Cook: SEC tournament over; time for the big dance

It was hardly a shock last weekend in New Orleans when Vanderbilt upset Kentucky to end the Wildcats’ 25-game winning streak and give the Commodores their first SEC Tournament championship since 1951.

After all, the Wildcats had already sewed up the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and the Wildcats hardly played with any sense of urgency. Not to take anything away from Kevin Stallings’ Commodores, who played lights out and deserved to win the championship. Kentucky’s first two games certainly showed that Kentucky was playing with slightly less enthusiasm as they did coming down the stretch of the SEC regular season.

The undefeated regular season record was more important to Kentucky than winning in New Orleans. That was obvious with Kentucky’s wins over LSU and Florida, both of which were much closer than they should have been.

But this was, as is often the case for Kentucky teams that don’t have much at stake in the SEC Tournament, merely a warm-up for the real tournament, which starts this week.

The SEC got exactly the number of teams in the big tournament that the experts predicted. There was some thought that Mississippi State might make the field but upsets in conference tournaments that stole automatic bids sealed State’s fate.

Kentucky is the overall No. 1 seed in the tournament, and therefore John Calipari’s team has the easiest road to the Final Four. Kentucky will open in the South Region games at Louisville and if the Cats advance to the Sweet 16 Kentucky will move on to Atlanta.

Kentucky will play the winner of the opening round game between the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils and the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. If Mississippi Valley State wins the first game and moves on to face Kentucky it will be a homecoming game of sorts, for MVS is coached by former Kentucky guard Sean Woods.Hill

Vanderbilt’s reward for winning the SEC Tournament is a Thursday match-up with former Duke star Tommy Amaker’s Harvard Crimson. That game will likely feature the highest combined GPA of both teams for any game in the tournament. Vanderbilt is the fifth seed in the East, but will be playing in a tough place in Albuquerque, N.M.

The Florida Gators are the seventh seed in the West Region and open the tournament on Friday against Virginia in Omaha, Neb. Alabama was seeded ninth in the Midwest Region. The Crimson Tide takes on Creighton in the first round on Friday in Greensboro, N.C.

So the field has been set since Sunday night and the complaining has been nonstop ever since. There are complaints about some teams who were left out-like Seton Hall, Drexel, Washington, Marshall, Miami and Mississippi State-and some who inexplicably got in-like Iona, Cal and South Florida.

There will be some heartfelt stories as there are every year. This year’s sentimental favorite might be Harvard. The Crimson was 26-4 and won the Ivy League crown to insure a spot in the tournament for the first time since 1946.

Last season it was VCU who made a run from one of the opening round games all the way to the Final Four, the year before it was Butler that captured the imagination of the nation.

The SEC got four bids and should be happy with that even though Mississippi State had a decent argument after going 22-11. What tripped up Rick Stansbury’s Bulldogs were an RPI of 75 and a strength of schedule of 78 and an underlying feeling that there were issues between some of the Bulldog players.

Now it will be up to the four teams the conference got in the tournament to make a statement for SEC basketball, much like Alabama did for SEC football with a national championship. To be honest, Kentucky is the only team that has a good chance despite the youth on the Kentucky team and the fact that Kentucky really did not look all that impressive in New Orleans.

John Calipari knows what its like to get to the Final Four; he’s been there before. He’s never won it all, though, and has had two previous Final Four appearances vacated because of eligibility problems on those two teams.

Calipari needs this championship to wipe out the stigma of those past problems. As long as the SEC keeps winning football championships a basketball one probably doesn’t matter.