Kentucky Sports Radio
[Moderated by Matt Jones, Drew Franklin and Tyler Thompson]
[Moderated by Matt Jones, Drew Franklin and Tyler Thompson]
The one small ounce of comfort for Kentucky’s bubble status throughout the past few weeks has been the notion that, “Hey, at the end of the day someone has to get in… Sixty eight someones in fact.” In previous years, a few of Kentucky’s recent stumbles would have been enough to knock them out of the NCAA tournament picture. Luckily for Kentucky, we live in a college basketball world this year where Gonzaga currently tops the rankings. Stranger things have happened, but barely. The SEC has been nearly as unpredictable and down this year as the rest of the college basketball landscape. Florida and Missouri appear to be NCAA tournament locks, and have been for a while. The SEC seems destined to grab one more spot in the NCAA tournament– but who wants it? The spot was clearly up for grabs last weekend, with at least 4-5 SEC teams heavily in the “bubble talk” discussion. Instead of seizing the moment, most of the teams faltered.
Although it’s not a certainty (what is this season?), at least one more NCAA tournament spot seems up for grabs from the SEC. Surely someone else has to get in, right? Alabama? Kentucky? Ole Miss? Arkansas? Tennessee? Who wants it? And who has the best case/best opportunity still standing in front of them?
WHO HAS THE MOST IMPRESSIVE WIN?
*Strictly based on the ranking when the game was played
1. Arkansas (Win over #2 Florida)
2. Tennessee (Win over #8 Florida)
3. Ole Miss (Win over #10 Missouri)
4. Kentucky (Win over #16 Ole Miss)
5. Tennessee (Win over #23 Wichita State)
6. Tennessee (Win over #25 Kentucky)
Thoughts: Tennessee takes the cake here as the Vols have the highest number (3) of wins over opponents who were at some point ranked in the top 25.
EACH TEAM’S MOST IMPRESSIVE 3-4 WINS:
*Listed in no particular order
Alabama- Villanova, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas
Kentucky- Missouri, Ole Miss, Maryland, Tennessee
Ole Miss- Missouri, Tennessee (twice), Arkansas
Arkansas- Florida, Missouri, Kentucky, Oklahoma
Tennessee- Wichita State, Kentucky, Florida, Alabama
Thoughts: Arkansas’ list of 4 sticks out as perhaps the most impressive, with wins over 2 surefire NCAA tournament teams, and another (Oklahoma) most-likely NCAA tournament team. Tennessee’s list of 4 probably stacks up as the next best, with 2 NCAA tournament locks in Florida and Wichita State.
RECORD IN THE LAST 6 GAMES:
Tennessee (5-1, 1-game losing streak)
Arkansas- (4-2, 1-game winning streak)
Alabama- (4-2, 1-game losing streak)
Kentucky- (3-3, 1-game losing streak)
Ole Miss- (3-3, 1-game losing streak)
Thoughts: Four of the five teams listed above lost this weekend. Only Arkansas came out with a win, but generally speaking Tennessee and Arkansas seem to be the 2 teams trending up the most at the moment.
WHO HAS THE WORST LOSSES:
*Losses to teams who have NO chance to make the NCAA tournament
1. Alabama – Dayton, Mercer, Tulane, Auburn, LSU
2. Arkansas- Texas A&M, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, LSU
3. Ole Miss- Texas A&M, South Carolina, Mississippi State
4. Tennessee- Georgia (twice)
5. Kentucky- Texas A&M
Thoughts: All season long we have said that it won’t be Kentucky’s bad losses that keep them out of the tournament… Alabama and Arkansas’ probably will…
WHO HAS THE BEST CHANCE TO STILL MAKE A SPLASH:
1. Kentucky- @ Georgia, Home vs. Florida
2. Arkansas- @ Missouri, Home vs. Texas A&M
3. Tennessee- @ Auburn, Home vs. Missouri
t-4. Alabama- @ Ole Miss, Home vs. Georgia
t-4. Ole Miss- Home vs. Alabama, @LSU
Thoughts: Each of the 5 teams essentially faces a similar situation: 2 games left (1 they HAVE to/SHOULD win, and 1 that would help boost the resume’/leap from them over another SEC bubble team)
Final Thoughts: With this group of 5, the margin for error is relatively small. It might end up being a case of the 1 team who manages to make it through the last week of the season without messing up (losing the game they are supposed to win), and comes out with the most impressive victory (Kentucky has the best chance to do this, with Arkansas and Tennessee closely behind with a shot at Missouri). If each team holds serve (winning the one they are supposed to– but not picking up a very impressive win in the other game), whichever team makes the deepest SEC tournament run might grab the spot. If everyone has a bad week, the SEC might just end up being a 2-bid league.
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March 5th, 2013 at 6:23 pm
I think you nailed this!!! SEC fans better keep their fingers crossed.
March 5th, 2013 at 6:25 pm
This is the most depressing article I can remember reading about Kentucky basketball in a long time. It’s just sad…
March 5th, 2013 at 6:29 pm
We got this.
March 5th, 2013 at 6:35 pm
UK basketball this year takes us to unprecedented lows and shocks the pundits and sends the UK haters into euphoria. We have to be the laughing stock of the BB world. The fans wanted it much more than most of the team members. Cal tried to push all of the psychological buttons but to no avail. No reason to believe there will be any turnaround in the immediate future.
March 5th, 2013 at 6:40 pm
2, this is our first down year after going to elite 8, final 4, then championship, and preseason number 1 coming next year. I think we will live. Have some perspective.
March 5th, 2013 at 6:50 pm
you forgot one VERY important question: which school will bring 20,000 fans and spend money.
I REST MY CASE
March 5th, 2013 at 6:55 pm
I’m sure this isn’t what anyone really wants to hear, but I’d argue that UK has a better chance than any of these bubble teams based solely on the fact that the NCAA knows that they will get more revenue from UK being in the tournament (fans travel very well) as opposed to other bubble teams.
Don’t even try to tell me they don’t consider this….
March 5th, 2013 at 7:12 pm
HO HUM.
March 5th, 2013 at 7:16 pm
Who will be on the team 2012/ 2013..?
March 5th, 2013 at 7:16 pm
It ain’t lookin’ good.
March 5th, 2013 at 7:20 pm
UK leads all thes teams metrics (RPI, Sagain, Pomeroy, BPI, etc.)/.
2 more wins in any fashion gets UK to the dance.
March 5th, 2013 at 7:22 pm
The article fails to acknowledge any of the computer ranking services and I believe UK has the best profile, then Tennessee, the rest are total pretenders
March 5th, 2013 at 7:26 pm
Pressey has 4 t.o through the first 4 min of the game. Harrow only had two t.o the entire game sat,yet harrows soft and presseys an all american….make that 5 t.o
March 5th, 2013 at 7:37 pm
SEC is so down that the two teams in second place in the conference are considered on the bubble.
March 5th, 2013 at 7:39 pm
I’ll take Pressey over Harrow every day of the week. Pressey is going to be playing in the NBA.
March 5th, 2013 at 7:51 pm
15)If he played for uk you would be on here calling him a bum. Harrow been in double figures 16 of last 19 games. He is a solid p.g. everytime we lose he gets all the blame. Yet mays wiltjer and polson get a pass for some reason. Marcus teague is playing in the nba too, and if he was on this team they wouldn’t be any better. He was the most overated p.g in uk history. The talent surronding him is why he is where he is at.
March 5th, 2013 at 8:01 pm
15) what does nba have to do with anything. (Pressey is better then harrow, but I think harrow has a ton of talent.) Sean woods,Travis ford,anthony epps, wayne turner never played in the n.b.a ,and I will take them all over pressey.
March 5th, 2013 at 8:55 pm
hey, you kids wanna go for a ride in my van?
March 5th, 2013 at 9:17 pm
Nailed it.
March 5th, 2013 at 9:19 pm
The SEC is as weak as I can ever remember it. Thank goodness for that or we could have really been in trouble this year.
March 5th, 2013 at 9:25 pm
Ill say it again…i blame this crappy year on SOME of those guys leaving early…they’re selfish…(jones, lamb, Teague, and some nights MKG). I think they were so competitive with one another that one couldn’t stay in college if the others were going pro…I mean lamb and Teague were late picks!! Even if just they had stayed they would have been lottery picks, gained a lot more experience to prepare them for the league, and likely would have taken us to another championship! Idiots!
March 5th, 2013 at 9:29 pm
21. Sounds like you are the one being selfish. Those guys could be one career ending injury away from never playing in the NBA and collecting their money. You go when you can get paid and are healthy. For a lot of guys, $750,000+ per year changes their lives.
March 5th, 2013 at 9:43 pm
Beat Georgia, we’re in.
March 5th, 2013 at 9:50 pm
God forbid they don’t get their 750,000…
March 5th, 2013 at 9:51 pm
I guess they should get it while they can…NBA won’t be around in a decade
March 5th, 2013 at 9:54 pm
21)I don’t agree, but I see your point.the one &done trend starterd roughly 15 years ago. Before that players stayed at least three years ,and they all faced the same risks athletes do today. Just curious can anybody remember a player that sufferd a career ending injury in college that was a sure fire n.b.a pick? I cannot. Not saying their isn’t any,just can’t recall.I wish players would stick around to improve college basketball,bc I couldn’t care less about the n.b.a. I knowThat’s easy for me to say,I’m not having millions waived in front of my face.
March 5th, 2013 at 10:07 pm
#11 tennessee has a better resume. point blank. period. and are ppl really saying harrow is better than pressey???????….clueless
March 5th, 2013 at 10:18 pm
18 – You’ll never be me.
17 – you are exactly right. Some of UK’s best point guards ever never tasted the NBA. It’s about being able to compete and win at this level. Epps, Ford and others you mentioned were three times the point guard that Harrow is, and I’d put both of those young men up against any UK point guards in the last four years.
March 5th, 2013 at 10:36 pm
27harrow is not better then pressey,but with all the hype surrounding pressey he is WAY overated. He has single handely chocked away a handful of games for mizzou this season. I see a lot of potential in harrow who will be a four year guy if he doesn’t get pushed out the door. I think its b.s the fans pile on this kid when we lose. He had a few bad games, but he has had a some really good games too. How good was liggins after his sophmore year? How bout epps, sheppard, crawford, I can go on and on. Not everybody is john wall or brandon knight or derek rose. Sadly now thats the expectation at uk. If you don’t meet those expectaions you’re a bust. No patience to mature,and grow up. Smh.
March 5th, 2013 at 11:06 pm
we have more bad losses than just texas a&m
March 5th, 2013 at 11:35 pm
no texas a&m is the only bad loss actually
March 6th, 2013 at 8:08 am
Uk is on the bubble, and could potentiality could have 4 players leave early for the nba. What a joke!