Upon further review... (1/31/08)

No song and dance routine could
save Auburn from a BAD loss last night
A look at the box scores and key stats from this week’s SEC action…

* Tennessee @ Alabama
Alabama continued its hot shooting from the floor (50%) but apparently decided to not guard the perimeter (UT had 12 3s) or rebound the ball. With the girth the Tide big men have, there’s no excuse for ‘Bama being outrebounded by the Vols. The Tide’s poor FT shooting loomed large again, as they hit less than 60%.


* Mississippi State @ Auburn
The SEC West stays wide open thanks to a resounding Hog victory last night. Arkansas forced the Bulldogs into a horrid 5/22 Assist/Turnover ratio. And though they hit just 36.1% of their FGs, they hit 83.3% of their FTs (see how that works Bama) and crashed the glass to dominate MSU.


* Vanderbilt @ Ole Miss
Vandy’s road woes continued, as they shot just 34.9% from the floor and continued to settle for 3s, despite a cold shooting night (10-30). Only getting to the FT line 4 times against a team without its best post defender and foul-prone big men is inexcusable, particularly when this was as close to a must-win as a game can be this early in the season.


* LSU @ Auburn
I won’t even get into how BAD a loss this is for Auburn. I will ask how it’s even possible to lose a home game to a team like LSU when you shoot 50.9% from the floor, 43.5% from the arc, 93.3% from the FT line and commit less than 10 turnovers. This was apparently the perfect balance of mediocrity on both sides of the court.


* Georgia @ South Carolina
Great win for South Carolina who probably thought they would stand no chance with Devan Downey struggling like he did. But when your opponent shoots 14.8% from the arc, it makes up for one player’s struggles. Seriously though, 4-27 on 3s? Really? Get the ball inside.

NFL First Round Draft Picks Over the Last Decade (1998-2007)

When you look at the bowl records for the BCS conferences over the last decade, it's pretty obvious which conference reigns supreme. Yet, there are still fans of other conferences - particularly the Big 10 - that believe they have a claim to superiority. When accosted by one of these people - and you have no choice but to engage the conversation - here's another point to bring up... No conference is even close to churning out 1st round draft picks like the SEC.

Over the last decade the SEC has had 70 players drafted in the first round of the NFL draft. The Big 10 is second with 55. That's a difference of 1.5 picks per draft. The SEC has produced 21 Top 10 picks over the last 10 years. The ACC is 2nd with 18. The SEC has produced 4 #1 overall picks. No other conference has produced more than 1.


Over that same time period, every school in the conference except for Mississippi State has produced at least 1 first round pick. All 11 schools that have produced first round picks have also produced at least 1 Top 11 pick.

Midweek Games (1/29-1/30)

Kentucky and Florida take the mid-week off after picking up big division wins over the weekend. Everyone else in the league plays tonight or tomorrow night. Here’s what to look for…

Tuesday Night
Tennessee @ Alabama

The Crimson Tide are coming off their most impressive game of the season, a 97-77 drubbing of Auburn. The Tide averaged 1.4 points per possession (PPP), significantly higher than season average 1.1). The Vols rebounded from a loss in Lexington to thump Georgia. This will be a much tougher test as they don’t have a good matchup up for Richard Hendrix down low, which is where Kentucky hurt them. If Alabama shoots the ball well from beyond the arc tonight, they’ll win. My hunch though is that the Tide are unable to match their weekend performance against the more-talented Vols. UT wins a close one on the road.

Wednesday Night
Georgia @ South Carolina

While the Gamecocks have shown some signs of life since HC Dave Odom announced his season’s-end retirement, it’s hard to see them being too much of a factor in a division with Florida, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, and a resurgent Kentucky team. For this game though, they’ll be the superior team. They’ll handle a depleted UGA team.

Mississippi State @ Arkansas
The Bulldogs are finally living up to their preseason expectations as they’ve plowed through their first 5 SEC games 5-0. A win in Bud Walton Wednesday night would give them a 3-game in the division and make MSU very difficult to catch. Both teams are coming off impressive blowout wins. MSU ranks 2nd in the nation blocks per game (8.6) and Arkansas will be without a key inside player in Charles Thomas. In what could be the game of the night, look for the home crowd in Fayetteville to be the difference as Arkansas will hold serve at home.

Vanderbilt @ Ole Miss
Just a few weeks ago, these two teams were the darlings of the SEC. Both were undefeated and in the top 15 in the country, but have now fallen on rough times in the conference. For the Rebels, it seems their youth and inexperience in the backcourt is being exposed while teams are starting to take advantage of Vandy’s lack of a true inside presence. That’ll be the difference here. Look for Dwayne Curtis and Kenny Williams to have big nights against a soft ‘Dore middle as the Rebels right their ship… at least for the moment.

LSU @ Auburn
The John Brady farewell tour pulls into Auburn Wednesday night. The Tigers fell apart Saturday in Tuscaloosa, but have beaten a more-talented Ole Miss team in Auburn. They shouldn’t have many problems with LSU. Auburn already overcame a 15-point deficit to win in Baton Rouge. Duplicating that in the friendly confines of Beard Eaves won’t be an issue.

SEC Football storylines 2008

Fox Sports has a good article looking at a handful of interesting storylines for the 2008 football season. In addition to 3 legitimate national title contenders, there are some very interesting matchups coming this fall.

Not surprisingly, 3 of them involve Arkansas and their new coach Petrino. He's not made friends in conference, though it won't matter since he'll be gone in a year or 2. He may quit on this Hog team like he has his past 2 jobs. That could've been a whole storyline all to itself: Will Petrino stay a full season? Hell, will Petrino even be the coach come August?