SEC Notebook: Careful 'Cats, Tide doing it with 'D', Vandy perplexes, and progress for Ole Miss and Auburn
Brent Beaird, SEC Columnist
This week provides a big opportunity for the SEC to demonstrate how far it has progressed as a basketball conference in the Big East/SEC Challenge. Five SEC teams--Kentucky is ranked No. 1, Florida No. 10, Alabama No. 12, Vanderbilt No. 20 and Mississippi State No. 21-are ranked in the Nov. 28 Associated Press poll.
The SEC will match up against the Big East Conference for 12 games over three days starting tonight, Thursday, Dec. 1. What is different this year is that the event has expanded to include every SEC school while 12 of the 16 Big East schools will be involved. Six of the games will be hosted by SEC schools while another half dozen will be held in Big East arenas. This is the fifth year that the SEC and Big East have played each other. The SEC has earned a respectful 8-8 record during that time.
Here's the slate -
Tonight:
Providence at South Carolina ESPNU 7:00 p.m.
St. John's at #1 Kentucky ESPN2 7:30 p.m.
Ole Miss at DePaul ESPNU 9:00 p.m.
Georgetown at #12 Alabama ESPN2 9:30 p.m.
Friday:
#10 Florida at #4 Syracuse ESPN 6:30 p.m.
Cincinnati at Georgia ESPNU 7:00 p.m.
#20 Vanderbilt at #6 Louisville ESPN 8:30 p.m.
Auburn at Seton Hall ESPNU 9:00 p.m.
Saturday:
Arkansas at #8 Connecticut ESPN 3:15 p.m.
#17 Pittsburgh at Tennessee ESPN 5:15 p.m.
LSU at Rutgers ESPNU 7:00 p.m.
West Virginia at #21 Mississippi State ESPNU 9:00 p.m.
The league needs to take some of the momentum that it received from four teams winning preseason tournament titles and carry it into and through the Big East challenge. Alabama beat Maryland, Wichita State and Purdue to win the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. Kentucky defeated Penn State and Old Dominion to win the Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament. Mississippi State beat No. 19 Texas A&M and No. 15 Arizona to win the 2K Sports Classic. Vanderbilt defeated NC State and Oregon State to win the Legends Classic championship.
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WHAT I KNEW
It was not hard to guess that Alabama’s Anthony Grant
(left, courtesy University of Alabama Athletic Media
Relations) would have his team ready for early season
tournaments especially in light of the loss last year to Saint
Peter’s in the Paradise Jam Tournament that contributed to
the Tide mistakenly being left out of the NCAA tournament.
Alabama held Purdue, which had averaged 88 points per game in its first two tournament wins, to just 56 points in the title game of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off championship. As usual, the Tide did it with defense, limiting its three opponents to only 52.7 points per game.
Alabama leads the SEC in scoring defense (52.6 ppg) and is No. 2 in the league in field goal percentage defense (32%). This team could play defense last year, but it could not score consistently. The difference this year is an infusion of offensive talent with freshmen Trevor Lacey, Rodney Cooper, Levi Randolph and Nick Jacobs who are currently four of the top scorers on the team. That means trouble for the rest of the league.
WHAT I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN
Do you remember the old Hee-Haw TV show saying that “if not for bad luck I’d have no luck at all”? With its recent history of injuries and defections, we should we have known that something bad would happen to Arkansas before the Hogs progressed deep into the first season with new coach Mike Anderson.
The most recent tough break is that junior forward Marshawn Powell will miss the entire 2011-12 basketball season with torn ligaments in his knee. Powell, a 6-foot-7, 219-pound junior, sustained the injury in practice. He was off to a blistering start this season, averaging 19.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. Without Powell, the Razorbacks are going to need help from their own freshmen class consisting of BJ Young, Rashad Madden, Hunter Mickelson and Devonta Abron.
STAT OF THE WEEK
In Kentucky’s win over Portland 87-63 Saturday night, the Cats had 20 assists and only four turnovers, a low in coach John Calipari's three seasons as coach and fewest for a Wildcat team since at least the 1993 NCAA Tournament (two against Utah).
CONSISTENTLY INCONSISTENT
I admit that I don’t understand Vanderbilt at times. The Commodores are a tease in that they have potential to win the conference, but at times can’t get out of their own way. The loss to Xavier Monday night was a great example. At one point in the second half, minus several starters, Vandy endured a 10-0 run by Xavier in the course of about a minute. Another concern was Vandy committing 18 turnovers and allowing Xavier to gather 25 offensive rebounds. A team that allows that many offensive rebounds is simply being outhustled. The best news for Vandy is that they will get big man Festus Ezeli back in a few weeks.
BEAIRD’S TAKE
Ole Miss and Auburn are showing some positive signs early on this season.
Ole Miss (5-1) lost a 17-0 first-half lead to Miami, but importantly did not lose its composure and held on to beat the Hurricanes 64-61 in overtime last Friday. Ole Miss used a three-guard lineup for most of the second half, but still won the rebounding battle (39-37) because of Murphy Holloway's 17 boards.
Auburn is 4-0 for the first time since the 2006-07 season. Coach Tony Barbee has a group of defenders who are excelling in blocking shots as evidenced by the Nicholls State win last Friday. Auburn had 17 blocked shots breaking the old school record of 15 (set in 1998 and 2001). The Tigers were only one away from tying the SEC record set by Arkansas in 1996.
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Brent Beaird writes for
Lindysports.com, Gator Bait magazine and Samsportsline.com.
He can be heard on 1010XL sports radio in Jacksonville, Florida.
Brent, who is a
Heisman Trophy voter, can be contacted at brentbeaird@aol.com
