Scores
Tuesday, January 24
Kentucky 57, Georgia 44
Vanderbilt 65, Tennessee 47
Wednesday, January 25
Mississippi State 76, LSU 71
South Carolina 56, Alabama 54
Arkansas 56, Auburn 53
Thursday, January 26
Florida 64, Ole Miss 60
Saturday, January 28
Florida 69, Mississippi State 57
Kentucky 74, LSU 50
Vanderbilt 84, Middle Tennessee 77
Alabama 72, Arkansas 66
Ole Miss 66 South Carolina 62
Tennessee 64 Auburn 49
In the Southeastern Conference, the cream seems to be rising to the top. That’s another way of saying that the SEC East is surging while the SEC West is doing the big fade.
It’s been apparent for the past several seasons, and it’s no different this season: Even though the SEC does bracket its postseason tournament by divisions, the balance of power is completely tilted to the East over and against the West. Only Mississippi State has been a regular presence in the division over the past several years. LSU burned brightly for a time but then faded just as quickly from the national scene. Alabama made the Elite Eight in 2004 and has made some runs now and then, but the Crimson Tide are not about to make the NCAAs this season unless they go on a massive winning streak and do some damage at the SEC Tournament. The only team holding down the fort in the West is Mississippi State, and so when the Bulldogs went to Gainesville, Florida, this past Saturday to take on the Florida Gators, another West-East showdown was going to say much about the comparative strength of the two divisions. Florida entered the contest as the third-place team in the East, so if the Gators had been able to beat back the Bulldogs – the undisputed leaders of the West – a definitive statement would be made about the pecking order in SEC basketball.
Now, it can be proclaimed with airtight certainty: The sun sets in the West in real life… and in SEC hoops. Mississippi State was comprehensively outclassed by a Florida squad that had more weapons and better low-post defense.
Mississippi State needs its burly forward, Renardo Sidney, to play well in order to have a supremely good chance of making a big run in March. Sidney is an oft-troubled junior who has had run-ins with coach Rick Stansbury in the past, but he hit a 3-pointer the week before to beat Vanderbilt on the road and give MSU renewed assurance that it would have a spot in Bracketville on Selection Sunday. However, in this game against Florida, Sidney was corralled by the Gators. He was held to just five points on a day when his teammate, point guard Dee Bost, scored just 12 points in his own right. Mississippi State’s offense was kept in check for the duration of this contest; the Bulldogs attempted as many foul shots as they committed turnovers (14), a terrible statistic for any basketball team. Meanwhile, Florida hit 11 of 24 threes and turned the ball over just five times. The Gators were far more efficient and comfortable, and that’s why they strolled to the finish line first. The East stamped itself as superior to the West, proving that even without a flourishing Tennessee program, one half of the SEC is definitely better than the other. It’s the exact opposite of football, in which the West is king.
Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer