NCAA tournament time best time in basketball, best event in sports (Hicks)Published: Monday, March 07, 2011, 7:46 AM By Tommy Hicks, Press-Register This is the best time of the year in college basketball: tournament time.Most teams have established themselves by now -- in one direction or the other. Then along comes the league tournament and everything starts anew. Winning teams are expected to continue that trend, and losing teams have one last shot, one more chance to earn a spot in the NCAA tournament.The NCAA tournament is the best event in sports, and league tournaments are pretty good table-setters. One need look only at the state's SEC teams to judge the importance of the league tournament and the twists and turns that can take place.Auburn, with only a few wins but multiple personalities, opens the tournament with nothing to lose, a two-game winning streak and a reputation as the lower-seeded team no one wants to play.Alabama is coming off a win over Georgia after a 27-point loss at Florida. The Crimson Tide won the Western Division and contended for the overall SEC crown, but it isn't listed on Joe Lunardi's or Jerry Palm's bracketology lists (as of Sunday afternoon) as a NCAA tournament participant.Auburn plays Georgia in the SEC tournament's first game Thursday. The Tigers lost to the Dawgs in Athens in overtime in early February, but that was before Auburn overcame a 20-point deficit against Ole Miss and a 15-point deficit at LSU in its final two regular-season game.The Tigers go into the SEC tournament without any pressure. According to Lunardi and Palm, Georgia will receive an NCAA at-large berth. A loss to Auburn might change that. Based on talent, Auburn shouldn't win against most teams in the league. But it's also a team that at times is opportunistic, and if an opponent lets the Tigers hang around late in a game, it could lead to an Auburn win.Alabama is receiving respect across the league for the way it has played of late -- with the exception of its trip to Gainesville -- yet it doesn't have the respect of pollsters or bracketologists. The Tide is not ranked by The Associated Press or coaches.Winning 15 of its past 19 games is perhaps overshadowed by the huge loss at Florida, a win that would have set up Alabama for the SEC overall title. Instead, it seemed to define the difference in the league's Western and Eastern divisions and its divisional winners.Alabama is a good news-bad news team. It's the only team in the SEC holding opponents to fewer than 60 points a game, but it scores just 67 an outing, which ranks 10th in the league. Opponents are shooting less than 38 percent from the field against the Tide, but Alabama is the worst 3-point shooting team in the league. Collecting almost 10 steals a game, tops in the SEC, is offset by the fact only Auburn and LSU have committed more turnovers that the Tide this season.Lunardi and Palm agree the SEC will receive five invitations to the NCAA tournament, each filled by an Eastern team. Alabama wants to alter that thinking. Some have suggested the Tide needs one win in the SEC tournament to earn a berth.Standing in its way of achieving that on Friday could be Georgia, a team Alabama just beat by eight, or Auburn, a team with a chance to spoil things for its biggest rival and move on to the tournament semifinals, in itself an improbable (maybe impossible) run.
http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/03/tournament_time_the_best_time.htmlBeating UGAy would be huge. In our last meeting with them we took them to overtime, but then got our asses blown out in the extra period. Hopefully, the way we've played these last two games could be the difference in finishing strong. Winner of that game gets a rematch against Alabama. It would be so sweet to wreck their dreams. The winner of that round will likely face Kentucky, and unless we just become blazing hot, we'll probably get our asses handed to us at that point. But that's two underdog wishful thinkings away.
Wishful 'thinkings' and prayers; I'm hoping Klaus and the guys can make both of those wins against UGA and teh Bammers at least. (I'm scared to look at the scores right now...)
Auburn down by 11 at the half...
We got'em right where we want'em.
Only 11? Shiznit, Chubb could be the only player on the floor for the second half and we could come back...
I don't think we are coming back from this one, boys...
You lollygag the ball around the infield. You lollygag your way down to first. You lollygag in and out of the dugout.
You know what that makes ya?
I hate to say I told you so, but...
Mutherfucker! If we would've only had another three halves.
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