The week that was in SEC basketball
By Staff
EAST
Kentucky 7-0
Florida 6-0
Tennessee 5-1
South Carolina 5-1
Vanderbilt 4-1
Georgia 3-2
WEST
Mississippi 5-1
Mississippi State 4-2
Alabama 4-2
LSU 3-2
Auburn 3-3
Arkansas 2-4
The big story in the SEC this week has been the re-emergence of Florida as a national threat and the main question being asked is “Is Florida back?”. As of now, that answer is a resounding YES. The Gator’s just completed a very impressive week (see team updates), and have a good core group in the 2010 recruiting class. Add to this the speculation that Florida may be taking the lead over Kentucky in the race for #1 2010 recruit Brandon Knight and it appears that this season and the furute for UF is very bright indeed.
Thanks to Florida, the SEC East is shaping up as possibly one of the best divisions in the country with Kentucky, Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Vanderbilt combining for a 27-3 record. The SEC East has three teams in the Top 17 in the country (Kentucky, Tennessee, and Florida) with Vanderbilt lurking in the fringes of the Top 25. The SEC is still looking solid for a possible 8 NCAA bids this year. I know it’s early, but the 5 teams in the East, plus the two Mississippi teams and darkhorse Alabama are clearly the class of the conference thus far.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR THIS WEEK:
There are literally a ton of interesting matchups this week as the SEC teams start to cut back on the cupcakes (except for Florida who has three scheduled) and get their teams ready for conference season. The highlight of the week has to be #12 North Carolina at #5 Kentucky. As of now, UK leads the all time wins race 1995 to 1990 and this game is huge in that aspect.
Here is a look a the better matchups for the week:
12/2 – Western Kentucky @ South Carolina – 7 PM
12/2 – Missouri @ Vanderbilt – 9:30 PM
12/5 – #12 North Carolina @ #5 Kentucky – 12:30 PM – CBS
12/5 – St Bonaventure @ Mississippi State – 2:00 PM
12/5 – DePaul @ Vanderbilt – 4 PM
12/6 – South Carolina @ #18 Clemson – 1:00 PM
12/6 – Georgia @ Virginia Tech – 3:30 PM
12/7 – Virginia @ Auburn – 8 PM – ESPN 360
TEAM UPDATES (ratings are AP, ESPN/USA Today) EAST
Kentucky (#5, #4) – Kentucky opened the week with a 73-49 win over Cleveland State in the Cancun Challenge. Sensational freshmen John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins led the Wildcats with 15 and 14 points respectively and the Wildcats harassed the Vikings into a 26.6% shooting day. For the second time in six games, UK needed some late game heroics from John Wall, who hit a late regulation jumper to held send the game into overtime against the Stanford Cardinal. In the extra period, fellow freshman Eric Bledsoe hit a key 3-pointer and UK went on to a 73-65 win and their best start since 2003-2004. Wall poured in 23 points to lead the Cats. UK tuned up for their big matchup with North Carolina by rolling past UNC Asheville 94-57. John Wall had 14 assists and 12 points in just 26 minutes and DeMarcus Cousins had 24 points and 10 rebounds as Kentucky turned in their most complete performance of the year.
For the rest of the SEC Updates, Rush the Court will be publishing the rest of the aricle. usually by 1 or 2 PM. Head over there to check it out:
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