2008 SEC Tournament – One for the Books

Play had to be delayed with 2:11 left in overtime of the Alabama-Mississippi State quarterfinal game in the SEC Tournament on Friday when a tornado struck the Georgia Dome.

The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for the Atlanta area at 9:26 p.m. ET after radar indicated a storm capable of producing a tornado located about six miles west of Atlanta.

The tornado passed over Northside Drive, causing the Georgia Dome to shake and sway as the twister passed. Insulation from the Dome’s roof fell on the floor as both teams quickly evacuated the court.

Large sections of the Georgia Dome’s exteriors were on the ground outside of Gate E facing the Georgia World Congress Center. Several holes were visible near the Dome’s roof on the interior. Outside, full-grown trees lay on the ground uprooted.

Several fans said metal bolts and washers fell from the ceiling and said a pipe ripped a hole in the roof.

Mississippi State was leading Alabama 64-61 at the time.

After a more than 45-minute delay, the game was resumed and State held on for a 69-67 victory.

Georgia pulled off the story of the conference tournaments, winning the SEC. The Bulldogs came into the tournament with a losing record, but won three games in two days. Georgia also overcame a severe storm, which hit the Atlanta area Friday evening, ripping a hole in the Georgia Dome and postponing its quarterfinal game vs. Kentucky.

As for the rest of the conference, Tennessee, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt and Arkansas are virtual locks. Kentucky is the most intriguing team, going 12-4 in the SEC, but finishing with just a 18-12 overall record. Ole Miss was just the opposite, going 7-9 in conference play, but 21-10 overall. Both didn’t make the Big Dance. The two-time defending national champion Florida, which fell to Alabama in the first round, will try to redeem themselves in the NIT. Ole Miss received an invitation to the NIT as well.

The most surprising statement of the year: Georgia in the NCAA Tournament

Georgia vs Ole Miss

Dave Bliss banked in a shot with 0.4 seconds left in overtime, giving the last-place Bulldogs a thrilling 97-95 victory over Ole Miss in the first round of the Southeastern Conference tournament Thursday night.
The Rebels (21-10) finished the regular season on a three-game winning streak, including a 76-62 victory over Georgia last weekend that put the team squarely on the bubble for its first NCAA bid since 2002. They got to face the Bulldogs again six days later, but this time Georgia (14-16) prevailed.

Ole Miss sent the game to overtime when David Huertas was fouled on a 3-pointer and made all three free throws, and the Rebels looked to have forced another extra period when Chris Warren sank three after a virtually identical foul with 5.5 seconds left in OT.

But Georgia inbounded the ball to Corey Butler, who had fouled Warren. The walk-on guard drove nearly the length of the court before dumping the ball off to Bliss for an open 10-footer. He banked it in softly off the glass, sending the Bulldogs on to face Kentucky in the quarterfinals Friday night.

Georgia appeared to be in control when Gaines hit two free throws for a 63-50 lead with 12:58 remaining in regulation. Led by Huertas, the Rebels bounced back to outscore the Bulldogs 18-2 over the next 4½ minutes for a 68-65 lead. The sophomore guard from Puerto Rico accounted for 12 of the points on four 3-pointers, the last of which hit the rim, bounced off the backboard, hit the rim again and dropped through- the ultimate shooter’s roll.

Georgia withstood the Ole Miss run and appeared to have the game back in hand when Billy Humphrey hit a pair of free throws with 43 seconds left to make it 81-76.
Huertas hit another 3, and he got the ball back after Gaines missed a free throw with 15.5 seconds to go. With his team trailing 84-81, Huertas went up for a shot behind the arc and drew the foul from Humphrey, then swished three straight free throws to force overtime.

Tennessee hands Ole Miss their first loss of the season

Two teams that symbolized the enormous gulf between fulfilling expectations and creating them met before an announced sellout of 21,846 at Thompson-Boling Arena, where the Vols (13-1, 1-0 SEC) solidified their status as the league’s prohibitive favorite. But even in defeat, the Rebels (13-1, 0-1) continued their early-season trend of trampling predictions. Those early forecasts of a last-place finish in the SEC West? They now seem laughable.

After Ole Miss went ahead, 83-79, with 2:04 to play on a fast-break bucket by sophomore forward Eniel Polynice, Tennessee scored the game’s final six points.

Tyler Smith’s late-game opportunity was created by some miscues at the free-throw line. Ole Miss senior forward Kenny Williams missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 33.6 seconds left.

But throughout the first half, Warren played the same sort of poise that helped catapult the Rebels to the best start in school history. After Lofton connected on a 3-pointer for Tennessee’s largest lead, 35-27, Warren answered with a 3-pointer of his own. Then he converted an old-fashioned three-point play during a 9-0 run that pushed the Rebels ahead, 39-38.

But if Warren was fire, then JaJuan Smith was ice. He scored 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range, to pace the Vols to a 45-44 halftime lead. The Vols continued their hot shooting in the second half, and they surged to a 72-60 lead when senior guard Jordan Howell buried a 3-pointer.

Ole Miss soon mounted a 12-2 run that drained the energy from the arena and had the Rebels teetering on the brink of a unexpected triumph. They had to settle for respect.

Tyler Smith sliced his way to the left side of the basket for the game-winning layup with 4.2 seconds left, a hoop that lifted No. 8 Tennessee to an 85-83 victory over No. 16 Ole Miss.

Atypical SEC Teams on Top First

Ole Miss and Vanderbilt are two of the six teams in the country that are still unbeaten.

Just let that settle in for a minute.

Toss in Tennessee, since the Vols are the only one-loss team and arguably the most talented squad, and that’s your SEC hierarchy through the first two months of the season.

Though undefeated, the Rebels still have plenty of doubters. Picked to finish last in the SEC West for the second straight season, the defending division co-champions are one of just six undefeated teams left this season. They will be able to prove their critics wrong in the difficult stretch to start the SEC season. They face their second ranked opponent when they open play at No. 8 Tennessee on Jan. 9.

Mississippi: 12-0

Signature wins: Ole Miss beat Clemson by three in Puerto Rico, smacked Southern Miss on a neutral court, ran away from New Mexico and Central Florida, and beat Winthrop and DePaul. Clemson and Winthrop may be the only NCAA-bound teams in the bunch, but the Rebels won all the games.

Bad game: Can’t find one, not when the Rebels won them all.

Bad luck: None yet.

Better than anyone thought: Freshman point guard Chris Warren is averaging 15.3 points and 5.6 assists. He has nearly a 2-1 assist-turnover ratio so far. “I can’t remember a freshman class that has had so many impact players, do you?” Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy said. “He’s done such a great job so far at the point, but he’s still a work in progress.”

Not up to par: Maybe it’s not fair, but freshman forward Malcolm White came in with decent hype. He has played in only nine of the 12 games and is scoring just two points a game so far.

Money man: If the Rebels need to count on someone, then Dwayne Curtis will deliver. He’s averaging 15.6 points and 8.1 boards. The senior center has been a rock for Kennedy, shooting 67.6 percent and making nearly 80 percent of his free throws.

Forecast: The easy thing would be to dump on the Rebels and say they’re this season’s Clemson, a team off to a hot start that fades fast. But there has been no sign the Rebels are going to flop. “I’m not sure we’re ever going to scare anyone,” said Andy Kennedy, coach for Ole Miss. “But we’ve gained some respect. I think the biggest question mark is how are we going to deal with that number [ranking] in front of our name? People aren’t used to playing Ole Miss ranked No. 18. We’ll see how guys react to that.”

Tennessee: 12-1

Signature wins: The Vols have beaten West Virginia in Newark, N.J., won at Xavier and bested Gonzaga in Seattle.

Bad game: Hard to call it as such, but the Vols simply didn’t play well in their only loss against Texas, losing by 19 in Newark.

Bad luck: Duke Crews is out indefinitely after being diagnosed with a heart condition. He played in eight games.

Better than anyone thought: Arizona transfer J.P. Prince is averaging 14 points and four boards in four games so far.

Not up to par: Preseason All-American guard Chris Lofton is leading the Vols in scoring at 14.5 points a game, but he’s shooting 33.6 percent on 3s after shooting 41.9 percent last season.

The money man: JaJuan Smith is scoring 14.4 a game, and Pearl said “in a lot of ways, we go as JaJuan Smith goes. He’s been better and always been one of the most underrated guards in the league. He’s a good defender, and always stays under control offensively.”

Forecast: The Vols still have two more nonconference games, against Ohio State and at Memphis. The latter game, on Feb. 23, and a contest at Vanderbilt three days later represent a two-game stretch that could determine NCAA seeding.