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Every team in the conference has now had their crack at the SEC Tournament. And while conference tournaments, especially SEC tournaments, are often not only a chronological but also a spiritual precursor to March Madness, this one has been pretty tame. The top 3 seeds have all advanced as planned to the semi-finals, with only Bruce Pearl's #13 Auburn squad as the proverbial fly in the ointment. Maybe they can throw a celebratory cookout or something. Here's the schedule for the day:
Game 11: No. 1 Kentucky vs. No. 13 Auburn, 1 p.m., ESPN
Game 12: No. 2 Arkansas vs. No. 3 Georgia, 3 p.m., ESPN
For the record, Kentucky and Auburn faced each other on February 21st, with the Wildcats booking a decisive 110-75 victory in Lexington. I don't expect the neutral site (to the extent Kentucky ever plays at a neutral site in the SEC tournament) is worth 35 points. Georgia, as you may recall, opened SEC play with a 79-75 loss in Athens to the Razorbacks. Since then the Bulldogs have played some pretty good basketball, but they've also suffered a series of injuries that have required Mark Fox to shuffle and reshuffle the lineup for much of the latter part of the season.
In my view the Bulldogs are playing with house money at this point. A loss to the #2 seeded Razorbacks probably doesn't drop them very far for seeding purposes. A win over Arkansas, which is flirting with the top 20 in the RPI, would be a solid boost. And it's not like the 'Dawgs haven't surprised the Razorbacks in the late rounds of the conference tournament before. So hang out, grab some snacks, and join us for all the action. Until later . . .
Go 'Dawgs!!!