Once again a post season flame-out..

[catfan]

Vanderbilt.
Once again Vandy can only play well under the "Memorial Magic".
Defeated AM by 16 and UK by 12.

[Matt Dillon]

With the team they had this season, Vandy didn't belong in the Big Dance, in my opinion.

[Catsrock]

With the team they had this season, Vandy didn't belong in the Big Dance, in my opinion.

Fully agree. Vandy had a whole season flame out. Were supposed to be good this year. Were not. Got in anyway on preseason expectations. South Carolina was more deserving than them and that's not to say they should have been in.

[Joneslab]

Weird team.

As much talent as anybody in the SEC but they had a few Alex Poythress-type enigmas who waxed and waned game to game. Damian Jones looked like he didn't want to be on the court last night.

Also the bizarre season Riley Lachance had hurt them. It looked like he was primed to be a superstar. Instead by the end of the season he wasn't even a key contributor and was barely playing. (He played quite a bit last night.)

Thought Stallings' demeanor on the sideline last night was very odd. No urgency. None of the fire you see when they play at home. Seemed baffled at what was happening.

[KevinHall]

Vandy has looked like a team with internal problems. Somewhat like LSU. Vandy didn't belong in this tourney and were proven right by last night.

[justford]

Just looking at SEC teams, South Carolina would have been my choice.

[Spiritof96]

I found their inclusion in the field inexplicable.

[KCKUKFan]

Just looking at SEC teams, South Carolina would have been my choice.

You apparently didn't watch South Carolina vs Georgia in the SEC Tournament.

[Joneslab]

You apparently didn't watch South Carolina vs Georgia in the SEC Tournament.

South Carolina was without their best player.

Not sure if Carrera was going to be back or not, but it's hard to just remove the guy who's the heart of the team for a postseason game and win.

Assuming he was going to be healthy I thought they should've made it. They definitely should've made it over Vandy and Tulsa.

[KevinHall]

You apparently didn't watch South Carolina vs Georgia in the SEC Tournament.

You are right. I knew after seeing South Carolina against Kentucky they were a fraud. Their out of conference schedule was in the 300's so they built up wins from that. After they got into the teeth of the SEC the losses started piling up. If they had replaced Vandy I would say the same thing would have happened last night. Everyone just has to face it, the SEC was a bad conference once again this season. Only two good teams and the rest were very mediocore to bad.

[KCKUKFan]

South Carolina was without their best player.

Not sure if Carrera was going to be back or not, but it's hard to just remove the guy who's the heart of the team for a postseason game and win.

Assuming he was going to be healthy I thought they should've made it. They definitely should've made it over Vandy and Tulsa.

And/or Syracuse.

South Carolina was fairly miserable for the final stretch of the season, even with Carrera.

[Joneslab]

The SEC cannot help but just beat itself to death when it gets into conference season.

The vast, unrecognizable middle always emerges looking bloodied and posting nearly identical resumes. The Pac-12 has gone through similar years. There've been times when they've had one team in the tournament.

I think this is changing with the hiring of these coaches and Mike Tranghese yesterday, but SEC basketball will probably only be a deviation between football seasons for most fans.

[UKtimefor9]

Didn't Tranghese help setup the destruction of the Big East conference?

Also, I believe Mike Slive hired Grege Shaheen (former committee chair) to so this same thing about 3-4 years ago.

[Joneslab]

Didn't Tranghese help setup the destruction of the Big East conference?

Also, I believe Mike Slive hired Grege Shaheen (former committee chair) to so this same thing about 3-4 years ago.

Shaheen was hired to try and work with schools on their out-of-conference scheduling, IIRC, as that has always been a major issue with the SEC.

Seems that there've been some minor improvements, but ironically I think one of the reasons South Carolina didn't get in was because that part of their schedule was so soft.

I think the coaching got an upgrade this year, but Bruce Pearl hasn't been the Bruce Pearl of old, and you've got guys you could always count on (Stallings, Fox) kind of falling down a notch. So really the conference ended up not being much different than it always is.

It looked like there was more excitement, particularly at places like Tennessee and Mississippi State, so that's at least a start. But this is something we've been talking about for 20+ years and we'll be talking about it 20 years from now.

Only two ways you can change the inevitable flow of history when it comes to SEC basketball. One, bring in a couple of superstar coaches. Or two, cheat like crazy.

[Blue Heaven]

Take care of the OOC scheduling and the league should be well represented. The SEC had the highest home conference winning percentage of any of the power conferences. Then you look at a league like the Big 12 who is known to be the best conference for the last 5 years or so and they ALWAYS flameout in the Tournament. I think they have had one Final Four team in the last six seasons.