SEC Tournament to KC?

Also, Alabama to play in Missouri SOON?

http://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1308305

HURT: Expansion brings new markets
Cecil Hurt
TideSports.com Editor

As the interminable wait for the BCS championship game nears a more-manageable three-week countdown, there has been a window of opportunity to do a few different things - including the new territory that has been annexed into the Southeastern Conference.

Fortuitously, the University of Alabama basketball team was in Kansas City on Saturday (although not playing one of their future SEC brethren), which created a golden opportunity to look at the new western border of the league.

Technically, one could argue SEC territory stretches all the west to El Paso now (although I am not sure how strong the Aggie sentiment is in that community.) It's more instructive to consider the league's new territory as extending to a line down from Kansas City, through Fayetteville and into the Dallas and Houston megalopolises (or is it megalopoli?).

Those (and St. Louis) are the vaunted "new television" markets. Whether Kansas City is Missouri Tiger territory is another question - Kansas is far closer and there is a pervasive Jayhawk feel, or it seemed so to me.

Without belaboring points that have already been made about the cultural ties between this area and the South - yes, there are a lot of good barbecue places here - it is clear Kansas City is a sports town. The Chiefs are the clear heroes here, even in a dismal coach-fired year.

The most recognizable Alabama football names, perhaps even ahead of Nick Saban, are Javy Arenas and Wallace Gilberry. There's another Alabama link.

The big mural downtown at the Sprint Center is sports-related and features the legendary pitcher of the Kansas City Monarchs, Satchel Paige (from, you guessed it, Mobile, Alabama.) The point isn't to find every minuscule thread that leads back to Alabama. It's just to note Kansas City - and perhaps most of Missouri, outside of St. Louis - has proven college sports interest and should be fertile ground for the SEC.

Alabama football fans may get a chance to test that, more quickly than expected. Nothing official has been released concerning the expansion-altered SEC football schedule for 2012, but it would not surprise me if Alabama's first visit to Missouri comes sooner rather than later. It could come much sooner. Much, much sooner. Take that in the spirit of a Christmas hint.

There is also a solid chance the SEC basketball tournament will be coming to Kansas City in a few years - Missouri certainly wants it to be played in the Sprint Center - and that wouldn't be terrible.

The arena is the hub of the Power & Light district downtown and it would be roughly similar to having the tournament in Nashville. The difference, of course, is it wouldn't be centrally located, and the crowd would be primarily Kentucky fans, sprinkled with Arkansas and Missouri. Face it, if the SEC Tournament were held in Anchorage, it would be "primarily Kentucky fans."

Certainly, expansion has its pros and cons, and it will be hotly debated again as soon as the new 2012 football schedule comes out. After all, you can't please everyone. But Texas A&M and Missouri are fine schools, and if growth was inevitable - and perhaps it was - there are certainly worse places to grow.

Cecil Hurt is sports editor of The Tuscaloosa News. Reach Cecil Hurt at cecil.hurt@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0225.

So now KU is running commercials on 810 trying to lay calim to KANSAS City. They are like a ****ing Chihuahua pissing on every tree in the neighborhood.

Hey Kansas. The rest of the local schools are a combined 4-0 in Kansas City this year. You are 0-2.

So now KU is running commercials on 810 trying to lay calim to KANSAS City. They are like a ****ing Chihuahua pissing on every tree in the neighborhood.

Hey Kansas. The rest of the local schools are a combined 4-0 in Kansas City this year. You are 0-2.

If there is a year to jump on Kansas to feel better about yourself...this IS the year.

Considering the fact that KU is 0-for-the-year against Mizzou when it comes to athletic competition of any kind at the halfway point (end of first semester), I'd say that's a pretty accurate statement.

Enjoy it.

I hope they keep doing just so I can see Saul Good wail like a bitch. LMAO

The only trophies you care about are the ones you get for beating KU?

KU aims higher I suppose.

I hope they keep doing it too. Every time I see one of those billboards, I smile thinking of KU flailing around trying to feel important. Then I think about the 6,000 Kansas fans that showed up to Arrowhead to watch their team get beat yet again, and my smile becomes a laugh.

Really? I thought it was quite effective.

The coach nearly beat mu and still got fired. People not showing up to the game was a clear sign that they wanted a change. No matter how the game went.

That and all the dollars that have been brought in to hire Weis and get rid of Gill.

KU is in fine position. The media blitz has been as expected. missouri has abandoned Kansas City, why not cement your standing here locally?

Yes.

The way MU manhandled a very good KU defense all game is something to smile about.

You Kansas fans are adorable. A 14 point loss = "nearly beat MU".

Regardless of the final deficit. It was an exciting game for us adorable fans.

Most football programs...good or bad...can hang 4-5 TDs on KU by halftime.

We weren't use to holding a football team to 3 pts at halftime with our inept defense.

Congrats.

You're the one who's got his panties in a bunch over some stupid ad campaign, champ.

LMAO

Considering that KU was beaten by 30+ points 6 times during the season, then leading at halftime, to only losing by 14 points to the powerhouse MU. Again, good job on barely beating the worst team in the country.