🏀 SEC Tourney: Bama drops semi-finals game to UK.

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Alabama gets rematch with A&M to open SEC Tournament

TUSCALOOSA — Fresh off its fifth consecutive loss to end the regular season, Alabama gets a rematch.

Following Saturday’s 68-66 loss to Texas A&M in College Station, Texas, the reeling Crimson Tide have a rare chance at redemption as it opens up Day 2 of the Southeastern Conference tournament with a noon tipoff Thursday against those same Aggies inside the Scottrade Center from St. Louis, Missouri.

“We’re off to St. Louis, and hopefully we’ll play a little bit more consistent basketball because our team has shown in stretches that we can be pretty good,” coach Avery Johnson said Saturday afternoon.

The loss Saturday dropped Alabama (17-14, 8-10 SEC) to the No. 9 seed, while Texas A&M (20-11, 9-9 SEC) moved up to the eighth seed with the win. The Crimson Tide earned a split in the season series with a convincing 79-57 win over the then-No. 5 ranked Aggies in the conference opener on Dec. 30 in Tuscaloosa.

“Man, I just think you have so many teams in our conference that are really good, and there’s a lot of parity, a lot of teams that are evenly matched, but, again, it’s a game of inches,” Johnson said. “(Because of that), I think you’re going to see a lot of tight games in St. Louis, and the teams that can execute in the last four minutes of the game — and in some games probably in overtime — they’re going to be the teams that move on.”

The Alabama-A&M winner will take on top-seeded Auburn (25-6, 13-5 SEC) at noon Friday after the rival Tigers claimed a share of its first SEC regular season championship since 1999 with a 79-70 victory over South Carolina on Saturday.

The Tide’s season has taken a nosedive down the stretch, and its NCAA Tournament future is in doubt after ending the regular season with five consecutive losses. The late-season swoon means Alabama will likely need to win at least one, if not two games, in the SEC Tournament to help it secure an NCAA tournament bid on Selection Sunday.

“Obviously we have to go to the SEC Tournament and try to improve our resume a little bit more, but we scheduled hard in the non-conference for a reason, we went and challenged ourselves,” Johnson said. “So, again, we’re not playing our best basketball (right now), when you look at our body of work, I still believe we’re an NCAA tournament team.”

As the fifth seed last year, the Crimson Tide advanced to the SEC Tournament semifinals after knocking off Mississippi State and South Carolina in the second and third rounds before falling to top-seeded Kentucky in the championship semifinals.

Johnson enters this year’s tournament with a 3-2 record in SEC Tournament games.


By Alex Byington Sports Writer
Alabama gets rematch with A&M to open SEC Tournament
 
Round 1 starts tomorrow night at 6CT with Vandy taking on UGA. Ole Miss and UofSC face each other in the night cap tipping off at 8CT. The only game that might affect Bama is the first one and that's only if either Vandy or UGA make it to the semi's (with Bama winning TH and FR.)

SECN has the coverage.
 
The barn is going to be fired up over not having one player picked on the 1st team All-SEC squad. Pearl wasn't happy:

The First SEC Regular Season Champion to not have a player on the Coaches All SEC FIRST TEAM since it began in 1956 is The 2018 Auburn Tigers! I’m just sayin
— Bruce Pearl (@coachbrucepearl) March 6, 2018
 
TUSKstuff said:
The barn is going to be fired up over not having one player picked on the 1st team All-SEC squad. Pearl wasn't happy:

The First SEC Regular Season Champion to not have a player on the Coaches All SEC FIRST TEAM since it began in 1956 is The 2018 Auburn Tigers! I’m just sayin
— Bruce Pearl (@coachbrucepearl) March 6, 2018
Click to expand...
Phillip Marshall speaks:

I thought Bryce Brown would SEC Player of the Year and Bruce Pearly would be Coach of the Year. I really did. I thought Jared Harper might be first-team and might be second-team. Same for Mustapha Heron. That had Auburn did not have a player on the coaches' All-SEC first team is both flabbergasting and absurd. Rick Barnes certainly did a great job at Tennessee, but for Pearl to overcome all the obstacles in his way and win a championship is one of the great accomplishments in SEC history, not just this season.
Heck, if Pearl took a team with eight scholarship players and not a single one good enough to be first-team All-SEC and won the championship, maybe he ought to be Coach of the Century.
What I don't know is how many coaches actually voted and how many turned it over to their media relations person. Whoever voted and blatantly snubbed the SEC co-champions and No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament ought to be ashamed. Maybe some of those people don't like Pearl. OK.. That's their right. But to take that out on the young men who accomplished so much against such long odds is just sad.
It is reminiscent of 2010 when a Tennessee tennis player won SEC Athlete of the Year instead of Cam Newton. Whatever the reasoning. it makes a mockery of the entire process.
On the positive side for Auburn. it certainly stoke the players' fires even more. They thrived throughout the season on being picked to go 4-14 in the SEC. I expect them to use this the same way.
 
It seems Phillip Marshall can't make up his mind. Are the Barners SEC champs or are they Co-champs? He even contradicts himself in his own piece. Just maybe the coaches voted for the coach that doesn't currently have the FBI setting up a branch office on their campus!!!! Looking at you Barners!!!!
 
12gage said:
What I don't know is how many coaches actually voted and how many turned it over to their media relations person. Whoever voted and blatantly snubbed the SEC co-champions and No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament ought to be ashamed. Maybe some of those people don't like Pearl. OK.. That's their right. But to take that out on the young men who accomplished so much against such long odds is just sad.

It is reminiscent of 2010 when a Tennessee tennis player won SEC Athlete of the Year instead of Cam Newton. Whatever the reasoning. it makes a mockery of the entire process.
Click to expand...
He's literally answering his own question. It's no secret why the coaches didn't vote for Cam.

To go along with Phillip's theme here...

What I don't know? How some are clueless as to why there is no respect for Pearl.
  • He's a student aid when Boston College had their point shaving scandal,
  • The recording of phone calls when he was pointing fingers at UW-Milwaukee,
  • Lying to the NCAA when he was at Tennessee,
  • And now the FBI at Auburn...
 
TerryP said:
He's literally answering his own question. It's no secret why the coaches didn't vote for Cam.

To go along with Phillip's theme here...

What I don't know? How some are clueless as to why there is no respect for Pearl.
  • He's a student aid when Boston College had their point shaving scandal,
  • The recording of phone calls when he was pointing fingers at UW-Milwaukee,
  • Lying to the NCAA when he was at Tennessee,
  • And now the FBI at Auburn...
Click to expand...

The crazy thing is that he is truly a great basketball coach but he can't seem to do it right. He is always in the middle of scandal.
 

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