In about six weeks, Tennessee and UCLA will kick off their seasons on Labor Day night in the Rose Bowl. An outsider might think that biggest question for Tennessee going into opening weekend is "how will punter Britton Colquitt's suspension affect the game?" or "what will Jon Crompton look like as UT's new starting QB?" But no, neither of those things matter. The important question is: "Will Tennessee wear orange pants?" After all, it is mid-July, and these things matter now, dammit!
Tennessee (and Alabama) blog 3rd Saturday in Blogtober has found some evidence that UT might in fact be wearing a slightly new uniform, including orange pants, if not against UCLA, then at least in the near future. Visual: Those orange pants can be hideous or glorious, depending on whether you're outside or inside the parallelogram. The picture is supposedly one sent from adidas to EA Sports to help with the making of NCAA 09. If Tennessee actually wears the pants, it will somewhat of a big deal, as white tops and orange bottoms were a staple of the Johnny Majors era, but dropped by Phillip Fulmer in favor of white-on-white as he put his own stamp on the UT program in the early 90s.
This year, I know there has been a lot of talk this summer about play calling. Let me just get that straight. I will be responsible for the play calling. Steve Jr. has been coaching with me going into 11 years now and together we will get the play calling done. The plan right now is for him to sort of put it all together and we'll get it in there. I will oversee all the play calling. I'm still the offensive coordinator.
Much better. So to recap: Steve Spurrier, Jr. (the Young Ball Coach?) will put the offensive gameplan together--some would even say coordinate the game plan--and together with his dad will get the plays called; although Spurrier Sr., as offensive coordinator, will be responsible for calling plays. Nothing beats clearly defined roles. But hey, this is Steve Spurrier we're talking about, so no matter what the official plan is, the result will be somewhere between pretty darn good and wrath-of-god domination.
More succinctly, Spurrier has shrugged off the rumors that he's frustrated in Columbia, saying he knows building a champion at South Carolina will take some time and that he's in for the long haul. For fans of other SEC schools, that means several more years of worrying that this is the season the OBC gets it all put together.
In the grand tradition of inventing new traditions, the annual LSU/Ole Miss game will henceforth be known as the "Magnolia Bowl," according to theDMonline.com:
The long-standing rivalry between the University of Mississippi and Louisiana State University is now named the Magnolia Bowl and will be represented by a big, golden trophy in the shape of a magnolia, Interim ASB President Elizabeth Yerger said. "The trophy should be ready by the Nov. 22nd game between Ole Miss and LSU," Yerger said. "We want to get t-shirts, stickers, cups and water bottles for the event."
Personally, I can't wait for that Magnolia Bowl water bottle. I'm a little confused as to why Ole Miss would want a trophy game with LSU, considering the Rebs have lost seven of the last eight games and about 60% of all games against LSU. From the Tigers' standpoint, it's just another piece of hardware they'll rarely have to give up, kind of like the "Tiger Rag" they (occasionally) share with Tulane.
The Magnolia Bowl will now be added to the illustrious list of trophy games invented this decade, alongside the Shula Bowl (between tradition-rich Floridas Atlantic and International), the Battle for the Milk Can (Fresno St./Boise St.), and my favorite, The Battle for the Bones between UAB and Memphis, where the winner gets "The Bones." I'm not sure what that means, but I'm hoping it's where the winner gets the eviscerated skeletal remains of the loser; though since it involves Memphis it could just be a plate of leftovers from the Rendezvous. Either way, it beats a big gold flower, no?
The fact that Georgia is getting lots of love this offseason as a potential BCS contender doesn't impress coach Mark Richt, who was quoted recently saying preseason rankings "[don't] mean jack, because if you lose your first SEC game, preseason doesn't mean nothing anymore." Of course, I'm sure Richt doesn't mind any extra national attention from the media and potential recruits that a top-five ranking brings--although it does hurt the "us against the world" mentality that coaches like to cultivate. It's also much easier to position yourself for a BCS championship starting the year at number five than, say, number 15.
But Richt's right; preseason rankings are pretty much meaningless. And if you need proof browse though the stats at Stassen.com (they keep up with these things). There's goodies like the preseason consensus (of which UGA is currently a member, and though it's early, I'd expect them to stay put).
Even more interesting is the comparison of preseason and final polls. In the last 10 years exactly half of the teams that started as a consensus top-five didn't end the season there. And the fall can be dramatic: 12 teams since 1999 have had double-digit drops from the preseason top 5 to the year's final AP poll, and six of those fell out of the top 25 altogether. Unfortunately, this is a topic I know a little about, as my beloved Tennessee has the distinction of having fallen from preseason top five to unranked twice--in 2002 and 2005--a feat no other team has managed. Yay.
As Chas Rich pointed out earlier, The Tampa Trap was indeed a record-setting string of games. But the least surprising of the four contests that saw lower (much lower) seeded teams advancing was Siena's win over Vanderbilt. Now, it's easy to say in hindsight, but if you had a bracket that included Vandy advancing in the tournament, you must not have been looking at the Commodores' body of work this season.
Vanderbilt was unbeatable at home -- litteraly. The Commies ran through their home schedule unscathed, including their much-heralded win over then number-one Tennessee. But away from Memorial Gym was another story for the 'Dores as they were a pedestrian 7-7 (now 7-8) away from the TheatreDome they call a home court; apparently they feel handicapped when the benches aren't somewhere in the side orchestra section.
Had Vanderbilt beaten Siena, the Saints would have been the highest-ranked team Vandy beat away from home, according to RPI. Naturally there are ways other than RPI to judge a team, but the Commodores hadn't beaten anyone of note RPI-wise away from home all year.
If the tournament was held at Memorial Gym, Vandy would cruise to the championship. But for whatever reason, they just couldn't do anything away form their own floor. Looking back is easy, but it's clear: if you didn't have Vanderbilt losing, you hadn't been paying attention.
Conference: Ohio Valley Record: 24-10 (16-4) RPI: 84 How They Got In: Automatic Seed/Bracket: #15/South
Mascot: Austin Peay is known as the Governors, as the school was named for local Clarksville (TN) favorite son Austin Peay, former Governor of the Volunteer State. While the mascot does allow you dust off you cockney accent and count how many times you can say "'Ello, Gov'nah!" before someone punches you square in the face, the school is also widely known for its cheer of "Let's Go Peay!," which is much more fun to say than read.
Big Wins: The Govs have two wins over a tournament qualifying school; unfortunately both came over fellow automatic qualifier Belmont (Atlantic Sun). Peay has no other wins against teams in the RPI top 100. Player You Should Know: Senior Todd Babington was named OVC tournament MVP after nailing six threes in the championship game against Tennessee State. Since upsets are often built on hot three-point shooting, Babington will need a similar effort in the Governors' first round game, along with help from Peay's other two senior stars, Derek Wright (12 ppg, 41% 3-pt) and Fernandez Lockett (11 ppg, 7 rpg).
Outlook: As mentioned above, the Govs beat another team in the tournament, but not of the quality they'll see in the first round. The two best teams Peay played this year, Memphis and Vanderbilt, each handled the Govs easily. As a projected #15 or 16 seed, Austin Peay will need a magical night, and perhaps a bout of food poisoning for the favorite, to advance past round one of the tournament.
Conference: SEC Record: 16-16, 8-12 in conference (4-12 regular season) RPI: 108 How They Got In: Automatic bid from SEC Seed/Bracket: #14/West
Mascot: Bulldogs. One of the most widely-used mascots in all of sport, Georgia overcomes the commonplace by reffering to themselves as Dawgs instead of just "dogs" and by trotting out the overfed, overbred, overcute solid white English Bulldog Uga (who also holds the distinction of being the only live mascot to attend the Final Four).
Big Wins: Georgia has six wins against teams in the RPI top 100, and four of those came in their improbable SEC tournament championship run. However, UGA did not beat SEC regular-season champion Tennessee. Just sayin'.
Notable Losses: Losing to South Carolina and LSU are bad conference losses, but can be easily dismissed by pointing at the banner Georgia just won as SEC champions. it's not as easy to wave off losses to East Tennessee State and Tulane.
Players You Should Know: Guard Sundiata Gaines is the team's star player, but fellow senior center Dave Bliss is the glue that held the Dawgs together in the SEC tourney. Bliss hit a game-winning three in the first round game against Ole Miss, and had the presence to finish against Mississippi State despite playing most of the second half with four fouls. The leadership of Gaines and Bliss will be key to any more wins for UGA.
Outlook: On Saturday, Georgia became the first team in modern basketball to play and win two games in one day. They became the first six seed to advance to the SEC championship since divisional play began in 1992. They won as many games in four days as they did in two months. Continuing this kind of momentum is highly unl;ikely, but getting this far was highly unlikely, too. If you want to say they can't win in the NCAA tournament, go ahead, but I'm not going to say it.
With two games remaining in the regular season, Florida's nine-year streak of NCAA tournament appearances is in serious trouble. The SEC, on virtue of being the SEC, will probably get at least five teams in the field, and Tennessee, Vanderbilt, and Mississippi State are the virtual locks. Conventional wisdom says that the other spots are going to come from a group made up of Mississippi, Arkansas, Kentucky, and the Gators.
Ole Miss helped themselves greatly Tuesday night by riding 54% second-half shooting to a 81-72 win over Arkansas. The Rebels and Hogs don't play any more interesting competition until the tourney starts in Atlanta next week -- they've got Georgia and Auburn (respectively) on Saturday. Meanwhile in the East, Florida and Kentucky play what may come down to an elimination game on Saturday.
But before then, Florida gets a shot at what would be a major resume-building win against the conference's highest-ranked RPI team, Tennessee. Even though the Gators are relatively inexperienced, freshman Adam Allen knows what this game means:
"We all know what's at stake. We know we've got to win some games to get in the tournament," he said. "Nobody wants to go to the NIT. It's like the champion of the losers if you win that. Everybody wants to play in the NCAA Tournament. ... Any year not in the NCAA Tournament is a bad year for Florida."
Tennessee has a lot at stake, too: they can win the SEC Championship outright, leaving just Ole Miss and Georgia as the only schools not to win a SEC title since the conference went to divisional play in 1992. But to do it tonight in front of a hostile crowd, the Vols will have their hands full. They've got to hope Wayne Chism can keep Marreese Speights in check, that Nick Calathes doesn't show the wizardry he's flashed at times this year, and that the physical play of Dan Werner doesn't get UT flustered as it almost did the first time these two met.
Florida's season wouldn't officially end with a loss tonight, but it would receive an incredible boost with a win. In the end though, I'll agree with The BruceBall Blog's prediction of an up-and-down game that eventually favors the Vols.
Of course, "ridin' dirty" has a looser definition in Alabama, where it can encompass having the audacity to put an Auburn license plate on the front of your cruiser while patrolling the Alabama campus, as seen here:
That picture comes from the blog Alabama Gameday, who also links to a thread on the TideSports fourm where a member says he emailed the Tuscaloosa chief of police and "addressed the issue of credibility (and the growing lack thereof), and asked that he check into it and have it removed if possible." The poster says the chief responded by having the tag removed from the unit.
Now, this all might seem kind of petty until you understand the growing unease of an Alabama fan base that has seen more players arrested (8) than wins (7) in the year since Nick Saban took over the program. Tuscaloosa seems to be one of the college towns where arresting a student-athlete is a trophy of sorts for the local po-po; a statement that anybody is fair game, but especially those who make headlines. That may or may not be a fair assessment, but it's a growing concern in places where high-profile students seem to get in more trouble than the average student.
Consider, however: if the Auburn-fan cop with the Tiger plate on his cruiser wasn't targeting Bama players before, he sure could be now that he's been singled out himself.
Remember back when Billy Gillispie was the most hated man in the state of Kentucky? I know, it's hard to go back that far... like a little over a month ago. But to listen to Wildcat fans now, it might as well be a lifetime past.
The axis of G-love is perhaps best epitomized in a Rupp Rafters thread about Gillispie's appearance at a fundraiser for UK's Children's Hospital (video here) at which the coach teared up at least four times talking about how much the children mean to him. Admittedly, it's sweet in its way, and at the end Gillispie announces a $10,000 gift for the hospital. But the beauty of it all for an outsider is in the message board thread:
I thank you coach for bringing joy back into my heart and for making UK Basketball fun to watch again. Have you guys ever heard of a coach here having so much heart. If there are fans on here that still does not like Coach G they must be sick in the head.
Yes, thanks Coach G for saving UK basketball, just weeks after ruining it for everyone. Memories of that San Diego loss melt quickly, yes? At the time of this posting, that thread has nearly 800 views and 25 replies, and not one of them come close to anything but outright praise for Gillispie. He's called "the real deal," "a great coach," and "a Wildcat legend." Billy Clyde's even got one fan so in love with him, the fan is questioning his own sexuality (not that there's anything wrong with that, natch).
Seriously, does nobody remember how much they reviled this guy just a few weeks ago?
I'm sorry, was that headline needlessly confusing? Let's see if the 
In the grand tradition of inventing new traditions, the annual LSU/Ole Miss game will henceforth be known as the "Magnolia Bowl," according to 
The fact that Georgia is getting lots of love this offseason as a potential BCS contender doesn't impress coach 
As Chas Rich pointed out earlier, 
Conference: Ohio Valley
Conference: SEC
With two games remaining in the regular season, Florida's nine-year streak of NCAA tournament appearances is in serious trouble. The SEC, on virtue of being the SEC, will probably get at least five teams in the field, and Tennessee, Vanderbilt, and Mississippi State are the virtual locks. Conventional wisdom says that the other spots are going to come from a group made up of Mississippi, Arkansas, Kentucky, and the Gators. 
Remember back when 
