…yes, the SEC was godawful this year. But consider that by January 1, the seniors on Tennessee, Kentucky and Vanderbilt – three teams used to playing into March – had combined to score a total of three points. This was an abnormally young league this year (example: fully half of Vanderbilt’s man-minutes this year were played by six different freshmen). That kind of youth means crazy inconsistency, and crazy inconsistency keeps you at home in front of the HDTV at tournament time.
However, much like the miracle 7-6 football team (returning 21 of 24 starters), this Vanderbilt team had no seniors – every single player is back including some who spent the whole year injured on the bench. I fully expect the SEC to pull six or seven bids in the 2011 tournament.
And while I have absolutely no problem with the Big Beast and the ACC getting 7 each, I think the Big Ten getting 7 and the Pac-10 getting 6 is a bit of a reach. I’m going to have to see some serious ass-kicking out there if we’re going to justify the likes of Wisconsin and Arizona getting seats on the starship at the expense of a St. Mary’s, for instance (ask Dick Vitale about that one and then plug your ears).
Let’s see: laptop charged, iPhone charged, Wi-Fi streaming video March Madness app installed ($4.99 at the iTunes App Store), and all onsite tickets closed in advance of tomorrow…maybe I can actually get away with going in to work and still not miss much…