Extent of disrespect stuns SEC coaches

They knew. They all knew, from Auburn, Ala., to Gainesville, Fla., to Columbia, S.C. Three SEC basketball coaches watched the NCAA tournament selection show, and before CBS even unveiled the final region to anxious bubble teams, Jeff Lebo, Billy Donovan and Darrin Horn mentally surrendered to the NIT.

LSU, the league champion with a 13-3 conference mark, received an 8 seed, same as a BYU team with a similar record. Tennessee, which played one of the toughest schedules in the country and finished with an RPI of 25, got a 9 seed. Boston College, ranked 60th in the RPI, got a 7 seed.

And Mississippi State, SEC tournament champion and winner of six straight games, found itself grouped with Cleveland State, Portland State and Akron — all 13 seeds.

Selection chairman Mike Slive, who doubles as the SEC commissioner, said early in the process the committee wouldn’t consider conference RPI. But the seeding of the three SEC teams sent a clear message to those whose fate was more uncertain: The SEC did not earn any respect.

“Hope disappeared pretty quickly,” South Carolina’s Horn said, reflecting on seeing LSU get its 8 seed.

LSU coach Trent Johnson said he was “surprised” at the 8 seed. Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury fumed, and he’s in the tournament.

“Our league has always been one of the top leagues, and it seems like the national media had an opportunity to jump on it and did. They said, ‘Let’s pile on it,’” he said. “There’s perception and there’s reality, and I don’t know where they meet. But the perception spread like a brush fire. We don’t need to schedule different. The bottom line is winning more games.

“But LSU getting an 8 seed? Tennessee steps out and plays one of the toughest nonconference schedules and gets a 9 seed? That’s the wrong message.”

And so now, in the aftermath of the SEC receiving its lowest number of bids since 1990 — before expansion — the league coaches are left to contemplate the perception of the league. They are left to wonder if the perception is accurate, how to prevent similar disrespect in the future and if changes are needed in nonconference scheduling.

The SEC, according to Jerry Palm of collegerpi.com, recorded the lowest nonconference RPI of any major league in his 16 years of tracking the numbers.

There were good moments, like the Arkansas wins over Texas and Oklahoma and Tennessee beating Marquette. But such teams as Loyola-Chicago, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, VMI, UIC, San Diego, Southern Miss and Missouri State recorded wins against the SEC. Mercer won as many games against SEC teams as Arkansas did. Late in the season, LSU lost at home to Xavier and Memphis beat Tennessee at Thompson-Boling Arena.

“Just watching the SEC, you see that everything is cyclical,” ESPN college basketball analyst Fran Fraschilla said. “The Big East returned 23 of its top 30 scorers and 25 of the top 30 rebounders. The ACC is about to get wiped out by the NBA. The SEC is going to be back to four or five teams in the tournament, maybe even next year.”

Florida coach Donovan chooses to focus on the positive. Yes, the SEC struggled against nonconference teams and is in danger of winning its fewest number of NCAA tournament games since 1989, when five teams received bids and all lost in the first round.

But the rarity of this situation, according to Donovan, should remind SEC fans that the league is typically more powerful.

“I remember when the ACC got three teams in and people were up in arms there. Look at that conference now,” Donovan said. “This stuff goes in cycles. This is something that’s happened one time. I think our league has done a pretty darn good job the last 13-14 years in terms of the number of teams in the tournament and the Final Four.”

The SEC still has a chance to represent the league well in the tournament. Fraschilla and fellow ESPN analyst Jimmy Dykes both said they like LSU over Butler in the first round. Dykes said he can envision Mississippi State in the Sweet 16 despite a game against fourth-seeded Washington in the first round.

“I think they can beat Washington,” Dykes said. “Mississippi State is a unique team with how they play those four guards and all can shoot it, and they have Jarvis Varnado and the way he can change the game defensively. They could beat Washington and either Northern Iowa or Purdue. I think Mississippi State, as a 13 seed, is the best chance for success in the SEC this year.”

That part isn’t unique to the SEC. In part thanks to Florida’s two title runs, the SEC ranks first among the six major conferences with a 28-15 record in NCAA tournament play the last three seasons. The ACC that Donovan talks about? That league ranks fifth with just one lower-seeded team beating a higher seed.

Of course, teams such as Auburn won’t get a chance to alter the SEC’s perception in the NCAA tournament this year.

“I know it was frustrating for all the SEC coaches to see all the backlash and the negative talk about our league being so down,” Auburn coach Lebo said. “When I saw Tennessee come up as a 9, I was shocked, to be honest with you. That’s when I knew we were in trouble. That’s a statement of what people think of our league. And that’s frustrating.”