Auburn #8 seed in SEC Tournament

[WarTiger 3,901]

So much for actually writing the rules down. It appears the SEC will decide which rules to actually follow now in any given year.

KNOXVILLE – Auburn will be the No. 8 seed in next week’s Southeastern Conference Tournament and will play No. 1 seed South Carolina at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at Region’s Park.

Senior Kevin Patterson says Tigers will be ready to play.

The SEC shocked Auburn coaches and officials with that decision after the Tigers 4-3 on Saturday afternoon.

Arkansas, which rallied to beat Ole Miss 5-3 and sweep a doubleheader, won the West outright. Auburn, Mississippi State and Alabama finished tied for second with 14-16 SEC records. The SEC office said Mississippi State will be the No. 6 seed, Alabama No. 7 and Auburn No. 8.

That is apparently in conflict with the league’s own tiebreaker.

In a three-team tie, the first tiebreaker is record against the other two teams. Auburn was 2-4, Mississippi State was 4-2 and Alabama was 3-3. As a result, Mississippi State got the No. 6 seed. According the written rules, the tiebreaker then reverts back to head-to-head, which would have made Auburn the No. 7 seed.

Here’s the rule:

“ Three-Team Tie (or more): When three or more teams are tied for a finish, the following procedure will be used (in descending order until the tie is broken): Once the tie has been reduced to two teams, the two-team tiebreaker procedure as stated in No. 1 above will be used.

“A. If all three teams are common opponents: Total won-lost percentage of games played among the tied teams.

“B. Won-lost percentage of the tied teams versus the No. 1 seed and proceeding through the No. 8 seed, if necessary, using common opponents only.

“C. If three or more teams still are tied, the Commissioner will conduct a draw.”

The No. 1 the rule to which the rule refers says the first tiebreaker is head-to-head competition. Auburn beat Alabama two out of three.

Here it is:

“Two-Team Tie: When two teams are tied for a finish, the following procedure will be used (in the following order until the tie is broken):

“A: Won-lost results of head-to-head competition between the two tied teams.”

But the SEC announced the pairings after all Saturday’s games were complete, and Auburn was No. 8. That means they are in the same tournament bracket with No. 1 South Carolina and No. 4 Vanderbilt, overall co-champions, and No. 5 Georgia.

John Pawlowski’s third Auburn team needs (29-27, 14-16) needs to win at least one game to qualify to have a winning overall record and qualify for a regional.

Senior first baseman Kevin Patterson said the Tigers will be ready, despite Saturday’s disappointment.

“Nothing has come easy for us all year,” Patterson said. “I remember when we were 2-7. We came back and had a chance to win the West. We’re going to keep fighting.”

While Auburn contends with three teams from the East, including two co-champions, three West Division teams will be in the opposite bracket with only Florida from the East.

Saturday's loss was indeed costly.

[80Tiger 899]

I think yesterdays loss really has hurt the NCAA tournament chances. It is going to be a tall order to keep from going two and out at the SEC. And on top of that the SEC West is very average from top to bottom.

[AUn Collierville 1]

Here’s the rule:

“ Three-Team Tie (or more): When three or more teams are tied for a finish, the following procedure will be used (in descending order until the tie is broken): Once the tie has been reduced to two teams, the two-team tiebreaker procedure as stated in No. 1 above will be used.

“A. If all three teams are common opponents: Total won-lost percentage of games played among the tied teams.

The won-lost percentage took care of the tie. If AU had been 3-3 against the common opponents, as UA was, then other rules would have applied. The missed opportunities are disappointing, but hopefully they will do well in the tournament. They have certainly made things difficult.

[autigeremt 6,620]

I have little confidence we will win a game, much less two this week/weekend.

Going by the way the season has gone and the way this team rides a roller coaster, we will win the SEC tourney and get booted early in a regional.

[Mikey 16,600]

I have little confidence we will win a game, much less two this week/weekend.

Going by the way the season has gone and the way this team rides a roller coaster, we will win the SEC tourney and get booted early in a regional.

Someone just emailed me a few of the final SEC statistics for the season. Our pitching was last or near to last in a number of categories including walks and ERA. We led the league in errors.

On offense, we led in number of batters striking out and number of runners caught stealing.

Looking at those stats, it's hard to see how we won as many games as we did.

No, I do not expect us to do anything in the SEC tournament. At every turn this season when winning a game would make some significant difference, we managed to lose it.

[buzzurd24 11]

Not trying to be so negative but, this team has done more to play its way out than to play its way in. I know AU replaced a lot from last year's team but, this team contiunes to squander opportunities.

[Mikey 16,600]

The problem is that this year's team was a veteran squad. Only four or five freshmen and sophomores saw significant playing time. Next season will be the real rebuilding year. I don't like the direction we're headed in.

look around the infield; 1b,sr~2b,sr~ss,jr, heading to pros~3b,jr~c,sr. The outfield looks about the same. Where are the replacements coming from?

[autigeremt 6,620]

Good points, Mikey. I spoke to Cullen Whacker's dad a few weeks ago before the UGA game, and he said the exact same thing (his dad was a very good player with USA back in the 60's).