The release of the media SEC basketball poll got me to thinking about some numbers I looked up when The SportingNews mag came out. Using their poll, which had us at 11th, I started digging deeper into the schedule because of the imbalance of the SEC docket.
What I see is truly a good news/bad news situation. The good news is we should finish in the top four or five in the league if we have improved at all from a year ago, which I think we have. The bad news is the schedule could make it difficult for us to get into the tourney even if we go 12-6.
I used the mag’s predicted order of finish, and based off that our SEC schedule could not be made any easier. In fact, I would say it is far and away the easiest in the league. Our five home and home series are against some of the weakest teams in the league outside of UGA. Auburn, LSU, MSU and Missouri are thought to be bottom of the barrel type teams.
We also get UK, UF, Ole Miss and Vandy at home with no return road game. If we don’t go 12-6 and finish in the top 4 or 5 of the league, we have no chance of making the tourney. There are a couple of non-conference games that could help (Oregon, Texas, Dayton, Valpo, Clemson), but I’m worried we could suffer USCe fate from last year.
What I see is truly a good news/bad news situation. The good news is we should finish in the top four or five in the league if we have improved at all from a year ago, which I think we have. The bad news is the schedule could make it difficult for us to get into the tourney even if we go 12-6.
I used the mag’s predicted order of finish, and based off that our SEC schedule could not be made any easier. In fact, I would say it is far and away the easiest in the league. Our five home and home series are against some of the weakest teams in the league outside of UGA. Auburn, LSU, MSU and Missouri are thought to be bottom of the barrel type teams.
We also get UK, UF, Ole Miss and Vandy at home with no return road game. If we don’t go 12-6 and finish in the top 4 or 5 of the league, we have no chance of making the tourney. There are a couple of non-conference games that could help (Oregon, Texas, Dayton, Valpo, Clemson), but I’m worried we could suffer USCe fate from last year.
