The SEC tournament is set. I thought this would be a place to discuss teams and games besides the Kentucky thread(s). Below is the bracket for the tournament that runs from Wednesday, March 11 through Sunday, March 15.

Wednesday, March 11

No. 16 LSU vs. No. 9 Kentucky (12:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network)

No. 13 Mississippi State vs. No. 12 Auburn (3 p.m. ET, SEC Network)

No. 15 Ole Miss vs. No. 10 Texas (7 p.m. ET, SEC Network)

No. 14 South Carolina vs. No. 11 Oklahoma (9:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network)

Thursday, March 12

No. 8 Missouri vs. Kentucky/LSU winner (12:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network)

No. 5 Tennessee vs. Auburn/Mississippi State winner (3 p.m. ET, SEC Network)

No. 7 Georgia vs. Texas/Ole Miss winner (7 p.m. ET, SEC Network)

No. 6 Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma/South Carolina winner (9:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network)

Friday, March 13

No. 1 Florida vs. Missouri vs. Kentucky/LSU winner (1 p.m. ET, ESPN)

No. 4 Vanderbilt vs. Tennessee vs. Auburn/Mississippi State winner (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)

No. 2 Alabama vs. Georgia vs. Texas/Ole Miss winner (7 p.m. ET, SEC Network)

No. 3 Arkansas vs. Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma/South Carolina winner (9:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network)

Saturday, March 14

Semifinal No. 1 (1 p.m. ET, ESPN)

Semifinal No. 2 (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)

Sunday, March 15

Championship Game (1 p.m. ET, ESPN)

I think the finals will be chalk on Sunday will be Florida vs. Alabama. That probably guarantees it won't be but everyone has opinions and feel free to share your thoughts here. This is best time of the year for about the next month.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So far the Mark Pope experience has given us a 6 seed and a 9 seed in the SEC tournament. The only saving grace for Pope so far is he made it past the first weekend in the NCAA tournament last year. This simply put has not been a fun experience with coach Pope and there is nothing that he has done as a coach in his career to show he can get UK fixed to be what is expected here. 

As for this tournament I think Florida easily comes out from the top of the bracket.  The bottom is a little tougher to know. Bama would be the favorite from the bottom, but Arkansas has the best player in the SEC and we know Calipari’s team do well when he has a stud pg. A dark horse from the bottom of the bracket is Texas A&M imo. 

1 hour ago, futurecoach said:

So far the Mark Pope experience has given us a 6 seed and a 9 seed in the SEC tournament. The only saving grace for Pope so far is he made it past the first weekend in the NCAA tournament last year. This simply put has not been a fun experience with coach Pope and there is nothing that he has done as a coach in his career to show he can get UK fixed to be what is expected here. 

Two years into the Pope era, player selection and roster construction has been the problem both years. On the coaching side, I think he is good enough to coach a title contender, but I have doubts. His offense has too much dribble and not enough movement and sharing. Is that the players or is that the offense? Is that the coach not being able to impose what he wants on his players? But the real problem these first two years is - can he get the players? That is his challenge that he must fix this off season.

On the coaching side, Pope is more like Tubby than Pitino IMO. Although I think Tubby is a better coach than Pope from what I have seen so far. Tubby was a very, very good in game coach. When his teams got to the last ten minutes of the game, he knew exactly how to coach the team that day to win that game. I also always felt like when Tubby got to the first week of February, he knew his players, had his rotation and had his team set for the tournament runs. 

2 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

Two years into the Pope era, player selection and roster construction has been the problem both years. On the coaching side, I think he is good enough to coach a title contender, but I have doubts. His offense has too much dribble and not enough movement and sharing. Is that the players or is that the offense? Is that the coach not being able to impose what he wants on his players? But the real problem these first two years is - can he get the players? That is his challenge that he must fix this off season.

On the coaching side, Pope is more like Tubby than Pitino IMO. Although I think Tubby is a better coach than Pope from what I have seen so far. Tubby was a very, very good in game coach. When his teams got to the last ten minutes of the game, he knew exactly how to coach the team that day to win that game. I also always felt like when Tubby got to the first week of February, he knew his players, had his rotation and had his team set for the tournament runs. 

Agree with everything you said. Which with Mitch retiring, you know Pope definitely gets a year 3. So hopefully he can improve in those areas and put together a good roster. As I want to see him be successful, I’m just not sure that he is the guy. He has to get it done next year, or else whoever the new AD will for sure make a change to get his own guy in. 

26 minutes ago, futurecoach said:

Agree with everything you said. Which with Mitch retiring, you know Pope definitely gets a year 3. So hopefully he can improve in those areas and put together a good roster. As I want to see him be successful, I’m just not sure that he is the guy. He has to get it done next year, or else whoever the new AD will for sure make a change to get his own guy in. 

Not disagreeing as I think Pope will return, but why does a new AD guarantee Pope another season? Granted, this isn't the NBA, but new GMs have no allegiance to head coaches selected before their hiring and are often seen as a means of dismissal. The new age of college athletics does not allow for as long leashes as in the past. As evidenced by the multiple mid-season changes we saw in college football last season.

3 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

Two years into the Pope era, player selection and roster construction has been the problem both years. On the coaching side, I think he is good enough to coach a title contender, but I have doubts. His offense has too much dribble and not enough movement and sharing. Is that the players or is that the offense? Is that the coach not being able to impose what he wants on his players? But the real problem these first two years is - can he get the players? That is his challenge that he must fix this off season.

On the coaching side, Pope is more like Tubby than Pitino IMO. Although I think Tubby is a better coach than Pope from what I have seen so far. Tubby was a very, very good in game coach. When his teams got to the last ten minutes of the game, he knew exactly how to coach the team that day to win that game. I also always felt like when Tubby got to the first week of February, he knew his players, had his rotation and had his team set for the tournament runs. 

Good enough to coach a title contender (with doubt, I know)? What evidence do we have to support this? His semi-final CBI finish 10 years ago?

RE: the SEC Tournament. 

I still contend there are no scary teams. Florida is the closest thing to a juggernaut, but they are not on the level of last year's team.

56 minutes ago, bugatti said:

Not disagreeing as I think Pope will return, but why does a new AD guarantee Pope another season? Granted, this isn't the NBA, but new GMs have no allegiance to head coaches selected before their hiring and are often seen as a means of dismissal. The new age of college athletics does not allow for as long leashes as in the past. As evidenced by the multiple mid-season changes we saw in college football last season.

Well since Mitch isn’t retiring as AD until June 30th. I don’t see a new AD making a coaching change so late. If a change were to happen, it would be Mitch letting Pope go sometime this month and hiring a new coach before he retires. Which doubt most coaches would want to come here, knowing the guy hiring them is gone in two months. So yeah I think with the AD change, Pope is even more safe for a third year. 

3 hours ago, futurecoach said:

Well since Mitch isn’t retiring as AD until June 30th. I don’t see a new AD making a coaching change so late. If a change were to happen, it would be Mitch letting Pope go sometime this month and hiring a new coach before he retires. Which doubt most coaches would want to come here, knowing the guy hiring them is gone in two months. So yeah I think with the AD change, Pope is even more safe for a third year. 

Fair.

4 hours ago, bugatti said:

Good enough to coach a title contender (with doubt, I know)? What evidence do we have to support this? His semi-final CBI finish 10 years ago?

Just personal opinion. Nothing on the resume to support my opinion. 

I will say getting to 20 wins (hopefully) and a 6 seed with this group is pretty good coaching.

37 minutes ago, Voice of Reason said:

Just personal opinion. Nothing on the resume to support my opinion. 

I will say getting to 20 wins (hopefully) and a 6 seed with this group is pretty good coaching.

20 wins should happen. I’ll be very disappointed if they lose to LSU. The miracle win was on the road, surely they can do this at neutral. 
 

A six seed, I’m somewhat pessimistic. Bracketmatrix has them on the cusp, average seed of the highest 7. I just feel they’ll need to at least reach that Florida game to have a shot. I realistically see them as a 7. Just don’t drop to an 8 or 9….

In today's SEC Semifinals in the first game Vandy defeated Florida by 17 at 91-74 to make the finals tomorrow afternoon. In the 2nd semis Arkansas is leading surprising Ole Miss 35-28 late in the first half.