SEC Tournament Field Set
by Year2 on Mar 7, 2011 9:30 AM EST
in SEC Basketball
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PrintThe weekend in SEC hoops didn't disappoint, as we had to wait until the final game to find out how the seeding would shake out for the conference tournament this weekend in Atlanta.
Alabama took care of Georgia 65-57 to complete 2010-11 with a perfect home record and potentially knock the Bulldogs out of the NCAA Tournament field. Florida beat Vanderbilt on the road 86-76, knocking the Commodores out of contention for the final SEC Tournament first round bye. Tennessee and Kentucky played for the rights to that bye yesterday, and UK rode a second half surge to beat the Vols 64-58.
Here's how the conference tournament bracket ended up:
Georgia's draw is both good and bad. It's good in that Auburn is terrible, so the Bulldogs should be able to win their first game. It's bad in that they can't really build their March Madness resume with a win. The presumed second round rematch with Alabama could be to see who gets the SEC's last at-large dancing ticket.
Ole Miss may be out of the NCAA Tournament race, but the Rebels do look like a solid NIT team. Taking out South Carolina would help their seeding there.
Tennessee is not really in bubble territory just yet (I don't think), but losing to Arkansas would be a way to get there. The Vols shouldn't mess around and take care of business in that one.
Vanderbilt ended the season on a down note, losing to Kentucky and Florida to fall out of the second spot in the East. A letdown against LSU would be particularly bad and possibly cost the Commodores a line or two on the bracket depending on how the rest of the nation's conference tournaments shake out.
As always, keep an eye on the mid-majors through the week for potential bid stealing. Two examples: Indiana State took the MVC conference tournament auto-bid from bubble team Missouri State, and VCU upset tournament lock George Mason in the CAA. Root for fellow lock Old Dominion to beat VCU in the CAA final today, because a VCU win removes a bubble team's spot.
Of course, mid-major tournaments aren't all bad. Alabama fans should root for St. Peter's to win the one-bid MAAC today, as the Peacocks (yes, really) somehow beat Bama back in November (yes, really).
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I'm completely biased, and I haven't watched much regular-season basketball for at least 5 years prior to this season...
… but to me, there is no appreciable difference in between Georgia, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and Tennessee. All of those teams have some strengths and weaknesses, but they’re all about equally “as good,” as is evidenced by their near-identical conference records.
And actually, I would say Georgia is better than Tennessee, whom they would have swept on the season if not for an egregious no-foul call at the end of the game they played in Athens.
If Georgia loses to Auburn, they deserve to miss the tournament. If they make it to the second round and then lose to Alabama, however, I don’t think that should eliminate them from the dance. Alabama beat everybody at home this year and lost to every good team they played on the road. That doesn’t mean they’re a great team, it just means they play in a crappy division.
What sets Tennessee apart is good non-conference wins. UT beat Pitt and Villanova from the Big East, and the wins over Belmont, Missouri State, and VCU are decent as far as mid-majors go. Georgia’s wins over Colorado and UAB don’t really match up.
Then again, UGA doesn’t have anything nearly as bad as UT’s loss to Charlotte, and its worst conference loss was to Alabama (as compared to Arkansas and MSU for Tennessee). I think though that the committee focuses more on high end wins than anything, which is why Tennessee is looking safe according to the experts.
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Just not buying the teams Lunardi had jumping Georgia after Saturday
Specifically Colorado, who…
- Played an easier schedule than Georgia
- Lost more against it
- Has a worse (by far) RPI than Georgia
- Lost to Georgia
- Lost to Georgia when Trey Thompkins was out
- Got blown out by Harvard
- Also lost to San Francisco and Iowa State
But hey, they beat Texas! Oops, it was in February, which is just about the time Rick Barnes takes down his tent for the year.
The terrible Auburn team
took Georgia to OT at Georgia. No gimme here.
Gerald Robinson and Trey Thompkins both had the flu.
And Auburn shot something like 25-30 on threes, half of them of the fall-away-off-the-scoreboard-off-a-cheerleader-nothing-but-net variety. They pull that off in a dome, then they deserve the next round.
this
Auburn has looked better as of late, but they are not a good team this year. any team that shoots ~70% on 3’s is going to have a hard time losing.
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"Thass as Amurrican as Rasslin'!" -random guy in gas station
by CoastalCowbell on Mar 10, 2011 10:30 AM EST up reply actions
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