SEC Tournament Day 1 Recap

Well after a long night the BBNR crew is back at the hotel and trying to rest up for what will be a wild day in downtown Nashville tomorrow. It's been a long day but there is a "Christmas Eve" feeling in Music City as the "Big Blue Mist" has reached a fever pitch.

I don't think anyone can appreciate what is going on here unless they are here, witnessing it. I've run into multiple people along Broadway floating in and out of the local watering holes, looking, no begging for tickets. Last word I got from a scalper was that tickets for tomorrow's session featuring Kentucky and Tennessee are going for $350 a ticket and that's if you can even find one. As Gomez said earlier, the supply will not meet demand this weekend, not even close. There is an estimated 50,000 UK fans in Nashville and it's expected that-that number will grow throughout the weekend.

Today's festivities started off slowly. The arena was just scantly full for the first game between Alabama and South Carolina. I was intrigued by this match up because the winner would be meeting the Cats tomorrow in the quarter finals. It also was my first opportunity to watch Devan Downey live. It was a subdued crowd with the most excitement coming when one of the Cats, who were watching the game, made their way on one of the jumbo screens. As other fans caught on they began booing when Wall, Patterson or Cousins graced the screen, which only made the big blue faithful cheer louder. Meanwhile on the court, the Gamecocks slowly pulled away. Matter of fact, the Gamecocks dominated the game until about the 5 minute mark when the Tide began to roll back from a 16 point deficit. The end result winning the date with Kentucky tomorrow.

The second game of the opening session was Tennessee and LSU. By the time the game started the arena was full and Tennessee fans filtered in from what appeared to be no where. The Vols slept walked through most of the game and did not shoot particularly well from the field. LSU made just enough plays to keep it interesting. In the end, to no one's surprise Tennessee pulled away to win by 10.

The evening session saw Florida beat Auburn and Georgia beating Arkansas. Nothing really surprising in either game, but it could lead to some changes in the West Division. It's not been a very good secret that Lebo's days at Auburn could be numbered and Pel may not be too far behind. Georgia controlled the game tonight from bell to bell and you could hear the buzz from the Arkansas fans in attendance as they exited the arena. One fan told us that they liked Pel but that he may just not be the right fit in Arkansas. So we might have witnessed two eras come to an end in Nashville tonight. Let's hope that Pel gets another chance, because he does have talent and all of his key players will be back next season.

All in all it was a great day in Nashville and we are absolutely giddy about the game tomorrow. We have had some issues with the wifi access at the arena, but we'll try to give posts when possible. Our day will begin in the morning at 10 for the pep rally and we'll be at the arena for the noon tip. See you then!