Lovell’s SEC Basketball Notebook: December 18

By
Blake Lovell
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It was another wild weekend in SEC basketball, with Saturday leaving a few teams scratching their heads.

However, the conference is still in great shape in the RPI, and there are still opportunities for several teams to notch quality wins before conference play.

Let’s dive into today’s notebook.

– Four SEC teams made my Top 25 this week: No. 6 Kentucky, No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 19 Tennessee, No. 22 Arkansas. Florida dropped out, while Alabama was the next SEC team in line to make the cut in ranking at No. 28.

– According to KPI Sports, North Carolina’s win at Tennessee was the best of the season for any team in college basketball. There’s no reason for Vol fans to panic after that loss, as I still have Tennessee as the third best team in the SEC.

– Kentucky posted season highs in 3-pointers made (11) and attempted (22) in the win over Virginia Tech on Saturday. If that element becomes a consistent addition to the Wildcats’ offense, there will be no stopping this team.

– After Oklahoma scored a massive road win at Wichita State over the weekend, it’s worth reminding everyone that Arkansas beat Lon Krueger’s team at the PK80. Yes, the Razorbacks’ loss to Houston was strange, but I still think the Hogs are for real after having plenty of concerns about them heading into the season.

– Perhaps Auburn’s win over MTSU will force people to give the Tigers more credit for what they’ve done thus far. While many expected this team to drop to “worst team in the SEC” levels following the news of Austin Wiley and Danjel Purifoy being sidelined, it’s been far from it. The depth on this team is obvious, and the most glaring improvement has been on defense. Tuesday’s game at Murray State will be intriguing.

– Ranking Saturday’s SEC losses from worst to not so bad (but not ideal):

  1. Georgia – UMass has been good at home, but to trail by as many as 22 against a team that’s still in rebuilding mode is brutal. New staff writer Wells Armes wrote about the Bulldogs’ struggles.
  2. Ole Miss – This isn’t last year’s Illinois State team, and when Andy Kennedy says “This is a disaster and I’m responsible for it,” you know things aren’t going well in Oxford.
  3. Florida – The Gators can be as good as they want to be, but they are lacking a killer instinct right now. They need to keep their foot on the gas in late-game situations.
  4. LSU – Stephen F. Austin is a solid team, and it seemed like a letdown was possible after the thrilling win over Houston.

– Speaking of the Lumberjacks, they’ll visit Columbia on Tuesday to take on Missouri. If the Tigers can pull it off, it would be a big victory before the showdown with Illinois on Saturday.

– Where KenPom has the SEC in the power conference pecking order right now:

  1. Big 12 (+18.46)
  2. ACC (+16.01)
  3. Big East (+14.87)
  4. SEC (+14.33)
  5. Big Ten (+13.50)

– Awesome graphic here for those that want a deeper look at every SEC team via KenPom:

– Give Vanderbilt credit for hanging with undefeated Arizona State in Tempe, but a 3-7 record doesn’t exactly allow for moral victories. The insane non-conference slate gets better with Houston Baptist and Alcorn State up next before a daunting start to SEC play: at Florida, vs. Alabama, at South Carolina, vs. Tennessee, vs. Kentucky.

– If you missed this week’s edition of Forever March on WNSR in Nashville, we talked a lot about the wild weekend in the SEC and what we can expect going forward from the conference.

– Tuesday’s most intriguing games: South Carolina at Clemson, Auburn at Murray State, Georgia Tech at Georgia, Stephen F. Austin at Missouri, and Alabama vs. Mercer.

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