Georgia on their minds
By By Jeff Byrd / sports editor
March 13, 2003
NEW ORLEANS It seems as if everyone had Georgia on their mind Wednesday at the Southeastern Conference Men's Basketball Tournament.
Both Ole Miss head coach Rod Barnes and South Carolina head coach Dave Odom fielded more questions concerning the sudden exit of the 21st-ranked Georgia Bulldogs from the SEC Tournament than about Thursday's game that tips off the 44th league tournament at the Louisiana Superdome.
Before he could talk about the Gamecocks, Barnes gave his assessment of the Georgia situation.
Georgia pulled out of the SEC and NCAA Tournament last Monday in response to allegations of coaching misconduct by Jim Harrick and his staff.
Odom expressed similar concern.
The two coaches, whose teams square off at noon in the opening game of the SEC Tournament, did offer somewhat lighter fare on how things went on Monday afternoon.
South Carolina (12-15) was set to play Alabama Thursday evening. Odom and his team spent a 90-minute practice working on a game plan for the Crimson Tide.
At Oxford, Barnes and his team got about half-way through a workout going over plans to deal with Ron Slay and the Tennessee Volunteers.
Barnes said his basketball SID in Lamar Chance broke the news to him on Monday afternoon.
Things have been a little more upbeat for Barnes and his Rebels since the club was able to snap an 11-game losing streak when the squad beat Arkansas 64-54 in Fayetteville, Ark., last Saturday.
The Rebels had to deal with a tough Carolina defense in the teams' only meeting this season on Jan. 8 in Columbia, S.C. The Gamecocks won 55-49.
The Gamecocks are led by 6-foot-10 center Tony Kitchings. Kitchings had 10 points and 13 rebounds in last Sunday's 60-55 loss to Georgia.
Senior forward Chris Warren, who had 14 to lead the Gamecocks against Georgia, said the Rebels will be tough to score on.
The winner of the Ole Miss-South Carolina game will meet SEC West Division champion Mississippi State (19-8) at noon Friday. The first three rounds of the tournament will be televised by Jefferson-Pilot.
Thursday's other two first round games will have Arkansas (9-19) taking on LSU (19-9) at 2:15 p.m., and Vanderbilt (10-17) meets the Alabama Crimson Tide (17-10) at 6:30 p.m.
Tennessee, which would have had to play first, now has the last game on Friday night against Auburn (19-10).
