ATLANTA — The LSU Tigers went through a spirited 55 minute workout at the Georgia Dome Wednesday in preparation for the 2002 Southeastern Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament which begins here on Thursday.
The Tigers, 16-13, 6-10 in the SEC and the Western Division’s fourth seed, will take on Vanderbilt (16-13, 6-10), the No. 5 seed in the East, in the opening game of the tournament at 1 p.m. EST (Noon CST) in the Dome, scaled down to 26,000 seats for the event. The game will be broadcast on radio on the LSU Sports Network (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) and on the Internet at www.LSUsports.net. The television broadcast will be syndicated throughout the southeast by Jefferson Pilot Sports (WAFB-TV in Baton Rouge). The LSU-Vandy game will be on Cable Channel 7 locally, while the remainder of Thursday’s games are on Cable Channel 9.
The team shot for about 15 minutes during the drill, getting the feel of the Dome, before walking through several Vanderbilt sets. The session concluded with Coach John Brady talking to his team on the bench for about three minutes before Brady, Ronald Dupree and Jermaine Williams headed to the required press conference session, while the team returned to its headquarters at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Atlanta.
“We’re very excited about being here,” said Brady. “I think this is a wide-open tournament with extremely good team. These four days, I think, will be very unpredictable by looking at the way the entire season went. We beat each other up on the court, but that is why players come to this league because they want to play at the highest level.”
The Tigers come into the tournament feeling about as good as any of the 12 teams in the country with four wins in the last six games and one of the two losses, a heart breaking last season loss to Georgia, the Eastern Division champion and the team that will face the winner of the LSU-Vanderbilt game in the second day’s opener on Friday.
“I feel good about this team and they feel good too and they should by what they have done this season,” said Brady. “We have won 16 game and the players have given us a winning season. I am very proud of this team and what it has done this season. The team is confident and I feel how they feel — play well, have a good time, play hard and execute.”
“I think we are playing well at the right time of the season said two-year second-team All-SEC forward Ronald Dupree of the Tigers. “The injury early in the season to one of our premier players, Collis Temple, hut us a little, but we are past that now. We are playing well and are coming into the tournament with lots of confidence.”
“We have nothing to lose coming into this tournament,” said Williams, LSU’s lone starting senior. “We just have to put our faith in God and go from there. We are here to win four games and it will hopefully start with Vanderbilt.”
The game is expected to be a toss up although Vanderbilt won the earlier meeting of the two teams, 68-63, on Feb. 6 in Nashville. LSU shot 51 percent in that game, out rebounded Vanderbilt by 10, but made just 4-of-11 second-half free throws. LSU rallied from one down at the half to lead 38-30 with 15:50 to play. Vandy won the game late by making its last six three-point attempts and went on an 11-3 run to close the game.
“I am pleased with our team and how our guys have approached coming into the tournament,” said Vanderbilt Coach Kevin Stallings. “We feel as if we have got a lot to play for. We have had a lot of close games against LSU. It is going to be a hard fought and relatively low scoring game. We have hope of playing well and staying around for a while.”
The teams last met in the SEC Tournament two years ago in the 2000 SEC Tournament at the Georgia Dome with the Tigers winning, 71-60, in what was LSU’s first SEC Tournament win since 1993. LSU is 2-2 in the last two years in the tournament.
TOURNAMENT NOTES — Tickets remain available for LSU’s opening round game, although it is through tournament books at $200 each … The first major near capacity crowd of the tournament is expected for the Georgia vs. LSU or Vandy game on Friday as Georgia has sold out of its allotment of tickets and some 250 ticket books purchased from other school … According to Craig Mattox, the SEC’s assistant director of championships, some 24,500 ticket books had been sold as of Tuesday.
Other opening round games on Thursday feature Arkansas (W5) meeting Tennessee (E4) at 3:15 EST with the night session opening at 7:30 p.m. EST with Auburn (W6) looking for the upset against Florida (E3). The 9:45 p.m. EST finale matches South Carolina (E6) versus Ole Miss. (W3).
LSU is 35-41 overall in the SEC Tournament, 14-22 since the renewal of the event in the late 1970s. The Tigers beat Georgia, 63-62, in the first round a year ago in Nashville, before losing to Arkansas, 77-72, in the quarterfinals. LSU’s last appearance in the finals was in 1993, losing to Kentucky at Rupp Arena. This is the eighth time in the last nine years that the Tigers have played on the tournament’s opening day, but for the first time since Divisional play started in the SEC that the Tigers will be the
West fourth seed.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution on Wednesday featuring contrasting stories on the recent history of Ole Miss basketball with feature stories on both present coach Rod Barnes and former coach Ed Murphy, who coached Barnes for his last two years at Ole Miss. After Murphy was fired from Ole Miss in 1992, Murphy has surfaced at Division II West Georgia where he is presently leading the Braves to its sixth consecutive NCAA Division II National Tournament.