History Reflects Unpredictable SEC Tourney
All You Wanted To Know But Were Afraid To Ask
The Southeastern Conference in Lexington this week has been one of the most unusual entities in history.
Certainly, any event can have its assortment of records, important data, quirks, and
oddball items. The SEC tourney is no different, in that respect.
Certainly, the modern tournament has been tough on all of the teams. Since seven different (of 10) conference teams have each won one of the modern tourneys, that would seem to put a lot of pressure on Florida. Vanderbilt, or Mississippi State to win this year. (Those three schools are the only ones who have not won in modern times.)
Jim Griesch
Cats' Pause Columnist
Certainly, when fans talk about the all-time tournament competition, and the modern competition, that brings up one of the cute quirks in tourney history, right off the tip. Because the tourney had fallen from favor, there is a 27-year hiatis in tourney play. Throughout the 1930's the '40s, and into the early '50's, the tournament established the conference champion, and the conference's NCAA tournament representative.
SEC Tourney 'Died' After '52 Season
But, after the league presidents decided to make the regular season champion the NCAA rep, the tournament died for lack of interest after Kentucky won 44-43 over Louisiana State in Louisville in 1952. The tournament seemed to go the way of the dinosaur, the battleship, and the Maginot Line. It faded into history.
However, some crafty soul figured that a rebirth of the tournament would result in more money for each SEC school, and that more schools would have a chance to play in the NCAA tournament (which would also bring in more money). The tourney was reborn, to the dismay of successful coaches, and to the glee of the less successful.
In all, there have been 26 tournaments before this one, and Kentucky has dominated the overall history, but not the modern tournament. In those 26 tourneys, we have seen:
?Kentucky win 67, lose 12, and capture 14 (over half) of the titles. Included in those 14 is a run of nine straight, from 1942 until 1950.
?Kentucky met Tennessee seven times for the title, winning four times. Kentucky won in 1937, 1939, 1945, and 1950. The Vols won in 1941, 1943, and 1979. Oddly enough, the two teams met five of six times in tourney play in the finals. From 1937 until 1945, the two schools met only in 1940 in an other-than-the-finals game, which Kentucky won 30-29 in a semi-final match.
?Kentucky and Tennessee have played each other 12 times, more than any other two schools have played. Kentucky leads the tournament series 8-4, which roughly parallels the all-time series (in percentage of wins) between the two schools.
?The most wins by one school over another is a 9-1 mark held by, you guessed it, Kentucky over Louisiana State. LSU's only win came 80-78 in the 1980 championship match in Birmingham. It was the third time those two schools had met for the title. The other two championship matches came in 1946 (UK, 59-36), and in 1952.
Wildcat Teams Have Left Their Marks
?Because of its dominance over the rest of the league in the older days of the tournament. Kentucky holds some gaudy edges over the rest of the conference. UK is 8-0 against Auburn, 5-0 against Georgia, 7-0 against Mississippi, 5-0 against Mississippi State, and 5-0 against former SEC member Georgia Tech.
?Vanderbilt, oddly enough, has fared the best against Kentucky in tourney play. The Commodores are 2-2 in all-time play against the Wildcats, and Vandy is 2-0 since UK whipped the Commodores 98-29 in the 1947 tourney. In that game, history has it that legendary UK coach Adolph Rupp had his starters dress into street clothes and watch the second half from the stands.
Nashville Tennessean sports editor Jimmy Bibb, talking about a Vandy upset of UK in the mid-1970's, jokingly talked as if the "calf killed the butcher." The phrase was first coined in 1951, when Vanderbilt upset national-champions-to-be UK 61-57 in the SEC finals in Louisville. That win went a long way towards wiping out the memory of that 1947 loss. Then, in 1981, Vandy upset UK 60-55, after falling behind 10-0 after seven minutes of play. Oddly enough, that win was the last at Vandy for ex-coach Richard Schmidt, who was fired within two weeks after his team lost the next night to eventual tourney champion Mississippi 71-51.
Schools From Same State Have Never Met In Tourney
?Several schools have never met in tourney play. Only two present or former SEC schools ever faced Sewanee in tourney play. Of schools still in the SEC, Georgia and Florida have never met in tourney play. Neither
have Mississippi and Mississippi State.
Florida has never met either Ole Miss or Mississippi State in tournament play, to set some sort of record for remaining schools.
?Several schools have faced each other only once in the tournament. Auburn is 1-0 against both Ole Miss and Mississippi State. Both of those wins have come in the "modern" tournament. Auburn beat Ole Miss 69-60 in 1985, and Mississippi State 38-36 in 1982, here in Lexington. ?LSU and Mississippi State have also met but once, with LSU winning 77-44 in 1952. ?The history of the tourney shows that some teams have fared very well against others, poorly against others. ?For instance:
-Alabama is 2-0 against Florida, but 0-2 against Vanderbilt. -Auburn is 3-0 against Vanderbilt, but is 1-3 against Alabama and 1-5 against Tennessee, besides the whitewashes involving Kentucky and the two Mississippi schools. -Florida is 4-1 against Vanderbilt. but is 0-5 against LSU and 0-4 against Tennessee. -Georgia is 4-1 against Mississippi, but 0-3 with Vandy. - LSU is 4-1 against Auburn, but 1-4 against Tennessee.
-Mississippi is 3-3 against Tennessee, with two of its three wins coming in the modern tourney era, but is 1-4 against Georgia. The Rebels have played more than two tournament games against only four schools  Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, and Tennessee.
-Two of Mississippi State's five tournament wins (all-time) have come against Vandy (2-3 series), and one of those, 76-61 in 1983, is State's biggest tournament win.
-Tennessee has a winning record against all current SEC schools except Alabama (3-4) and Kentucky (4-8).
-Vandy's only win over Tennessee (1-6 series) came in 1951 in the first round (88-52) in Vandy's biggest (by margin) tournament win ever. The 'Dores are also a combined 5-0 against Alabama and Georgia.
Sewanee Shutout In Tourney Format
-Former schools Georgia Tech and Tulane were a combined 26-34 in tournament play, with Tech 3-0 against Vandy, 3-1 against Tulane. Tulane was 3-0 against Georgia, but neither has played a tournament game since 1952, since each left the SEC during the 1960's, when the tournament was dormant.
-Sewanee, which left the SEC in 1940 is the only school never to win a tournament game. Alabama beat them 41-28 in the first tournament game ever played in 1933, and LSU beat them 55-35 in 1939. their next appearance in tournament play. There are some other unusual aspects to the tournament.
?Florida's second win in the modern tournament came just last year in Birmingham, when they edged Kentucky 58-55. UK was seeded fourth, Florida fifth.
?Alabama and Georgia have met just six times in history, but four of those meetings gave come in modern play. Georgia won in 1981 and 1983, while Alabama won in 1982 and 1985.
?Alabama and Kentucky have met four times (in eight games) in the modern tourney, with each team 2-2. Alabama won the only tourney ever held (until now) in Rupp Arena with a 48-46 last-second win over Kentucky in 1982. ?Bama and Ole Miss have not met since 1951, 'Bama and Vandy not since 1939.
Plainsmen Can Make A Claim No Other School Can
?Auburn and Florida never met until the modern era, and the two have split 1981 and 1985 games. Auburn's meetings with Ole Miss and Mississippi State (once each) have come in modern play, while two of the three meetings with Vandy have also come since 1979. Auburn has played each of the other nine current schools at least once in modern play. The Plainsmen are the only team who can make that claim.
?Florida has played just nine games in the modern tourney, playing twice only in 1980 and 1985.
Georgia's only loss ever in tourney play to Mississippi came in the 1981 title game, with the Rebs winning 66-62 behind Elston Turner and Sean Tuohy.
?Kentucky and Alabama are the only two schools ever to score 100 or more points in a tournament game, and they did it against each other in 1979. Score: Kentucky 101, Alabama 100.
?The only team LSU has ever played in the finals has been Kentucky, and they are 1-2 in three tries. The Bayou Bengals may have played one of the most unusual single tourneys in history in 1943. They posted a 29-point win, 67-38, over Auburn; won by 5, 46-41, over Alabama; then lost by 18, 52-34, to Tennessee.
?Ole Miss and Vandy have the most even series in tourney history going. Each has won one of two games, and each is averaging 64 points against the other. That's right. Ole Miss won 71-51 in 1981, then lost 77-57 in 1984. Ole Miss has played both Vandy and Auburn only in the modern tournament.
?When Mississippi State beat Vandy 76-61 in 1983, that was State's first win in the tournament since they beat Tulane 56-47 in 1950. State won two games in the first tournament in 1933, but only three since then, with the other win over Georgia Tech, 48-41, in 1943.
DeVoe Only Whipped By More Than 10 Once
?Tennessee, under the Don DeVoe influence, has played very tough in modern tournament play. Their only loss by more than 10 points came at the hands of Georgia,
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