The Villages Daily Sun

ATLANTA (AP) - The Southeastern Conference tournament can be divided into two distinct groups. There's Kentucky, the perennial favorite. Then there's Everyone Else.

The No. 4 Wildcats have dominated the league's postseason tournament, winning more championships than the other 11 members combined. They certainly seem capable of adding to their overflowing trophy case with a deep, talented team that already coasted to the regular-season title.

"Until somebody takes down Kentucky in this thing, it's Kentucky's tournament," Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury conceded Wednesday. "That's just the way it is."

While a pesky rival sneaks up every now and then to topple the Wildcats, they never stay down for long. Kentucky won the last two tournaments and 10 of the past 13, bringing its overall title haul to 25.

Alabama is second in the SEC tournament standings with a paltry six championships. Tennessee (four, the last coming in 1979) and Mississippi State (two) are the only other schools with multiple titles. Then there's Florida, which is 0-for-39 in the conference tourney.

Kentucky (23-4, 14-2) hopes to use this year's event as a springboard to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. The Wildcats are among the handful of teams still in the running for one of the coveted spots, despite a one-point loss at Florida last weekend.

"Kentucky always bring a great team in here," South Carolina forward Carlos Powell said. "They play as hard as they can, and they come in with the confidence of knowing they can win."

As always, the Bluegrass Nation will descend on Atlanta by the thousands, transforming the city into "Cat-Lanta." Anyone who takes the court against the Wildcats will feel like they're playing at Rupp Arena, not the Georgia Dome.

"It's like a home game for them when you see all that blue in the stands," Powell said.

The Wildcats are young - two freshmen start, two more get significant time off the bench - but they have the sort of the depth that leaves other teams huffing and puffing, especially in the grueling tournament setting.

Ten players are averaging at least 10 minutes a game, while no starter averages even 30. With that sort of rotation, everyone is able to stay fresh physically and sharp mentally.

"Our tradition and the championships we've won in the SEC tournament, it speaks a lot," Kentucky senior Chuck Hayes said. "Knowing we're probably going to have the majority of the fans there and we've won so many of these tournaments, it's motivation."

The blue invasion isn't expected until Friday.

Kentucky and the other top-seeded teams - Florida, Alabama and LSU - have an opening-round bye, leaving the first day of the tournament to a mixed bag of teams ranging from 21-win Mississippi State to lowly Georgia (8-19).

Mississippi State is the only team playing Thursday that seems to have any chance of surviving a four-games-in-four-days gauntlet. The Bulldogs won the regular-season title in 2004 and might have made another run at the championship this season if not for a string of injuries.

"We're a little disappointed because we're used to competing for championships," Stansbury said. "But if we take a deep breath and see what we were still able to accomplish, we can be very proud of this team."

The Bulldogs are led by senior forward Lawrence Roberts, a unanimous selection to the All-SEC team. He averaged 17.3 points a game and led the SEC in rebounding (11.1).

Winsome Frazier also made it back on the court after breaking a foot in early January. At first feared lost for the season, the senior guard made a quicker-than-expected recovery, though he's still not at 100 percent.

"He's probably 75 to 80 percent," Stansbury said. "But having his experience and having his toughness, that helps us."

Mississippi State has the advantage of opening against Georgia, which managed only two conference wins - its lowest total since 1974 - while still dealing with the mess left by former coach Jim Harrick.

Georgia has only seven scholarship players and not much hope of extending its season, having already lost at home to Mississippi State 76-62.

"We had a lot of youth and inexperience coming into the season, and we were expecting to have a tough go of it," coach Dennis Felton said. "For the most part, we made great progress this season."

The other first-round games are Vanderbilt (18-12, 8-8) vs. Auburn (13-16, 4-12); Mississippi (13-16, 4-12) vs. South Carolina (15-12, 7-9); and Tennessee (13-16, 6-10) vs. Arkansas (18-11, 6-10).

Vanderbilt is likely the only team from that group with a chance to get in the NCAAs without winning the SEC's automatic bid. As for the others, Arkansas coach Stan Heath summed it up best:

"This is our only chance."