UK basketball notebook: Dykes sees a need to re-seed in SEC

With Southeastern Conference play beginning next weekend, there seem to be two leagues to ponder. All six Eastern Division teams will go into SEC play boasting a top-100 Ratings Percentage Index. Across the basketball tracks, only one Western Division team — Mississippi — has an RPI in the top 150.

That kind of disparity makes for interesting speculation. The team that finishes last in the Eastern Division might receive a bid to the NCAA Tournament, while the team that wins the Western Division does not.

Although Tennessee Coach Bruce Pearl surely has more pressing problems on his mind, the SEC dichotomy of haves and have-nots gives new life to one of his ideas. A year ago, he proposed that the SEC re-seed its post-season tournament rather than automatically assigning first-round byes to the teams that finish first and second in each division.

ESPN's lead analyst for SEC basketball, Jimmy Dykes, agrees.

"The teams third and fourth in the East will be superior to the teams first and second in the West," he said last week. "There's nothing fair about that no matter how you look at it."

Ashley Scott Michelle Behennah Julie Benz Saira Mohan Brittny Gastineau