We’ve had 11 great days of conference tournaments and now we finally get a glimpse at the best team in the country, as Kentucky joins the party on Bourbon Street today. Yesterday’s SEC opening round got the party started late, with Mississippi State becoming yet another bubble team to implode, losing to 11th-seeded Georgia late last night.
Doogan and Primm nailed all four opening round games last night, so they will try and continue their SEC run today.
#1 Kentucky vs. #8 LSU
The Tigers rode the home crowd to a 16-point victory that ended the Arkansas season early. And, their reward? A date with the #1 team in the country.
17 people have UK winning this whole tournament. 20 people have them winning this game.
#4 Florida vs. #5 Alabama
This is a really good game between two very flawed teams. I’m not really sure why either team is flawed, as they have talent at every spot, but they most certainly are. The Gators lead the nation in 3-pointers made, which is their greatest strength and also, quite possibly, their greatest weakness, in that they are so reliant on the long ball, and they tend to force so many shots, that they can shoot themselves out of a game really easily. ‘Bama, on the other hand, should be a lot more consistent than they are. Size and athleticism comes to the table every game, so it’s hard to imagine why this big, athletic ‘Bama team doesn’t show up some days.
Alexi, Dave, Gross, J, KA, Lynch, and Teddy all have Alabama in the mild upset here. KA has Alabama in the finlas. RDoc has Florida in the finals.
#2 Tennessee vs. #7 Ole Miss
Ole Miss, who looked rather far from the NCAA tournament at the beginning of the day yesterday, did what a lot of teams in their position (and better) did not do – they took care of business against a team they should have beaten. While teams like Washington, Northwestern, Illinois, and conference-mate Mississippi State were busy losing games they should have won, the Rebels dispatched of an inferior Auburn team (sending them home to deal with point-shaving allegations) to set up a quarterfinal date with one of the hottest teams in the country. It’s strange how we can just write teams off at some point in a college basketball season and then they turn around and force us to take notice. The Vols were dead and buried, entering February, but they have won 8 of their last 9 and look like a completely different team with Jarnell Stokes in the lineup. What a coaching job Cuonzo Martin has done in Knoxville this year, and now they have a shot to really put themselves into legit tournament discussion here.
This deep in the competition, this game could really make waves on the CTC leaderboard, as 6 people have a pretty big upset pick here with Ole Miss (Dave, Doogan, J, KA, Mac, Primm). Moreover, the top 6 on the overall standings page entering today are exactly split 3 and 3 on this game, so all eyes are on New Orleans to see how this shakes out. Incidentally, Lynch is the only one of the entire 20-person field to pick the 2-seed Tennessee to even make the finals, so the ramifications of this game are a one-time thing.
#3 Vanderbilt vs. #11 Georgia
An amazing day of madness had one last act to play out yesterday, and that was the UGA upset of 6th-seeded and bubble hopeful, Mississippi St. The ‘Dawgs were in control most of the way and ended up with a double-digit win that caused ripples in SEC and CTC circles, alike. Now, they go for another big upset, as they entertain 3rd-seeded Vanderbilt. The Commodores have had a very peculiar season, in that they were pegged (understandably) as a Top 10 team in the preseason. Their talent and experienced is unrivaled by all but the best teams in the nation. But, in the beginning of the year they weren’t very good (or so you’d be led to believe by the national media). In reality, they did have a head-scratching loss IN NOVEMBER to Cleveland State. Then, they lost back-to-back overtime games to Xavier and Louisville, followed by a win at Davidson and another loss to a mid-major – this time Indiana St. But, CSU and ISU are very good mid-majors and Xavier and L’ville were both in the top 10 when they beat the ‘Dores. They went 10-6 in the SEC, with 2 losses to UK, an OT loss to Miss St. and road losses to Florida, Arkansas, and Tennessee. They have posted double-digit wins over Florida and Marquette (on the road). While they may not have been quite as good as people realized, I don’t see why they are seen as this huge disappoinment. This was a good season by a potentially great team. Watch out for them next week.
Gersh, Gross, Lynch, and Rikey have all lost this game already with Miss St. The other 16 all have Vandy here, with 15 of them taking the ‘Dores to the finals. KA, Mac, and RDoc have Vandy cutting down the nets on Sunday.
