Teams no one really wants to face:
Miss. State -- Vanardo can change games and the Dogs are as close to the top of the bubble as any team in the Conference.
Florida -- If they don't at least split their final two, they are right there with MSU on the bubble.
Georgia -- any team that is 15 points or less from being the #2 seed instead of the 5 or 6 is not a team you want to face on any given day. That is Georgia. They made that point emphatically with an unofficial win against Vandy in Memorial last week (of course, with the Vandy refs, it was an official loss).
USC -- because they have the best player in the SEC and they have almost nothing to lose, except maybe another potential race to the NIT final four.
Kentucky -- because they are the only team that will have at least 2 of their fans wearing stripes and sucking whistles on the court.
Some bad news and good news for select teams:
Kentucky -- there are a few teams that they really don't want to face. UT has to be one because we outplayed them in both games this season (the Refs kept it from being a Vol win in Rupp and kept it from being a Vol blow-out in TBA). I suspect that UGA is another. UGA is the one team in the league that has as much beef in the post as KY. KY beat them by 8 points in Rupp early in the SEC season (Jan 9). In that game UGA outplayed KY in every facet of the game except 1. Guess what it was? Talk about a softball question -- KY shot 33 free throws to UGA's 15. The 10 point difference in FT points was the difference in the game. KY plays UGA in Athens on Wednesday. That will be an interesting game. If UGA wins that game or USC loses at Vandy, UGA gets the SEC East 5 seed. And the East #1 seed gets East 5/West 4 winner in the Quarterfinals.
Tennessee -- If KY is indeed the SEC East #1, we might not mind facing them in the Semis (if we can leave Tony Green and Doug Sirmons in the KY section where they belong instead of on the court), but we wouldn't want to face UGA either. We have serious problems handling Thompkins in the low post.
Vandy -- I'm not sure they want to face anyone in Nashville if they aren't playing in Memorial. They'd be happy to see UGA in the other bracket, but interestingly, Vandy is almost the anti-UGA. Instead of losing 6-8 games by very slim margins, Vandy has won 6-8 by slim margins. They struggled with Ole Miss, Bama, MSU, and Auburn. LSU and Arkansas are the only West teams they haven't struggled with. Unless KY loses out and Vandy wins out, guess who won't be on Vandy's side of the bracket? LSU and Arkansas. Guess who will? 3 of the 4 above West teams.
Florida -- they may be better off in Vandy's bracket. They have had a respectable SEC season. Losing to KY at home, and Vandy, UT, USC, and UGA on the road is nothing to be embarassed about. Everyone else in the East has stumbled in at least one of those games. One gets the sense though that FL's two nightmare match-ups are UT and KY, both of whom appear to be safely on the other side of the bracket if FL is the 4th seed from the East.
MSU -- Has there ever been a team least deserving of getting the automatic bid? I mean, all they have to do is beat Rider and Richmond at home earlier in the season and WKU on the road (three teams that have no business beating MSU) and they are 24-5 overall, at least 10-6 in the SEC (assuming they take care of business at Auburn this week), winners of the Western Division and in the Dance with 1 win in the SEC Tourney. But instead, they really need to beat Auburn and the Vols this week and get to the Semis of the SEC tourney to even have a puncher's chance of getting in. The bad news for them is that Florida is their likely opponent in the Quarterfinals in what may be a playoff game for one of those last spots in the field of 65. And in that situation, my money is on the Gators.
Conventional Picks:
Semifinal Games -- UT/KY and Vandy/Florida
Championship -- KY/Florida
Champ -- Slive's Baby.
Upset Picks:
Semifinal Games -- UT/UGA and Ole Miss/Florida
Championship -- UGA/Florida.
Champ -- UGA.
Miss. State -- Vanardo can change games and the Dogs are as close to the top of the bubble as any team in the Conference.
Florida -- If they don't at least split their final two, they are right there with MSU on the bubble.
Georgia -- any team that is 15 points or less from being the #2 seed instead of the 5 or 6 is not a team you want to face on any given day. That is Georgia. They made that point emphatically with an unofficial win against Vandy in Memorial last week (of course, with the Vandy refs, it was an official loss).
USC -- because they have the best player in the SEC and they have almost nothing to lose, except maybe another potential race to the NIT final four.
Kentucky -- because they are the only team that will have at least 2 of their fans wearing stripes and sucking whistles on the court.
Some bad news and good news for select teams:
Kentucky -- there are a few teams that they really don't want to face. UT has to be one because we outplayed them in both games this season (the Refs kept it from being a Vol win in Rupp and kept it from being a Vol blow-out in TBA). I suspect that UGA is another. UGA is the one team in the league that has as much beef in the post as KY. KY beat them by 8 points in Rupp early in the SEC season (Jan 9). In that game UGA outplayed KY in every facet of the game except 1. Guess what it was? Talk about a softball question -- KY shot 33 free throws to UGA's 15. The 10 point difference in FT points was the difference in the game. KY plays UGA in Athens on Wednesday. That will be an interesting game. If UGA wins that game or USC loses at Vandy, UGA gets the SEC East 5 seed. And the East #1 seed gets East 5/West 4 winner in the Quarterfinals.
Tennessee -- If KY is indeed the SEC East #1, we might not mind facing them in the Semis (if we can leave Tony Green and Doug Sirmons in the KY section where they belong instead of on the court), but we wouldn't want to face UGA either. We have serious problems handling Thompkins in the low post.
Vandy -- I'm not sure they want to face anyone in Nashville if they aren't playing in Memorial. They'd be happy to see UGA in the other bracket, but interestingly, Vandy is almost the anti-UGA. Instead of losing 6-8 games by very slim margins, Vandy has won 6-8 by slim margins. They struggled with Ole Miss, Bama, MSU, and Auburn. LSU and Arkansas are the only West teams they haven't struggled with. Unless KY loses out and Vandy wins out, guess who won't be on Vandy's side of the bracket? LSU and Arkansas. Guess who will? 3 of the 4 above West teams.
Florida -- they may be better off in Vandy's bracket. They have had a respectable SEC season. Losing to KY at home, and Vandy, UT, USC, and UGA on the road is nothing to be embarassed about. Everyone else in the East has stumbled in at least one of those games. One gets the sense though that FL's two nightmare match-ups are UT and KY, both of whom appear to be safely on the other side of the bracket if FL is the 4th seed from the East.
MSU -- Has there ever been a team least deserving of getting the automatic bid? I mean, all they have to do is beat Rider and Richmond at home earlier in the season and WKU on the road (three teams that have no business beating MSU) and they are 24-5 overall, at least 10-6 in the SEC (assuming they take care of business at Auburn this week), winners of the Western Division and in the Dance with 1 win in the SEC Tourney. But instead, they really need to beat Auburn and the Vols this week and get to the Semis of the SEC tourney to even have a puncher's chance of getting in. The bad news for them is that Florida is their likely opponent in the Quarterfinals in what may be a playoff game for one of those last spots in the field of 65. And in that situation, my money is on the Gators.
Conventional Picks:
Semifinal Games -- UT/KY and Vandy/Florida
Championship -- KY/Florida
Champ -- Slive's Baby.
Upset Picks:
Semifinal Games -- UT/UGA and Ole Miss/Florida
Championship -- UGA/Florida.
Champ -- UGA.
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