Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Meet me in St. Louis
Wide-open SEC lands a new host
FAYETTEVILLE — St. Louis is getting a double dose of March Madness.
After hosting the Missouri Valley Tournament — billed as “Arch Madness” for the city’s signature Gateway Arch — last week for the 28th consecutive year, St. Louis will host the SEC Tournament for the first time.
The MVC Tournament, which was won by Loyola-Chicago and Coach Porter Moser (a former UALR Trojans coach), was held Thursday through Sunday.
The SEC Tour nament opens Wednesday with the championship game on Sunday.
By the end of the SEC Tournament, the Scottrade Center will have hosted 22 games in an 11- day span with two NCAA Tournament automatic bids being awarded.
The Arkansas Razorbacks are the No. 6 seed in the SEC Tournament and open play Thursday night against the winner of Wednesday night’s South Carolina-Ole Miss game.
“That’s a big plus for the city of St. Louis, and obviously gives our fans the opportunity to come and watch this team,” University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Coach Mike Anderson said of the SEC Tournament following the MVC Tournament. “I think the fans have really kind of picked up on this team and like this team, and they will follow this team.
“Razorback fans, the one thing they do, they travel and with the proximity, hopefully we fill that arena up and show these guys some great, great support.”
Arkansas fans may travel in greater numbers to St. Louis than they would to Nashville, Tenn., or Atlanta — the two cities where the SEC Tournament has been held most often since the Razorbacks joined the conference for the 1991-1992 season — but Kentucky fans figure to have the strongest representation at Scottrade Center.
Wildcats Coach John Calipari, however, downplayed the idea Kentucky fans will take over the arena as they have in Nashville and Atlanta.
“I think all 14 teams — and their fans — think they can make a run,” Calipari said. “So I’m not going to be surprised if there’s a lot of fans from a lot of schools, not just Kentucky, at this tournament.”
Kentucky has won the SEC Tournament championship 30 times while the other 13 conference teams have combined for 27 titles. But for a change, Kentucky doesn’t go into St. Louis as the favorite.
The Wildcats (10-8) finished in three-way tie for fourth with Arkansas and Missouri. Those three were behind co-champions Auburn (13-5) and Tennessee (13-5), and third-place Florida (11-7).
“I think that the tournament is very wide open,” Georgia Coach Mark Fox said. “I really don’t feel like there’s much separation in the conference this year from the top to the bottom.
“I think the depth in the conference has been incredibly visible to everybody. At least from the coaches’ standpoint, there’s not an easy game. Anybody can beat anybody on any given night.”
Auburn is the No. 1 seed for the first time since 1999. The Tigers won a tiebreaker against Tennessee because they beat the Vols in Thompson-Boling Arena in the teams’ only regular-season meeting.
“We’re blessed to have been able to win the regular season with Tennessee,” Auburn Coach Bruce Pearl said. “I’d like to think the things about both clubs are that they brought it every night.
“Didn’t win every night, but pretty much brought it every night.”
Auburn is down to eight scholarship players because of suspensions and injuries.
“Obviously we overcame
a lot of adversity,” Pearl said. “We overcame some short numbers and a lack of size and made up for it in other areas. Championships are really hard to come by. What makes this so special is just the respect that we have for the league and the competition.
“Now we need to take advantage of the opportunity we’ve given ourselves by advancing on Friday and seeing if we can win another championship.”
Missouri is a two- hour drive away from its campus in Columbia.
“I’m excited and happy that it’s in St. Louis,” Tigers Coach Cuonzo Martin said. “We’ve got to figure out a way to keep it there every year. I think it’s a great city with great energy, great passion for basketball.
“As far as it being an advantage, you still got to play the game. Once you step on the court, it’s simply basketball at that point.”
Missouri could get a boost with the possible return of freshman forward Michael Porter Jr., who underwent back surgery in November after playing just two minutes of the season opener against Iowa State. He has been medically cleared and returned to practice two weeks ago.
Porter Jr. said Saturday he hopes to play in the SEC Tournament.
“Right now, they’re playing well,” Calipari said about the Tigers. “You add Porter to that — all of the sudden, they become very, very dangerous.”
Tennessee’s four- game winning streak is the longest of any team going into the SEC Tournament, but Florida also is on a bit of a roll. The Gators beat Kentucky 80-67 on Saturday for their third consecutive victory to end the Wildcats’ winning streak at four.
“I was feeling good until we went down to Florida and got rocked,” Calipari said. “We had our chances to come back in the game and just weren’t capable of doing it. Hats off to Florida, they played an outstanding game.”
LSU Coach Will Wade isn’t complaining about his team having to play 665 miles up the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to St. Louis.
“I think it’s good to spread our SEC brand in the Midwest,” Wade said. “Sometimes it’s good to go outside of your footprint a little bit.”
St. Louis needs to enjoy the SEC Tournament while it can, because the event will return to Nashville for six of the next seven years in 2019-2021 and 2023-2025, with Tampa, Fla., the site in 2022.
“I know they love basketball in St. Louis, and a great product is coming there with a lot of really, really good teams,” Vanderbilt Coach Bryce Drew said. “So I definitely think it’ll be a good environment.”