With the regular season winding down and the Southeastern Conference and NCAA tournaments fast approaching, a few coaches are changing their focus.
Earlier in the week, Kentucky coach John Calipari said his team is focused more on its seeding in the NCAA Tournament than its position in the East.
Florida coach Billy Donovan acknowledged Calipari has had great success but countered that taking things one day at a time can be extremely important when dealing with student-athletes.
“When you start talking about weeks down the road and don’t take care or prepare for today, I don’t know if you’re going to be prepared later on,” Donovan said.
Donovan acknowledged his team is looking at the league race but added the true focus is always on the next game.
Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings agreed with the ends Calipari had in mind but felt differently about the means.
To Stallings, the key to getting in the NCAA Tournament is his team doing as well as it can in SEC play and the conference tournament.
“I haven’t talked about NCAA Tournament seeding at all,” Stallings said. “Not one bit.”
Stallings added seeding is largely unimportant, citing Vanderbilt’s last three trips to the Big Dance. The Commodores were a fourth seed twice and suffered a first-round defeat each time, but they advanced to the Sweet 16 in their one trip as a No. 6 seed.
SEC GAME OF THE WEEK: With Florida holding a two-and-a-half-game lead in the SEC East, second-place teams Vanderbilt and Georgia know every game the rest of the way will be crucial.
Both are 6-4 in the conference and will square off Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Athens, Ga.
“It’s a tremendous challenge. It always is when we play them,” Stallings said. “But with tremendous challenge comes tremendous opportunity.”
The matchup will be the team’s second meeting this season, as the Commodores notched a 73-66 win over the Bulldogs on Jan. 12.
The contest pits Georgia’s big three of Travis Leslie, Gerald Robinson and Trey Thompkins against a balanced Vanderbilt squad that leads the SEC in scoring offense.
“There’s a lot of things that impress you about Vanderbilt,” Georgia coach Mark Fox said. “I wouldn’t say there’s an area of the game that you’d say they’re deficient.”
WEEKLY AWARDS: Vanderbilt guard John Jenkins was named the SEC Player of the Week after leading the Commodores to wins over Alabama on Thursday and Kentucky on Saturday.
The SEC’s leading scorer, who recorded 20 points against the Crimson Tide and notched a career-high 32 versus the Wildcats, now has 14 games this year with 20 points or more.
“He’s just done a great job of making himself better,” Stallings said. “He’s gotten a lot better off the dribble. … But at the same time, he’s a terrific shooter.”
The SEC Freshman of the Week honor went to Kentucky’s Terrence Jones, who averaged 17.5 points, 10 rebounds and 3.5 blocks in games against Vanderbilt and Tennessee.
Jones leads the SEC with eight double-doubles and has scored at least 10 points in 16 of his last 17 games.
