Well, I'm still a little depressed over the game Friday, but it looks like the baseball team is putting things together just in time for conference play. Scored two runs in the seventh and one in the ninth to come from behind and beat Georgia to sweep the weekend series. Nate Bumstead pitched great and Tompkins looked good in the closer role. Liuzza hit his second home run of the series to give the Tigers the lead for good. Good luck to the women's basketball team tomorrow and baseball next weekend.
That's the great thing about being a Tiger fan. The Basketball game is history but there's still much to cheer for. Baseball team is really looking good. If we can nail down a solid middle reliever and use Sadler as the closer, this team could be special. I must say, however, except for Auburn and Kentucky, the SEC sucked in the tourney. Can the SEC be weaker than we thought? Looks that way to me.
I am wondering the same thing SabanFan I'm wondering the same thing. All year the sports media talked about how tough the SEC and BIG 12 is. Right now you have 3 teams from the BIG 12 and 2 teams from the SEC in the SWEET 16. The BIG EAST, which has been overshadowed all year, has 4 teams in the SWEET 16. I believe success in the tournament comes from 3 things: 1. Good Coaching. For the most part, the players pretty much neutralize each other. I said for the most part because there are some exceptions. 2. Experience in the NCAA tournament for both coaches and players. Having been there and experiencing what it takes to win in a tournament environment both from preparation and execution is huge. 3. Getting lucky and hot at the right time. Auburn is a key example of this. Auburn received a pretty good draw with a first-round match-up against St. Joseph's and a second round match-up against an inexperience NCAA tournament team #2 seeded Wake Forest. I had Auburn as one of my SWEET 16 teams just from looking at the draw. IMO, Auburn is a very average team who struggles very badly at times. Good draw and good play = SWEET 16 for Auburn this year. The biggest disappointment is Florida. Under Donovan, Florida has been a great regular season team. In the tournament environment, Donovan's teams has struggled badly with the exception of the Final Four team in 1999 (I think). His teams have struggled badly in the SEC tournament and have underachieved in the NCAA tournaments correlating to the seeds they received. Some coached are great recruiters. Some coaches are great regular season coaches. And some coached are great NCAA tournament coaches. I would put Donovan in the great regular season coach and great recruiter category. I apologize because this was a baseball thread but I had to comment on SabanFan's remarks about the NCAA tournament.
isnt he something like 1-8 in the SEC tourny? that is terrible...especially since they usually have a first round bye.
I know it is not good. You are right. They usually get a first round bye. 2003 - Lost to LSU in first game 2002 - Lost to Miss St in the first game 2001 - Beat Alabama and lost to Ole Miss 2000 - (Did not get a bye) Beat Ole Miss Lost to Auburn 1999 - (Did not get a bye) Beat LSU Lost to Arkansas NCAA (From Florida website) 1996-97 Florida 13-17 (.433) 5-11 (.313) 1997-98 Florida 14-15 (.483) 6-10 (.375) NIT; 0-1 1998-99 Florida 22-9 (.710) 10-6 (.625) NCAA Sweet 16; 2-1 1999-00 Florida 29-8 (.783) 12-4 (.750) NCAA Runner-Up; 5-1 2000-01 Florida 24-7 (.744) 12-4 (.750) NCAA Second Round; 1-1 2001-02 Florida 22-9 (.710) 10-6 (.750) NCAA First Round; 0-1)
Actually it would probably still be 2. If Georgia was in the tourney I would bet Auburn would not have been.......they were the last at-large taken.