The SEC basketball picture remains a bit cloudy after the last two nights of games. That goes for both the conference tournament and the NCAA tournament.
TUESDAY: Florida 78, Alabama 51
The Gators lowered the boom, handily dismissing the Crimson Tide on Senior Day in Gainesville. That clinches the SEC regular season championship for Florida by virtue of tiebreaker over Alabama. It doesn't make much of a difference for Florida, but it's not good for Alabama. Absorbing two straight bad losses—one to Ole Miss and one by 27 points—puts the Crimson Tide in precarious position for the NCAA Tournament. They're now out of the field according to Chris Dobbertean. The good news is that their season closer is at home, where Bama hasn't lost all season.
TUESDAY: Kentucky 68, Vanderbilt 66
This game, with its close ending and the participants' similar standing, makes just about no difference when it comes to the Big Dance. It does put Kentucky in the driver's seat for the second SEC tournament first round bye from the East division. The 'Cats just have to avoid losing to Tennessee this weekend to lock it up. It would have provided some clarity if Vandy had won the game, but we'll have to wait through the set of Sunday games to find out who gets that bye.
WEDNESDAY: Georgia 73, LSU 53
Georgia didn't so much achieve something as avoid disaster by celebrating their 20th win by beating LSU by 20. The only real news to come out of this is that Trey Thompkins might not be able to play at Alabama for the season finale due to his toe injury.
LOOKING AHEAD
Tennessee visits South Carolina tonight. The Volunteers must win to still be in the race for the second place spot in the East and the first round bye that comes with it. They got what they needed on Tuesday with Kentucky beating Vandy. Now they have to keep up their end of the bargain by not dropping a game they shouldn't.
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