Auburn is a half-point favorite in tonight’s SEC Tournament game against Arkansas, which seems about right considering the Tigers won 72-59 in their one meeting.
That was played at Auburn, and of course, this one is on a neutral site, so the winner will help itself with the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee.
A few years ago as a participant in a mock selection at NCAA headquarters it was learned that road or neutral court wins are factors in deciding who makes the field.
As is head-to-head competition, but there are several factors the committee considers.
There are 32 automatic invites that go to conference or regular-season champions, leaving the committee with the 36 spots to fill, which generally are dominated by the Power 5 programs.
A team could go undefeated in the Sun Belt, and still the only way to make it to March Madness is win its conference tournament.
Don’t worry, it is going to get worse for mid-majors before it ever gets better. Name, Image and Likeness is the worst thing that could have happened to the majority of college football and basketball programs.
Anyway, it doesn’t appear a loss by either Auburn or Arkansas would knock them out of the NCAA Tournament without a lot of other things happening, like teams who are expected to lose find a way to win.
Arkansas appears to be a bit more physical, but Auburn tries to control the tempo.
The Razorbacks are at their best when they are attacking the rim and finishing, getting turnovers, scoring off them and getting transition points.
The Tigers closed the regular season by beating Tennessee at home. They were 1-2 in their final three games, and Arkansas was 0-3. They played the same three teams down the stretch, including Alabama and Kentucky.
Auburn favored by a little seems about right.
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Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy became household names after the release of the movie, “The Blindside.”
They were the couple who took Michael Oher off the streets of Memphis, put him in their home, got him in a private school and academically eligible to play college football.
Oher went to Ole Miss and became an All-American then spent eight seasons in the NFL.
What the Tuohys did for Oher — whose father died in prison — is like a fairytale come true. Oher went to 11 schools his first nine school years and he repeated the first and second grade.
The movie doesn’t downplay the fact that Sean and Leigh Anne are graduates of Ole Miss and love the school, but it did portray a sense of allowing Oher to make the decision about which college he would attend and the offers from all of the major players.
Sean was played by Tim McGraw and Leigh Anne by Sandra Bullock, who won an Academy Award for her role.
The Tuohys met at Ole Miss where he was an All-SEC basketball player and she was a cheerleader. They have three children, Sean Jr., who was on Chad Morris’ staff at the University of Arkansas, daughter Collins and Oher, who they adopted when he was 17.
Sean was the radio analyst for Ole Miss basketball for seven years and took no pay. Since 2001 he has had the same job for the Memphis Grizzlies but has remained heavily involved with his alma mater.
The guess here is with his knowledge of the game, his intelligence and experience he will have some input into the hiring of a new basketball coach. Reportedly he and Athletic Director Keith Carter (Perryville) are close friends.
One thing is very obvious: Neither would do anything to hurt Ole Miss, so you can bet a lot of vetting and background checks will be done before a new basketball coach is hired.