SEC Set Your TiVo will take a look ahead at each week’s key games. See bottom of the post for the Official RTC Star System.

While you are picking your teeth clean of the leftover turkey on your couch, the Southeastern conference teams are back up and running towards the Big East/SEC Challenge. RTC SEC will have detailed Big East/SEC Challenge preview before Thursday’s games. Before the multi-conference potluck, several SEC teams will be working out the final kinks in action tonight through Wednesday. Which games are appetizers for your eyes and which should be sealed in Ziploc bags and hidden in the back of your fridge?

#12 Xavier at #20 Vanderbilt – Monday, November 28, 7 PM on ESPN2 and ESPN3 (****)

Having played just four games played this season, Xavier has not been as tested as those schools who participated in late-November tournaments. The Musketeers’ best win was last Friday’s 70-56 drumming of Georgia when they used nearly their entire bench to give scoring support for injured senior guard Tu Holloway. Coach Chris Mack’s team is shooting 59.5% from the floor (42nd best in the nation) and 42.3% fro three-point range (25th best in the nation). With that kind of accuracy, Xavier has four players averaging double-figures in scoring: Holloway (15.0 PPG), junior Mark Lyons (17.8 PPG), freshman Dezmine Wells (10.5 PPG), and senior Kenny Frease (10.3 PPG).

Vanderbilt senior forward Jeffery Taylor must protect the ball better for the Commodores to have a chance against Xavier. Photo via AP Photo/Bill Kostroun.

The Commodores struggles this season have been well-documented. Xavier will be yet another difficult test for Vanderbilt’s point guards. Senior Brad Tinsley has been liability against quicker opponents and will get no rest against the Musketeer backcourt. Freshman Kendren Johnson might see more than his 15 minutes-a-game average against Xavier as long as he limits his own turnovers. And about those turnovers: Seniors Jeffery Taylor, Lance Goulbourne, and Tinsley must protect their possessions if the Commodores have any chance at pulling off the upset. As Brian Joyce told you earlier, tonight’s game may end up being one of two make-or-break games for Vanderbilt’s season.

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1. Did anybody try cooking for Thanksgiving? It’s okay, sometimes things don’t turn out exactly how you planned. I’m sure everybody grinned and ate it anyway. Well, LSU‘s season isn’t turning out how coach Trent Johnson planned either. In their most recent game, they fell to South Alabama despite building a 12-point lead. “Like I told the team, you just can’t show up and expect to win a game, whether you are at home or on the road,” Johnson said. “The one thing that sort of concerns me is that although we had 17 assists and 11 turnovers, and when we got up 10, I thought we had some guys try to go off on their own a little bit.” LSU came into the game with a two-game win streak, but were out-rebounded by the Jaguars 42-31. This is the Tigers third loss of this early season. The problem for Johnson and the Tigers is that nobody is grinning and pretending to enjoy what is happening to this LSU team.
2. The Georgia student newspaper, the Red and Black, says coach Mark Fox is optimistic about how his young Bulldogs are coming along. Fox was impressed with how his team responded after a difficult loss to California with a hard-fought win over Notre Dame the following night. But Georgia’s schedule just gets tougher from this point forward. “This schedule is challenging and for a young team, it’s extra challenging,” Fox said. “You gotta learn how to beat good teams and you don’t learn how to beat good teams by just playing bad ones. So we’re gonna have to grow up on the job. We’re gonna have a lot of teachable moments like we had against Cal and Notre Dame. There is just so much for this group to experience.” Georgia will get plenty of opportunities to grow up on the job as they play Xavier, Cincinnati, Colorado, and Southern California over the next few weeks. Freshman Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has filled in to produce some much needed scoring with 13.2 points per game so far. The Dogs are counting on Caldwell-Pope to increase his field goal percentage (40.4%) as he gets more experience throughout the season.
3. Arkansas is still learning to deal with the injury of leading scorer Marshawn Powell. Freshman Devonta Abron started in place of Powell against Utah Valley on Wednesday night and finished with three points and three rebounds. The entire frontcourt really struggled in Powell’s absence. Abron, Hunter Mickelson, Michael Sanchez, and Marvell Waithe combined to score six points and grab 13 rebounds. “We have to work with what we have now,” 6’2″ guard Madracus Wade said of Powell’s injury. “The young guys have to step up. … We’ve all got to get in there and rebound.” Arkansas won 67-59, but it is clear that Mike Anderson’s up-tempo system can’t run entirely on guard play. The Razorbacks have to find frontcourt production soon to avoid a major letdown in Anderson’s first year at the helm.
4. Tennessee‘s narrow losses against #6 Duke and #8 Memphis have the Vols confident that they can play with anyone in the nation. A big reason for the Volunteers success in Maui was the outstanding play of power forward Jeronne Maymon who scored 32 points and grabbed 20 rebounds against Memphis. The performance was the first time a Division I player has scored at least 30 points and 20 rebounds in a game since Blake Griffin in 2009. “We know we’re good enough to play against anybody on any given night,” Maymon said. “Each night we go to practice like we’re getting ready for the No. 1-ranked team.” Maymon and Tennessee proved, despite losing two close games, that they were highly underrated with the potential to be an NCAA Tournament team. The Volunteers were picked to finish 11th in the SEC in the preseason and it is seems clear that the Vols will finish much higher than that.
5. The Clarion-Ledger has a few observations from the first five Ole Miss games of the season. The most interesting note is just how bad the Rebels’ offensive efficiency has been this year. They are 17-97 (17.5%) from beyond the arc, bad enough for 340th in the nation. The Reb’s two point percentage is 49.8%, which is significantly better at 125th in the nation. Andy Kennedy seems to be struggling to replace do-it-all guard Chris Warren, who averaged 19.1 points per game last year. Terrance Henry is the Rebels leading scorer thus far with 12.2 points per game, but he is shooting at an alarming 41.2% from the field. The Rebels wins thus far are a bit misleading. While the Rebs are 4-1, a 30-point loss on Sunday to Marquette signifies that unless Kennedy can solve their offensive woes, more difficult times lie ahead for Ole Miss once they take a step up in competition.

SEC Set Your TiVo will take a look ahead at each week’s key games. See bottom of the post for the Official RTC Star System.

The SEC non-conference basketball schedule heads into Thanksgiving by finishing up its early season tournaments. Those already back from their tourney travels kick off the holiday week with an easy-as-pie opponent. Which games this week are the turkey meat and which are the store-bought cold bean salad that stays unserved on the kitchen counter?

Tennessee vs. #6 Duke (at Maui Invitational) – Monday, Nov. 21st 5:30 PM EST on ESPN2 (***)
Tennessee vs. #13 Memphis or #14 Michigan – Tuesday, Nov. 22nd 2:00 PM (or 7:00 PM) EST on ESPN2 (or ESPN) (****)
Tennessee vs. UCLA/Chaminade/#15 Kansas/Georgetown – Wednesday, Nov. 23rd (Time and TV TBD)

As the sole SEC representative in this year’s EA Sports Maui Invitational, Tennessee faces quite the gauntlet. First up are the Blue Devils, whose outside shooting (42% 3FG) and size advantage in 6’11” forwards Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly will be a significant advantage. The Volunteers will either need to find a way to score inside or keep riding a hot 3-point shooting streak (26 of 53 in two games) to find the exit with a victory. Memphis and Michigan have youthful teams that share a ghost-like quickness. Tennessee won’t out-shoot the Wolverines from deep and can’t out-run Memphis so Cuonzo Martin might have make some magic happen with his forwards in order for the Vols to overcome either team.

Tennessee coach Cuonzo Martin really wants his team to stop shooting the magic potions. (Photo via AP Photo/The News Sentinel, Adam Brimer)

With one victory in Maui before Wednesday, Tennessee will find a key that helps open the door to an NCAA Tournament bid. With two straight losses, the Vols would likely face UCLA or Chamiade on Wednesday and their NCAA chances in trouble early in the season. Tuesday’s game will be probably the best to watch especially if in-state rival Memphis is involved.

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Kevin Doyle is an RTC contributor and the Patriot League correspondent. Each week he will examine the other 26 non-power conferences in college basketball. You can find him on twitter @KLDoyle11.

Introduction

Well this is refreshing, isn’t it? College basketball on the tube every night, several Other 26 teams already knocking some ranked BCS teams off of their high horses, and a whole lot of goodness upcoming with more early season tournaments and games. There is not a specific theme that has made itself apparent to open the season — I will usually try to hone in on a theme during the introduction of each column — but business has been usual to open the season. We have seen two major upsets with Long Beach State and Cleveland State shocking Top 10 teams — both have crawled into our Top 10 as a result — and we have not seen The Jimmer all over ESPN routinely hitting shots from 35 feet, something that was all too common last year. Rest assured though, as more and more games are played, storylines and themes will naturally develop. For now, let’s dig into the Top 10 teams for the week.

The Top 10

Tidbits from the Rankings

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SEC Set Your TiVo will take a look ahead at each week’s key games. See bottom of the post for the Official RTC Star System.

The SEC got the Internets goin’ nuts this weekend. You’ll have to hook up your laptop to your TV if you want to catch nearly every game not involving Mississippi State, Mississippi or South Carolina. Check out our evaluations below for the games that’ll make you want to change television service providers to get The Tres.

#15 Arizona vs. Mississippi State (2K Classic Championship Game) – Friday, Nov. 18, 6:30PM EST on ESPN2 (***)

Renardo Sidney is available for basketball AND all your stamp-licking needs.

Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury finally found some redemption for an embarrassing loss at home to Akron last week. In Thursday night’s 2KSports CvC Classic Semifinals, the Bulldogs sprinted to a 31-9 lead in the first half and held off #18 Texas A&M’s comeback to win 69-60. MSU’s eight-man rotation forced 16 turnovers and committed just 16 fouls, limiting A&M’s free-throw attempts (10-14). Another tough defensive assignment awaits in Arizona, who defeated St. John’s in the other semifinal, 81-72.

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1. Kentucky looked a little rusty on offense in the first half against Kansas on Tuesday night. There might be a good reason for that. Calipari says the Cats have just gotten around to installing necessary things like out-of-bounds and late-game plays. This doesn’t seem that unusual as practice time is limited, and games seem to be sneaking up earlier and earlier in the calendar each season. After watching the Wildcats dismantle a good KU team last night, however, it is scary to think how dominant this team can be with some additional time together.
2. Jay Bilas went all access with Kentucky as the Cats and head coach John Calipari prepared for Kansas. Calipari spoke about his winning ways at Kentucky, competing at the highest level and getting the most out of his freshmen. This video included a good scream from Cal about poor defense and even a threat to put one of his players on a treadmill at 14 miles per hour. And now we now how Cal motivates his players at halftime.
3. Florida coach Billy Donovan felt the Gators should have passed the ball down low to sophomore Patric Young more in the first half of last night’s game against Ohio State and standout center, Jared Sullinger. According to Gainesville Sun writer Kevin Brockman’s tweet last night, Donovan thought Young could have gotten Sullinger in foul trouble had the guards better fed the post. The Gators only passed the ball inside to Young once in the first half. Florida adjusted at halftime, and Young finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds while limiting Sullinger to only 16 points.
4. Vanderbilt came up with a win against Bucknell, but it didn’t come easily. The Commodores played without leading scorer John Jenkins who was out with a sprained right ankle. Jenkins tweaked his ankle in the loss to Cleveland State, and his injury, along with the absence of Festus Ezeli, makes it two all-SEC players on the sidelines for the ‘Dores. And with starting point guard Brad Tinsley also nursing a wrist injury, Vandy needs to get healthy as quickly as possible. Vanderbilt will play in the TicketCity Legends Classic on Saturday against North Carolina State, and then face either Texas or Oregon State on November 21.
5. The hot seat got hotter for a couple of SEC coaches with bad losses last night. Darrin Horn and South Carolina lost to Elon by the score of 58-53, while LSU and  Trent Johnson fell to Coastal Carolina 71-63. The SEC has lost a couple of unlikely games to mid-majors already this season, but these losses will impact the job security that both coaches feel going forward. Both came into the season feeling a bit insecure about their job prospects, and no doubt both are likely feeling quite a bit hotter under the collar at this point.

SEC Set Your TiVo will take a look ahead at each week’s key games. See bottom of the post for the Official RTC Star System.

After the first real weekend of college basketball action, the SEC dives headfirst into the non-conference schedule. The conference will have six teams participating in national tournaments through Thursday. Vanderbilt (TicketCity Legends Classic) and Georgia (Progressive CBE Classic) stay on their home courts for preliminary round games; LSU (DIRECTV Charleston Classic), Kentucky (State Farm Champions Classic), Alabama (Puerto Rico Tip-Off) and Mississippi State (2KSports Classic) travel to neutra court sites. Florida faces its first Top 10 test in non-tournament action.

This will be the national introduction for nearly all of these SEC teams. Which games should you watch live (besides those of your favorite team)?

#2 Kentucky vs. #13 Kansas (at Madison Square Garden) – Tuesday, Nov. 15, 9 PM EST on ESPN (*****)

Kentucky sophomore guard Doron Lamb packs his 3-goggles for a trip home to the Big Apple (pic via http://kentuckybasketball.tumblr.com)

Kentucky gets its first real challenge at the State Farm Champions Classic in New York City. This Kansas team looks different than the team who ran into the VCU buzzsaw last March in the NCAA Elite Eight. The only returning Jayhawk starter is senior point guard Tyshawn Taylor; the experienced bench from last season — junior forwards Travis Releford and Thomas Robinson, junior senior Jeff Withey and junior Elijah Johnson — now becomes the experienced starters. Although they started this season with questions about their bench depth, the Jayhawks played nine players for 14 minutes or more in their 100-54 victory over Towson on Saturday. In just 14 minutes, junior transfer forward Kevin Young tallied 13 points and seven rebounds.

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The college basketball season has tipped off, and we are well under way. There has already been plenty of action as some teams have injured superstars, out-of-shape stars, underappreciated stars and emerging stars. But there are plenty of stars in the SEC, nonetheless. Before we jump into the star studded matchups of Tuesday, let’s do a quick look back at our SEC microsite preview coverage from the last several weeks:

We looked at the non-conference schedules of several SEC teams to determine the three most important games in our Make or Break series:

• Arkansas Razorbacks
• Florida Gators
• Georgia Bulldogs
• South Carolina Gamecocks
• Mississippi State Bulldogs
• Auburn Tigers
• Tennessee Volunteers
• Vanderbilt Commodores

We profiled several of the incoming transfers who will make an impact in the SEC this year through our Fresh Start series:

• Arnett Moultrie 
• Jelan Kendrick 
• Mike Rosario

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1. Alex Poythress surprised the recruiting world by choosing the Kentucky Wildcats yesterday. The 6’8″ forward, ranked #16 in the class by Scout.com, also considered Memphis, Vanderbilt and Florida. Experts were stumped as to where the third best small forward prospect in the 2012 class would choose to take his talents. When asked about his decision, Poythress said, ““I just wanted to go to a place where I can get better and a place I feel comfortable at.” Kentucky has had the number one class three years in a row dating back to John Calipari’s first year in Lexington. Poythress’ commitment brings the Cats up to number two in Scout’s team rankings, with the Wildcats in hot pursuit of a couple of other top prospects. Never count out Calipari when it comes to recruiting.
2. The Vanderbilt blog Anchor of Gold let out a little frustration after Kentucky nabbed Poythress. The Dores’ website vented about the rigorous academic standards of Vanderbilt University as compared to its competitors, the inconsistencies of the NCAA in handing out punishments against wrongdoers and the “it’s better to get forgiveness than permission” attitude of big time college athletics. The author points out that Vanderbilt is the only football program in the SEC without a major violation on its record and boasted that the Commodores have “graduated every men’s basketball player who exhausted his eligibility for thirty years.” Sometimes you just have to get things off your chest. It sounds like Vandy fans may not just want a good season this year for their men’s basketball program, but they may need it more than we thought.
3. John Calipari spoke with the media on Thursday and indicated he will sit down with sophomore guard Stacey Poole some time in the next day or two. Poole has considered a transfer from Kentucky in reports according to his father. Calipari wants to give Poole all the time he needs to make a decision. “You want every player to stay, fight through it, learn not to run,” Calipari said before adding, “but if a young man doesn’t think his opportunity is here – they all want to play. I will support him.” The issue for Poole seems to be a lack of playing time. Getting on the court doesn’t appear to be in Poole’s future as long as Calipari continues to bring in top shelf talent at the guard position. Kentucky begins the season on Friday night against Marist, and it says here that Poole will most likely not be with the team.
4. Nothing gets me pumped up for the basketball season like a YouTube video. Ole Miss basketball has created a preview video complete with player interviews, highlight footage and team goals for the season. The video is very well done. Coach Andy Kennedy needs to complete a few of these team goals in order to save his job. If the Rebels play half as well as the production of this video, then Kennedy might be able to stick around again next year.
5. There’s at least one website that doesn’t think Kennedy is at the top of the SEC pecking order to get canned. CBS Sports published a list of the twelve coaches on the hot seat this year, and unfortunately two SEC coaches made the list. According to the report, South Carolina’s Darrin Horn and LSU’s Trent Johnson need a strong 2011-12 campaign in order to secure their jobs. Horn’s Gamecocks have been under .500 in winning percentage in each of the past two years, while the Tigers have won only 11 games in each of the past two seasons. This is certainly one list these guys don’t want to be on much longer.

Past Imperfect is a series focusing on the history of the game. Every two weeks, RTC contributor Joshua Lars Weill (@AgonicaBoss|Email) highlights some piece of historical arcana that may (or may not) be relevant to today’s college basketball landscape. This week: the arrival of Shaquille O’Neal in college basketball.

Quick: What’s the biggest thing you’ve ever seen right in front of you? Was it’s a skyscraper, or maybe a mountain? Or maybe it was a waterfall or an ancient castle? But what if it was an 18-year-old kid in sneakers wearing a wide, toothy grin?

That’s what a lot of folks around the SEC saw back in 1989 when this… kid showed up. He wasn’t just big, he was huge. Never mind that he couldn’t yet spin in the lane like he eventually would or that his shot from more than four feet was not going to go in. He didn’t have to be there yet. LSU had other guys for that stuff, especially All-Everything guard Chris Jackson. Instead, the huge kid with the weird name was just supposed to do exactly what he did do: absolutely terrify opposing coaches away from the paint.

Shaq at 17 Was a Manchild

What kind of name was ‘Shaquille’ anyway? (Muslim, actually, for ‘little one’ … wait, little?). And where did he come from? (San Antonio, actually, well, by way of Germany, by way of New Jersey by… well, it doesn’t even really matter.) All those details, they didn’t help you shoot over him or grab a rebound when he was anywhere near the rim. That you knew who he was or where he was from didn’t make you any more likely to move him out of the paint.  Most likely, nothing would have.

That Shaquille Rashaun O’Neal ended up arriving on campus at Baton Rouge is a fantastic story unto itself and, like everything with the kid who would soon go by ‘Shack,’ it’s ultimately a tale of the tape.

It was 1985 – smack dab in the center of the great era of college basketball big men. Patrick Ewing dominated college ball at Georgetown. Ralph Sampson was a four-time college All-American. Hakeem Olajuwon redefined the position at Houston. As LSU coach Dale Brown has told it many hundreds of times, he was a world away from all that, wrapping up a basketball clinic at a military base in West Germany in a town called Wildflecken, when this lean 6’8” guy in a white polo shirt, khakis and sneakers came up to ask Brown some advice on improving his conditioning.

“How long you been in the service, son?” Brown asked him.

He replied, “I’m too young for the service, sir. I’m only 13.”

Working his best poker face, Brown answered famously, “So you’re 13. I’d sure like to meet your dad.” Which the overwhelmed and giddy Brown eventually did.

But being 6’8” at 13 isn’t easy. There’s a reason even a basketball coach would do a triple-take. His lack of motor coordination at that age got O’Neal got cut from the basketball team his freshman year; told, in fact, that he might consider being a goalie in soccer as a better option. O’Neal instead pressed on. That is why he was asking this coach he didn’t know how to get stronger in his lower body. Which is how Dale Brown, coach of the LSU Tigers about to be on his way back from Germany, happened to meet the future face of his program by absolute happenstance.

Which isn’t to say that it was ever that easy. Maybe Brown had the first contact, but he still had to stay in touch regularly because O’Neal didn’t stay a secret stashed away in Germany for long. When his stepfather, the man O’Neal considered his real father, a military man, a drill instructor named Phillip Harrison, was re-assigned to Ft. Sam Houston in Texas, Shaquille and his family settled into San Antonio. By now, the big kid was even bigger – 6’10” and still growing. His shoes could just about hold a toddler each. He enrolled at Cole High School. One can only imagine the heart-stopping joy that Cole High School’s unsuspecting coach Ken Kuwamura must have felt the day the Goliath fall into his lap.

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