[Cactus Jack]

With three games in the books, here's how things break down:

1. Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss (3-0)
4. Kentucky, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi State, Missouri, Texas A&M (2-1)
11. Vanderbilt (1-2)
12. Oklahoma, Arkansas, LSU, Texas, South Carolina (0-3)


Wondering if the folks in Fayetteville are getting antsy with Calipari or if it takes until next year for them to realize that he's recycling some of his catchphrases?

In all seriousness, I'd expect the standings to start to take better shape as more games are played. This week will be an important one for many of the teams currently tied for 4th (and no, I'm not going into the tiebreakers this early in the season-- we're leaving it at a 7-way tie for 4th right now).

Think that we're all waiting on Ole Miss to fall out of the top 3. A good team, but not on par with a Florida, Tennessee, or Kentucky.

Missouri is outplaying their proection so far, but they have an ugly loss to Auburn and their wins are over South Carolina and LSU. Expect them to drop into the bottom half pretty quickly. Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Vanderbilt are the teams that Mizzou gets twice, so they have a shot at ending up with a decent conference record.

Predicting that South Carolina winds up at the bottom and that Vanderbilt, LSU, and Texas are probably amongst the bottom six or so teams. 

Haven't been sold on Oklahoma-- think they can beat a good team on a given night, but have seen them as a paper tiger so far and that's starting to catch up with them.

[Old School Hound]

Georgia's run as a top 25 team will last about as long as it took Sherman to burn down Atlanta(Nov 11-12, 1864) .

[Van Hagar]

Besides UK-A & M, tonight also has Ole Miss at Alabama and Miss. St. at Auburn (without Broome). Tomorrow night Georgia is at Tennessee. Then Saturday you get Alabama at UK, Auburn at Georgia and Miss. St.-Ole Miss. So all kinds of huge games this week. Quite an opportunity for the Cats to really entrench themselves in the top four of the league (which is so important for the SEC tournament with the double bye) if they can get these two home wins this week.

By the way, it’s not as glamorous as the football version, but I would think College Game Day would have to be in Lexington Saturday wouldn’t it? Don’t know what would top Bama-UK.

[Granny Bear]

I would love to know the real story about Johni Broome. It's hard to believe that kid suffered only a sprained ankle. The news is reporting that he rolled his ankle. I don't see it quite like that. He was airborne for a rebound, came down on another player's foot so hard that when his foot turned inward, his ankle bone literally jammed into the floor. His initial reaction wasn't pain; it was shock and horror. I felt so sorry for him! The pain came afterward. I hope Pearl isn't minimizing his injury just to get him back on the floor.

[Van Hagar]

Yes, I was watching also, and I actually thought his season was over right there. I like Broome I like the way he plays, hope he is back and healthy before the year ends. Hard to believe the possible national player of the year was playing for Morehead just a couple of years ago.

[Granny Bear]

I hate to wish for anything that strengthens Auburn!!

But I'm with you. This kid appears to have what it takes in attitude and intelligence to go with his talent. I wish nothing but the very best for him.

[Old School Hound]

I would love to know the real story about Johni Broome.  It's hard to believe that kid suffered only a sprained ankle.  The news is reporting that he rolled his ankle.  I don't see it quite like that.  He was airborne for a rebound, came down on another player's foot so hard that when his foot turned inward, his ankle bone literally jammed into the floor.  His initial reaction wasn't pain; it was shock and horror.  I felt so sorry for him!  The pain came afterward.  I hope Pearl isn't minimizing his injury just to get him back on the floor.

Yeah, the slime just oozes from Pearl. If he brushed up against me I'd check my wallet. If I had a daughter he brushed up against, I'd call the police.

[Cactus Jack]

I would love to know the real story about Johni Broome. It's hard to believe that kid suffered only a sprained ankle. The news is reporting that he rolled his ankle. I don't see it quite like that. He was airborne for a rebound, came down on another player's foot so hard that when his foot turned inward, his ankle bone literally jammed into the floor. His initial reaction wasn't pain; it was shock and horror. I felt so sorry for him! The pain came afterward. I hope Pearl isn't minimizing his injury just to get him back on the floor.

I wouldn't have been shocked to hear that ligaments were torn or even that his ankle was dislocated.

Either way, I think Pearl probably knows it's in his best interest to let him rest and heal-- at least you'd hope.

[plantmanky]

4th place in the SEC, embarrassing, lol.

[Cactus Jack]

Standings starting to shake themselves out. Here's where things stand today:

1. Auburn (5-0) - only undefeated remaining

2. Ole Miss (4-1)
2. Alabama (4-1)
2. Missouri (4-1)

5. Kentucky (3-2)
5. Mississippi State (3-2)
5. Florida (3-2)
5. Vanderbilt (3-2)
5. Tennessee (3-2)
5. Texas A&M (3-2)

11. Georgia (2-3)

12. Texas (1-4)
12. Oklahoma (1-4)
12. LSU (1-4)

15. Arkansas (0-5)
15. South Carolina (0-5)

Listed the teams in order of tiebreakers but won't go into those for awhile since there's so much basketball left to play.

Kentucky has a stretch where going 2-1 or even 3-0 isn't outside the realm of possibility. They have Vanderbilt, at Tennessee, and Arkansas on deck. After that, it's a trip to Oxford, followed by a home stand with Tennessee and South Carolina. Their record in this six game stretch stands a good chance at defining whether they end up with a double bye in the SEC Tournament.

[Cactus Jack]

Some University of Kentucky statistics in conference play and where those stand in the SEC:

Opponent's PPG - 88.6 (16 out of 16)
Defensive Efficiency - 122.1 (16 out of 16)
Second Chance Points* - 18.0 (16 out of 16)
Fouls Per Game - 22.0 (16 out of 16)


*points given up

[Old School Hound]

Some University of Kentucky statistics in conference play and where those stand in the SEC:

Opponent's PPG - 88.6 (16 out of 16)
Defensive Efficiency - 122.1 (16 out of 16)
Second Chance Points* - 18.0 (16 out of 16) 
Fouls Per Game - 22.0 (16 out of 16)


*points given up

Yikes?  Mark needs to hire a real defensive guru to help out.

[Bluecat]

Something that confuses me with the defensive issues is, and I could be wrong, but didn't we bring in several defensive players of the year?

[Cactus Jack]

Something that confuses me with the defensive issues is, and I could be wrong, but didn't we bring in several defensive players of the year?

Butler and Williams definitely were that in their previous (albeit smaller) conferences. Oweh was possibly on the Big XII All Defensive team. Everyone else aside from Garrison was probably viewed as an average defender at best. Brea was 6th man at Dayton because of his defense.

The defensive stats I'd listed were also only in conference play and we've had a pretty tough stretch there. Plus just scoring lots and playing at a really quick pace will lead to giving up a lot of points and really high "counting stats" like fouls per game, etc.

I think that Pope corrects some of this over time as he's able to bring in a different level athlete, but it's late January and we basically are what we are at this point in the season, especially as we have to give Perry more minutes in Kriisa's place.

[Cactus Jack]

Bringing this thread back now that the SEC Tournament picture is rapidly coming into focus.

Tonight's Games (3/4):
Texas A&M is about to vanquish Auburn. This does nothing to the Tigers' stranglehold on the #1 spot, but gives a huge boost to the Aggies in both SEC and NCAA seeding.
Mississippi State's loss to Texas will be Kentucky's gain, but I'd take a lower seed to avoid Auburn's bracket if at all possible.
Arkansas and Vanderbilt are in progress. At the half, the Hogs lead by 5. I've presented the standings on the assumption that Texas A&M and Arkansas hold on.

Tomorrow's Games (3/5):
Florida visits Alabama (-3.5).
Missouri (-4.5) visits Oklahoma.
Tennessee (-3.5) visits Ole Miss.


Current Standings:
1. Auburn (15-2)
2. Florida (12-4)
3. Alabama (12-4)
4. Tennessee (11-5)
5. Missouri (10-6)
6. Texas A&M (10-7)
7. Ole Miss (9-7)
8. Kentucky (9-8)
9. Mississippi State (8-9)
10. Vanderbilt (8-9)
11. Arkansas (7-10)
12. Georgia (7-10)
13. Texas (6-11)
14. Oklahoma (4-12)
15. LSU (3-14)
16. South Carolina (2-15)


This Weekend's Games (3/8):
Kentucky at Missouri
Mississippi State at Arkansas
Vanderbilt at Georgia
South Carolina at Tennessee
Alabama at Auburn
Texas A&M at LSU
Ole Miss at Florida
Oklahoma at Texas


Outlook:

Right now, Kentucky sits at #8. Lose to Missouri and they are still probably #8.

Even assuming that Ole Miss loses to Tennessee tomorrow, the school in Oxford that needs a new mascot still owns the head-to-head tiebreaker. Same if Ole Miss loses to Tennessee and Florida while Kentucky loses to Missouri (unless three or more teams are involved in the tiebreaker).

If Kentucky beats Missouri and they may still be #8, but the #6 or #7 is within reach. Getting the #6 or #7 means being split from Auburn, and that's a pretty big deal to me. Even the #5 isn't mathematically impossible. They'd need Ole Miss to lose out, Missouri to lose out, and/or Texas A&M to lose to LSU-- those go from "more likely than not" to "not shocking" to "shocking" in terms of probability. Even the #5 isn't mathematically impossible, but we'd need all of what I just mentioned to happen.


Of the top four or five seeds, I would love to be in a bracket with Tennessee. Aside from that, the only match-ups I'd really like are South Carolina, LSU, Texas, Georgia, Vanderbilt and Oklahoma, in that order. Think we probably beat Arkansas in a rematch, but wouldn't feel great about predicting any result there (though them blowing us out doesn't seem as likely as a close win either way).

Would rather have third shot at Alabama than give Florida a rematch, but I don't know that there's a huge difference in playing either in a one-off on a short turnaround. Would feel better in a best of seven against Florida, but think that Alabama is more prone to a single upset given the tempo they play at and how it could play in to what we might want to do.

[Cactus Jack]

Ole Miss and Tennessee is about to tip. Florida leading Alabama by 7 with less than 2 minutes remaining. Oklahoma leads Missouri by 13 at the break. Looks good for Kentucky's momentum toward the #6 or #7 so far.