Preseason predictions miss mark

FAYETTEVILLE — A panel of media members from within the SEC and nationally whiffed badly on its preseason order of finish in the SEC.

The panel picked Auburn to finish ninth and Tennessee to finish 13th in voting released Oct. 18 at SEC media days in Birmingham, Ala. The Tigers and Volunteers tied for the SEC regular-season title with records of 13-5 after both teams posted victories Saturday.

Auburn, which has the SEC’s longest NCAA Tournament drought of 15 years, won its first title since 1999, while the Volunteers earned a piece of their first championship since 2008.

Tennessee Coach Rick Barnes said the credit for Tennessee’s surprising run to a co-championship belongs with the players. “They started this a long time ago,” Barnes said. “A year ago they were one of the younger teams in the country, and they still are this year, but they’ve played a lot of basketball. “We’ve got three guys in the program that experienced losing 19 games. We’ve got guys in the program that a year ago going into February, we were a team everybody talked about being on the bubble, and we didn’t get it finished. So they’ve had some different experiences that they’ve learned from.”

The media picked Kentucky to claim the title for a fourth consecutive year, but the Wildcats finished in a tie for fourth with Arkansas and Missouri. Kentucky was picked to win the title for the 13th time since the 1998-1999 season.

Missouri and Arkansas, picked to finish fifth and sixth, respectively, have those exact seeds for the SEC Tournament in St. Louis this week.

Texas A&M, which got off to a great start before suffering through a series of roster issues, finished in a tie for seventh with Mississippi State, four slots below their preseason choice at No. 3. But the Aggies weren’t the team that finished furthest below expectations because that distinction went to Vanderbilt, picked to finish seventh before coming in 13th after losing preseason All-SEC second-team pick Matthew Fisher-Davis.

LSU, chosen to finish last by the media, tied for ninth with Alabama, five spots higher than expected. Mississippi State also finished five spots ahead of projections after being picked 12th.

AP/BRYNN ANDERSON Auburn players celebrate after beating South Carolina 79-70 on Saturday. The victory allowed the Tigers to clinch a share of the SEC regular-season title with Tennessee. When the preseason poll was released in October, Auburn was picked to finish ninth...

AP/CRYSTAL LOGUIDICE Tennessee forward Grant Williams (2) holds an SEC champions T-shirt after the Volunteers defeated Georgia 66-61 on Saturday in Knoxville, Tenn., to win a share of the conference title with Auburn.

Barnes