BROOKLET — The Southeast Bulloch volleyball team is in its first season of competition, but pulled off one of the biggest stunners in the state Wednesday evening.
    The Lady Yellow Jackets exceeded all expectations by simply making the field of the Class AAA state playoffs in their first year. As a No. 4 seed, the Jackets travelled north to face top-seeded Henry County. Three sets later, SEB emerged with a clean sweep and a ticket to the second round of the playoffs.
    Southeast Bulloch moves on to the second round and will travel to Buford for a chance to advance to the Elite Eight. The Jackets will square off against the Lady Wolves next Tuesday.

SEC hoops trying to rebound
    BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — With Kentucky once again leading the way, the football powerhouse Southeastern Conference is trying to reclaim that status in basketball after a mostly desolate postseason.
    The Wildcats — and 10 other SEC teams — were shut out of the NCAA tournament last season. Now, the coaches are predicting a resurgence, and John Calipari's newest crop of highly touted recruits appear to be at the forefront.
    It can't get much worse for either the league or Kentucky, thanks to that program's unforgiving standards.
    Florida was the only one of the three SEC participants to survive the NCAA tournament's first weekend. That poor performance came four years after SEC teams went 1-3 in the tournament but was still unusual.
    Thus came the league's offseason focus on enhancing NCAA resumes, including tougher nonconference schedules.
    "We need to have eight teams every year in the conversation," Calipari said Wednesday at SEC media days. "You have to have anywhere from five to eight teams in the NCAA tournament every year. It's a responsibility for all of us.
    "And we can all be about our own programs and we'll all go down one by one, or we can all be about each other. You've got to bury the jealousy and let's go. I think we're all ears: Let's do this."

    If you have a score or story to report, call the sports desk at (912) 489-9408.