2008 SEC men's basketball tournament

none March 2026 the women's basketball tournament 2008 SEC women's basketball tournament August 2023 2008 SEC I Men's 2008SECBasketballTournament.png 125px 12 Georgia Dome and Alexander Memorial Coliseum (due to March 14 tornado) Atlanta, Georgia Georgia 2nd Dennis Felton 1st Sundiata GainesGeorgia Wins SEC Men's Basketball Tournament http://www.secsports.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=3&url_article_id=10684&url_subchannel_id=&change_well_id=2 2008-03-16 2008-03-16 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20080320102229/http://www.secsports.com/index.php?s= March 20, 2008 Georgia Sundiata Gaines Georgia 69 Raycom/LF Sports, CBS, ESPN2 The 2008 SEC men's basketball tournament took place on March 13–16, 2008, in Atlanta, Georgia. The University of Georgia, the improbable winner of the tournament, earned the Southeastern Conference's automatic bid to the 2008 NCAA tournament. Synopsis 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.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 Georgia Tech, a school in the Atlantic Coast Conference (and coincidentally a former SEC member). 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.ESPN - Georgia wins thriller over UK, but rare doubleheader peeves Felton - Men's College Basketball Georgia, which had a sub-.500 record (13–16, 4–12 in the SEC) going into the tournament and had to win the title to secure an NCAA Tournament 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. Coincidentally, Georgia won the SEC tournament championship on the home court of its bitter rival, Georgia Tech. This was Georgia's first SEC men's basketball tournament championship since 1983. Television coverage The first, quarterfinal, and semifinal rounds were televised by Raycom Sports, the successor to Lincoln Financial Sports (formerly Jefferson Pilot Sports), which folded into Raycom at the beginning of the year. The regular season preceding the tournament marks the 22nd season of the regionally syndicated package. The SEC Championship Game was produced by CBS, but it was televised by ESPN2. Final SEC Regular Season Standings and Awards Standings SEC East School Coach W L Seed Tennessee Bruce Pearl 14 2 E1 Kentucky Billy Gillispie 12 4 E2 Vanderbilt Kevin Stallings 10 6 E3 Florida Billy Donovan 8 8 E4 South Carolina Dave Odom 5 11 E5 Georgia Dennis Felton 4 12 E6SEC West School Coach W L Seed Mississippi State Rick Stansbury 12 4 W1 Arkansas John Pelphrey 9 7 W2 Mississippi Andy Kennedy 7 9 W3 LSU John Brady (fired Feb. 7) Butch Pierre (interim) 6 10 W4 Alabama Mark Gottfried 5 11 W5 Auburn Jeff Lebo 4 12 W6 Bracket First roundMarch 13 Second roundMarch 14, 15 † SemifinalsMarch 15 SEC Championship GameMarch 16 ‡ W4 LSU 73 E5 South Carolina 77 E3 No. 18 Vanderbilt 93 W6 Auburn 82 E4 Florida 69 W5 Alabama 80 W3 Ole Miss 95 E6 Georgia 97* E1 No. 4 Tennessee 89 E5 South Carolina 87 W2 Arkansas 81 E3 No. 18 Vanderbilt 75 W1 Mississippi State 69* W5 Alabama 67 E2 Kentucky 56 E6 Georgia† 60* E1 No. 4 Tennessee 91 W2 Arkansas 92 W1 Mississippi State 60 E6 Georgia 64 W2 Arkansas 57 E6 Georgia 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 2008 Atlanta tornado outbreak thumb|right|A hiatus in the Alabama vs. Mississippi State quarterfinal on March 14, 2008. The team returned to the court at 10:30 p.m. the same night, and Mississippi State defeated Alabama 69–67 in overtime. During overtime of the Friday night quarterfinal between Mississippi State and Alabama, a tornado hit the Georgia Dome at 9:40 p.m.http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/03/14/domeburst_0315.html Storm damages Ga. Dome, delays SEC game Towers, Chip Mike Knobler Jeff Schultz amp Atlanta Journal-Constitution March 14, 2008 2008-03-15 https://web.archive.org/web/20080510153446/http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/03/14/domeburst_0315.html May 10, 2008 live The National Weather Service had issued a tornado warning at 9:26 p.m., because radar indicated a thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado.SEC tournament delayed as Georgia Dome sustains damage https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/news/story?id=3294382 Mark Schlabach Mark Schlabach ESPN.com March 14, 2008 2008-03-15 https://web.archive.org/web/20080319011212/http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3294382 19 March 2008 live 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.http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/uga/stories/2008/03/14/ugagameburst_0315.html UGA game postponed until Saturday Atlanta Journal-Constitution March 14, 2008 2008-03-15 https://web.archive.org/web/20081201190613/http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/uga/stories/2008/03/14/ugagameburst_0315.html December 1, 2008 live It was rescheduled for Saturday at noon. Due to the severe damage suffered at the Georgia Dome, the remainder of the tournament was moved to Georgia Tech's Alexander Memorial Coliseum. The semifinals began at 6:00pm Saturday in Alexander Memorial Coliseum. Because the games were moved to a significantly smaller arena, only players' families & friends, bands, cheerleaders, and persons with working credentials were admitted.http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/uga/stories/2008/03/14/ugagameburst_0315.html Dogs play at noon Saturday at Georgia Tech Towers, Chip March 14, 2008 2008-03-15 https://web.archive.org/web/20081201190613/http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/uga/stories/2008/03/14/ugagameburst_0315.html December 1, 2008 livehttps://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/champweek2008/news/story?id=3294679 Storm forces SEC tournament move, unusual twinbill Andy Katz Andy Katz ESPN.com 2008-03-15 2008-03-15 https://web.archive.org/web/20080319011151/http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/champweek2008/news/story?id=3294679 19 March 2008 live 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 calling the game. In Arkansas and Georgia, the state's CBS affiliates simulcast the SEC final live rather than the Big Ten final (which aired later on tape delay).2008-03-15 ESPN2 steps in to televise SEC title game Sunday https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/champweek2008/news/story?id=3295512 2021-02-11 ESPN.com en References Category:SEC men's basketball tournament -2008 SEC Menand#39;s Basketball Tournament SEC Men's b Category:Basketball in Georgia (U.S. state)