SEC 2019-2020 discussion

[Gamecockfan77]

It really cannot be overstated how favorable South Carolina's conference schedule is.

Only somewhat scary road trips are Arkansas and Kentucky.

Only one game (at home) vs Miss State, TAMU, Tennessee, and LSU.

 

[VFLfan]

I think S Carolina is the clear cut favorite this year. MS St looked great yesterday too but could be vulnerable at times to other lower ranked teams. Wondering if KY is over ranked? It’s good they have Patterson now but who else can score consistently besides Howard? As to Tenn, I think every game is gonna be a grind. They are relying on two freshman very heavily and only one “veteran” who has played a tough SEC schedule before. I don’t look for them to have a pretty game from here on out. Grind it out and try to win. They’re young but I do believe improving. They shot 50% from the field and had a decent amount of assists. They must quit turning the ball over so much and have to tighten up the defense, especially defending the 3. I can see them beating everyone but S Carolina, MS St and maybe A&M but could also see them losing to all of the above plus LSU, KY, Vandy, Bama, etc etc. Who knows?!?! It def will be an interesting SEC season!

 

[Plebe]

Arkansas should not be ranked.
Tennessee should not be ranked.
Kentucky's ranking is too high.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Arkansas should not be ranked.
Tennessee should not be ranked.
Kentucky's ranking is too high.

Who do you want to rank in their place. how good are they?

 

[Plebe]

Who do you want to rank in their place. how good are they?

Arkansas is #34 and Tennessee is #40 in Massey. There are 10-15 teams that should be ahead of each of them.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Arkansas is #34 and Tennessee is #40 in Massey. There are 10-15 teams that should be ahead of each of them.

I get the Tennessee obsession, but I think it's weird how much you fixate on Arkansas.

I respect the Massey ratings though they are not as good today as they will be in two months.

 

[Plebe]

I get the Tennessee obsession, but I think it's weird how much you fixate on Arkansas.

I respect the Massey ratings though they are not as good today as they will be in two months.

Who has either of them beaten?

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Who has either of them beaten?

Who has Minnesota beaten really?

 

[Plebe]

Who has Minnesota beaten really?

I don't consider them a top 25 team either. Roughly equal to Arkansas imo. But their win over Arizona State is certainly better than anything Arkansas or Tennessee have.

 

[DefenseBB]

Give me Arkansas over either of LV or Gophers as Neighbors actually has an offense of shooters and their games are exciting. I love the bombs away style of this undersized team-the SEC version of DePaul!

 

[DeeHusky]

Boston will lead South Carolina to the top of the SEC for the next few years. There is no one in the SEC that can handle her or match her talent level from what I’ve seen and she’s only just beginning.

 

[Jmsdawg]

I don't consider them a top 25 team either. Roughly equal to Arkansas imo. But their win over Arizona State is certainly better than anything Arkansas or Tennessee have.

Tennessee has better talent than coaching. They really should be a top 10 team.

 

[VFLfan]

Tennessee has better talent than coaching. They really should be a top 10 team.

In a new coach’s first year and without one of their top players for the year and with two key players from last year transferring away? Some of y’all had high high hopes for a team with only one player who really has any experience playing consistently. Give Coach some time. There may be progress yet.

 

[Plebe]

I've stated this before, but I really think we all failed to appreciate the brilliant long-term plan of Holly Warlick: zero out the fans' expectations so that they're happy just to beat 3-10 teams. It's too bad Fulmer pulled the plug on her so quickly because she in fact knew what she was doing

 

[VFLfan]

I've stated this before, but I really think we all failed to appreciate the brilliant long-term plan of Holly Warlick: zero out the fans' expectations so that they're happy just to beat 3-10 teams. It's too bad Fulmer pulled the plug on her so quickly because she in fact knew what she was doing

No one stated they were happy with beating 3-10 teams but ya know, in the CHW era, we LOST to a lot of mediocre teams with 3-10 records. So at least we are beating the teams we are suppose to beat right now. I won’t be satisfied until we get back to championships but I’m also not delirious enough to think it will happen in Harper’s first season. Slow progress is all I wanna see. All the SEC games for us will likely be grind it out, ugly games this season. Hopefully we come out on the winning end in more of those games by the end. We will see.

 

[Plebe]

No one stated they were happy with beating 3-10 teams but ya know, in the CHW era, we LOST to a lot of mediocre teams with 3-10 records. So at least we are beating the teams we are suppose to beat right now. I won’t be satisfied until we get back to championships but I’m also not delirious enough to think it will happen in Harper’s first season. Slow progress is all I wanna see. All the SEC games for us will likely be grind it out, ugly games this season. Hopefully we come out on the winning end in more of those games by the end. We will see.

I do understand where you're coming from, but I think Vol fans tend to overstate how bad things were in comparison to this year. I certainly don't know of many 3-10 teams that Tennessee lost to. I can think of the Vanderbilt loss last year, but Vandy's record wouldn't have been nearly as bad if they hadn't been so injury-depleted earlier in the season.

There's also the fact that Holly had a two-game win streak against Texas, which ended this year. This is actually the first year that Tennessee failed to pick up a significant nonconference year (it doesn't appear for now that Notre Dame will count as a good win).

 

[VFLfan]

I do understand where you're coming from, but I think Vol fans tend to overstate how bad things were in comparison to this year. I certainly don't know of many 3-10 teams that Tennessee lost to. I can think of the Vanderbilt loss last year, but Vandy's record wouldn't have been nearly as bad if they hadn't been so injury-depleted earlier in the season.

There's also the fact that Holly had a two-game win streak against Texas, which ended this year. This is actually the first year that Tennessee failed to pick up a significant nonconference year (it doesn't appear for now that Notre Dame will count as a good win).

I guess I should have said I didn’t mean literal 3-10 teams but have we forget getting down by 20 to a 1-7 team last year before barely pulling it out? Or losing to Bama...freakin Bama...6 straight times? That’s only two examples I can think of off the top of my head and I didn’t even mention the dreadful Vandy loss (why does it matter they were injury depleted...they still were terrible and beat us?). I get that we should have beat TX, but that’s the only game that we should have won and didn’t so far. And don’t forget, We still have a non-conference game left...don’t count us out just yet.

 

[Plebe]

I guess I should have said I didn’t mean literal 3-10 teams but have we forgot getting down by 20 to a 1-7 team last year before barely pulling it out? Or losing to Bama...freakin Bama...6 straight times? That’s only two examples I can think of off the top of my head and I didn’t even mention the dreadful Vandy loss (why does it matter they were injury depleted...they still were terrible and beat us?). I get that we should have beat TX, but that’s the only game that we should have won and didn’t so far. And don’t forget, We still have a non-conference game left...don’t count us out just yet.

I didn't mean to look past that game coming up. With this UConn team I'm taking nothing for granted, believe me. Tennessee's height and length poses a challenge for any team, to be sure, and foul trouble is always a wild card with such a short bench and no post depth.

 

[Jmsdawg]

In a new coach’s first year and without one of their top players for the year and with two key players from last year transferring away? Some of y’all had high high hopes for a team with only one player who really has any experience playing consistently. Give Coach some time. There may be progress yet.

I am not knocking your new coach, I am simply saying Tennessee has the raw talent to be a really good team. I realize being elite takes more than talent, coaching is critical for a team to achieve the elite level. Even the best coaches need time to develop players. Given time, an elite coach will develop that talent. Time will tell if Tennessee hired an elite coach.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Doing it in tiers this week. This is just by feel at the moment and maybe some of the tiers should be combined.

South Carolina
Miss State
TAMU

I think South Carolina might have a little separation here, but it's a little early still to formalize that. I'm concerned about what some teams with better size and athleticism might be able to do with an approach like Alabama had. Carolina is putting a lot of physicality into its pressure and can be handsy, so games whistled like the Bama game were at times could be a problem.

What I saw of Arkansas-TAMU suggested to me that TAMU can beat anyone on their best day. Carter has help and in that one she was seeing the floor pretty well at times.

I was surprised that Georgia hung with Miss State, but when it came crunch time they flat separated themselves and cruised in. Danberry really powered it. It's curious that Espinosa-Hunter has fallen so far out of favor. I think they need her shooting, though Wiggins had a nice night. The dream for Miss State is what would they look like if Rickea Jackson was 12/19 instead of 6/19. And to me, there is not a whole lot of difference in that.

Kentucky
Arkansas
Tennessee
LSU
Georgia

I originally put a line between Tennessee and LSU, then thought it was a little tough to justify Tennessee being a tier up and combined them.

I feel like Kentucky and Arkansas are pretty similar. They are heavily focused on a scorer and have some pieces around them but probably not enough.

I'm going to continue to perhaps overrate Tennessee simply because they're so darn big and have Davis and Horston. This is not a great team, but I just think that they're capable of winning some games on the boards.

LSU deserves demerits for digging themselves a huge hole against Mizzou and maybe a little credit for clawing back. That's why I though about dropping them a tier. I will say that Mizzou is playing better. Georgia gets a bump up for containing Miss State so well. If they'd kept Danberry under control they might have pulled the upset.

Florida
Alabama
Vandy

Not sure I see any of these as getting on the bubble, but they seem a step above the bottom, though I'm sure they may drop a game or two to them.

Missouri
Auburn
Ole Miss

Missouri seems to be trying to play better, but 4 wins does not get you out of the bottom tier yet.

 

[DefenseBB]

I do understand where you're coming from, but I think Vol fans tend to overstate how bad things were in comparison to this year. I certainly don't know of many 3-10 teams that Tennessee lost to. I can think of the Vanderbilt loss last year, but Vandy's record wouldn't have been nearly as bad if they hadn't been so injury-depleted earlier in the season.

There's also the fact that Holly had a two-game win streak against Texas, which ended this year. This is actually the first year that Tennessee failed to pick up a significant nonconference year (it doesn't appear for now that Notre Dame will count as a good win).

I can’t believe I am about to speak on behalf of the LVs but, this years team is not as talented as past LV teams, They have some talent and are building depth while also showing signs of a cohesive offense, something that never existed under Holly. Let’s face it, for as good a recruiter that Holly was, she never considered team chemistry and KJH is working hard on that. Losing to Texas is no embarrassment (just ask Stanford) as that team has oodles of talent. Can TN limit their turnovers which has always been their Achilles heel.
That said, I need to shower and use Purell on my fingers for typing this support of the LVs...

 

[SECbbfan24]

I thought LSU was maybe turning the corner then we get slapped by Missouri and lose.

 

[Plebe]

I thought LSU was maybe turning the corner then we get slapped by Missouri and lose.

Yeah it's weird that an otherwise strong defensive team gave up so many points to Oklahoma and Missouri.

 

[SECbbfan24]

Yeah it's weird that an otherwise strong defensive team gave up so many points to Oklahoma and Missouri.

I didn't realize out NC SOS was the low. Yikes... Better win big the rest of SEC play.

 

[Plebe]

View attachment 49719
I didn't realize out NC SOS was the low. Yikes... Better win big the rest of SEC play.

Partly due to playing Florida A&M, who is dead last (351) in the RPI. Playing Nicholls and SE Louisiana doesn't help much either.

But LSU still has a way better NC SOS than Arkansas (179) and, worst of all, Tennessee (267). Tennessee's will go up some after they play UConn. (Yet another reason not to be playing them )