SEC Talk

First of all, if you are reading this on the Fourth of July… well, you need to get outside and grill some burgers!

Now, in the meantime:

Every day my inbox is flooded with announcements of this or that Southeastern Conference school landing a huge recruit for the 2010 football class.  And I continue to be amazed by the amount of media coverage. I mean, its front page stuff, but I don’t get it.

I could understand a few lines, but headlines?

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again… these commitments aren’t worth the paper they aren’t signed on yet! Signing day for the 2010 class is FEBRUARY 3, 2010!

These kids all end up taking more visits, and often end up changing their minds… and that’s ok.

I understand coaches want the early commit from players, but when they bank on those commits too much, the coaches and universities end up getting screwed.

Way back in 1999, quarterback Chris Simms, son of Hall of Famer Phil Simms, announced he was attending the University of Tennessee. So Head Coach Phillip Fulmer backed off recruiting other quarterbacks and focused on other positions. Then, days before signing day, he de-committed and signed with Texas.

Many experts think that was the beginning of the end for Tennessee and Phillip Fulmer, as the program ended up with no strong QB for years.

So what’s a coach to do? Well, there’s an old saying in sports — run through the tape and play through the whistle. Be glad you got the commitment, but keep pressing the pedal to the floor.

My retinas are bleeding.

Seriously.

I am spending hour after hour studying everything I can on SEC football. And there is a lot out there.

A lot.

I made a trip to our local bookstore to pick up a magazine or two. There were about 25 there just focusing on the SEC. Now, since I can’t afford to buy that many sports mags (I’m a blogger, not a miracle worker), I sat there and read…

And read…

And read some more.

I picked two out to take on my vacation next week, but felt the need to digest the others, since I’ve decided to do my own little pre-season SEC ranking here in a couple of weeks. Man, there’s a lot to learn!

I’ve been an SEC fan my whole life. I can appreciate other conferences, even enjoy watching their games…. as long as the Southeastern Conference isn’t on. But there are so many unknowns coming into this season that I feel like I’m starting from scratch.

So I’m studying. In fact, if they gave an SAT on the SEC, I’m pretty sure I’d score through the roof. But there is still a lot more to read.

It used to be easier. In the SEC East, you read up on Florida, Georgia and Tennessee. Maybe you read a bit on South Carolina. You skimmed Vandy and Kentucky and were done. Now? Florida may still rule the roost, but Vandy and UK have upped the ante, so you can’t just slide past them.

In the West, not much work needed to be done on Mississippi State. Now that Dan Mullen is running the show, who knows what is going to come out of Stark-Vegas this season? And Houston Nutt is getting it done at Ole Miss. Yeah, Bama is gonna be the lead dog in that division, but nothing is a given.

So it’s time to study up and get ready. Football previews start in a couple of weeks!

Both Florida and Mississippi fell short in their bids to advance to the College World Series.

Ole Miss lost to Virginia 5-1, dropping the best of three series 2-1. The Rebels finish with a record of 44-20, and marked the fourth time in the last five years that they have been in a position to advance to the CWS. UM’s 44 wins ties the mark for second most wins in a season in school history set in 2006. The school record is 48 wins, set in 2005.

Florida is perhaps the biggest surprise of the Super Regionals, failing to win even one game. The Gators, ranked 9th took a lead into the 8th inning on Sunday, but #17 Southern Miss scored three to take the lead and the game. Florida led 6-1 in the third, but USM kept pounding away, eventually winning the right to advance to the CWS in Omaha this weekend.  Florida ends it’s season with a 42-22 record.

In a bit of irony, both Florida and Ole Miss were hosting regionals. So much for home field advantage.

Arkansas and LSU have already advanced to the CWS, along with Arizona State, Cal State Fullerton, North Carolina, Southern Miss and Virginia. Arkansas will play Cal State Fullerton and LSU will face Virginia in opening round action. Times and dates are TBA.

One spot is still open, to be decided on Monday. TCU and Texas will battle for the lone remaining slot, with the series tied at 1-1.

By Saturday afternoon two SEC teams were in the process of booking flights to Omaha. Both LSU and Arkansas have advanced to the College World Series by sweeping their respective opponents.

Arkansas took the Super Regional against Florida State — on FSU’s home turf — in dramatic fashion. The Hogs led 7-5 entering the game’s final inning, but FSU took the lead in the top of the 9th with three runs. When Arkansas came to bat in the bottom half of the inning, they trailed by one.  After a fly out, Bo Bigham drew a walk and Zach Cox followed with a single to put runners at first and second with one out. Senior Andrew Darr, who cracked the starting lineup for the first time in almost a month, hit the first pitch to the gap in left-center, scoring two and ending the game.

The trip to Omaha will be the sixth for Arkansas, and the first since 2004.

LSU will join the Razorbacks in Omaha thanks to a 5-3 win over Rice. LSU, like Arkansas, swept the series 2-0. An LSU stadium record crowd of 9,651 was there, cheering the Tigers on to their 15th CWS. LSU has now won 10 straight, and is 117-44 all time in NCAA tournament games. That’s a winning percentage of .727, the highest in NCAA tournament history.

The game was back and forth until the fifth inning, when LSU scored two and took a 4-2 advantage that it never relinquished.

Two other teams are still playing in hopes of joining the SEC brethren in the CWS. Florida opened play today with a 9-7 loss to Southern Miss. The game puts the Gators in a 1-0 hole, with games Sunday and Monday (if needed).

Late errors cost Ole Miss against Virginia on Saturday, with the Rebs losing 4-3 to even the series with the Cavs at 1-1. A record crowd of 10,323 saw the action in Oxford, which Ole Miss led much of the way. But two errors in the 8th inning gave UVa the lead for good, forcing Sunday’s final game.

Games on Sunday (all times eastern):

Ole Miss vs. Virginia - 2 p.m. (ESPN). Series tied at 1-1.  Winner advances to College World Series.

Florida vs. Southern Miss - 7 p.m. (ESPN2). Southern Miss leads 1-0.

I wonder if Kentucky hoops coach John Calipari has been whistling “Everything Old is New Again” around the Commonwealth lately. Because the news from the NCAA regarding his tenure at Memphis must surely be leading him down Memory Lane.

Why? Seems Calipari’s former team, the University of Memphis has been served a “Notice of Allegations” by the NCAA, which prominently mention violations while Calipari was coach. Specifically, the charge reads that a student-athlete committed:

“knowing fraudulence or misconduct in connection with his entrance examination. Specifically, on (date redacted) an unknown individual completed (name redacted)’s SAT, with (name redacted)’s knowledge, which was used to obtain his admission into the institution” for the 2007-08 season.

In other words, (name redacted) had someone take his SAT exam in his place.

(Speculation has run amok that the offending player is Derrick Rose, who played only one season at Memphis.)

Now, if the charges are proved true, Memphis will be forced to forfeit the 38 wins they recorded that season (an NCAA record), and vacate the team’s NCAA Final Four appearance from that season.

Calipari has been down this path before. At UMass, his program was forced to forfeit wins as a result of NCAA violations. And, get this, UMass had to vacate the team’s Final Four appearance!

That’s right, folks. John Calipari is one of a precious few who have managed to take two schools to the NCAA Final Four, but he may become the first coach to have both of his team’s Final Four appearances vacated!

Now, lest you think the Bluegrass State is all tied up in knots over this news, fear not. Every blue-blooded Cats fan has rushed to the defense of Coach Cal. As they point out, he was never tied to the mess at UMass, nor has he been specifically named in the charges at Memphis. But coaches rarely are. They insulate themselves to the degree that they are borderline bullet-proof.

But if it happens on their watch, how can they claim to be that out of touch with the goings on of the program.

I’m not saying Calipari is guilty of anything, or of knowing anything. But at two coaching stops, his programs have been hit with major charges. Now he is in the pressure cooker known as Kentucky basketball. Winning isn’t enough. You have to win big. You have to win titles.

I hope that UK isn’t picking up the remnants of the Calipari years down the road.

Ok, I realize that just the other day I wrote about how things were slowing down in the SEC (Winding Down). After today’s events, I humbly take back that statement. In fact, if today’s news is any indicator, the off-season may be more interesting than anticipated.

Today let’s start with the goings on at the SEC coaches meetings, being held this week in Destin, Fla. Commissioner Mike Slive is none too happy with a few of the coaches. We all knew that Slive was unhappy, and was going to address the situation. But I think we underestimated just how unhappy the big guy was.

“I had all 5-foot-9, 175 pounds of me into every word I said. I can tell you that,” Slive said.

Reports say that Slive made eye contact with everyone in the room, forgoing the podium to walk around and make sure everyone was paying attention. And according to witnesses, Slive got the attention he wanted.

Perhaps the final nail in the coffin came just the day before, when South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier was told by a reporter, jokingly, that Lane Kiffin of Tennessee said he had never gotten an apology from the Old Ball Coach after Spurrier appeared to accuse Kiffin of illegally calling recruits prior to being hired at UT.

According to reports, Spurrier wheeled around and looked at Kiffin, who was waiting for an elevator, and said, “I didn’t accuse you of cheating. What I said was, ‘Was it permissible to call recruits before you were announced head coach and had taken the [recruiting] test?’ Now, you took the test online, and I didn’t even know you could do that. I thought you had to take the test on campus … and then start calling [recruits].”

Kiffin didn’t respond, although witnesses said he was red as a beet. Then the elevator doors opened and Kiffin, Spurrier, Kentucky’s Rich Brooks and Auburn’s Gene Chizik all piled in. As the doors closed, Spurrier again reiterated than he never said that Kiffin cheated.

Now let’s jump back to December. Here are Spurrier’s exact words:

“You’re supposed to have passed the NCAA test and be on board, I think. But maybe he was just calling him as an interested observer. I don’t know. But technically to be able to recruit you’re supposed to pass the NCAA test.

“I know when I was hired, after the press conference I took the test to qualify you to be a recruiter. I hadn’t taken it in three or four years. At that time I could start making calls. I don’t know if he was permitted to make that call or not. You’ll have to ask somebody else.”

Spurrier might not have come right out and screamed “CHEATER” at Kiffin, but I think the inference is pretty plain.

And, isn’t Steve Spurrier the same coach who enjoyed taking shots at other coaches while he was winning all those titles at Florida? Seems like age has thinned the Ole Ball Coach’s skin a bit.

At any rate, Spurrier marked his territory and attempted to reclaim alpha coach status in the SEC by allowing the media to goad him into confronting Kiffin.

The NCAA baseball tournament field was announced Monday, and eight teams from the SEC heard their names called.

Florida, LSU and Ole Miss all received top regional seeds, and will host. Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia and South Carolina earned #2 seeds, while Vanderbilt notched a #3 seed.

LSU earned the #3 seed overall nationally, while Florida is the 8th seed.

The NCAA baseball tournament field is made up of 64 teams. The top seeds are: #1 Texas (41-13-1), #2 Cal State Fullerton (42-14), #3 LSU (46-16), #4 North Carolina (42-16), #5 Arizona St. (44-12), #6 UC Irvine (43-13), #7 Oklahoma (41-18) and #8 Florida (39-20).

Listed below is the list of SEC teams in the tournament, the location of the regional and other teams in that regional:

Alabama (#2 Seed at Clemson Regional)
[#1 Clemson, #3 Oklahoma State, #4 Tennessee Tech]

Arkansas (#2 Seed at Oklahoma Regional)
[#1 Oklahoma, #3 Washington State, #4 Wichita State]

Florida (#1 Seed [No. 8 National Seed] in Gainesville Regional)
[#2 Miami (Fla.), #3 Jacksonville, #4 Bethune-Cookman]

Georgia (#2 Seed at Florida State Regional)
[#1Florida State, #3 Ohio State, #4 Marist]

LSU (#1 Seed [No. 3 National Seed] in Baton Rouge Regional)
[#2 Minnesota, #3 Baylor, #4 Southern University]

Ole Miss (#1 Seed in Oxford Regional)
[#2 Missouri, #3 Western Kentucky, #4 Monmouth]

South Carolina (#2 Seed at East Carolina Regional)
[#1 East Carolina, #3 George Mason, #4 Binghamton]

Vanderbilt (#3 Seed at Louisville Regional)
[#1 Louisville, #2 Middle Tennessee State, #4 Indiana]

Schedule for NCAA Regionals • 5/29-6/1

Friday, May 29
Game 1* No. 2 Seed vs. No. 3 Seed
Game 2* No. 1 Seed vs. No. 4 Seed

Saturday, May 30
Game 3 Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2
Game 4 Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2

Sunday, May 31
Game 5 Winner game 3 vs. Loser Game 4
Game 6 Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5

Monday, June 1
Game 7 Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 6 (If necessary)