Happy Gump Day: Sears, Philon make All-Conference on the eve of the SEC’s biggest Tournament ever

Good morning to everyone, except this Karen!

“Nick Saban said the word shit twice, bitch once and something else I can’t remember,” the complaint, obtained by AL.com via a Freedom of Information Act request to the FCC, read in part. “I tune (in) to gain knowledge and insight on college football, not to have profanity stuffed in my face by a former coach trying to be funny. It will continue until you (fine) them a million dollars or more. Chinchy fines accomplish nothing.”

1. “Chincy” is not a real world.
2. Nick Saban was “not trying to be funny.” He’s a hillcritter who spent half a century in a male-dominated, very competitive environment with men of all stripes. Euphemisms and off-color analogies are going to happen. That’s the nature of the beast.
3. People who complain about mild profanity in football are the same dunderheads who show up to stadiums and expect a church service. The entire sport is a metaphor for war, FFS. If somehow you made it this far in life and are in such a tizzy about mild imprecatory language, then I would direct your attention to that wordsmith, Ice T — what he said three decades ago is perhaps relevant to you.

Speaking of taking Ls…LOL.

‘Bama Senior PG Mark Sears, to the surprise of no one, was once again named First Team All-SEC. Here was the complete list of season winners.

First up, the league coaches:

2024-25 SEC Men’s Basketball Awards

First Team

Johni Broome, Auburn

Walter Clayton Jr., Florida

Mark Sears, Alabama

Wade Taylor IV, Texas A&M

Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee

Second Team

Josh Hubbard, Mississippi State

Tre Johnson, Texas

Chaz Lanier, Tennessee

Collin Murray-Boyles, South Carolina

Otega Oweh, Kentucky

Third Team

Chad Baker-Mazara, Auburn

Alex Condon, Florida

Jason Edwards, Vanderbilt

Mark Mitchell, Missouri

Sean Pedulla, Ole Miss

All-Defensive Team

Denver Jones, Auburn

Jahmai Mashack, Tennessee

Cameron Matthews, Mississippi State

Anthony Robinson II, Missouri

Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee

All-Freshman Team

Jeremiah Fears, Oklahoma

Tre Johnson, Texas

Asa Newell, Georgia

Tahaad Pettiford, Auburn

Labaron Philon, Alabama

Coach of the Year: Bruce Pearl, Auburn

Player of the Year: Johni Broome, Auburn

Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk, South Carolina

Newcomer of the Year: Chaz Lanier, Tennessee

Freshman of the Year: Tre Johnson, Texas

Sixth-Man of the Year: Caleb Grill, Missouri

Defensive Player of the Year: Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee

It is genuinely wild to me that we live in a world where CMB is second-team; four point guards are on the first team; volume-shooting ball hogs like Taylor make the First Team; and Zakai Zeigler remotely sniffs a first-team nod over Chaz Lanier.

I have a theory if you’d like to hear it? The coaches (SIDs, more likely), rewarded veterans — all five first-teamers are either true seniors or 5th Year senior players. It showed up everywhere too: 60% of the Second Team; 100% of the Third-Team; DPOTY; OPOTY; 6th Man of the Year?

The AP team corrects that, somewhat. But honestly, we probably didn’t need four guards at the expense of omitting CMB. It’s not his fault the Gamecocks sucked.

2024-25 Associated Press All-SEC Awards

First team

Guard — Walter Clayton Jr., Florida

Guard — Tre Johnson, Texas

Guard — Chaz Lanier, Tennessee

Guard — Mark Sears, Alabama

Forward — Johni Broome, Auburn

Second team

Guard — Josh Hubbard, Mississippi State

Guard — Wade Taylor IV, Texas A&M

Guard — Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee

Forward — Mark Mitchell, Missouri

Forward — Collin Murray-Boyles, South Carolina

Individual honors

Player of the Year — Johni Broome, Auburn

Coach of the Year — Bruce Pearl, Auburn

Newcomer of the Year — Tre Johnson, Texas

Dare I mention that Vanderbilt, projected to finish 14th to 16th in league play, has 20 wins, is firmly in the NCAA tournament, and Mark Byington did not win COTY. Nor did Mark Pope, after knocking off a record eight teams inside the Top 15 with a half-injured and absent roster for most of the year. Dennis Gates, whose Mizzou Tigers went 0-18 last season are a Top 25 team?

Nope. Lil’ Ole’ Auburn, preseason Top 10 with a preseason POTY candidate and seven other seniors, somehow overcame the odds thanks to Bruce Pearl, and were able to finish in the Top 10! Everyone loves a scrappy underdog tale!

In the spirit of Gumpiness, first up, you have to watch this: Houston Mallette is such an adorable dork.

The full interview is awesome too, and worth your watch — though it is a bit heavy-handed with overt religiosity given the outlet, there’s a lot to sift through on the secular side as well:

The NCAA Selection Committee has increasingly ignored the conference tourneys. But, just as I do, Jerry Palm thinks the SEC Tournament absolutely matters this season:

What a dominant season the SEC has had. Auburn has been living as the overall No. 1 seed for most of the season, having piled up a whopping sixteen Quad 1 wins. Michigan State is second with 12, but three other SEC teams have hit double-digits already and Florida is right behind them with nine.

The Tigers will likely be the overall No. 1 seed on Selection Sunday as well. Alabama, Florida and Tennessee have all spent time on the top line of my bracket this season and are the leading contenders for the fourth No. 1 seed behind Duke and Houston. If one of them wins the SEC Tournament, that team will get it. If none of them do, Michigan State is in play.

That’s absolutely correct. For now, Florida has that 4th one-seed, but if Alabama or Tennessee win-out, they’re joining Auburn on the one-line (so too will the Gators, if they make the SEC Finals, I suspect).

Huge tournament for a change. And it begins today.

Speaking of great hoops conference, the Dean of SEC reporters has a great story on how the 2024-2025 Cracker Barrel Conference became the most dominant conference in the history of the sport.

Heartbreaking: The worst person in the world just said something I agree with too:

“I really mean this. It’s going to be interesting to see how many coaches want to stay in this league,” Pearl said. “In other words, we’ve got some coaches that are doing great jobs, coaches who’ve really elevated their programs, and they’re still in the middle or lower half of this league because of how tough it is.

“Some of those guys are going to say, ‘You know what? You can have it,’ and go elsewhere.”

Consider Porter Moser at Oklahoma: The Sooners are 19-12, sitting at 36 in the NET, projected to make the SEC tournament…and are 14th in the SEC, with a 6-12 record and fans have had his seat ablaze all season. And he was a Final Four coach three years ago.

It’s going to be very, very enticing for some of the dudes to head elsewhere, or to hit the huge paydays of the NBA should they come a’knocking (please, someone call Todd Golden). Not that the NBA is easier, rather if you’re going to be fighting every year to win 55% you may as well make $10-12M right? Or pull a Shaka, and go somewhere meeting those expectations will keep you around forever…like the Big East.

We have come a long way from 2016, when just three SEC teams were selected to the tournament.

Finally, some injury news on Derrion Reid: Expect him to see a few minutes here and there before hitting the ground running next week when the NCAA tournament begins.

“I thought he looked alright in a limited role,” Oats said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to get him back for some – even if the minutes are just limited because he’s been out so long, just give us something to play a little bit deeper in three straight games.”

Reid is averaging 7.1 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 0.8 assists per game for Alabama in 18 games so far this season. He is shooting 43.6 percent from the field and 25.7 percent from three-point range, adding another 56.6 percent from the free throw line.

Reid has started three games for Alabama this season. His top performance came against Creighton, scoring 12 points in 21 minutes of play.

Finally, there’s a sport called “football” that is practicing at the moment. One name that has been popping up almost every day is transfer corner, Cam Calhoun. And the more that coaches and teammates rave about him, the harder it is to ignore him.

Sounds like Cam is going to be a stud this season on a loaded ‘Bama secondary.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It did not take long for Cam Calhoun to make some noise as the newest member of Alabama’s secondary.

Last Monday, literally the day of first spring ball, Calhoun made a play during the scrimmage portion of practice. On a pass intended for receiver Jalen Hale, the Utah transfer reached out and snatched the ball away for an interception.

It probably would’ve been a cool play for Hale, who sat out all of last season after suffering a knee injury during spring ball. Instead, it became a small coming-out moment for Calhoun — and he plans to make them with some regularity, too.

“He plays with a good energy,” Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said. “He plays with a mindset of attacking the ball and brings some juice to our group.”

For those of you into a sport other than basketball, here’s the story. #BOG

We’ll have your SEC Tournament schedule, bracket and open thread along soon too. I think I scheduled it for 10 Central or something like that.

Your preview for the tournament is here:

Until then, have a great Gump Day

Roll Tide