SEC basketball ratings for Feb. 25

1. LSU TIGERS

The NCAA bracket prognosticators are treating LSU like a mid-major team. The Tigers, despite a 23-4 record, are slotted for the No. 8 seed by most of the bracketologists. Jerry Palm of collegerpi.com predicts LSU will play Arizona in an 8-9 game with the winner likely facing Pittsburgh. Here’s the problem: LSU is 0-2 against the RPI top 25 and 9-0 against teams ranked 201st or worse. The Tigers’ strength of schedule is 111th.

2. FLORIDA GATORS

Interesting note by Kevin Brockway of The Gainesville Sun: Billy Donovan, despite all of his success at Florida, is just 48-55 in games decided by five points or less. Only Norm Sloan is worse among Florida coaches since 1960 (not counting Don DeVoe, who was 1-2 in close games). Donovan didn’t call timeouts in close losses to South Carolina and Georgia, saying he prefers to take advantage of mismatches down the floor. The Gators are struggling at the free-throw line this year, shooting 69.5 percent.

3. KENTUCKY WILDCATS

Jodie Meeks is averaging 25.4 points per game, more than any SEC player this late in the season since Shaquille O’Neal averaged 27.6 in 1990-91. C.M. Newton, speaking to the Lexington Herald-Leader, said Meeks is having one of the greatest seasons he’s seen from an SEC player but wouldn’t compare the Kentucky star to Pete Maravich. “The thing Pete did so well was he made everybody else so much better,” Newton said. “He distributed the ball so well. He always had the ball and still averaged 44 a game before the 3-point line. That’s a little bit in a league by itself.”

4. TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS

I think the Vols are still headed for the NCAA tournament, partly thanks to a weak showing this year from the mid-major schools. Jerry Palm writes that five leagues could put six or more teams in the field, which has never happened. Three leagues might put seven teams in the Big Dance, which, again, has never happened. Palm currently projects a battle of the UTs in the first round: Sixth-seeded Texas vs. 11th-seeded Tennessee from Miami.

5. SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS

We haven’t seen a basketball game in Columbia of this magnitude in a long time: Kentucky vs. South Carolina tonight, two bubble teams and a rematch of a classic earlier this season in Rupp Arena. “We’re just going to come out and play; there’s really no pressure,” Gamecocks guard Devan Downey said. “Regardless of what anybody’s going to say, we’re probably still going to be the underdog against Kentucky. Everybody feels like we stole one in Rupp.”

6. OLE MISS REBELS

If you watched Tennessee’s loss to Ole Miss last week, you probably saw guard David Huertas and coach Andy Kennedy exchange words during a timeout and wondered what they were saying. Kennedy also wonders. When Huertas, a Puerto Rico native, begins to lose his temper, he often speaks in Spanish. “Sometimes I don’t even really know what I’m saying,” Huertas told Jackson’s Clarion-Ledger. “Let’s just hope Coach doesn’t decide to learn Spanish any time soon.”

7. MISSISSIPPI STATE BULLDOGS

There doesn’t seem to be much animosity between Mississippi State’s coaches and Scotty Hopson, the longtime MSU commitment who changed his mind late and signed with Tennessee. MSU coach Rick Stansbury said he didn’t have any hard feelings toward Hopson. And Hopson said this to the Clarion-Ledger: “I respect Mississippi State for everything they’ve done for me — recruiting me, giving me the opportunity to come play there. But at the same time, at the end of the day, it’s just my chance for success was better by coming to Tennessee.”

8. AUBURN TIGERS

The construction of Auburn’s new basketball arena is progressing ahead of schedule, and some of the work is coming in under budget. The $90 million arena won’t be ready for occupancy until the summer of 2010. Randy Byars, Auburn’s director of athletics facility planning, said tentative discussions call for Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum to be torn down, probably in five years after the new arena and a student recreation center are built.

9. VANDERBILT COMMODORES

The Commodores are really having trouble from the 3-point line this season — they rank ninth in the league at 33.3 percent — but they’re still one of three NCAA Division I men’s teams to have made at least one 3-pointer in every game since the shot was established in 1986. That’s 724 straight games for the Commodores. UNLV and Princeton are the other two schools.

10. ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE

Let’s talk SEC freshman of the year. The conversation needs to include Alabama’s JaMychal Green, who is averaging 10.2 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. “I think so,” interim coach Philip Pearson said when asked if Green should be considered for the award. “He’s learning every game, getting better and better.” Courtney Fortson of Arkansas (14.6 points per game, tops among freshmen), Georgia’s Trey Thompkins, Vandy’s Jeffery Taylor and Ole Miss’s Terrico White are other candidates.

11. ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS

Now this is impressive: Coach John Pelphrey, battling bronchitis and barely able to speak, still got a technical foul last week against LSU. Pelphrey has 11 technicals in 60 games at Arkansas. “I’ve been around him a long time, and this may be as sick as I’ve seen him,” assistant Tom Ostrom said. “Every time he tried to scream, he’d cough for 15 seconds. Even in the in locker room in the postgame, he tried to talk to the team in a calm voice and he ended up having a 15-second coughing spell.”

12. GEORGIA BULLDOGS

The Bulldogs’ offensive explosion and shocking win over Florida seems more and more bizarre. Georgia is, by far, last in the SEC in scoring with 64.7 points per game. The Bulldogs are shooting only 41.2 percent from the field (Kentucky shoots 49 percent). They’re 10th in free-throw shooting percentage and eighth in 3-point percentage. But for one glorious day in Athens, Florida absolutely could not stop Georgia.