| | ATLANTA -- LSU coach John Brady tried to get back onto the Georgia Dome court
before he was stopped by a security guard asking for some sort of
identification.
"See, if they don't know who I am here, how can we get a No. 1 seed?" Brady
asked rhetorically.
|  | | Collis Temple III and LSU shot past Vanderbilt into the SEC semifinals -- and a step closer to a possible No. 1 seed. |
Based on the freakiest 48 hours in recent Championship Week history, the
Tigers have as good a shot as any other potential No. 1 seed, if they win the
SEC tournament.
On Friday, Ohio State lost to Penn State in the Big Ten tournament
quarterfinals. Cincinnati lost to Saint Louis after losing its best player
Kenyon Martin with a season-ending broken fibula in the Conference USA
quarterfinals a day earlier. Stanford lost to Arizona on Thursday night -- for the
second time this season. Arizona, which was drilled at LSU in January, was
coming off consecutive losses to Oregon and Oregon State. Syracuse lost to
Georgetown in Thursday's Big East quarterfinals.
Tennessee lost to South Carolina in the SEC quarterfinals. Florida fell to
Auburn on the day the school found out it lost its final appeal on Chris
Porter's eligibility. Later in the day, Kentucky was stunned by Arkansas in
Saturday's finale. The shakeup in the SEC left the best conference with a
final four of LSU, Arkansas, South Carolina and Auburn.
"If the SEC is supposed to be the best league and we win it, we should be
the No. 1 seed," LSU's Stromile Swift said.
The Tigers' case is strong, considering they would be 28-4 if they win the SEC tournament. Their only four losses were in the SEC, with the last one coming Feb. 2. They beat Oklahoma State, Arizona and Fresno State in non-conference games. And they won the SEC West.
"We should be No. 1," Brady said.
Of course, Brady doesn't want to get ahead of himself but he's well aware of
the comparisons with last year's Auburn team, which snuck in as the No. 1
team in the South after a season in which no one took it seriously. All
that's left for LSU to assume the top seed is to win two more games in
Atlanta and see if the trend of potential top seeds stumbling down the stretch continues.
A Duke win in the ACC tournament and a Temple sweep to the title in the
Atlantic 10 would likely wrap up two No. 1 seeds. If Michigan State wins the
Big Ten tournament title, the Spartans would certainly qualify as a No. 1
as well.
"It's like us last year," Auburn's Cliff Ellis said of LSU. "They're a
Cinderella and they should be a No. 1 seed if they win here."
Auburn was closer to a No. 10 seed than a No. 1 after losing three straight games
without Porter. Auburn got closure on the matter Friday, learning Porter's career was over. But the fact that
it was the fourth straight game without Porter seemed to pull Auburn
together more than the issue finally being resolved.
Auburn played with more energy than Florida and sent a message, not only to
the NCAA Tournament selection committee, but also to Cincinnati that all is
not lost without a team's best player.
"We know what they're going through," Auburn's Doc Robinson said of the
Bearcats. "We had time to come together and adjust. I'm sure they will
too."
Ellis said it was only a matter of time before Auburn's chemistry meshed
without Porter. Daymeon Fishback had the best game of his career with 21
points.
"This game was an inspirational win," Ellis said. "This was as gratifying a
win as I've ever had."
Florida coach Billy Donovan made a point of crediting Auburn's win by saying
that they weren't picked preseason No. 1 because of Porter alone.
"Remember they've got two other NBA players on that team," Florida's Teddy
Dupay said of Robinson and Mamadou N'diaye.
And Auburn is suddenly a threat to win a game or two in the NCAA Tournament
again. Ellis said Auburn had to win to change its seed. Auburn can do more
by beating South Carolina and LSU or Arkansas. But no team has more at stake
than LSU. Win and a No. 1 seed is in reach. Do that and LSU should be
considered an equal player in the race for the national title.
"Other than Duke having the perception nationally that they're already
there, it's wide-open," Brady said. "There's a lot of balance out there and
we saw that (Friday) here and everywhere else."
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com. | |
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