playing Duke for the Championship in your office pool? I doubt anyone did……
Chi Town "ohhhhh yeahhhhh"
March 7th, 2011
6:55 pm
Get ready for another brutal beat down leg humper nation.
ALABAMA owns you in FOOTBALL(see blackout) and BASKETBALL(see last Saturday).
You do have us beat in lady gymnastics.
RTR
Munson's toupee
March 7th, 2011
6:57 pm
our basketball coach needs to borrow one of my hair hats…… THERE GOES HERSCHEL!!!!!
Bama fan
March 7th, 2011
10:54 pm
Always fun to tune in and see in what way, shape, or form buckeye is giving the dawg nation hell.
Buckeye
March 8th, 2011
6:00 am
Bama fab,
Glad to be of service.
Pre-Empted
March 8th, 2011
6:46 am
Delta Stewardess: “The Dawgs should win this opening game unless the Refs steal the game.” (March 6 @ 2:44 pm
====================================================================
Now THAT is funny, Delta. Making excuses even before the game starts. What’s next? Making your excuses before games are scheduled?
ThUGA fans —- sheeeeesh.
Buckeye
March 8th, 2011
7:37 am
“annonymous tipster”. Ya, got it.
The truth will come out. No worries.
I could annonymously tip something to yahoo sports today about Richt, Herschel, Spurrier, Cam, Saban, etc. Doesn’t mean it’s true.
Take your shots…..I can handle the truth.
Buckeye
March 8th, 2011
7:44 am
Here you go. Read Mandel for yourselves. Doesn’t take much to scoop the AJC.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/stewart_mandel/03/07/tressel.yahoo.report/index.html?eref=sihp
Buckeye
March 8th, 2011
8:19 am
Dooms Day Scenario: We’re 0-9 again. Ha!