The 2018 SEC Tournament gets underway on Wednesday, and it figures to be one of the most competitive tournaments that the league had in quite a while.
The action will tip off with first round games featuring the bottom four seeds, but as noted in one of our recent columns, a double-digit seed has reached the quarterfinals in four of the five years since the league expanded to 14 teams.
As always, my predictions are based on team analysis and who I think will win. Score projections are for my own amusement.
Let’s get to the picks.
Season Predictions Record (straight up): 236-68
No. 12 Georgia vs. No. 13 Vanderbilt – 7 PM EST, SEC Network
The Commodores won the only regular season meeting between these two, and did so in impressive fashion with a 15-point victory in Nashville.
Here’s how it happened: Vanderbilt knocked down 11 shots from beyond the arc, hit all 16 of its free throws, and outrebounded a significantly larger Georgia team by one. If Bryce Drew’s team excels in those areas once again, they’ll have a great shot at advancing to Thursday.
However, I’d expect the Bulldogs to put up a fight here. Yante Maten has had an excellent run in Athens, and I feel like he’ll be out to prove something here after being named AP SEC Player of the Year.
Of course, the questions have already started concerning Mark Fox’s future with the team, and that could be another bit of motivation for Georgia.
I know how well Vanderbilt played the first time around, but I think Maten will play well enough to lift the Bulldogs to a narrow victory.
Prediction: Georgia 70, Vanderbilt 68
No. 11 South Carolina vs. No. 14 Ole Miss – 9 PM EST, SEC Network
It’s been an up and down season for both of these teams, as neither was able to find the consistency needed to move up the SEC ladder.
There isn’t much to take away from the only regular season meeting between the Gamecocks and Rebels considering that it happened all the way back at the end of December. Ole Miss picked up the five-point win in that one, but things certainly look a bit different on both sides.
Offensively, the Gamecocks have had their struggles, but this is a team that can still find enough on defense to grind out wins.
Meanwhile, Ole Miss has struggled big time on the defensive side of the court, but that may not matter against a South Carolina squad that sometimes has a hard time stringing together quality offensive possessions.
It’s hard to have a good feel for how this game could unfold. The Rebels have nothing to lose and should play extremely loose. Then again, no one is looking at the Gamecocks as a legitimate threat in this tournament, which is nothing new for Frank Martin and company since they shocked the world last season by making it to the Final Four.
I trust South Carolina more than I trust Ole Miss in this spot, so I’ll take Chris Silva and company to advance.
Prediction: South Carolina 71, Ole Miss 65
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