SEC basketball ratings for March 11

1. LSU TIGERS

Even Charles Barkley thinks LSU had a bad week. By losing to Vanderbilt and Auburn, two teams unlikely to make the NCAA tournament, the Tigers are hovering around a dreaded 8 seed and could be forced to play a top seed in the second round. Jerry Palm seeds LSU eighth while Joe Lunardi gives the Tigers a 6 seed. Random note: Jerry Palm has LSU playing the Pitt/play-in-game winner in the second round. The play-in game? UT-Chattanooga vs. Alabama State.

2. TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS

Bruce Pearl is the only coach being reasonable about the SEC’s likely representation in the NCAA tournament. While other conference coaches are making wild assumptions (“Five are in easy,” LSU’s Trent Johnson said) Pearl is more realistic. “The Big East is going to get so many teams in, and so is the ACC,” he said. “Many of the bubble teams are from high-major conferences, so I think we could be challenged in our numbers this year. We’re probably at three to five teams.”

3. FLORIDA GATORS

You cannot be on the bubble more than the Gators right now (Jerry Palm lists them as one of the last teams in; ESPN’s Joe Lunardi says they’re one of the last teams out) but they have a great chance to solidify their spot this week. Florida opens with Arkansas, a 2-14 team in the SEC. The Gators would then play Auburn, a team they haven’t lost to since March 2000. If the Gators can’t advance to the semifinals, they have no reason to complain if the NCAA doesn’t send an invitation.

4. SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS

Or maybe you can’t be on the bubble more than the Gamecocks (Jerry Palm lists them as one of the last teams out; ESPN’s Joe Lunardi says they’re one of the last teams in). This is where the bye can work against a team. Instead of padding the record and earning a win in the key “last 12 games” stat the committee uses, South Carolina will face the Mississippi State-Georgia winner. The Gamecocks lost to Mississippi State earlier this year.

5. AUBURN TIGERS

Here’s why the bracket experts refuse even to acknowledge Auburn: According to Jerry Palm of collegerpi.com, the SEC’s nonconference RPI, currently .5391, is the worst by a major conference in his 16 years of tracking the RPI. And the SEC West is the weaker of the two divisions. No 10-win SEC team has ever been left out. We could see two — South Carolina and Auburn — this year.

6. KENTUCKY WILDCATS

Coach Billy Gillispie’s behavior continues to border on bizarre, and you wonder if he even wants to return next season. He snapped at ESPN’s Jeannine Edwards at halftime against Ole Miss, later apologized ... then did it again. He’s absolutely ripped his players in postgame news conferences but said a reporter was attacking the players for simply asking about the lack of a third scoring option. And after Florida beat Kentucky, Gators freshman Ray Shipman said Jodie Meeks told him that Gillispie ordered him to stop shooting. Gillispie denied that during Monday’s teleconference.

7. MISSISSIPPI STATE BULLDOGS

I’ve never seen an SEC tournament like this, when you try to figure out a few favorites and just throw your hands in the air in frustration. Regular-season champ LSU suddenly is playing very poorly. Kentucky, which owns this event, just looks miserable from what I see on TV. You can’t trust Tennessee to string together three consistent performances. So how about ... Mississippi State? The Bulldogs are deep, can score anywhere on the floor and won two impressive games last week. There’s my sleeper.

8. OLE MISS REBELS

Ole Miss as the SEC favorite next year? Most college basketball analysts think the Rebels will at least win the SEC West. “If you just go by returning experience, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Arkansas would be three teams in the West next year you’d at least have to pencil in the top three right now,” ESPN analyst Jimmy Dykes told the Clarion-Ledger of Jackson. According to stat guru Ken Pomeroy’s Web site, kenpom.com, Ole Miss is the youngest team in Division I.

9. VANDERBILT COMMODORES

Kevin Stallings is like me: He thinks the SEC tournament will have fewer fans in Tampa than it has had in Atlanta. “I’d be surprised if it’s as well attended,” Stallings said. “Atlanta is an easier place for the majority of the fan bases to get to. The conference office made the decision to have it in Tampa this year, and I’m sure it will be well done.” The tournament moves to Nashville next year, then Atlanta and New Orleans.

10. ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE

Interim coach Philip Pearson isn’t used to losing in the SEC tournament. Playing under former coach Wimp Sanderson, Pearson won the SEC tournament twice and advanced to the finals a third time before losing to Kentucky in 1992. “We still talk pretty regularly, and I’m very thankful he gave me an opportunity to be part of the basketball program at Alabama,” Pearson said. “He always tells me, ‘I recommend you get good players.’”

11. ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS

Lovin’ Memorial Gym: Arkansas freshman guards Courtney Fortson and Rotnei Clarke both said they enjoyed the unique setup at Vanderbilt’s Memorial Gym. Some players are bothered by the background. “It seemed like you were on stage and everyone was watching you,” Fortson said. “I think it’s the best (visiting) gym we played in all year.” Said Clarke: “It was a cool setting and a cool place to play.”

12. GEORGIA BULLDOGS

Interim coach Pete Herrmann is telling his team to act like defending champions this week in practice leading up to the SEC tournament, won by Georgia last year. “I think you practice and you carry yourselves like you’re the champions, and that doesn’t mean flaunting,” Herrmann said. “They need to be aware how a champion goes about getting ready to compete. Act that way and feel that way, and it should build confidence.”