SEC Saturday Storylines: Are Texas A&M’s Title Hopes Still Alive?
Posted by Greg Mitchell on February 20th, 2016There’s still plenty at stake in the SEC this weekend even if it doesn’t have quite the same juice as last weekend’s schedule. Kentucky can continue its seemingly inevitable charge at the SEC title in College Station and several other teams can play themselves further onto (Alabama) or off (Georgia, Vanderbilt) the bubble. Here are three things to watch for in this weekend’s SEC action.
Does Texas A&M still have a road to the SEC title? (247sports.com)
Texas A&M’s last stand. Drawing comparisons to the Alamo may be overly dramatic but the Aggies will be up against it on Saturday evening. A few short weeks ago the Kentucky game looked like it would be the SEC game of year. Despite Texas A&M’s 2-5 slide over the past few weeks, this game is still getting the bright-lights treatment with ESPN‘s College Gameday broadcasting from College Station. This could represent a swing game for Aggies. A win draws A&M within one game of the Wildcats and Mississippi State, Missouri and Auburn due next. Kentucky’s next three games against Alabama, Vanderbilt and Florida are considerably tougher. This scenario of course assumes that both teams completely reverse their recent runs, but it’s nonetheless a path for Texas A&M. A game storyline worth watching is whether Tyler Davis and Jalen Jones can take advantage of a Kentucky frontcourt that might be without Marcus Lee — he was held to just 17 minutes against Tennessee due to a back injury. The thought of Isaac Humphries or Skal Labissiere trying to contain either of those guys must have John Calipari worried. On the other end of the floor, the Wildcats’ three-point marksmen Jamal Murray and Derek Willis (yes, he’s earned that title) will face a defense that has struggled to defend perimeter shots at times this season.
Do we have an elimination game on hand? It would be a soft, fluffy bubble if Georgia is still truly in the mix, but Mark Fox’s team just might be. The best argument the Bulldogs can make at 14-10 overall and 7-6 in SEC play is that they don’t have any miserable losses — the worst being a one-point defeat to Ole Miss in Oxford. In truth, falling to Florida at home on Tuesday may have snuffed out any chance Georgia had left, but Vanderbilt is probably in a better spot with wins already over Texas A&M and Florida. But not by much. You know it’s not good when your coach is throwing out any excuse he can to explain his team’s issues, but it’s a certainty that the loser of this game will really be in trouble. This matchup would seem to favor Vanderbilt with its talented size against a Georgia frontcourt that is Yante Maten and nobody else, but banking on the Commodores’ talent to come through has not been a winning bet this season.
Can Mississippi State keep playing spoiler? Through all of their close losses this season, the Bulldogs have looked like a far better team than their record suggested. Lately those close losses have turned into wins that are causing problems for their SEC brethren. Arkansas came to Starkville last week, having won three of its last four games and charging toward an NIT bid in a promising year, but the Bulldogs blew them out and they have unraveled since. Following that, Mississippi State’s 17-point comeback against Vanderbilt may have dealt irreparable damage to the Commodores’ resume. Mississippi State now gets an Alabama team on a five-game winning streak that is feeling very good about itself. A loss here wouldn’t be fatal for the Crimson Tide but it would certainly put a stop to their momentum. The Bulldogs have the second highest two-point field goal percentage in the league (53.8%), mostly because of Gavin Ware, but Mississippi State has plenty of offensive options with the emergence of Quinndary Weatherspoon. This should make for a fun game against Alabama’s stout defense.
