ShareThisIt will be 80 degrees in Tampa this week, where the Southeastern Conference plays its men's basketball tournament.
Question: Can they play the games outside, shirts vs. skins, so all of us can work on our tans?
In these tough economic times, staging a league tournament in a city that's not a hub for a lot of direct flights, or within driving distance of most of the 12 SEC schools, isn't the wisest move in the world.
But it's been the norm that the SEC occasionally moves the league tourney out of its favorite locale, the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, to a smaller arena. The move is done because it creates a ticket demand that isn't there in the spacious Georgia Dome, and league coaches like having the tourney in more of a true basketball setting, providing better depth perception for shooting.
The St. Pete Times Forum, site of this year's SEC tourney that starts Thursday, seats 21,655. Ticket sales are lagging, and the SEC office won't confirm how much. But for the first time ever, the league is advertising single-session ticket sales on the SEC web site.
The SEC says it has sold 17,000 ticket packages to the tournament. They began single-session sales Monday. They're offering student discounts and also will donate some tickets to charity.
The only other time the tournament has been staged in Florida was in 1990 in the Orlando Arena, and it was the lowest-attended (75,902) tourney in SEC history. Part of that was due to the fact that league bell cow Kentucky was on probation and didn't participate. Also, Arkansas and South Carolina had yet to join the league.
If coaches are skeptical about the Tampa site, they aren't saying. Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl is taking the sunny-side up view.
"From the fan standpoint, some people are excited going to Tampa for spring break," Pearl said.
And certainly Florida coach Billy Donovan doesn't mind having to bus to the league tourney instead of flying.
"Hopefully there will be a large contingency of Gator fans," Donovan said. "Tampa is a good city for that, but I think you also realize the way the economy is and the difficulties people are having and something like that can be expensive."
"HIGGY'' AWARDS
Here we go with my best of the best in the SEC this season:
-- All-SEC first team: South Carolina guard Devan Downey, Kentucky guard Jodie Meeks, Florida guard Nick Calathes, LSU forward Tasmin Mitchell, Mississippi State center Jarvis Varnado.
-- Second team: Tennessee forward Tyler Smith, LSU guard Marcus Thornton, Kentucky center Patrick Patterson, Ole Miss guard David Huertas, Auburn forward Korvotney Barber.
-- All Freshman Team: Ole Miss guard Terrico White, Mississippi State guard Dee Bost, Arkansas guard Courtney Fortson, Tennessee guard Scotty Hopson, Alabama forward JaMychal Green.
-- Player of the Year: Downey. Kentucky's Meeks was clearly the most explosive scorer, but he didn't have to create shots. Calathes is a heady player, but plays with teammates who aren't on his basketball I.Q. page. Mitchell had a great year coming off an injury that forced him to miss all last year, but he also had scoring help from Marcus Thornton.
Which leads me to Downey. He scores (20.2 per game, third in the SEC), he creates (4.6 assists, second), he disrupts (3.0 steals, first) and he's durable (32.9 minutes, fifth). Nobody in the league and few players in college basketball are faster from baseline-to-baseline with the ball in their hands than Downey, and he's fearless taking and making the big shot in the clutch.
-- Freshman of the Year: White. He got his shot at extended playing time when the Rebels lost point guard Chris Warren for the year with a knee injury on Dec. 18. White's size (6-5), his vertical (probably 40 inches) and his calm demeanor have made him not only a steady point guard, but also one of the SEC's most explosive scorers. He averaged 18.4 in conference games, ranking him fourth in the league. He was named on Monday as the conference Freshman of the Week for the third time this season.
-- Coach of the Year: Trent Johnson, LSU: If you don't think Johnson should be Coach of the Year for guiding an LSU team that is 25-6 after winning the SEC regular-season championship, just ask Pearl. "I know it sounds stupid to use this word but I'm really 'proud' of LSU," Pearl said. "Coach Johnson took over what coach (John) Brady (who was fired last season) started and did a tremendous job."
(Ron Higgins writes for The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn.)
