FAYETTEVILLE — The SEC helped its national profile over the weekend with Arkansas’ 66-64 victory over No. 20 Michigan and Tennessee’s 60-57 upset of No. 13 Connecticut.
Both of the victories came on SEC home floors, but the results might signal an upward movement for the league.
“That can do nothing but help our entire league, help our perception of it,” Vanderbilt Coach Kevin Stallings said.
“Hopefully it got us some exposure in terms of we’ve got some very good teams in our league, that are not necessarily just Kentucky and Florida,” Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said.
“It’s not just top-heavy.”
Arkansas jumped 12 spots in the NCAA’s RPI rankings, to No. 63, while Tennessee moved up 20 positions after the big victories.
The Ratings Percentage Index is a scale used by the NCAA Selection Committee to rank Division I basketball teams by their performance in light of strength of schedule. Low RPI ranking numbers denote strong teams; and high numbers, weaker ones.
Kentucky Coach John Calipari turned a question about his recruitment of Georgia guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope into praise of the SEC’s overall strength.
“This league, I’ve been here three years, and by far this is the best it’s been,” said Calipari, who suggested that league coaches need to start touting its teams and players more.
“I just think, top to bottom, overall, the league is probably as balanced as any,” Ole Miss Coach Andy Kennedy said. “This is my sixth year in the league and I think this is the best it has been.”
Ole Miss moved up 19 spots to No. 34 in the RPI, giving the league six teams in the top 40.
Wildcats up 1
John Calipari’s Kentucky team moved up a spot to No. 1 in both major polls following Syracuse’s upset loss at Notre Dame.
“They’re a team that’s loaded with weapons,” said Mark Fox, whose Georgia team hosts the Wildcats tonight. “John has always done a great job with his team defensively, and with a great shot blocker [Anthony Davis] inside, it’s even better.”
LSU has to travel to Mississippi State on Wednesday before facing Kentucky at the Maravich Assembly Center on Saturday.
“I don’t know if it’s Kentucky or the Miami Heat we’re going up against,” LSU Coach Trent Johnson said.
East vs. West
SEC Tournament seeding will not be determined by divisions this year since there are none, but the imbalance in the East’s favor the last couple of years appears to be balancing out.
Teams from the former Eastern Division lead the head-to-head series by a 6-5 margin this season.
Three West teams have posted road victories: Alabama and Ole Miss at Georgia, and Mississippi State at Vanderbilt, which snapped the Commodores eight-game winning streak.
Former East teams with road victories are Kentucky at Auburn and Vanderbilt at Alabama.
Free-throw woe
Arkansas’ free-throw shooting has fallen off in conference play to 64.8 percent, but the Razorbacks are far from the worst in conference games.
Below the Razorbacks in SEC play: Tennessee (61.3), Ole Miss (60.6) and Auburn (60.2).
Rebels on brink?
Ole Miss is strategically positioned to move up this week, with home games against Florida and South Carolina after the Rebels’ road victory at Georgia on Saturday.
“They’ve got length, they’ve got size, they’ve got athleticism,” Florida Coach Billy Donovan said of the Rebels. “Any time you rebound the basketball like they do, it eliminates second chances.”
The Rebels’ Terrence Henry was named the SEC’s player of the week Monday after averaging 18 points and 6.5 rebounds in victories over Mississippi State and Georgia. Dogs run
Mississippi State hit 9 of 10 three-pointers in the second half to overcome an 11-point halftime deficit and defeat Vanderbilt 78-77 in overtime on Saturday.
The Commodores made 14 of 27 three-pointers, but missed a shot at the end of regulation by Festus Ezeli and John Jenkins’ three point try came out at the end of overtime.
“We came in here and won with them shooting the cover off of it,” Mississippi State Coach Rick Stansbury said. “We didn’t panic.”
An indication of Mississippi State’s deep roster and scoring balance: Seven players have led the Bulldogs in scoring the past nine games.
Roughing it
Kentucky Coach John Calipari joked that Alabama, which lost 77-71 at Rupp Arena on Saturday, had a hip on Wildcats big man Anthony Davis “24/7 until the game ended. As a matter of fact, they put a hip on him in the post-game handshake, too.”
Davis, who ranked fourth in NCAA field-goal shooting at 65.8 percent entering the game, missed his first seven shots and went 2 for 10 against Alabama.
“One of the most physical team’s I’ve played,” Davis said. “I know it’s going to get worse.”
Lineup change
Tennessee Coach Cuonzo Martin inserted freshman Jarnell Stokes in the starting lineup Saturday and got instant dividends with the Vols’ 60-57 victory over Connecticut.
“I felt like it was the right time, that it was the right thing to do because of his presence around the basket,” Martin said.
Stokes, named the SEC’s freshman of the week Monday, had 16 points and 12 rebounds in his third college game against UConn’s front court tandem of Andre Drummond and Alex Oriakhi, who project as NBA talent.
Dodged misses
Arkansas wasn’t the only team that missed free throws that might have secured victories Saturday.
The Hogs’ BJ Young and Julysses Nobles missed the front end of 1-and-1 chances in the final 25 seconds, though Arkansas survived a last-second three-point attempt by Michigan’s Trey Burke in a 66-64 victory.
Mississippi State’s Dee Bost and Arnett Moultrie did the same in the final 16 seconds of overtime in the Bulldogs’ victory at Vanderbilt.
Worth noting
Kentucky had six players score at least 10 points in its 77-71 victory over Alabama, marking the first time the Wildcats accomplished that feat since Feb. 19, 2005.
Vanderbilt shot only nine free throws to Mississippi State’s 21 on Saturday, a rare disparity at the Commodores’ Memorial Gym.
Game of the week
ARKANSAS AT ALABAMA Saturday, 12:30 p.m. Central (SEC Network) The Razorbacks take another shot at breaking their 0-4 road record against a Crimson Tide team that was blown out by Vanderbilt in their last game at Coleman Coliseum.
By the numbers
6 Overtime games in a row lost by Vanderbilt, including Saturday’s 78-77 setback against Mississippi State 47 Games won in a row at Rupp Arena by Kentucky, the nation’s longest home-court winning streak
Quote
“I don’t know if it’s Kentucky or the Miami Heat we’re going up against.” - LSU Coach Trent Johnson on his team’s game Saturday against Kentucky
Sports, Pages 22 on 01/24/2012