Game #219.  The top two programs in the SEC meet on Sunday afternoon with a championship on the line.

In yesterday’s semifinal matchup with Vanderbilt, Florida guards Kenny Boynton and Erving Walker took over in the second half to recover from a 12-point deficit.  The two guards shot a combined 8-15 from behind the arc, an uncharacteristic number from a pair that often struggles from three.  The team as a whole shot 11-21 from three.  The Gators had to make a second consecutive second half comeback to get the win.  Kentucky on the other hand easily cruised past SEC West leader Alabama, leading at one point by as many as many as 26.  Kentucky Coach Calipari shrugged the performance off as one of those days where you just can’t go wrong saying, “We’d have smacked anybody the way we played today.”  He also expressed his displeasure with Kentucky’s seven turnovers saying that only having seven turnovers is a sign his team isn’t playing fast enough.  Not a lot of coaches out there demanding more turnovers.

Today in the SEC Championship we have the two best teams in the league.  They split wins during the season with the home team winning each time.  These two programs have learned a special disgust for each other.  Yesterday during the Florida/Vanderbilt game a picture of Joakim Noah was displayed on the giant screen as the SEC Tournament stars were honored.  That picture caused loud boos from the many Kentucky fans in attendance, so many that they drowned out the Florida cheers.  This should be an exciting matchup.  Kentucky wins it 71-68.

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***** – quit your job and divorce your wife if that’s what it takes to watch this game live
**** – best watched live, but if you must, tivo and watch it tonight as soon as you get home
*** – set your tivo but make sure you watch it later
** – set your tivo but we’ll forgive you if it stays in the queue until 2013
* – don’t waste bandwidth (yours or the tivo’s) of any kind on this game

Brian Otskey is an RTC contributor.

We finally made it. It’s Selection Sunday and one of the best Championship Weeks ever played concludes today. I’d like to thank any reader out there who has read even just one of these daily features this season. I hope you enjoyed it and maybe even learned something you didn’t know about a team(s) from following Set Your Tivo. All rankings from RTC and all times Eastern.

ACC Championship (at Greensboro, NC): #5 Duke vs. #6 North Carolina – 1 pm on ESPN (*****)

Barnes and the Heels Could Snag a 1-Seed Later Today With a Win

The greatest rivalry in college basketball for the third time this year on the last day of the season? Sign me up. In an ACC year full of mediocrity, the two top dogs stepped up and have successfully found their way to the title game today. As you know, these teams split the regular season series with each winning on their home floor. The rubber match will be in Greensboro today, about an hour west of each campus and right in the heart of Tobacco Road.

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Games #210-211.  Does Alabama need to do more to show the Committee its worth?  Can anyone stop the Gators?

1:00 pm.  Kentucky/Alabama.  While yesterday’s win over Georgia should have been enough to get Alabama into the tournament, the selection committee is fickle, granting immunity for losses to one team (Michigan State, Tennessee) and no reward for wins to another (Alabama).  So that said, we can’t yet be sure that Alabama is in.  However getting a second win over Kentucky probably puts them in where some doubt remains without the win.  Both teams played tough games yesterday where the Tide’s JaMychal Green played 43 minutes, Trevor Releford 41, Chris Hines 36, and Charvez Davis 36 and Kentucky’s Brandon Knight and Doron Lamb played 39 minutes each while Josh Harrellson played 35.  That’s a lot of minutes for consecutive day games.  Let’s find out which team is more tired.  Kentucky wins, 67-62.

3:30 pm.  Florida/Vanderbilt.  Vanderbilt played a nearly flawless game last night in the nightcap against Mississippi State.  The Commodores shot 50 percent from the floor, 11-23 from three and 20-22 from the line while getting 14 assists to only five turnovers.  Florida was a little up and down at times against Tennessee, but in the end played cool and calm and controlled the second half.  Both of these teams are in, but they would also love to get an SEC Tournament championship under their belts to give a little bump to their NCAA Tournament seeding.  Florida took the first two meetings and though it’s tough to beat a team three times I think I’ve got to take the Gators take this one, 72-68.  But if Vandy wins, well then I meant Vandy, 74-70.

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Jared Quillen is the RTC correspondent for the SEC. With tournament action set to tip from Atlanta on Thursday, get set with RTC’s regular season recap and postseason outlook.

Postseason Preview

Hottest Teams Going Into The Postseason:

• Florida – Pasting Alabama to close out the season is a really good sign.
• Kentucky – Looking good on a lot of people’s brackets after winning two tough ones and they’ve been top 10 at KenPom.com all season.

Tournament Sleeper: Mississippi State – Too much talent here to not be dangerous when push comes to shove.  The question is, will they play the way they’re capable or the way when they’ve fumbled?

Best First Round Matchup: Tennessee vs. Arkansas, Thursday – The South Carolina/Ole Miss game doesn’t carry much weight, and I don’t see Georgia having too much trouble with Auburn, nor Vanderbilt with LSU.  Arkansas is the higher seeded team here due to the wackiness of the Southeastern Conference Tournament seeding (more on that later).  Arkansas won the previous meeting 68-65 in Fayetteville.

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If you are interested in participating in our ATB2 feature, send in your submissions to rushthecourt@gmail.com. We will add to this post throughout the day as the submissions come in so keep on sending them.

Top 25 Games

• #18 UConn 97, DePaul 71: “The five-year hex hovering over the Huskies at Madison Square Garden has been lifted. And all it took was playing one of the worst teams in major college basketball. But as is UConn’s tradition when playing in NYC in March, it wasn’t pretty.” (The UConn Blog)

News/Analysis

• Jalen Rose Discusses Fab Five Documentary: The former Fab Five member talks about the documentary that will premiere this Sunday at 9 PM on ESPN. (UM Hoops)
• Debunking the conference tournament myth: Questioning some common assumptions about conference tournaments. (Card Chronicle)

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Jesse Baumgartner is an RTC contributor. In this weekly piece he’ll review the five things he loved and hated about the previous seven days of college basketball. This week, Jesse digs a rout out west and credits the Thompson men in their handling of Klay’s mistake, and tells the Longhorns and Hokies what he thinks of ’em.

Five Things I Loved This Week

I LOVED..…Rick Pitino saying that there were no hard feelings about the Louisville cheerleader who gave Pitt a chance to tie the game last Sunday by running onto the court and hurling the ball skyward, earning a technical. He went on to say that the overzealous student should “enjoy your moment of glory.” But while Rick might have been all chummy the next day, that frankly was not the case after the game. Click this link and listen to the audio of his press conference: “I’m sure it was unintentional, but you could actually lose a game that way …. But hopefully he’ll learn the rules of basketball next time.” Pitino might have been in his happy-go-lucky PR mood after taking 24 hours to calm down, but his gut reaction is pretty hilarious – don’t EVER touch my ball.

I LOVED……a subconscious admission of a classic Duke flop tactic (P.S., I’m neutralizing the upcoming Duke hate by giving Nolan Smith mad props for single-handedly keeping the Devils in the game against UNC this weekend). While watching the UK/Vanderbilt game this week, I saw a guard draw a three-shot foul by sticking out his legs on a jumper and acting his way into the call. The side announcer (I want to say it was Jimmy Dykes) proceeds to say, “Over the years, Duke’s shooters. You go back to even guys like J.J. Redick. So good and so clever. (Jon) Scheyer. Nolan Smith right now…just enough of a foot out when you’re in the air to draw contact.” THREE Duke players, NO ONE ELSE! It was quite humorous, and come on – you’ve got to give credit first and foremost to Best Actor nominee Reggie Miller, who invented that move long ago.

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It is quite clear that Ohio State, Kansas, and Pittsburgh should be ranked one through three in that order as all of the pollsters were in complete agreement on that, but after that things get a little murky. Notre Dame is on the verge of crashing the party and a successful Big East Tournament may award them a #1 seed come Selection Sunday. QnD analysis after the jump…

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If you are interested in participating in our ATB2 feature, send in your submissions to rushthecourt@gmail.com. We will add to this post throughout the day as the submissions come in so keep on sending them.

Top 25 Games

• #1 Ohio State 93, #10 Wisconsin 65: “Jon Diebler continued his torrid three point shooting pace, dropping in 27 points on 8/10 FG and 7/8 3FG shooting as the Buckeyes put a thorough 93-65 beatdown on Bo’s Badgers this afternoon in Value City Arena. Diebler’s unconscious effort on Senior Day was complimented by Jared Sullinger’s 22 points and eight rips, William Buford’s 18 and David Lighty’s 13.” (Eleven Warriors)
• #2 Kansas 70, #21 Missouri 66: “In the end, a huge win for Kansas. Turned the ball over way too much but with a big first half from the Morri and a huge second half from Thomas Robinson, the Jayhawks were able give the Tigers their only loss at Paige Mizzou Arena this season.” (Rock Chalk Talk: Part 1 and Part 2; Rock M Nation: Recap)
• #11 UNC 81, #4 Duke 67: “In the end, the game came down to two simple facts. Duke came to Chapel Hill and played the same game they had a month earlier – heavy scoring from Nolan Smith and Seth Curry, minimal offense from Kyle Singer and no production from the rest of the team. Carolina played a much superior game though, and won easily.” (Carolina March: Recap and Analysis)

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***** – quit your job and divorce your wife if that’s what it takes to watch this game live
**** – best watched live, but if you must, tivo and watch it tonight as soon as you get home
*** – set your tivo but make sure you watch it later
** – set your tivo but we’ll forgive you if it stays in the queue until 2013
* – don’t waste bandwidth (yours or the tivo’s) of any kind on this game

Brian Otskey is an RTC contributor.

What a Saturday it was. The final day of the regular season for BCS teams is today while another ticket will be punched, this time out of the Missouri Valley. All rankings from RTC and all times Eastern.

#22 Kentucky @ Tennessee — 12 pm on CBS (****)

Knight Could ruin UT's Senior Day If He Gets Hot

Tennessee likely locked up a bid Thursday night at South Carolina but a loss today would drop them to 8-8 in the SEC. A win in the conference tournament would be advisable but their solid non-conference resume and strong schedule should probably be enough to push the Volunteers over the top.

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If you are interested in participating in our ATB2 feature, send in your submissions to rushthecourt@gmail.com. We will add to this post throughout the day as the submissions come in so keep on sending them.

Top 25 Games

• #1 Ohio State 82, Penn State 61: “Jon Diebler might have missed his first and last triple tries but he connected on 10 straight in between, pouring in a career high 30 points as the Buckeyes clinched at least a share of the B1G regular season conference title by routing Penn State 82-61 tonight in Happy Valley.” (Eleven Warriors)
• #6 Purdue 76, Illinois 67: “The game almost felt secondary tonight, as the Boiler faithful sent off 33 and 25 with many resounding Mackey cheers, as thanks for four years of dedication and hard work. Once again, the place was clearly deafening even through the TV broadcast. Let’s say that first, everyone: great work again, especially the Paint Crew who always brings it. As is always a concern on a night like this, the home team fell behind. However, it wasn’t really that Purdue was playing poorly — Illinois was just shooting the lights out and playing like the team we all thought they were capable of bring this season. Of course, that only lasted about ten minutes and then they reverted to the Illinois who resides on the bubble.” (Boiled Sports)
• #16 Florida 78, Alabama 51: “With their 78-51 victory over Alabama Tuesday night, the Gators clinched a share of their first SEC championship since 2007. The Gators (23-6, 11-3) were led by Chandler Parsons’ 19 points and 11 rebounds, as the Gators dominated the second-half following an even first half. The Gators used several second half runs to put distance between them and the SEC West champions.” (Alligator Army)
• #22 Kentucky 68, #19 Vanderbilt 66: “What a game. I have not been more nervous at any time this year. The Kentucky Wildcats and the Vanderbilt Commodores battled to the wire in Rupp Arena in a wild affair that went down to the last tick of the last second before Kentucky could claim their 15th and final home game for a perfect season in Rupp Arena. But it was by no means a perfect game.” (A Sea of Blue or Anchor of Gold)
• Nebraska 69, #21 Missouri 58: “This was the second game this season in which I was truly and completely disappointed.  The other — Oklahoma State — could be blamed, at least a bit, on ridiculous travel trouble (anytime it takes you two days to get where you’re going, you probably aren’t going to be amazingly sharp).  Missouri is 30 games through the season now, and the fact that they were able to play their worst game of the season now is, in and of itself, cause for alarm.  In each of the past three seasons, they haven’t played their best in the final week before the conference tournament, but to me, at least, this was possibly a new level.  (Then again, I probably didn’t enjoy the 25-point whipping Kansas laid on Missouri two years ago either. That ended up alright.)” (Rock M Nation)

Other Games of Interest

• Boston College 76, Virginia Tech 61: After a huge win over Duke that led some to predict that the Hokies were definitely a NCAA Tournament team they came out flat on Senior Night against the Eagles. (Tech Hoops)

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