Kentucky basketball: Previewing the SEC Tournament

Let the final chapter begin. March is here and you know what that means, survive and advance. Kentucky basketball cruised through the regular season and now boast unblemished record as they head into the first tourney of the post season, the SEC Tournament.

Kentucky Wildcats /

Kentucky Wildcats

The Cats of course come in with the number one seed, also earning a double bye for the tourney. The boys in blue will take on the winner of #8 Florida and #9 Alabama. Those teams shouldn’t pose too much of a problem for UK; if we look at what the regular season taught us, the Wildcats beat those who teams by an average of 15 points in the four outings this season. So, I think it’s fair to assume the Wildcats will be a shoe-in for the semi-finals.

The semis is where things get very interesting, as two of the four possible match-ups gave the Wildcats quite a scare. The options are rematches with Texas A&M (Jan. 10th at TAMU, 70-64 2OT) and LSU (Feb. 10th at LSU 71-69). The Aggies come in at the #5 seed, and LSU with the #4. While both of these teams played the Cats close in the regular season, and could play them close if they meet in the semis, I just don’t see Kentucky falling to either of those teams.

More from Bluegrass Dominion

However, the Championship game is where

the Wildcats lose, will lose. The top seeds for this side of the bracket is, of course, #2 Arkansas (lost to UK at Rupp 84-67), #3 Georgia (two games with average deficit of 9.5), and #6 Ole Miss (at UK 89-86 OT). These three teams of course are each teams that UK can potentially lose to, as Georgia kept the Wildcats close in both outings, Ole Miss gave the Cats everything it could handle in Rupp, and Arkansas, despite the deficit, still is a quality team with an AP ranking of 21.

My prediction – Kentucky will win out in the SEC, but I think that along the way UK will run into a game that goes down to the wire, possibly an OT game. Remember that this is March, meaning that most of the time predictions go out the window, meaning UK could very lose in the quarter-finals. However, we will just have to wait and see.