Rush The Court

With the SEC’s 18-game conference schedule tipping off this week, it’s time to introduce our new The SEC Week That Was column. For the next 10 weeks or so, we’ll run down a few weekly superlatives from league play, take a look at how conference teams look in the eyes of the NCAA Tournament selection committee, and anything else that merits discussion. We’ll start with Volume I, including games from December 29 to January 4.

Team of the Week. Could it go to any other team but South Carolina? The Gamecocks continued their trend of blowing out bad teams by beating North Carolina A&T by 37 points, and then picked up the league’s best non-Kentucky win by beating Iowa State on Saturday in Brooklyn. KenPom has liked Carolina’s defense all season, as the Gamecocks currently have the sixth best defensive efficiency rating in college basketball. It was on full display at the Barclays Center as Frank Martin’s team forced the high-powered Cyclones’ offense into 35.1 percent shooting from the floor and 0.79 points per possession, far and away its worst offensive showing of the year. Carolina also got excellent production from its backcourt, as Ty Johnson, Sindarius Thornwell and Duane Notice scored at least 13 points apiece. Scrappy defense and solid guard play were the hallmarks of Frank Martin’s best teams at Kansas State, and it seems like his Gamecocks are rounding into that form. I think you can safely put South Carolina on the early NCAA Tournament bubble.

Player of the Week. Jarell Martin, LSU. The Tigers’ sophomore enters league play as the SEC’s leading scorer at 18.2 points per game, and did nothing but pad that figure last week with strong stat lines in wins over Southern Miss (24 points, nine rebounds, four assists) and Savannah State (26 points, eight rebounds, three assists). DraftExpress ranks Martin as the 42nd-best prospect in this summer’s NBA Draft, so you have to wonder if he will stick around another year. If he does, he’ll join five-star recruits Ben Simmons and the recently-committed Antonio Blakeney on an ultra-talented LSU roster. Honorable mention goes to Missouri’s Jonathan Williams, who starred in a loss to Oklahoma State (22 points, nine rebounds) and a win over Lipscomb (16 points, 10 rebounds). The sophomore forward has been more aggressive on the offensive end and seems to have realized that he needs to command the basketball for the Tigers to play well.

Tournament Chatter. Who made the biggest strides towards an NCAA Tournament invitation this past week?

• South Carolina’s (9-3) gigantic win should put it on the map. An early season loss to Charlotte doesn’t look good, but the Gamecocks may have atoned for that red flag with their current seven-game winning streak, which also featured a win over Oklahoma State. Plus, they beat Clemson, which no one else in this conference has been able to do.
• Georgia (9-3) beat a reeling Kansas State team on New Year’s Eve, but the Bulldogs did it on the road and that should be worth something. Their earlier win over Seton Hall also looks better after the Pirates knocked off previously-unbeaten Villanova over the weekend.
• Holding steady, to some degree or another: Kentucky, Arkansas, LSU.
• Potentially on the brink: Vanderbilt, Alabama, Texas A&M.

Had a rough week. Florida. The Gators went 0-2 last week, dropping close games to Florida State and Connecticut. Unfortunately for Jacob Kurtz, he probably won’t be remembered as a walk-on who worked himself into a solid Gators’ contributor, but for his own basket tip-in that sunk his team down the stretch against the Seminoles. Sometimes, even in basketball, the ball takes cruel bounces. Free throw shooting ultimately did in the Gators against UConn, as Alex Murphy and Chris Walker each threw up crucial misses in the final minute against the Huskies. In the big picture, this week may have damaged the Gators’ fledging NCAA Tournament chances beyond repair. Two losses to those teams aren’t terrible in a vacuum, but if Florida couldn’t finish either game, what suggests that it will be able to win enough games in the SEC to warrant serious consideration?

Also had a rough week. Rick Ray. It was reasonable to expect improvement from Mississippi State this year, as its core of Gavin Ware, Craig Sword and Fred Thomas entered their third season playing together. An early 5-0 record seemed promising, but Mississippi State has gone 2-6 since that point, , including an ugly 19-point loss at home to McNeese State last week. The Bulldogs bounced back with a win over Florida State, but at some point you wonder when the administration needs to see legitimate signs of progress from the program. It is true that Ray inherited a difficult situation, but an SEC team shouldn’t be dropping home games to McNeese State or Arkansas State in year three of a rebuild.

Looking Ahead. You can try to avoid it all you want, but it’s inevitable this season: The biggest SEC game of the week will generally involve Kentucky. The Wildcats start league play at home against Ole Miss on Tuesday in what should be a ho-hum game. A Saturday visit to Texas A&M, however, holds some intrigue as it’ll be the Wildcats’ first conference foray on the road, and the Aggies have plenty of talent on their roster. Another compelling game this week could be Florida’s visit to South Carolina on Wednesday, since it’ll be interesting to see how both teams respond to drastically different weeks. How will South Carolina handle its biggest win in years; will the Gators start to crack after a lackluster non-conference season?