Five Tiny Tidbits On: The SEC East

Thought we were done previewing things? How could you think that, with your NCAA Basketball Tournament office pool a mere five months away? You've got to start studying now if you want to storm the Bastille. So who's with me? Let's Gooo! Send tips on your favorite team to [email protected].

• 1. We Are Marshall. Billy Donovan, one of only three NCAA coaches to have played in the Final Four and win the national championship as a coach (Bobby Knight and Dean Smith are the others), got his first head coaching job at Marshall University, where his teams went 35-20 over two seasons.

• 2. Vive Le France! Tennessee junior guard Chris Lofton is a big deal in his hometown of Maysville, Ky., where No. 5 Volunteers jerseys are available at most retail outlets. But he's not as big a deal as fellow Maysville natives George Clooney and Miss America 2000 Heather French.

• 3. The Fatalist. Three tiny tidbits from Kentucky player bios: Junior guard Ramel Bradley lists his heroes in life as "My mother, grandmother and Jay-Z." ... Seven-foot-1 senior center Lukasz Obrzut's nickname is "Woo." ... Senior forward Bobby Perry lists his biggest achievement as "Living 20 years," his motto as "Live like you are dying," and wears No. 13. Oh, and he has 66 cousins; perhaps he has a fear of being trampled.

• 4. Harrick Rules. We refuse to do the math this early, but when Jim Harrick resigned at Georgia amidst accusations of academic fraud in 2003, he received the remainder of his base salary that amounted to $254,166. Had he stayed through the remainder of his contract, though, he would have gotten $2.1 million. His son, assistant coach Jim Harrick Jr., who was actually fired, taught a class to players in which everyone got an A, and no one actually showed up.

• 5. Show Me the Money. Vanderbilt freshman guard Jermaine Beal's nickname? Dolla Beal ... teammate Shan Foster first learned basketball by "shooting a ball through a hole in a bush at my grandmother's house" at the age of 5.

Tomorrow: The SEC West