SEC 2019-2020 discussion

[SECbbfan24]

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 )

What sucks about scheduling sometimes is you think teams will be decent but end up not being very good at all. I mean Michigan State usually has good teams but are very mediocre this year and will likely struggle a bit in conference play. So far our best win will be Rutgers. Losing to OU and Missouri are bad looks.

To be fair to Tennessee and other programs who scheduled ND. I don't think anyone realized they would be this bad. I'm pretty sure the series with ND was scheduled a while back. They did schedule Texas and Stanford but the rest of OOC schedule is bad.

I think LSU has to try to perform well vs the top 6-7 teams in conference play to really make a push. Losing to the bottom feeders in this league will do a lot of damage to any SEC team's resume.

 

[Plebe]

What sucks about scheduling sometimes is you think teams will be decent but end up not being very good at all. I mean Michigan State usually has good teams but are very mediocre this year and will likely struggle a bit in conference play. So far our best win will be Rutgers. Losing to OU and Missouri are bad looks.

To be fair to Tennessee and other programs who scheduled ND. I don't think anyone realized they would be this bad. I'm pretty sure the series with ND was scheduled a while back. They did schedule Texas and Stanford but the rest of OOC schedule is bad.

I think LSU has to try to perform well vs the top 6-7 teams in conference play to really make a push. Losing to the bottom feeders in this league will do a lot of damage to any SEC team's resume.

I mean, yeah, there's always some unpredictability. Some teams turn out better than expected, some worse. In theory it should kinda average out. Just in terms of raw RPI, I don't think LSU's NCSOS will be the thing that keeps them out. 100-ish is kinda low but not terrible. The teams that have been left out due to poor scheduling have been more in the 200s or maybe the low 100s: teams like Arizona, West Virginia and TCU last year.

In terms of resume, LSU did pretty well to collect wins over Rutgers and FGCU. Again, they are more strongly situated on this front than both Arkansas and Tennessee. It will certainly help if LSU can get a win over at least one of the other top 6 teams in the SEC.

 

[SECbbfan24]

It will be interesting to see how many SEC teams they put in the NCAAT this year. When looking at the overall body of work verses other conference, it’s very poor. With the exception of SC (wins over Maryland and Baylor). Everyone else disappointed overall or didn’t fare well in the big OOC matchups.

 

[JonathanXIV]

What sucks about scheduling sometimes is you think teams will be decent but end up not being very good at all.

That's true. But when you look at top schools scheduling teams with 300+ rankings, let's be honest, no one expected them to be good. Ever. Think Baylor was looking for a challenge when it schedule Arkansas State at home?

 

[Plebe]

It will be interesting to see how many SEC teams they put in the NCAAT this year. When looking at the overall body of work verses other conference, it’s very poor. With the exception of SC (wins over Maryland and Baylor). Everyone else disappointed overall or didn’t fare well in the big OOC matchups.

Yeah, I have my eye on that as well. My guess is 6 or 7. You're right that the SEC outside of Lower Carolina (credit to Triad) accomplished little in the OOC. The conference did pick up a handful of wins more likely to end up in the 26-50 range (A&M over TCU and Georgia Tech, LSU over FGCU and Rutgers, MSU over Marquette maybe).

Of course, the SEC's OOC isn't over yet.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Yeah, I have my eye on that as well. My guess is 6 or 7. You're right that the SEC outside of Lower Carolina (credit to Triad) accomplished little in the OOC. The conference did pick up a handful of wins more likely to end up in the 26-50 range (A&M over TCU and Georgia Tech, LSU over FGCU and Rutgers, MSU over Marquette maybe).

Of course, the SEC's OOC isn't over yet.

Not quite yet.

 

[DefenseBB]

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

Well at least it’s better than Arkansas and twice as good as Kansas who had some knucklehead actually vote for them in today’s Coaches poll!

 

[DaBball]

When you thought Ole Miss couldn’t get worse:

 

[Gamecockfan77]

LSU 57 TAMU 54. Carter's ankle injury obviously the story here but good recovery win by LSU.

Vanderbilt 63 Georgia 55. Vandy is making nice progress this year.

South Carolina 91 Arkansas 82. Domination of the boards was the story here. South Carolina got selfish offensively at times and sloppy, but Arkansas can really stroke it. That's a good offensive team.
Boston's help defense was the difference in making Dungee's night difficult. She could not get a clean shot in the paint off drives, which is what she did at will last year.

Miss State 79 Missouri 64. Looks like Miss State jumped on them early to put it away but mizzou actually won the second half suggesting that's a team that might be better than their start.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Tennessee 84 Ole Miss 28 - 2 fourth quarter points for the Rebels. Ouch.

Kentucky 81 Bama 71 Huge UK 2nd quarter buries the Tide.

Florida 83 Auburn 63.

 

[SECbbfan24]

Florida and Vandy are much improved from last year. Ole Miss is on a whole other level of bad compared to the rest of the conference.

What the heck has happened to auburn? I know they lost some good kids but considering some of the talent they have, the product is awful.

Missouri in for a rough year but those freshmen (Blackwell and Frank) will be hell to deal with the next 4 years. I think they will be significantly improved next year with all those transfers being available.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Florida and Vandy are much improved from last year. Ole Miss is on a whole other level of bad compared to the rest of the conference.

What the heck has happened to auburn? I know they lost some good kids but considering some of the talent they have, the product is awful.

Missouri in for a rough year but those freshmen (Blackwell and Frank) will be hell to deal with the next 4 years. I think they will be significantly improved next year with all those transfers being available.

I think the working excuse is that they are really young. Auburn, I mean.

 

[Jmsdawg]

Tennessee 84 Ole Miss 28 - 2 fourth quarter points for the Rebels. Ouch.

Kentucky 81 Bama 71 Huge UK 2nd quarter buries the Tide.

Florida 83 Auburn 63.

We better be ready for Tennessee, I think they are starting to gel!

 

[Gamecockfan77]

We better be ready for Tennessee, I think they are starting to gel!

I think Tennessee could find itself by playing a little slower and trying to win some rock fights.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

We better be ready for Tennessee, I think they are starting to gel!

I don't think you can tell anything from a game against Swiss Cheese; I mean, Ole Miss.

 

[Plebe]

I don't think you can tell anything from a game against Swiss Cheese; I mean, Ole Miss.

They were already a horrible team and then their #2 scorer was dismissed from the team.

 

[SECbbfan24]

We better be ready for Tennessee, I think they are starting to gel!

Not sure I would take much from the Ole Miss game. They were already a dumpster fire and just lost one of their best scorers from a team that already cannot score. No one should judge anything playing Ole Miss this year.

Now if anyone losses to Ole Miss, IMO they should automatically be disqualified from NCAAT

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

They were already a horrible team and then their #2 scorer was dismissed from the team.

Exactly; I think Yo is a pretty good coach and will have decent success there.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Kentucky 76 TAMU 54 - The Carter injury may well have taken TAMU out of the race before it really got started. They still have road dates at LSU, Tennessee, Miss State, and South Carolina and I'm not sure the winner of South Carolina - Miss State loses two games.

Tennessee 78 Florida 50 - People say Tennessee is overrated but a good defensive team that is elite rebounding the ball that also has two good guards sounds pretty decent to me.

Miss State 64 LSU 60 - Miss State keeps it unblemished rolling into Big Monday showdown with South Carolina. U

South Carolina 78 Mizzou 45 - Overall, this seemed like the most selfish offensive game South Carolina has played in several weeks. But Mizzou couldn't find many good shots and South Carolina dominated the boards.


Sunday:

Kentucky @ LSU
Arkansas @ Vandy
Florida @ TAMU
Auburn @ Georgia
Mizzou @ Ole Miss

Monday:

Miss State @ South Carolina

 

[MSSportsGuy]

We did what we had to do against LSU, which is what I predicted. I do not think we are ready for SC in Columbia and think SC rolls. Boston sounds like the real deal.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Looking at Miss State - South Carolina:

Miss State's vs Top 75 (by Massey)

Marquette 74-68 W (33)
Stanford 62-67 L (9)
WVU 65-71 L (28)
LSU 64-60 W (31)
UVA 72-59 W (53)
Georgia 73-66 W (69)
S. Fla 86-61 W (75)

South Carolina's vs Top 75 (by Massey):

Baylor 74-59 W (1)
Kentucky 99-72 W (11)
Indiana 57-71 L (13)
Maryland 63-54 W (17)
S. Dak 73-60 W (26)
Arkansas 91-82 W (32)
Purdue 85-49 W (36)
Wash St 68-53 W (50)
Duke 89-46 W (51)
Vandy 93-57 W (54)
Bama 93-78 W (58)
Temple 78-71 W (64)

Feels like for Miss State to win they need to keep South Carolina in the 60s. Their average total vs top 75 is right around 70 points, but taking USF out is is 68 points. It would be a little surprising if Miss State had its best scoring day vs South Carolina in Columbia.

Maryland, Washington State, and Indiana have managed to hold South Carolina scoring down, so there is a blueprint. I think zone is clearly the way to go, though I don't know how much Vic has used that this year. I don't think Vic wants to try and press and run with South Carolina, particularly not in Columbia.

But I can see Miss State winning a deliberate paced half court game. South Carolina has played some ugly offensive games and can be talked into taking bad shots and turning the ball over sometimes.

I don't see why Miss State's size and talent and defense can't duplicate that on the right night. Maybe any night.

 

[Jmsdawg]

Looking at Miss State - South Carolina:

Miss State's vs Top 75 (by Massey)

Marquette 74-68 W (33)
Stanford 62-67 L (9)
WVU 65-71 L (28)
LSU 64-60 W (31)
UVA 72-59 W (53)
Georgia 73-66 W (69)
S. Fla 86-61 W (75)

South Carolina's vs Top 75 (by Massey):

Baylor 74-59 W (1)
Kentucky 99-72 W (11)
Indiana 57-71 L (13)
Maryland 63-54 W (17)
S. Dak 73-60 W (26)
Arkansas 91-82 W (32)
Purdue 85-49 W (36)
Wash St 68-53 W (50)
Duke 89-46 W (51)
Vandy 93-57 W (54)
Bama 93-78 W (58)
Temple 78-71 W (64)

Feels like for Miss State to win they need to keep South Carolina in the 60s. Their average total vs top 75 is right around 70 points, but taking USF out is is 68 points. It would be a little surprising if Miss State had its best scoring day vs South Carolina in Columbia.

Maryland, Washington State, and Indiana have managed to hold South Carolina scoring down, so there is a blueprint. I think zone is clearly the way to go, though I don't know how much Vic has used that this year. I don't think Vic wants to try and press and run with South Carolina, particularly not in Columbia.

But I can see Miss State winning a deliberate paced half court game. South Carolina has played some ugly offensive games and can be talked into taking bad shots and turning the ball over sometimes.

I don't see why Miss State's size and talent and defense can't duplicate that on the right night. Maybe any night.

I think MSST is not consistent enough to win this game. We have spells where no one provides the gel to keep the team together. When South Carolina has a big run I do not believe we can keep pace. IMHO, for MSST to win we must never get behind by double digits because I fear the team will lose it cool and panic. Looking forward to the game and my heart believes we can win, my head says, no way!

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Just looking at some of the individual matchups:

averages are conference only:


PG

Ty Harris 11.6 ppg, 5.6 ast, 4.0 rebs .400 / .385 28.2 MPG
M. Taylor 4.8 ppg, 4.0 ast, 2.5 rebs .318 / .000 31.0 MPG

G

Cooke 17.4 ppg, 3.0 ast, 1.6 ast .429/.440 28 MPG
Danberry 18.2 ppg, 3.8 ast, 3.8 reb .608/.000 31.6 MPG

W

Beal - 5.8 ppg, 8.0 reb, 1.0 ast .440/.000 22.2 MPG
Jackson 16.5 ppg, 6.0 reb, 2.3 ast .500/.667 (3 att) 29.3 MPG

F

H-Harrigan 12.4 ppg, 3.0 reb, 1.0 ast .500/.600 25.4 MPG
Bibby 7.3 ppg, 6.8 reb., .8 ast .370/.353 21.8 MPG

P

Boston 14.2 ppg 12.2 reb, 3 blks .540 22 MPG
Carter 10.3 ppg, 6.8 reb, 1 blks .595 29 MPG


.....

1. It stands out a little bit that Miss State's starting backcourt has only attempted 1 three in 4 conference games.

South Carolina's offensive weakness is Beal's three point shooting (no threes in 5 games), which she has made up for by defending and rebounding the hell out of the ball.

Will be interesting to see if the coaches can force these three to take some shots from distance.

2. Rickea Jackson was down to South Carolina and Miss State. She's found a good spot to be featured and star, but holy moly if she'd been a part of South Carolina's class.

 

[Boxerpups4me]

just amazing the total dominance that this south carolina team has shown, even starting three freshman!! so much credit to dawn from literally building this program from bottom dweller status to a legit NC contender.

 

[MSUFan2003]

I really do not think South Carolina will lose a conference game. If I remember correctly, Vic abandoned the full court press last year and played some zone. He does that sparingly, so I will be interested to see what his plan is for Monday. Our offense isn't very good at times, so he will have to think outside the box on this one. I predict Jessika Carter will have a long night.