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Attendance Not So Fan-Tastic

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By JOEY JOHNSTON The Tampa Tribune

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 14, 2009

Predictably, the SEC Tournament will have one of the smallest attendance figures in league history.

With a struggling economy and the tournament shifted away from the SEC's geographic epicenter (Atlanta), there already were ticket-selling challenges for the St. Pete Times Forum. When the Kentucky Wildcats and Florida Gators crashed out in Friday's quarterfinals, those challenges were magnified as the SEC Tournament was in Florida for only the second time (along with 1990 at Orlando).

Still, Rob Higgins, executive director of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission, said the event has been well-received.

"I don't think you're turning on the TV and seeing a lot of sold-out conference tournaments - anywhere," Higgins said. "There's not a lot of disposable income out there. But we are very appreciative of the SEC Tournament being here to help our local economy.

"We can't control the people who aren't here. Our job is to service the people who are here. And I think everyone has had a great time with the games, the events, the weather. I've heard nothing but positives."

FORUM'S TOURNAMENT ATTENDANCE

Thursday Afternoon - 11,071; Thursday Night - 12,152

Friday Afternoon - 13,306; Friday Night - 14,128

Saturday Afternoon - 10,387

Total - 61,044 (12,208 average per session)

FIVE LARGEST

Ranking the five best performances in Saturday's SEC Tournament semifinals:

1. Wayne Chism, Tennessee - Career-high 27 points (on 10-for-16 shooting) and nine rebounds in a 94-85 victory against Auburn.

2. Jarvis Varnado, Mississippi State - Had 19 points, seven rebounds and seven blocked shots in a 67-57 win against LSU.

3. Korvotney Barber, Auburn - Wonderful offensive afternoon with 24 points (on 11-for-14 shooting), along with nine rebounds against Tennessee.

4. Tyler Smith, Tennessee - Had 23 points - 15 in the second half - against Auburn.

5. Barry Stewart, Mississippi State - Most of his 17 points against LSU came from the free-throw line, where he was 10-for-12.

FOUR ON THE FLOOR

Mississippi State is trying to become the fourth team to win four games in four days at the SEC Tournament. Here are the previous three:

Mississippi State's 6-foot-9, 210-pound Jarvis Varnado, who has a 7-4 wingspan, blocked seven shots against LSU to set an SEC single-season record (159 blocks). Additionally, Varnado has 383 career blocks, 29 behind Shaquille O'Neal's SEC career mark. Varnado lists his most admired shot-blockers:

•Bill Russell

•Wilt Chamberlain

•Ben Wallace

•Shaquille O'Neal

TALE OF THE TAPE

Entering today's SEC Tournament championship game, here's a comparison of the basketball programs at Tennessee and Mississippi State:

Here's the last word from each of the SEC coaches hopeful of an NCAA Tournament bid:

•Kentucky's Billy Gillispie (20-13): "Even I would say it's a long shot."

•South Carolina's Darrin Horn (21-9): "I don't see how you don't take one of the top three or four teams from the SEC when you go back and look at our overall season."

•Florida's Billy Donovan (23-10): "That's not for me to decide. We'll find that out today."

•Auburn's Jeff Lebo (22-11): "We've been the hottest SEC team coming down the stretch. Not just hot for a week or two weeks. I just feel really strongly we deserve to be in."

•LSU's Trent Johnson (26-7): "Full body of work always carries weight for me. Three days, two days, is that more important than three months?"

•Mississippi State's Rick Stansbury (22-12): "We're 7-1 against the SEC East. We're 9-7 in regular-season league games and two of those went into double-overtime. Four road wins. And you go to the finals of the SEC Tournament. You guys media make your case. As long as you make the right case."

•Tennessee's Bruce Pearl (21-11): "I'd say if we're winning the SEC Tournament, that puts us in the 4 or 5 seeded range. But we've got work to do to get there."

FORUM'S TOURNAMENT ATTENDANCE

FIVE LARGEST

FIVE SMALLEST

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