SEC Teams Fight to Face Kentucky

Kentucky players/AP Images

No team wants to match up with Kentucky in any tournament, yet Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi State are all vying to do exactly that.

By Trevor Hass

All five teams finished the regular season within two games of one another and the standings have flip-flopped for weeks.

Vandy had a chance to wrap up the #2 seed in the SEC, but Tennessee beat the Commodores 68-61 and snatched that honor.

Despite finishing second in the SEC and beating Vandy, the Volunteers have the 81st best RPI in the country, while the Commodores are 19th. Tennessee got off to a slow start, but they’ve won seven out of eight, including a huge 75-70 win at Florida.

Trae Golden had 17 points, five rebounds and four assists against Vandy on Saturday and Cameron Tatum chipped in with 18.

Vandy, meanwhile, is led by four seniors and junior John Jenkins and is one of the more talented teams in the country. Though they lost to Tennessee, the Commodores are still a threat to make it to the SEC final and will likely receive an at-large bid to the dance even if they don't win the conference.

Florida has slipped as of late, and lost three in a row. Many experts are calling the Gators overrated, but they can drain threes and make a run at any point in time.

Mississippi State and Alabama are in a similar position. Both teams rely heavily on getting stops and have to fight for their lives in most games. Alabama is slightly better defensively, however the Bulldogs have the edge offensively. MSU is averaging 71.6 points per game while Alabama is averaging 65.1 points per contest. If these teams face each other, Alabama will need to keep the game in the 50s or 60s to prevail.

Usually when teams enter a conference tournament, winning is the light at the end of the tunnel. In this case, however, Kentucky is a menacing, impeding detour that’s nearly impossible to avoid.

The Wildcats finished the season 30-1 and were 16-0 in conference play. Though SEC teams have lost by single digits to UK, Kentucky has outplayed its opponent in every game to this point. Anthony Davis is looking like the player of the year and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist does it all on both sides of the ball.


It would be shocking if one of these teams beat Goliath, but for now the goal is to make it to that game. Who knows…maybe one of them will shock the world. After all, that’s what March is all about.