Today’s Schedule

It’s Thursday at the SEC Tournament. For those of you who are so inclined (and if you’re reading this, that’s probably you), you can watch basketball at 1 PM (Eastern time) on a Thursday.

All games today will be televised on the SEC Network and can be streamed on WatchESPN.

After last night’s warmup (which actually included a legitimately entertaining game!), today’s action commences with the 8/9 game between the Georgia Bulldogs and Tennessee Volunteers. Both of these were considered bubble teams at one point; neither is now. Maybe Georgia can play its way in if they can beat Kentucky on Friday, but they'll have to win this game first.

Of course, the rumor is that Yante Maten is returning for the SEC Tournament, so Georgia may be getting some reinforcements.

In the second game of the afternoon session, starting approximately 25 minutes after the end of the first game (so probably around 3:25 PM ET), the Mississippi State Bulldogs face the Alabama Crimson Tide. Mississippi State beat LSU 79-52 last night and will look to carry that momentum forward against Alabama, which beat them twice this season.

The evening session opens at 7 PM ET with the Vanderbilt Commodores and the Texas A&M Aggies, the former of which are squarely on the bubble. That said, with seemingly all the rest of the bubble teams losing on Wednesday, Vanderbilt might just need to win this game to get in the tournament. And, the Commodores beat the Aggies twice this season.

In the nightcap, the Missouri Tigers live to fight another day as they take on the Ole Miss Rebels at approximately 9:25 PM ET. Missouri snuck by Auburn on a buzzer-beater in overtime last night and now Kim Anderson gets to coach one more game (at least) at his alma mater. Can Missouri keep going?

Odds and Picks

Tennessee vs. Georgia (-1.5): With the news that Yante Maten could play, I’m leaning toward Georgia in this matchup.

Mississippi State (+3.5) vs. Alabama: In each of the past three years, one of the Wednesday night teams has won on Thursday as well. I think Mississippi State’s momentum will carry over from an easy win over LSU last night and they’ll pull the upset here.

Texas A&M vs. Vanderbilt (-3.5): Vanderbilt has a lot to play for and is basically playing at home; they’ve also beaten the Aggies twice this season.

Missouri vs. Ole Miss (-6): While Missouri bought Kim Anderson another night, let’s not forget that this team is pretty bad. I would not be surprised if Ole Miss sends Missouri home with a double-digit loss.