NCAA Tournament Instareaction: SEC Teams
Posted by Greg Mitchell on March 16th, 2015All things considered, the Selection Committee ended up being kind to the SEC this year. Kentucky grabbed the number one overall seed with no suspense and five league teams heard their names called. That’s a very welcome result after consecutive years of only three conference teams making the field. LSU’s inclusion as a #9 seed was especially interesting. The prevailing wisdom held that the Tigers’ SEC Tournament loss to Auburn had planted them firmly on the bubble. The fact that Johnny Jones’ team safely made the field could reveal that the committee had a high opinion of the conference. Here is a quick look at what these five SEC teams face in the coming days.
34-0. (USA Today Images)
Kentucky
- Seed: #1, Midwest
- Quick First Round Preview: The Wildcats will play the winner of MEAC champion Hampton and MAAC champion Manhattan. There’s a reason they always play the games but this is not the instance where a #1 seed finally falls to a #16 seed. That said, there are intriguing storylines with both potential matchups. Manhattan head coach Steve Masiello (who played at Kentucky) was headed to South Florida before a lie on his resume cost him the job before he’d even started. Kentucky assistant Orlando Antigua left John Calipari’s bench to take the job instead. The Jaspers should be able to handle sub-.500 Hampton, but the MEAC has a troubling history with the SEC. Two MEAC champions have taken down highly-seeded SEC (or soon to be SEC) schools: Coppin State over South Carolina in 1997 and Norfolk State over Missouri in 2012 (although both were #15 seeds)
- Intriguing Potential Future Matchup: It would take a magical and seemingly improbable run, but a regional final matchup with Texas would be a fun one. The Longhorns have largely underachieved this season, but they are one of the few teams with the requisite size to match up with Kentucky. The two teams met in Lexington on December 5 and the Wildcats managed to pull out an 11-point win after a tie game at halftime. Texas, however, was without star point guard Isaiah Taylor at the time. Could he have made the difference? Maybe we’ll get to find out.
- Final Word: The Wildcats have a few threats in this region but that’s a given for the NCAA Tournament. Kansas as a #2 seed is a much better fit than Wisconsin, Gonzaga or Virginia, since the Jayhawks have a banged-up frontcourt and were battered by Kentucky at the start of the year. It would be fun to watch Jerian Grant and Pat Connaughton stretch the Wildcats’ defense in the regional final, but all things considered, the Wildcats are the clear favorite to get out of the Midwest.
Arkansas
- Seed: #5, West
- Quick First Round Preview: The Razorbacks draw Southern Conference champion Wofford in the opening round. The Terriers’ two lead guards, Eric Garcia and Karl Cochran, take fairly good care of the ball with turnover rates under 17.0 percent. The duo might be able to do a fine job against the Arkansas press, but Wofford doesn’t have a single player in its rotation over 6’7,’’ which will pose problems in trying to cover Bobby Portis.
- Intriguing Potential Future Matchup: Mike Anderson does what he does, so he’s not likely to slow the brakes in a potential third round matchup with North Carolina. Running up and down with Marcus Paige and the Tar Heels’ potent offense may not be a winning formula, but it would make for an entertaining game.
- Final Word: Having North Carolina and Wisconsin standing in the way prior to the Elite Eight is not a lucky draw in Anderson’s first NCAA appearance at Arkansas. But getting past a good Wofford team and playing the Tar Heels on Saturday would be a nice accomplishment in a season when the Razorbacks returned to basketball respectability.
LSU
- Seed: #9, East
- Quick First Round Preview: The Tigers get North Carolina State in their opener and will see a familiar face in former Alabama guard Trevor Lacey, who turned in an excellent season for the Wolfpack (15.8 PPG; 3.4 APG). Mark Gottfried’s squad generates the bulk of its offense from its backcourt, which will put pressure on Tim Quarterman, Jalyn Patterson and Keith Hornsby to defend.
- Intriguing Potential Future Matchup: Getting past the Wolfpack would put the Tigers up against #1 seed Villanova and create an exciting frontcourt battle between Jordan Mickey and Jarell Martin versus Jayvaughn Pinkston and Daniel Ochefu. The Wildcats, with talent all over the floor, have been as solid as a team can be this year but Mickey and Martin are dangerous players who Jay Wright cannot be happy to see in his Round of 32 path.
- Final Word: It’s time for LSU to make hay. The Tigers have been up and down all year long and many view Johnny Jones’ group as an underachieving team. That can all be put to rest if Jones can ride his two future pros deep into the NCAA Tournament, just like Counzo Martin’s run at Tennessee last season.
Georgia
- Seed: #10, East
- Quick First Round Preview: The Bulldogs get a date with Tom Izzo and Michigan State in the first round, pitting two physical teams against each other. A burning question is how Georgia will match up with Denzel Valentine and Branden Dawson. Marcus Thornton and Nemanja Djurisic are traditional big men who are not suited to guard the more versatile Spartans. Kenny Gaines is an in-your-face physical defender, but he gives up size to both players. The responsibility to contain Izzo’s powerful wings will likely fall primarily on Gaines and point guard Charles Mann.
- Intriguing Potential Future Matchup: Virginia is probably the #2 seed Mark Fox least wanted to see. Georgia’s grind-it-out-defense doesn’t match up well with a Cavaliers’ team that mirrors them but is much better at it. If the Bulldogs get by Michigan State, they will need a long-range outburst from J.J. Frazier (who is capable of it) to pull off the mammoth upset.
- Final Word: The Bulldogs have been an under-appreciated team that has faced a number of injuries all season. This year’s tournament can serve as a coming-out party and showcase the solid job Fox has done in Athens the last two seasons. It’s a shame that Georgia was matched with a tough Spartans team coming off a run to the Big Ten title game and a meat-grinder of a #2 seed in Virginia. If the Bulldogs somehow make it to the Sweet Sixteen, no one will fail to take notice of the job he’s doing any longer.
Ole Miss
- Seed: #11, West
- Quick First Round Preview: The Rebels barely squeaked into the field and received a First Four matchup with BYU in Dayton. This should be a fun game. The Cougars play at a breakneck pace and have triple-double “machine” (at least in the college sense) Kyle Collinsworth to set up teammates Tyler Haws and Chase Fischer. We know Ole Miss isn’t too shabby on the offensive end either, and the notion of watching Stefan Moody gun with the BYU guards should be a real treat. I imagine that Snoop White will get a first crack at guarding Collinsworth, and that will be a matchup worth watching.
- Intriguing Potential Future Matchup: I’d like to see Moody get some shots up against the Baylor zone, which could occur in the third round if the Rebels got past BYU and Xavier. The Bears have the length that you’d think would frustrate the Rebels, but this is the same team that gave Kentucky its greatest scare in Rupp Arena this season, and the Wildcats have a little length of their own.
- Final Word: Ole Miss was quite literally the last team to hear its name called on Sunday and should consider itself fortunate to be in the NCAA Tournament after losing four of its last five games to finish the season. That said, Andy Kennedy has done a great job in replacing Marshall Henderson and adding new pieces like Moody and M.J. Rhett to his lineup. The Rebels are another team that has flown under the radar this season save for that one Tuesday in January when they nearly upset Kentucky. They don’t have as difficult a road to success this week as Georgia, so getting to the third round would be a tremendous accomplishment.
