John Clay's Sidelines

SEC links for Saturday:

• Jenkins not sure about NBA draft as Vanderbilt plays home finale against Florida, writes Jeff Lockridge of the Tennessean.
• A win today in Nashville means the SEC title outright for the Gators, writes Kevin Brockway of the Gainesville Sun.
• Alabama is ready to celebrate Senior Day in key game against Georgia, writes Cecil Hurt of the Tuscaloosa News.
• After that 25-point loss at Florida, sputtering Tide determined to return to victory lane, reports Don Kausler, Jr. of the Birmingham News.
• Thompkins’ status up in the air for Georgia in season finale, writes Marc Weiszer of the Athens Banner-Herald.
• A lot of uncertain futures as Arkansas wraps up its regular season, writes Robbie Neiswanger of the Arkansas News.
• Seniors Augustus and Johnson have learned from their mistakes, as Mississippi State plays host to South Carolina, writes Brandon Marcello of the Clarion-Ledger.
• Ole Miss’ Chris Warren is a wizard at the free throw line, writes Kyle Veazey of the Clarion-Ledger.
• SEC bottom feeders dueling for last place, as Auburn meets LSU today, writes Charles Bennett of the Anniston Star.
• Three Alabama football players sidelined for spring practice, reports Michael Casagrande of the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.

(AP photo)

SEC news for Tuesday:

With a 7-1 record, Alabama making noise, says Don Kausler of the Birmingham News.

Now it is starting to get some attention. It isn’t ranked yet in the Associated Press poll or the ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll, but for the first time this season, it has received votes in each poll. It would rank 31st in the AP poll and 34th in the coaches’ poll.

ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi projects Alabama as a No. 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Bama basketball continues to grow, reports Michael Casagrande of the Anniston Star.

According to RealtimeRPI.com, Alabama ranks 97th nationally trailing No. 57 Arkansas – the only conference foe to beat the Tide – in the West Division. Alabama also lags behind teams it beat including Tennessee (21) and Kentucky (12), but they are the only two wins the Tide has over a top-100 team. Both have top-10 schedules while the Tide ranks 146th according to the formula that helps decide who plays for the NCAA title and who stays home.

Tide hires Louisville coach Mike Groh, reports Chase Goodbread of Tuscaloosa News.

Mike Groh has been hired to replace Curt Cignetti on the University of Alabama football coaching staff. Groh, who was a graduate assistant under head coach Nick Saban at Alabama during the 2009 season, spent last season as quarterbacks coach at Louisville.

“We are excited to have Mike join our staff,” Saban said. “He did an outstanding job here a year ago and when he left, he was one that I hoped we could bring back to Alabama at some point.”

Ravern Johnson still in MSU doghouse, reports Clarion-Ledger’s Brandon Marcello.

Johnson violated the university’s class attendance policy, Stansbury said, prompting him to extend the suspension. Johnson didn’t play in last Saturday’s 58-57 win at LSU after sending “inappropriate tweets” on his Twitter account, criticized the coaching staff and fans following a 75-61 loss at Alabama.

After the loss Wednesday, Johnson “just disappeared,” Stansbury said, and missed practices Thursday and Friday. “After Thursday and Friday, he had no conversations with anybody.”

Chandler Parsons leading Florida, writes Gainesville Sun’s Kevin Brockway.

Parsons, who was named Southeastern Conference player of the week on Monday, has made his opponents’ dreams unpleasant of late. Going into Wednesday night’s game at South Carolina, Parsons had put together a string of five straight games with 10 or more rebounds. He’s averaging 12 rebounds per game during that stretch.

The 6-foot-10 Parsons posted the 11th and 12th double-doubles of his career in Florida’s back-to-back wins over Vanderbilt and Kentucky. The No. 17 Gators beat two straight ranked teams for the first time since 2007.

Continue reading ‘Bama basketball making noise; football hires U of L coach’

Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury has banned his players from having Twitter accounts after being ripped by his own player, Ravern Johnson.

According to Brad Locke of the NE Mississippi Daily Journal, after Mississippi State’s loss at Alabama on Wednesday night, Johnson tweeted:

“Starting to see why people Transfer, you can play the minutes but not getting your talents shown because u watching someone else wit the ball the whole game shooters need to move not watch why other coaches get that do not make sense to me.”

Mr. SEC reported that Johnson’s tweets were deleted.

Now the Clarion-Ledger is reporting that Stansbury has banned his players from having Twitter accounts.

After the Renardo Sidney-Elgin Bailey fistfight in the stands in Hawaii, followed by Bailey’s transfer as Sidney was allowed to stay on team, the Mississippi State basketball season has been one huge mess.

(AP photo)

SEC links for Monday:

• Auburn falls behind 22-3 and loses 85-65 at Mississippi State, reports Evan Woodbery of the Mobile Press-Register.
• Ravern Johnson breaks out of scoring slump with 21 points for State, reports Brandon Marcello of the Clarion-Ledger.
• Renardo Sidney adds 15 points for the Bulldogs, reports David Brandt of the AP.
• Pat Dooley of the Gainesville Sun ranks LSU as No. 1 in college football for 2011.
• LSU’s search for an offensive coordinator heats up, reports Glenn Guilbeau of the Shreveport Times.
• Tennessee knows that Georgia’s Trey Thompkins is a challenge, reports Patrick Brown of the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
• Mike Griffith of the Knoxville News-Sentinel writes that Vols are preparing for “hostile” Georgia.

• Injury and mother’s death are weighing on Vandy’s Andre Walker, writes Jeff Lockridge of the Tennessean.

Continue reading ‘SEC: State whips lowly Auburn; LSU No. 1 for 2011?’

SEC links for Saturday:

• Kevin Brockway of the Gainesville Sun reports that Florida’s defense will face a tough test in Tennessee.
• In the AJC, Tim Tucker reports on Georgia’s preparations for its first game without Dennis Felton.
• Roger Clarkson of the Athens Banner-Herald blogs that erasing Felton’s memory is a bit premature.
• Tommy Deas of the Tuscaloosa News reports on the battle of the interim coaches.
• Bryan Mullen writes in the Tennessean that the home has not been sweet for Tennessee, of late.
• John Adams of the Knoxville News-Sentinel writes that SEC wars continue over coaches, recruits.
• Also in the News-Sentinel, Mike Strange writes that Tennessee is finally on the basketball map.
• Maurice Patton of the Tennessean writes that Vandy is keeping spirits up despite losing streak.
• Gary Laney of the Baton Rouge Advocate writes that LSU hopes to continue its good play.
• Also in The Advocate, Joseph Schiefelbein writes that Trent Johnson is already a big part of LSU’s history.

Continue reading ‘SEC links: Florida puts defense to the test’