Varnardo still a force

It didn't take long for Jarvis Varnardo to resume harassing Southeastern Conference opposition.

The MVP of last year's SEC men's basketball tournament tallied nine points, 12 rebounds and six blocks Saturday during Mississippi State's 80-75 upset win at No. 14 Ole Miss. He already has 80 blocks this season and ranks fourth in NCAA history with 474 in his career.

Varnardo needs eight more blocks to move past NBA star Tim Duncan from Wake Forest into third place but continues to maintain a low-key demeanor.

"He's just not a flamboyant guy," Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy said. "He's kind of a Bill Russell throwback. When he blocks shots, he just kind of goes about his business, and it's what I really respect about the kid. He's very workmanlike in his approach, and he's consistent in his production."

The 6-foot-9, 230-pound senior forward from Brownsville, Tenn., led the nation last season with 170 blocks, a total that surpassed nine SEC teams. Varnardo is the obvious favorite to be the SEC defensive player of the year a third time.

"We challenged him three or four times in critical junctures of the second half, and he made us pay," Kennedy said. "You talk about 20 shots over the course of a game that are directly affected by his presence, and it's quite a presence."

Quick turnarounds

As part of the SEC's new television deal with ESPN, there will be more Thursday night games and therefore faster turnarounds to Saturday. Arkansas faces this predicament the next three weeks, starting with Thursday night's game at Mississippi State and a Saturday afternoon visit from Alabama.

"I think everybody in the league is going to be dealing with it to some extent or another," Florida coach Billy Donovan said. "I think it's certainly the price to having the TV exposure we all wanted in the league, and it's something we're all going to have to live with. It is challenging coaching-wise when you only have a day to prepare."

Said LSU's Trent Johnson: "The bottom line is that at the end of the year, if you're in the NCAA tournament, you've got to play Thursday-Saturday."

Some SEC coaches are familiar with the Thursday-Saturday setup, as Georgia's Mark Fox experienced it at Nevada and Tennessee's Bruce Pearl when in the Division II ranks.

'Drastically improved'

Donovan called Vanderbilt "drastically improved" after the Commodores defeated the Gators 95-87 Saturday in Nashville, which Vandy coach Kevin Stallings found amusing.

"As badly as they beat us both times last year, for us to make a game of it would have shown some improvement," Stallings said. "They only had us down 23 at halftime at our building last year, and it was 19-4 to start the game in their building. We didn't put up much resistance against Billy's team a year ago, so at least we were competitive.

"It was nice of him to say that, and I'd like to think we are better."