The Southeastern Conference is almost certainly on the precipice of a banner year for NCAA Tournament berths. Just which of those teams will receive them, though, and what might happen with them when they get there, will continue to be a confounding mystery.
Another busy Tuesday night SEC slate once again brought its share of results that defy logic. There was Mississippi State winning on the road at Texas A&M-handily, a 93-81 victor. There was an Arkansas team that has been infinitely better at home than away getting stomped 87-72 at home by Kentucky, a team that was on a four-game losing streak just last week. And then there was Mississippi, led by interim coach Tony Madlock after Andy Kennedy cut the cord two days ago, hitting the road and toppling Missouri 90-87 in overtime, a perplexing loss for a Tigers team that had made believers out of most with a recent five-game winning streak.
Add in LSU’s far less surprising 78-68 win at home over Vanderbilt, and the result of it all is a conference seemingly performing a lab experiment to see just how many teams can be bunched together as closely as possible, in as creative of ways as possible. After Tuesday, six SEC teams are separated by half a game between 8-6 and 8-7, and in all 12 of the conference’s 14 teams are between 8-6 and 5-10. And it’s not just the parity, it’s the wide array of performances within that parity that makes this league impossible to handicap.
None personifies that better than Texas A&M, which has run incredibly hot and cold this year-in part due to a rash of injuries and suspensions-and now with point guard Duane Wilson out for the year they are hurting badly for depth, especially in the backcourt. It sure seems this is not the same team as even a couple weeks ago that was winning at Auburn and taking care of Kentucky at home back-to-back as part of a four-game winning streak.
While Mississippi State obviously deserves credit for being tough enough to go on the road and take it to a squad that has been ranked multiple times this season, just who exactly did they beat? The squad that hammered West Virginia? Or the one that has seven losses by double-digit margins since the new year? It will not be an easy question to answer.
Similar can be said of Missouri. The Tigers have put together a nice collection of wins including recent ones over Alabama (on the road), Kentucky and Texas A&M when it was ranked. At the same time, Mizzou also has losses now against Illinois and Ole Miss-neither in a road environment-and also has continued to lose players as the season goes on, with the latest being Terrence Phillips, who it was announced Tuesday is officially no longer a part of the team.
And then there’s Arkansas, which had a pristine 14-1 record at Bud Walton Arena entering Tuesday night, had won four in a row entering the game and also-see a pattern here?-was coming off a win over Texas A&M. The Razorbacks are another team that has enough quality wins to make the NCAA tourney. But when they’ve lost, it’s often been in explosive fashion-six of the nine losses are by 14 points or more, including an inexplicable 21-point loss to LSU at home and a 26-point blowout at Houston.
The SEC is most likely going to benefit from all this chaos, in part due to smart non-conference scheduling and the league’s taking care of business almost without fail in winnable non-conference games (an incredible 95-4 mark against teams ranked below 100 in the RPI, even as the league is just 6-17 out of conference against RPI top 25 teams). What it will result in for victories in March, though, is impossible to guess.
Side Dishes
- West Virginia took care of Baylor on the road 71-60 in a game not nearly as close as the final score indicated. This looked more like vintage WVU, who shut down the hosts on 32.8% shooting, while the Bears looked badly ordinary here.
- Rhode Island got all it could want for a test on the road at La Salle, finally pulling out a 95-93 win in overtime despite the Explorers’ B.J. Johnson scoring 29 points and pulling down 23 rebounds. As La Salle noted, that rebound total was just one off the Atlantic 10 record set by Yinka Dare of George Washington back in the 90s.
- Not a good look for Creighton, which was drilled by Butler 93-70. The Bulldogs are back on the upswing after another offensive show-54.4% shooting, 14-for-26 from three, and Kelan Martin, Paul Jorgensen and Nate Fowler combining for 58 points while shooting a combined 24-for-35. The Jays, though, got just 39 points from their starters and now have lost four of their last five against NCAA Division I competition, not counting their win last week over NCAA Division II Bemidji State.
- Nebraska got back on track with a 66-57 win over Indiana. Also in the Big Ten, Ohio State blew away Rutgers 79-52, and Michigan State broke free from Illinois in the second half for an 81-61 win.
- The Southern Conference race suddenly became more interesting Tuesday. UNC Greensboro won at Wofford 76-66, establishing the Spartans as the clear second-best team in the league. There was a stunner in the Tri-Cities area of Tennessee, though, as The Citadel shocked East Tennessee State 84-82 on the road, handing ETSU just its second conference loss. The Buccaneers still lead UNCG by a game in the standings, but also still have toughies at home against contenders Wofford and Furman.
- A couple interesting results in the MAC, including Buffalo knocked off by improving Miami (Ohio) 84-81. Jack Owens has quietly done an excellent job in Oxford this year. Also, Eastern Michigan-normally known for defense-had an efficient offensive performance, shooting 55.7% in an 85-79 win over West Division-leading Toledo, and Ball State is now just a game behind the Rockets after a 77-68 win over Northern Illinois.
- Finally, an absolute shootout in the Mountain West, where New Mexico won at Wyoming 119-114. The Lobos had six double-figure scorers and got 59 points from their bench. It’s the Cowboys’ highest-scoring game since a 122-112 loss to Southern Mississippi in 1990, and a score reminiscent of their 119-115 loss to the famous run-and-gun Loyola Marymount in the 1988 NCAA Tournament.
- Louisville’s appeal of NCAA sanctions was upheld on the Tuesday, meaning the school’s 2013 national championship officially is vacated. Hoopville’s Phil Kasiecki had more thoughts on the unprecedented move by the NCAA to take away a championship.
Tonight’s Menu
- The night starts with several early ones, including a pair in the Big East. Xavier is at Georgetown (6:30 p.m. Eastern, FS1), while at the same time Seton Hall goes to Providence (6:30 p.m., Fox Sports regional). Later, St. John’s is at Marquette (8:30 p.m., Fox Sports regional), which is unlikely to have Markus Howard, who is doubtful after taking a hard fall and injuring his hip Saturday at Creighton.
- Georgia keeps hanging on the fringe of the NCAA Tournament discussion. If the Bulldogs are going to move in closer, though, they can’t afford a loss on the road at South Carolina (6:30 p.m., SEC Network).
- Texas Tech tries to stay neck-and-neck with Kansas in the Big 12 but has a tricky one on the road at pesky Oklahoma State (7 p.m., ESPNU). Likewise, TCU has an attainable-but-dangerous road game when it goes to Iowa State.
- Ranked ACC teams on the road include North Carolina at Syracuse (7 p.m., ESPN) and Clemson at Virginia Tech. For the Cuse in particular this is essentially a free shot; a loss wouldn’t hurt much, but a win would be gold.
- Another team with a big-time opportunity at home is Penn State, which has received plenty of positive buzz of late and now hosts Michigan (7 p.m., Big Ten Network).
- Ancient Western New York rivals Canisius and Niagara meet again, and this one has added importance with the homestanding Purple Eagles in third in the MAAC, still within reach of catching the Golden Griffins who are two games ahead in the league standings.
- Bucknell has already wrapped up the Patriot League title, but the Bison should stay sharp with a game at home against Navy, which is tied for second in the league with Colgate, which also hosts Army tonight.
- Sam Houston State and New Orleans are two of the five teams still separated by just 1 1/2 games at the top of the Southland, and they meet tonight with the Privateers hosting.
- The top two teams in the Missouri Valley meet with frontrunning Loyola (Ill.) at Southern Illinois. The Salukis have been a superb story this year, but the Ramblers (whose rise is no slouch either) can wrap up the outright regular season title with the win here.
- It feels like 1986 again, and feels like it’s been almost that long since Alabama and Auburn have played with both on the verge of the NCAA Tournament (8:30 p.m., SEC Network). The Tigers are without center Anfernee McLemore for the rest of the year after his awful injury Saturday against South Carolina, and he might be missed against the Crimson Tide’s muscular frontline.
- Louisville continues to be overrated in most mock brackets, but the Cardinals would deserve their spot a lot more if they can win at Duke. (9 p.m., ESPN)
- Florida is another thoroughly perplexing SEC team, while Tennessee has shown some cracks of late. Another big one in this incredibly competitive conference. (9 p.m., ESPN2)
- Kansas State won at Texas recently, and now the Wildcats host the Horns with the chance to sweep. (9 p.m., ESPNU)
- An entertaining Mountain West game should be Fresno State at UNLV, two teams still fighting hard for third in the conference.
- USC rebounded nicely without Bennie Boatwright last weekend by sweeping the Oregon schools at home, but the Trojans hit a danger zone this weekend in the Rockies, starting with Colorado on the road. (10:30 p.m., FS1)
Have a great Wednesday, the 13th day of the Winter Olympics.
