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SEC Sports
Alabama Has SEC Basketball Lead, But Obstacles Abound
Alabama’s final six games include five against teams with losing SEC records
247sports.com
We’ve all heard about “breathing room.” It can come in many forms. Alabama’s basketball team seemed to have Missouri breathing down its neck after the Tigers handed Bama its only loss of Southeastern Conference play last Saturday. Mizzou had pulled to within three games of the Crimson Tide in the loss column and had the tie-breaker.
Today, though, Alabama may feel it has a little breathing room. While the Tide rebounded from its loss at Missouri to go on the road and defeat South Carolina Tuesday, the Tigers went on the road Wednesday to Ole Miss and lost an 80-59 decision.
So now, Alabama would seem to have some breathing room.
Alabama is 11-1 in conference games and continues as it has since the first league game of the season in first place. Trailing the Tide with 7-4 records are Arkansas, LSU, and Tennessee. Bama has a 2-0 record against LSU and a 1-0 record against both Tennessee and Arkansas. Alabama and Arkansas, however, will have a second game in Fayetteville on Feb. 24.
Missouri dropped to 6-4, the same as Florida and Ole Miss. Although Mizzou has the 1-0 advantage against Alabama, the Tide has a 1-0 record against both Florida and Ole Miss and Bama has no games left to play against any of those three.
Other than the game later this season against Arkansas, Alabama has no games remaining against top seven teams in the 14-team league. The Tide has six games remaining and five of those are against teams in the bottom seven and all five have losing conference records.
Alabama’s remaining schedule and the current SEC records of those teams:
Saturday, Feb. 13 – Georgia (5-7)
Wednesday, Feb. 17 -- @ Texas A&M (2-6)
Saturday, Feb. 20 – Vanderbilt (1-8)
Wednesday, Feb. 24 – at Arkansas (7-4)
Saturday, Feb. 27 -- @ Mississippi State (5-7)
Tuesday, March 2 – Auburn (5-7)
Thus the perception of breathing room.
(Of some interest: the one team in the bottom seven that Alabama does not play down the stretch is Kentucky (4-7). Also of interest is that Kentucky is in the bottom seven, in part because of its two losses by 85-65 and 70-59 to the Tide.)
In previous games Alabama has had against those remaining on the schedule, the Tide defeated Arkansas by 90-59 in Tuscaloosa, Mississippi State by 81-73 in Tuscaloosa, and Auburn by 94-90 at Auburn.
It’s difficult to say with certainty whether the SEC is “down” this year. In basketball, when Kentucky is not good – and the Wildcats definitely are not good – many would look upon the league as weak.
While Bama’s SEC record is 11-1, its record in non-conference games is only 5-4.
All that aside, though, the issue is whether Alabama can manage its way through its final third of the league season and come out on top, thus earning the top seed in the SEC Tournament and also helping its résumé for the NCAA Tournament.
Breathing room? Maybe. A time to relax? Uh-uh. Landmines are everywhere.
First up is Georgia at 2:30 p.m. CST Saturday in Coleman Coliseum with SEC Network televising. The Bulldogs are coming off an 89-81 loss at Tennessee, but before that UGA had three consecutive wins – over Ole Miss and Vanderbilt in Athens, and at Auburn.
Texas A&M has been disappointing, but 6 of the Aggies’ 8 overall wins have come in Bryan-College Station.
Vanderbilt has had a very poor season and one would expect Bama to be a heavy favorite when the Commodores come to Tuscaloosa, so we won’t try to make that out to be game to watch out for. Still, Vandy has shooters and also has some history of success against the Tide.
Arkansas has won five consecutive conference games, including this week when the Razorbacks ended a long losing streak in Lexington with a win over Kentucky
Mississippi State played Alabama very well in Tuscaloosa and the Bulldogs have wins over the likes of Georgia, Missouri, and Florida.
Finally, everyone knows that an Auburn man would give up his best sheep for a win over Alabama, particularly on a night when the Crimson Tide will be receiving the Foy “Sportsmanship” (wink wink) Trophy for its football win over the Tigers.
It’s still too early to start talking about a “magic number” to win the SEC regular-season championship.
Breathe easy.
