The SEC basketball season rolls along!

TUESDAY’S SCHEDULE

(All Times Eastern)

Butler Bulldogs vs. Ole Miss Rebels (-1.5) — 7 p.m., SEC Network
Austin Peay Governors vs. Arkansas Razorbacks (-15.5) — 8 p.m., SEC Network+
Charleston Southern Buccaneers vs. Missouri Tigers (-26) — 8 p.m., SEC Network+
Buffalo Bulls vs. Vanderbilt Commodores (-4) — 8 p.m., SEC Network+
New Orleans Privateers vs. LSU Tigers (-21.5) — 9 p.m., SEC Network

Two matchups take the cake here tonight. The first comes, well, first, as Ole Miss welcomes the Big East’s Butler Bulldogs to Oxford. The 7-0, 24th-ranked Dawgs are ranked for the first time in head coach LaVall Jordan’s three-year tenure so far, and they’ve been off to a rip-roaring start. They’ve accumulated three Top 100 KenPom wins, having defeated Mizzou, the Stanford Cardinal and the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The Rebels will have to hope their defensive prowess stays intact because Butler has been one of the best teams in the nation on offense this year in a variety of categories. If it turns into a shootout, the Rebs may be in trouble, as their offense has not been up to snuff.

The other game that catches my attention comes an hour later. 5-2 Vanderbilt will have a hearty task in front of them, as the 5-2 Buffalo Bulls are coming to Nashville. Jerry Stackhouse’s club has certainly been dieting on cupcakes, as their two losses have come to the best teams they’ve faced this year in the Richmond Spiders and Tulsa Golden Hurricane. That said, both of those losses were by single digits, with the one against Richmond coming by one point in OT. Buffalo took a really bad loss to the Dartmouth Big Green in their opener and then lost to the UConn Huskies in Charleston, so it is not as if they’ve been thumping competition either. This one will be nothing if not really intriguing.

The other games aren’t fixing to be so competitive. But, I can probably give you some reasons to watch them.

• Arkansas-Austin Peay? See how Mason Jones plays, and see if the Razorbacks can maintain their winning ways
• LSU-NOLA? Skylar Mays and Darius Days have been off to strong starts. You can see if they keep them up
• Mizzou-Charleston Southern? Well, the Tigers have dropped two in a row, and a loss to Charleston Southern would certainly make for a troubling development in CoMO. For Mizzou’s sake, they handle their business and do it swiftly