Conference tournament season is finally here. It will be a lot of fun to see which of the teams that established themselves as title favorites can finish the deal. As far as the SEC goes, Alabama is that team. They are going to take home numerous awards and will likely be a number one seed come Selection Sunday. However, that does not necessarily mean they will win the conference tournament. Here are the three teams likely to cut down the nets in Nashville.
Predicting the SEC Tournament Winner
The Favorite: Alabama Crimson Tide
The Tide have the conference Player of the Year in Brandon Miller and one of the deepest teams. They are clearly the betting favorite to win and have dominated in conference all year. The off-the-court stuff has been the worst part of the Alabama season by far. However, basketball-wise it is tough to beat them. They have mounted monster comebacks, blown teams out of the gym, and made several timely shots. It would be quite surprising not to see Alabama in the final, at the very least.
The Next Most Likely: Texas A&M Aggies
These guys are possibly the most surprising team in the country. They have played tough, high-level basketball all year and a tournament seems like the perfect setting for them. Tyrece Radford knows how to win big-time games and they just play so hard. No one wants to see them on short rest. Teams typically beat them with a lot of firepower and they avoid those teams until the conference final so they could be worth a shot. The question then would be can they beat Alabama twice in a row?
The Longshot: Arkansas Razorbacks
This will be slightly contradictory considering they would have to beat the Aggies in their second game, however, they are as talented as any team in the conference. Freshman Nick Smith is incredible and you win big games in March with star guards. He fits the bill and could easily carry this team. They also are incredibly streaky and if they just so happen to get hot early, they may be hard to cool off.
The Teams Not to Touch With a Ten-Foot Pole: Kentucky Wildcats and Tennessee Volunteers
If you say you know what to expect from Tennessee or Kentucky before they play then you are lying. These two teams could easily have finished first and second in the conference this year. However, they also both showed stretches where they could have finished unranked nationally.
As far as Tennessee goes, losing Zakai Zeigler may help their playoff chances. He is a very talented player but he is a volume shooter trying to play point guard. In his absence, Santiago Vescovi will control the game and tempo which should benefit the Volunteers mightily.
For Kentucky, who is going to play? It seems like every guard is injured. Oscar Tshiebwe has been very hit-or-miss. Antonio Reeves has had some monster games but who is supposed to be the guy that scores when they need a bucket? They are Kentucky so of course they will be taking a lot of money. However, with so much up in the air, it would be tough to actually place a wager on them at a short price.
