March 19 SEC men’s basketball rankings

In the Dance

1. TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS

Bruce Pearl said he wasn’t complaining Monday about Tennessee’s inclusion in the same bracket as North Carolina. He was just commenting to take the media through the process of why he put his team through the toughest schedule in the country. “It looks like we’re seeded eighth overall because North Carolina was the 1 seed,” he said. “We need to learn from it and figure out what it was that we did to put ourselves in that position.”

2. VANDERBILT COMMODORES

Good offensive rebounding teams, Kevin Stallings said, are simply going to give Vanderbilt problems. The Commodores ranked ninth among SEC teams in every rebounding category. “That’s a critical thing for us as we enter the tournament,” he said. “We’re not going to be a great rebounding team. It’s just not our composition. Hopefully, we’ll be good enough to be neutral and win games in other ways.”

3. MISSISSIPPI STATE BULLDOGS

Good news, Florida and Ole Miss: Rick Stansbury said the Bulldogs’ NIT semifinal run last season helped them become better players this year. “Any time you can keep playing in postseason, that’s a plus for you,” Stansbury said. “No question making it to New York with the excitement of that and the experience of that makes them better players. It was a great experience for us last year.”

4. ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS

If conference coaches mean what they say on SEC teleconferences, several of them would put Arkansas in the Final Four of their brackets. Bruce Pearl said the Razorbacks “will not see a team more talented on the road to the Final Four.” Kentucky’s Billy Gillispie went even further. “I think that Arkansas is a team that can win six games in a row. I really do,” he said.

5. KENTUCKY WILDCATS

The Wildcats started the season 7-9 and seemingly needed a miracle to make the NIT. Since every game in conference play became so critical, several Wildcats said they can finally play more relaxed in the NCAA tournament. “Yeah, that’s possible,” coach Billy Gillispie said. “They never gave up, so maybe they will be more relaxed. I want them to be more relaxed offensively, but not defensively.”

6. GEORGIA BULLDOGS

Dennis Felton didn’t even know what seed Georgia earned in the NCAA tournament even after watching the selection show. “I can’t see that far,” he said during the postgame news conference. “I could barely read Xavier. What were we seeded?” Told Georgia was a 14 seed, Felton smiled. “Fourteenth? I really couldn’t care less,” he said. “I didn’t care where we played, who we played. We’re just eternally grateful to be in the tournament.”

In the NIT

7. OLE MISS REBELS

Andy Kennedy, whose team plays UC Santa Barbara in the NIT tonight, said getting his team back mentally will be difficult after barely missing the NCAAs. “We were all very disappointed, not only with the way in which we lost the Georgia game but the consequences we knew the game held for us,” he said. “Our kids are pretty resilient. If we hold on to it, we’ll all die a slow death in this business.”

8. FLORIDA GATORS

Georgia over Xavier? That wouldn’t be an upset in Billy Donovan’s bracket. “If Georgia is fortunate enough to win that game, I don’t consider that an upset,” he said. “Talk to college coaches. It’s not always the upset people want to make it out to be. There’s some very good teams in that 10, 11, 12, 13 range that could get in the Sweet 16. A lot of it has to do with matchups and how you finish the season.”

In the offseason

9. SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS

Point guard Devan Downey said he’ll serve as the team’s leader this offseason until South Carolina finds a coach to replace Dave Odom. Rumors in the coaching industry say Oklahoma’s Jeff Capel is a candidate for the job. The fans want Anthony Grant and Gregg Marshall, but Grant is the leading candidate at LSU and Marshall struggled in his first season at Wichita State.

10. LSU TIGERS

Interim coach Butch Pierre is considered a long shot to earn the head coaching position, but he still made his pitch for the job. “I thought I did well, and the kids did extremely well in adapting and being coachable,” he said. “We made progress, and that’s what coaching is all about — to help these young men become model citizens.”

11. ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE

The Tide declined an invitation to the College Basketball Invitational, the 16-team tournament that debuts this week. Host schools are required to pay a $60,000 guarantee. That leaves Alabama out of the postseason for the first time since 2000. As for next year, coach Mark Gottfried said he won’t know “for awhile” whether Richard Hendrix will return for his senior season.

12. AUBURN TIGERS

The Tigers hope to hold real practices next season with scholarship players instead of walk-ons and managers. Korvotney Barber (broken hand), 7-footer Boubacar Sylla (foot) and Josh Dollard (medical condition) will be back. Jeff Lebo signed four players for next season, including two big men, 6-foot-8 Kenny Gabriel and 6-9 Johnnie Lett.>