Defending champs part of wide-open race to Nashville
By Bud L. Ellis
Last year’s SEC men’s basketball tournament champions look like they might raise the trophy again this March.
But Mississippi State isn’t the only conference team off to a great start so far in 2009-10. In fact, looking ahead to the SEC tournament on March 11-14 at The Sommet Center in Nashville, six of the conference’s 12 schools have five losses or less.
The Bulldogs are 15-5, 3-2 in conference play. That’s good for second in the SEC West behind state rival Ole Miss. The Rebels are 16-4 overall and 4-2 in league action.
In the SEC East, the top four teams are a combined 65-13 this season. First-place Vanderbilt is the only SEC team still perfect in conference play, at 5-0 in league games and 16-3 overall. Kentucky, which spent this week ranked No. 1 in the nation, is 19-1 overall and 4-1 in the SEC. The Wildcats’ lone loss came to South Carolina on Tuesday.
Florida is 15-5 this season, 4-2 in the league. That’s good for third in the East. Tennessee is fourth, 3-2 in the league and 15-4 overall.
Even the teams outside of the top six have had their moments. Georgia has just one SEC win, but it was a blowout of the Vols last Saturday. South Carolina’s upset of Kentucky moved it to 3-3 in league play.
It’s a wide-open field heading into this year’s tournament. Certainly the defending champs look good to this point, but so too do several other teams.
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Saturday, January 30, 2010 at 1:59 pm by bud
Tags: Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Southeastern Conference, Tennessee, The Sommet Center, Vanderbilt
