The Southeastern Conference's basketball league will look much different next season and really will be good overall for the state of the league.  Change is good and what it does is simply puts the SEC standings in a No. 1 through No. 12 format rather than by six-team divisions.

Due to this change in having all the teams lumped together, the SEC's postseason tournament may feature a different look. With divisional champions and runners-up no longer a reality, first-round byes will be awarded to the top four teams regardless of geographic location.

Regular-season schedules will remain untouched -- for now.  SEC teams currently play a 16-game conference schedule but this could change in the future as it was voted by the coaches to create a task force to evaluate possibilities involved with altering schedules to better fit the new, single-division construct.  So you could see a conference schedule with anywhere from 18-22 games in the future.

Based on the upcoming change, here is how last season would have looked if the change was in place -

Well-traveled Murphy Holloway has gone from Irmo to Oxford to Columbia and now back to Oxford.  Seems this is going to be his last stop despite rumors of a continued stay as part of the South Carolina basketball team. 

If you recall, Holloway signed to be a Ole Miss Rebel out of high school and spent two years there only to change his mind due to family issues and became a Gamecock.  The stint at USC allowed him to be closer to family but he never suited up as a Gamecock.  With expectations high for Holloway in the garnet and black, the young man had another change of heart that lead him to make a choice to leave USC to return back to the Ole Miss camp.

Parrish Alford of Inside Ole Miss Sports writes that Ole Miss is making plans for Holloway to be a Rebel as soon as Summer Session II and at that time they will ask the NCAA for a one year waiver that will allow Holloway to play in the 2011-12 season.  

Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy had this to say on the issue that seems to put the idea of Holloway coming back to USC to rest - “He's already signed an SEC agreement to Ole Miss. So there is no going back to South Carolina.”

With the ink dry on that paperwork and the NCAA likely not to take up the case until the start of school, his days as a Gamecocks appear to be over.  With it, expectations for Coach Horn's crew in the upcoming season decrease and the ongoing rebuilding of the Gamecock basketball program continues on.

South Carolina basketball coach Darrin Horn somehow got in the "rumor mix" for the vacant basketball opening at Murray State.  Fans and pundits on twitter gave it some traction yet Coach Horn quickly squashed the speculation before any traction was made or USC fans could think "what if."

The SEC Hoops Power Poll is convening one last time this season for a year-end roundtable. It was an interesting year with lots to discuss about each team and what the future holds. Hope you enjoy our answers to the questions, check out the other blogs for their responses and make sure to look out for the final synopsis of roundtable answers over at GABA.

Here are our answers to the questions:

The South Carolina Gamecocks men’s basketball program landed their third commitment in the class of 2011 as junior college guard Brenton Williams gave his pledge to Coach Darrin Horn.  Williams visited USC over the weekend and the commitment to be a Gamecock was made.

Blame college football recruiting on missing the news that former South Carolina basketball player Austin Steed will be a member of the East Carolina Pirates basketball team in 2011-2012.  He will have one year of eligibility to play basketball for ECU.

After news of Murphy Holloway leaving Horn's program, I began to think on where some of these kids have ended up since they were not the "right fit for USC basketball."  Well low and behold, Austin Steed as taken his game to Greenville, NC.  Seems he was not good enough for USC and SEC basketball but he can compete in Conference USA.  Boy, looking back, the Gamecocks really could have used this past year for inside help.

In the 2009-2010 season, Steed averaged 2.9 points and 2.9 rebounds. He made 11 starts, but following some unproductive outings found himself on the bench and played very little over the latter part of the season.  At the conclusion of the season in 2010, he was informed by Coach Darrin Horn that he wouldn't be on the Gamecocks roster in 2010-11. Horn did, however, give him the option of retaining his scholarship to earn his degree.

Seems he will complete the degree and head north to help Coach Lebo and the Pirates.  I mention this today for two reasons:

1.  This is news to me as I missed it.
2.  What is the back story on this?

Steed is a big body that the Gamecocks could have used but he is another victim, much like Galloway and Spinella, of not being the right fit for the USC men's basketball program.  I would like to know more about this but I guess, let "dogs lie."  Still, this is interesting news...even if two months late.

South Carolina men's basketball Coach Darrin Horn is having a stressful week.  Murphy Holloway announced today that he would be transferring back to Ole Miss.  Holloway never played for USC but was being eyed to help the program greatly in the upcoming season.

Murphy Holloway is the fourth player this week to walk away from Horn’s program. Tuesday sophomore guards Ramon Golloway and Stephen Spinella announced they were transferring and Wednesday freshman point guard Bruce Ellington decided to join the football team with the intention of playing both sports.

The South Carolina Gamecocks men's basketball program has lost sophomore guards Ramon Galloway and Stephen Spinella as Gamecock head coach Darrin Horn announced today.

Not shocked by Spinella making this choice as he only played in 15 games last season and saw his role diminsh greatly.  He averaged just 2.5 points and 1.4 rebounds in those games.  He played in 44 career games at USC, averaging 1.8 points in 10.2 minutes per game.  He never seemed to reach his potential at South Carolina.

But Ramon?  Did not see this one as I thought he enjoyed "jacking three's" for USC.  Galloway played in all 30 games this past season and averaged 10.7 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.7 assist per game.  He fit the 6th man mold very well and would have been a nice fit in next year's team.

Wish both the best but this is interesting for the men's program....could Horn be changing his offensive strategy and these two did not like the direction or is it not that simple?  This is the 5th or 6th player to either leave or be asked to leave the program under Horn's watch so this your team. 

Horn is 50-41 in three seasons at South Carolina and let's hope things improve in 2011-2012 now that Horn has cleaned house.

By now you have filled out 15 brackets, between ESPN and your office pools. I will breakdown each regional and let you know if there are going to be any upsets.  I am no Jay Bilas, and I can't really tell you how many teams are in the tournament or if the first round starts on Tuesday or Thursday.  I do however watch a ton of college basketball and have a pretty good idea about most of the teams in the tournament.

So here goes....