SEC Notes and News

chrisrushing@collegesportsmatchups.com

Now that the dust has settled and the bracket has been formed, we can examine the likelihood of each of the four Southeastern Conference teams that were included in the field of 65. You can question the merit of Florida over Mississippi State all you want, but if there were only four getting in, I think the Selection Committee was correct in the four it chose.

That being said, I did think that MSU had proven itself to be one of the best 65 teams in the country with its inspired play in Nashville. However, a last month-or-so of the season meant more to the panel than the last three days. The longer State can go into the National Invitation Tournament, the longer the mistake will stay on the minds of the Selection Committee and will up Rick Stansbury and Co.’s chances in future seasons.

Back to the purpose of this column. Kentucky (No. 1 Seed – East), Vanderbilt (No. 4 Seed – West), Tennessee (No. 6 Seed – Midwest) and Florida (No. 10 Seed – West) will all test their merits against the other 61 schools in vying for the Siemen’s trophy to be awarded in Indianapolis. I think Tennessee is a little low as a No. 6, but the Vols are a team that “can lose in the first round or make it to Indianapolis, which drives you crazy,” per The New York Times’ Pete Thamel.

We’ll start with Kentucky. Can the Wildcats win it all? You betcha. John Wall, Demarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson, Eric Bledsoe – what is there not to like? Aside from the fact that three of those kids are freshmen, that is. UK sports a 32-2 record and won both the regular season and SEC Tournament titles en route to compiling those 32 wins. John Calipari went to Lexington to win championships - and not just the SEC titles.

Reasons why Kentucky can’t bring home the crystal basketball are pretty simple: the roster is too young in too many key spots. Wall is unbelievable and can take the team on his shoulders, but West Virginia lurking as the No. 2 seed in UK’s bracket can do some serious damage if those three show any youth whatsoever in the Elite Eight. Getting to the Sweet Sixteen, though, shouldn’t be an issue for Calipari’s crew.

Next, Vanderbilt reached Saturday’s semifinals in Nashville before bowing out with a loss to streaking Mississippi State. The SEC’s second-best team to Kentucky all season, VU has been steady as its obtained a 24-8 mark heading into Thursday’s opening round contest with Murray State. The Commodores are one of the coolest and collected squads out there and could make some heavy noise should the right teams opposite them falter. I’d say the Sweet Sixteen is a reachable goal with the Elite Eight not being entirely out of the question. There’s not enough on the perimeter to get to Indy, though.

For all the issues off-the-court, Tennessee has been a steady dose of resilient on the hardwood. When four members of the team were dismissed in the winter for their part in a car chase and drug possession, Bruce Pearl leaned heavily on his eight remaining stars – and they responded magnificently. There weren’t any real embarrassing losses aside from one to Georgia on the road, and UT managed to get wins over both Kansas and Kentucky in Knoxville. Getting by San Diego State will not be easy, and the road only gets harder from there. Bruce Pearl got to 25 wins again (25-8) and the Vols are assured that they will finish with single-digit losses again.

Finally, we’ll examine Florida. Many questioned the Gators’ rights to be in the Big Dance, but I’m not one of those folks. Whenever you get 20-plus wins in the SEC, you’re doing something right. The 20-win plateau has been obtained and surpassed throughout Billy Donovan’s run in Gainesville despite countless roster upheavals (aside from the back-to-back titles earlier this decade).

BYU as a first opponent is not good for UF, however, and the Gators probably got the toughest of all the No. 7 seeds. Should Donovan and Co. get past the Cougars, Villanova will most likely end their season in Oklahoma City. Stranger things have happened, but UF was one of the last teams in the field for a reason.

So there you have my thoughts. I think three will win at least one game with Kentucky and Vanderbilt carrying the conference flag heading into the second of three weekends of play. Check back here next week for any analysis of remaining schools when the field dwindles to 16.