Posted by Mechelle Voepel
For everything that hasn't gone so well for Tennessee in this growing-pains season, at least being at home still has counted for something.
Oh, sure, Tennessee's youthful players (save senior Alex Fuller, who probably has aged a decade this season) have been through the wringer. They've been kicked out of their fancy-schmancy locker room. They're washing their own practice gear. They were told they are Pat Summitt's lowest-energy bunch in 35 years of coaching.
It got so bad there were rumors that even smoggy smoke and telephone bills had come to "Rocky Top."
And yet … it was still "home sweet home." At least for the most part. Of Tennessee's nine losses, only two came at home, and both were to nonconference foes -- Virginia in November and Duke in February.
Maybe if Summitt coaches another few thousand games at Tennessee, she'll lose at home to Vanderbilt … but I kind of doubt it. The Commodores were attempting to achieve two firsts in program history Sunday: winning in Knoxville, and beating Tennessee twice in a season.
It didn't happen, and Tennessee's 75-66 victory over Vandy at Thompson-Boling Arena set up a potential series of dominoes that could look very good for the Orange Crush.
Check out the bracket for the SEC tournament, which begins Thursday in North Little Rock, Ark. Tennessee opens with No. 12 seed Alabama. The Crimson Tide's last win in the series was in 1984. Enough said.
In the second round, No. 4 seed Florida awaits. The Gators won their matchup in Gainesville on Feb. 8. It was only Florida's third victory against Tennessee, the previous ones coming in 1997 and 2006.
If Tennessee makes the semifinals, it will face No. 1 Auburn, barring an upset by Ole Miss or Arkansas. The Tigers ended their 16-game, 12-year losing streak to Tennessee on Jan. 25 at Auburn.
So when was the last time Auburn beat Tennessee twice in a season? Well, it has happened. In 1987.
So what if Tennessee made it all the way to the title game and seeds held in the other half of the bracket? That would mean Tennessee versus Vandy again. And if you're wondering about No. 3 seed LSU … it's the SEC program that has had the most success in recent years against Tennessee, going 7-9 since 2002. But again, LSU has never beaten Tennessee twice in one season.
So while Auburn goes into the SEC tournament as the regular-season champion and the presumptive favorite, Tennessee goes in with at least some momentum (finally) because of Sunday's win over Vandy.
However, one of the big questions will be this: Can Tennessee play better on a neutral court than it has "on the road" during the league season?
How much is on the line at the SEC tournament? A fair amount. If Auburn wins the title, it might grab a No. 1 seed for the NCAA tournament. Tennessee could leap up a lot in NCAA seeding; Florida could drop a lot.
By beating Florida on Sunday, Georgia assured itself of a .500 league record. A good SEC tournament just might propel Georgia into an NCAA bid.
With 21 regular-season wins and an 8-6 league record, Mississippi State should feel pretty good about getting an NCAA berth -- but it can't afford to lose its opener to South Carolina.
Some years, the SEC tournament has been all but a foregone conclusion -- at least in terms of who was going to win it. But this year, it's not like that at all. A lot of different scenarios are conceivable.
ACC tournament
As for the ACC tournament in Greensboro, we have the strange case of North Carolina. The Tar Heels have won the title the past four years. But they are the No. 4 seed this year.
UNC's four losses in ACC play all came on the road, the last one in the regular-season finale at Duke, 81-79 in overtime Sunday.
It would be almost impossible for a player as good as Heels guard Cetera DeGraffenreid to have another game as bad as the one she had Sunday: 2-of-8 from the field, eight points, eight turnovers and just one assist. Meanwhile, Duke counterpart Jasmine Thomas had 19 points and three assists.
And as much as we've gotten used to Carolina's having a larger number of "acceptable" turnovers than any other successful team in the solar system, Sunday's throw-away fest was truly out of this world. Not in a good way: 33 turnovers. Many of which seemed avoidable, even for the Tar Heels.
That said, is anybody going to be surprised if UNC wins this title again? Nope.
What about No. 1 seed Maryland? The Terps have played quite well down the stretch. And maybe history has nothing to do with anything. But let's not forget Maryland hasn't won the ACC tournament since 1989.
No. 2 seed Florida State, which joined the ACC in 1991-92, has never won the tournament nor made the final. In fact, the Seminoles have reached the semifinals only once, in 2001. But Florida State comes into this tourney with something to prove in terms of how good it can be away from Tallahassee.
The Seminoles' wins over Duke and North Carolina -- and their near-miss against Maryland, a 72-71 loss on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Kristi Toliver -- all came at home.
As for No. 3 seed Duke, that program won five ACC titles in a row before UNC's current streak. The Blue Devils split with both Maryland and North Carolina in the regular season, and they lost at Florida State in their only meeting with the Seminoles.
Duke's on-paper talent is very solid, but it's uncertain whether the Blue Devils' offense is going to show up consistently for the three consecutive games they'd need to win the title. And after a first-round bye, their ACC quarterfinal matchup might be against No. 6 Virginia, a team Duke beat by 14 in Charlottesville but that still could be dangerous.
Big Ten tournament
This tournament, in Indianapolis, usually provides some upsets. But even if those happen, will they change much in terms of the league's presence and seeding in the NCAA tournament?
Probably not, unless there's a run like Illinois' last year -- only this time, the underdog team wins the automatic bid. The Illini gave it a great try last season but fell on a buzzer-beater in the title game to Purdue.
The Boilermakers have won the Big Ten tournament more times -- seven -- than any other school, and nearby Conseco Fieldhouse is an especially comfortable place for them, of course.
Purdue lost its regular-season finale Sunday at Michigan State, which gave the Spartans the No. 2 seed. Odds are quite good those two will meet again in the Big Ten semifinals.
Meanwhile, Ohio State will be the No. 1 seed for the fifth season in a row, not that it has been much good to the Buckeyes. They've won only one Big Ten tournament, in 2006, since the event began in 1995.
There is nothing about this league that screams, "Deserves six NCAA berths!" But that might happen if Minnesota and Indiana make it in, along with the expected teams, Ohio State, Michigan State, Purdue and Iowa.
However, considering Minnesota's loss to Illinois on Sunday -- by 11 points, and in Minneapolis, no less-- the fifth-seeded Gophers might need to beat No. 4 Iowa in their Big Ten tournament opener to avoid sweating profusely until Selection Monday.
And No. 6 seed Indiana certainly can't afford to be upset by No. 11 Michigan, which gave the Hoosiers a scare Sunday in Bloomington. Indiana was down by 15 in the second half but rallied to win 67-61.
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