SEC Tournament Preview

The SEC tournament kicks off tonight with a couple of play in type games before we start getting to the interesting stuff tomorrow. This league has the ability to get some more teams in the NCAA tournament than just Kentucky and Florida. Tennessee should be a tournament team. Arkansas and maybe Missouri could be tournament teams as well. The good thing about how the tournament is set up is that they all get to prove it Friday. Assuming Arkansas takes care of business tomorrow.

There is a heavy favorite in the league tournament with Florida. The Gators steam rolled the SEC to a perfect record. Their road is a little bit harder than Kentucky's projected road just because one would assume Missouri and the Tennessee/Arkansas winner will be fighting for their NCAA lives. Meanwhile, Kentucky has a tough potential first round game with LSU but they do have surprising 3 seed Georgia on their side. Kentucky had no trouble with Georgia or Mississippi, the two highest seeded teams in their half of the bracket. This should be a fun tournament.

Let's break down the teams.

Points Per Possession – Offense

  1. 1.14 – Florida
  2. 1.11 – Tennessee
  3. 1.09 – Kentucky
  4. 1.08 – Missouri
  5. 1.05 – LSU
  6. 1.05 – Ole Miss
  7. 1.04 – Arkansas
  8. 1.04 – Georgia
  9. 1.03 – Auburn
  10. 1.02 – Alabama
  11. 1 – South Carolina
  12. 0.97 – Vanderbilt
  13. 0.96 – Texas A&M
  14. 0.94 – Mississippi State

Points Per Possession – Defense

  1. 0.93 – Florida
  2. 0.97 – Tennessee
  3. 0.99 – Georgia
  4. 1 – Texas A&M
  5. 1.01 – Kentucky
  6. 1.02 – Arkansas
  7. 1.04 – Vanderbilt
  8. 1.05 – LSU
  9. 1.06 – Alabama
  10. 1.07 – Ole Miss
  11. 1.08 – Auburn
  12. 1.08 – USC
  13. 1.1 – Miss. St
  14. 1.1 – Missouri

Effective Field Goal % – Offense

  1. 53.8 – Florida
  2. 49.5 – Tennessee
  3. 49 – Alabama
  4. 49 – Missouri
  5. 48.6 – LSU
  6. 47.8 – Kentucky
  7. 47.5 – Auburn
  8. 47.3 – Arkansas
  9. 47 – Vanderbilt
  10. 46.8 – Georgia
  11. 46.7 – Texas A&M
  12. 46.5 – Miss. St
  13. 46.4 – Ole Miss
  14. 46.4 – USC

Effective Field Goal % – Defense

  1. 44 – Georgia
  2. 45.4 – Vanderbilt
  3. 45.5 – Tennessee
  4. 45.9 – Florida
  5. 46.1 – Kentucky
  6. 46.9 – Alabama
  7. 46.9 – Arkansas
  8. 47 – Texas A&M
  9. 49.4 – LSU
  10. 49.8 – Ole Miss
  11. 49.9 – Auburn
  12. 50.4 – Missouri
  13. 51.8 – USC
  14. 52.8 – Miss. St

Free Throw %

  1. 75.9 – Missouri
  2. 73.4 – Auburn
  3. 73.1 – Arkansas
  4. 73.1 – Tennessee
  5. 71.4 – Ole Miss
  6. 71.1 – USC
  7. 70. 3 – Kentucky
  8. 68.8 – LSU
  9. 68.5 – Florida
  10. 68.5 – Georgia
  11. 68.4 – Vanderbilt
  12. 68.1 – Alabama
  13. 68 – Miss St
  14. 60.8 – Texas A&M

Offensive Rebound %

  1. 40.9 – Kentucky
  2. 38.9 – Tennessee
  3. 38.3 – USC
  4. 36.7 – Georgia
  5. 34.9 – LSU
  6. 34.8 – Florida
  7. 34.4 – Ole Miss
  8. 34.1 – Missouri
  9. 30.8 – Auburn
  10. 29.6 – Arkansas
  11. 29.3 – Vanderbilt
  12. 28.3 – Alabama
  13. 25.3 – Miss St
  14. 24.4 – Texas A&M

Defensive Rebound %

  1. 73.7 – Tennessee
  2. 70.8 – Georgia
  3. 70.4 – Florida
  4. 70.2 – Kentucky
  5. 69.3 – LSU
  6. 67.6 – Missouri
  7. 67.4 – Miss St
  8. 66.8 – Texas A&M
  9. 65.4 – Auburn
  10. 64.9 – Alabama
  11. 64.9 – USC
  12. 64.2 – Ole Miss
  13. 62.6 – Vanderbilt
  14. 61 – Arkansas

Turnover % – Offensive

  1. 15.9 – Arkansas
  2. 15.9 – Texas A&M
  3. 16.1 – Ole Miss
  4. 17.6 – Florida
  5. 17.9 – Alabama
  6. 17.9 – Auburn
  7. 18 – Kentucky
  8. 18.2 – Missouri
  9. 18.4 – Tennessee
  10. 18.5 – LSU
  11. 19.9 – Miss St
  12. 20.2 – Georgia
  13. 20.5 – Vanderbilt
  14. 22.7 – USC

Turnover % – Defensive

  1. 21.9 – Arkansas
  2. 21.8 – Florida
  3. 20.3 – Texas A&M
  4. 20 – USC
  5. 19.6 – Ole Miss
  6. 18.8 – Auburn
  7. 18.7 – Alabama
  8. 17.8 – LSU
  9. 17.6 – Miss St
  10. 16.8 – Kentucky
  11. 16.4 – Vanderbilt
  12. 15.8 – Tennessee
  13. 15.7 – Missouri
  14. 15.5 – Georgia

Here are the top players in the conference to look out for.

Minutes

  1. 38.3 – Dai-Jon Parker, Vanderbilt
  2. 36.8 – Rod Odom, Vanderbilt
  3. 36.6 – Jabari Brown, Missouri
  4. 35.9 – Jordan Clarkson, Missouri
  5. 35.9 – Trevor Releford, Alabama

Points

  1. 20.7 – Jabari Brown, Missouri
  2. 19.4 – Chris Benson, Auburn
  3. 19.1 – Marshall Henderson, Ole Miss
  4. 18.8 – Trevor Releford, Alabama
  5. 18.1 – Brenton Williams, USC

Possessions

  1. 34.1 – Chris Denson, Auburn
  2. 30.9 – Craig Sword, Miss St
  3. 29.8 -Sindarius Thornwell, USC
  4. 29.8 – Johnny O'Bryant III, LSU
  5. 29.4 – Jamal Jones, Texas A&M

Rebounding

  1. 11.1 – Jarnell Stokes, Tennessee
  2. 10.3 – Julius Randle, Kentucky
  3. 8.3 – Jeronne Maymon, Tennessee
  4. 8.1 – Johnny O'Bryant III, LSU
  5. 7.5 – Jordan Mickey, LSU

Offensive Rebounding %

  1. 17.7 – Dakari Johnson, Kentucky
  2. 15.5 – Jarnell Stokes, Tennessee
  3. 14.2 – Michael Carrera, USC
  4. 13.9 – Aaron Jones, Ole Miss
  5. 13.8 – Jeronne Maymon, Tennessee

Defensive Rebounding %

  1. 27.5 – Laimonas Chatkevicius, USC
  2. 25.1 – Julius Randle, Kentucky
  3. 22.7 – Jarnell Stokes, Tennessee
  4. 21.8 – Michael Carrera, USC
  5. 20.1 – Will Yeguete, Florida

Assists

  1. 4.9 – Alex Caruso, Texas A&M
  2. 4.5 – Kyle Fuller, Vanderbilt
  3. 4.2 – Jarvis Summers, Ole Miss
  4. 4 – Sindarius Thornwell, USC
  5. 3.8 – Scottie Wilbekin, Florida

Assist / Turnover

  1. 4.3 – Fred Gulley III, Arkansas
  2. 2.8 – Shawn Smith, Texas A&M
  3. 2.6 – Anthony Hickey, LSU
  4. 2.6  – Kikko Haydar, Arkansas
  5. 2.4 – Armani Moore, LSU

Steals

  1. 36 – Trevor Releford, Alabama
  2. 34 – Alex Caruso, Texas A&M
  3. 32 – Craig Sword, Miss St
  4. 30 – Shavon Coleman, LSU
  5. 29 – Marshall Henderson, Ole Miss

Blocks

  1. 53 – Jordan Mickey, LSU
  2. 35 – Bobby Portis, Arkansas
  3. 35 – Willie Cauley-Stein, Kentucky
  4. 33 – Aaron Jones, Ole Miss
  5. 33 –  Asauhn Dixon-Tatum, Auburn

Here are the records against the first round opponents.

#12 Auburn 2-0 vs #13 South Carolina (79-74, 83-67)

#11 Vanderbilt 1-0 vs #14 Mississippi State (55-49)

#8 Missouri 1-0 vs #9 Texas A&M (57-56)

#5 Arkansas 1-0 vs #12 Auburn (86-67)

#5 Arkansas 1-0 vs #13 South Carolina (71-64)

#10 Alabama 1-0 vs #7 LSU (82-80)

#6 Ole Miss 2-0 vs #11 Vanderbilt (63-52, 65-62)

#6 Ole Miss 1-1 vs #14 Mississippi St (76-72 Miss St, 82-63 Ole Miss)

#1 Florida 1-0 vs #8 Missouri (68-58)

#1 Florida 1-0 vs #9 Texas A&M (69-36)

#4 Tennessee 1-0 vs #5 Arkansas (81-74)

#4 Tennessee 2-0 vs #12 Auburn (78-67, 82-54)

#4 Tennessee 1-0 vs #13 USC( 72-53)

#2 Kentucky 1-1 vs #7 LSU (87-82 LSU, 77-76 UK)

#2 Kentucky 1-0 vs #10 Alabama (55-48)

#3 Georgia 1-0 vs #6 Ole Miss (61-60)

#11 Vanderbilt 1-0 vs #3 Georgia (59-54)

#3 Georgia 1-0 vs #14 Miss St (66-45)

 

I could see some turmoil happening in this league. I could also see the Gators romp to another title. All 3 of the major SEC bubble teams have their road go through Florida. That's a pretty big roadblock. Arkansas and Tennessee in the quarterfinals could be a hell of game.

Prediction: Florida

Dark Horse: LSU

I think LSU could make the finals but I don't think they'll win.

 

About Scott

I write Bearcats Blog and also on the Student Section.

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