Kentucky basketball: UK not the only SEC team that will make a deep run
By Drew Koch
The Kentucky basketball team was fourth in the SEC regular season, but won the SEC Tournament Championship. The Wildcats are not the only team from the SEC capable of making a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
The Kentucky basketball team won their 4th straight SEC Tournament Championship on Sunday in St. Louis. The Wildcats, however, were not the best team during the SEC regular season. The Cats finished fourth in the conference with a 10-8 record. Kentucky has the talent, coaching and momentum to go deep in the NCAA Tournament. But, they’re not the only squad from the SEC with decent shot to go to the Final Four.
The SEC had 8 schools selected for the 2018 NCAA Tournament. That’s a record for the conference. Kentucky, Tennessee, Auburn, Florida, Alabama, Texas A&M, Arkansas and Missouri all made the Big Dance. Which of these teams, other than Kentucky, have the best chance to get to San Antonio?
Missouri Tigers
Mizzou is an interesting team. Cuonzo Martin’s Tigers performed admirably this season without their star freshman Michael Porter Jr. Porter played 2 minutes in the Tigers’ first game, and sat out the remainder of the regular season with a back injury. Porter returned for Missouri’s SEC Tournament loss to Georgia.
The Michael Porter dynamic reminds me a lot of what the Kentucky basketball team dealt with when Jarred Vanderbilt returned. Porter played 23 minutes and took 17 shots. He finished with 12 points and 8 rebounds. Porter was trying to do too much and make up for lost time rather than letting the game come to him.
The Tigers draw a favorable match up against Florida State in the first round of the tournament. If the Tigers can get by the Seminoles, they go up against the 1-seed Xavier Musketeers. In my opinion, Xavier is the weakest of the No. 1 seeds and are very beatable. If Mizzou can upset the Musketeers, the Tigers have a great opportunity to go deep into March.