2008 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament

Infobox NCAA Basketball Conference Tournament
Year=2008
Conference=SEC
Gender=Men's


ImageSize=
Caption=
Teams=12
Arena=Georgia Dome and
Alexander Memorial Coliseum [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_SEC_Men%27s_Basketball_Tournament#Game_delays_and_relocation]
City=Atlanta, Georgia
Champions=Georgia Bulldogs
TitleCount=2nd
Coach=Dennis Felton
CoachCount=1st
MVP=Sundiata Gaines
MVPTeam=Georgiacite web|title=Georgia Wins SEC Men's Basketball Tournament |url=http://www.secsports.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=3&url_article_id=10684&url_subchannel_id=&change_well_id=2 |accessdate=2008-03-16 |date=2008-03-16]
Attendance=
OneTopScorer=yes
TwoTopScorers=
TopScorer=Sundiata Gaines
TopScorerTeam=Georgia
TopScorer2=
TopScorer2Team=
Points=69

The 2008 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament took place on March 13-16, 2008 in Atlanta, Georgia. The first, quarterfinal, and semifinal rounds were televised by Raycom/LF Sports, and the SEC Championship Game was produced by CBS and televised by ESPN2. The University of Georgia, the improbable winner of the tournament, earned the Southeastern Conference's automatic bid to the 2008 NCAA Tournament.

The tournament was originally scheduled to be played at the Georgia Dome, but a tornado struck downtown Atlanta on the night of March 14, while the third of four quarterfinal games was in overtime. While that game was completed, SEC officials decided not to risk playing the fourth game, between the University of Kentucky and University of Georgia. [ [http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/story/1001516.html newsobserver.com | Georgia Tech hosting SEC Tournament ] ] That quarterfinal was subsequently postponed until Saturday morning. That game and all subsequent games were played at Alexander Memorial Coliseum on the campus of the Georgia Tech. Due to the smaller capacity, only the players' families, credentialed media, school officials and 400 fans from each school were allowed to attend the rest of the tournament. [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/champweek2008/columns/story?columnist=schlabach_mark&id=3295052 ESPN - Georgia wins thriller over UK, but rare doubleheader peeves Felton - Men's College Basketball ] ]

Georgia, which had a sub-.500 record going into the tournament and had to win the title outright to secure an NCAA bid, was forced to play and win three games in the space of 30 hours, including two games on Saturday — the original quarterfinal game against Kentucky that was postponed by the tornado and venue change, and the subsequent semifinal game. Ironically, Georgia won the SEC championship on the home court of its bitter rival, Georgia Tech. This was Georgia's first SEC men's basketball championship since 1983.

Final SEC Regular Season Standings and Awards

tandings

2008 SEC Tournament

4RoundBracket-Byes | RD1=First round March 13
RD2=Second round March 14, 15 †
RD3=Semifinals March 15
RD4=SEC Championship Game March 16 ‡
RD1-seed01=W4
RD1-team01=LSU
RD1-score01=73
RD1-seed02=E5
RD1-team02=South Carolina
RD1-score02=77

RD1-seed07=E3
RD1-team07=Vanderbilt
RD1-score07=93
RD1-seed08=W6
RD1-team08=Auburn
RD1-score08=82

RD1-seed09=E4
RD1-team09=Florida
RD1-score09=69
RD1-seed10=W5
RD1-team10=Alabama
RD1-score10=80

RD1-seed15=W3
RD1-team15=Ole Miss
RD1-score15=95
RD1-seed16=E6
RD1-team16=Georgia
RD1-score16=97*

RD2-seed01=E1
RD2-team01=Tennessee
RD2-score01=89
RD2-seed02=E5
RD2-team02=South Carolina
RD2-score02=87

RD2-seed03=W2
RD2-team03=Arkansas
RD2-score03=81
RD2-seed04=E3
RD2-team04=Vanderbilt
RD2-score04=75

RD2-seed05=W1
RD2-team05=Mississippi State
RD2-score05=69*
RD2-seed06=W5
RD2-team06=Alabama
RD2-score06=67

RD2-seed07=E2
RD2-team07=Kentucky
RD2-score07=56
RD2-seed08=E6
RD2-team08=Georgia
RD2-score08=60*

RD3-seed01=E1
RD3-team01=Tennessee
RD3-score01=91
RD3-seed02=W2
RD3-team02=Arkansas
RD3-score02=92

RD3-seed03=W1
RD3-team03=Mississippi State
RD3-score03=60
RD3-seed04=E6
RD3-team04=Georgia
RD3-score04=64

RD4-seed01=W2
RD4-team01=Arkansas
RD4-score01=57
RD4-seed02=E6
RD4-team02=Georgia
RD4-score02=66* Denotes game ended in overtime. † Game originally scheduled for 9:45 p.m. the day before. Postponed due to tornado. ‡ - Game was originally to have been telecast on CBS.

All-Tournament Team

Sundiata Gaines, Georgia (Most Valuable Player)
Terrance Woodbury, Georgia
Charles Thomas, Arkansas
Darian Townes, Arkansas
Mykal Riley, Alabama

Game delays and relocation

During overtime of the Friday night quarterfinal between Mississippi State and Alabama, a windstorm hit the Georgia Dome at 9:40 p.m.cite news | url=http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/03/14/domeburst_0315.html | title=Storm damages Ga. Dome, delays SEC game | author=Towers, Chip, Mike Knobler and Jeff Schultz | work=Atlanta Journal-Constitution | date=March 14 2008 | accessdate=2008-03-15] The National Weather Service had issued a tornado warning at 9:26 p.m., because radar indicated a thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado. [cite news | title=SEC tournament delayed as Georgia Dome sustains damage | url=http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3294382 | first=Mark |last=Schlabach |authorlink=Mark Schlabach | publisher="ESPN.com" | date=March 14 2008 | accessdate=2008-03-15] The storm tore open a panel on the north side of the dome; sheared bolts and insulation fell into the arena. After the storm passed, the teams returned to the court at 10:30 and completed the game.

The Kentucky–Georgia basketball game, originally scheduled for Friday night, was postponed. [cite news | url=http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/uga/stories/2008/03/14/ugagameburst_0315.html | title=UGA game postponed until Saturday | work=Atlanta Journal-Constitution | date=March 14 2008 | accessdate=2008-03-15] It was rescheduled for Saturday at noon, and due to damage suffered by the Georgia Dome, it was moved to Alexander Memorial Coliseum on the Georgia Tech campus. The semifinals began at 6:00pm Saturday night in Alexander Memorial Coliseum. Because the games were moved to a significantly smaller arena, only players' families, bands, cheerleaders, and persons with working credentials were admitted.cite news | url=http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/uga/stories/2008/03/14/ugagameburst_0315.html | title=Dogs play at noon Saturday at Georgia Tech | author=Towers, Chip | date=March 14 2008 | accessdate=2008-03-15] cite news|url=http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/champweek2008/news/story?id=3294679 |title=Storm forces SEC tournament move, unusual twinbill |first=Andy |last=Katz |authorlink=Andy Katz |publisher="ESPN.com" |date=2008-03-15 |accessdate=2008-03-15] The SEC looked at several possible scenarios; one specifically mentioned by media involved playing only the Kentucky-Georgia game on Saturday, playing both semifinals on Sunday, and declaring the semifinal winners co-champions. However, tournament officials were told by the NCAA tournament selection committee (which included SEC commissioner Michael Slive) that it had to finish the tournament in order to preserve the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

The championship game was originally slated to be televised by CBS but was bumped to ESPN2 after the SEC opted to move the tip time to 3:30 p.m. (EDT). The move to ESPN2 was because CBS televised the Big Ten tournament final at 3:30 p.m. However, CBS still produced the game, with announcers Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery, and CBS affiliates in the finalists' home markets carried the game. [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/champweek2008/news/story?id=3295512 ESPN - After tornado delays tourney, SEC title game changing TV networks - Men's College Basketball ] ]

See also

*Southeastern Conference
*SEC Tournament

References

External links

* [http://secsports.com/index.php?s=&change_well_id=2&url_article_id=9534 Tournament Homepage]
* [http://www.secsports.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=3&url_article_id=10684&change_well_id=2 Tournament recap from SECSports.com]