As the regular season draws to a close, there is still plenty of basketball left to play.
Currently, Alabama and Tennessee are tied for 1st place with South Carolina sitting alone in 3rd and a 3-way tie for 4th place between Auburn, Florida, and Kentucky. Many of these teams still have to play one another before the regular season champion is crowned; but who will claim the title and earn the #1 seed for the conference tournament?
I think you could make an argument for any one of these teams to claim the top spot, but when it’s all said and done, I think the Tennessee Volunteers will earn the #1 seed.
Their schedule to finish the season is absolutely brutal as all 3 of their remaining games are against ranked teams and 2 are on the road. If the Vol’s want to win the SEC regular season title, wins against Alabama and South Carolina are almost necessary, and I expect them to win both of these matchups.
This is the time of year when the great teams begin to separate themselves from the rest. Tennessee has a chance to beat 2 of their biggest competitors when it comes to claiming the #1 seed, and I believe that they’ll be fully locked in and deliver their best shot to both.
When the stakes get higher and the competition stiffens, having a defense to fall back on along with a diverse and reliable scorer in Dalton Knecht is going to win you a lot of games. My biggest concern for them is outside of Knecht, do they have a dependable scorer?
Don’t get me wrong, they have guys like Zeigler, Aidoo, Vescovi, James and Gainey who have stepped up over the course of the season, but when Tennessee has lost this season, it is usually because they’ve been a one-man show on offense.
Defensively, they are fundamentally sound and disciplined. I have no concerns on this side of the ball. I think the key player for them on offense is Zeigler. Knecht is going to get his points and will typically be efficient in doing so. If Zeigler’s distributing the ball to the playmakers around him and also looking for his shot, Tennessee’s offense goes to another level and is much more fluid.
With what’s at stake and the opportunity before them, I expect Tennessee to elevate their game to a level that the other teams simply do not have and be the tournament’s #1 seed. Keep in mind, they’re not just trying to get a #1 seed for the conference tournament, but they’re in the running for an NCAA #1 seed which starts with taking care of business against their remaining schedule.
If it’s not Tennessee, I actually like the Gamecocks to claim the top spot. They’ve proven what their ceiling is with wins over both Tennessee and Kentucky. Two of their last 3 are at home where they’re 13-2 this season.
South Carolina has the SEC coach of the year in Lamont Paris and has what it takes on both sides of the ball to beat anyone. That said, I believe in the revenge factor and think that the Volunteers distance themselves from the Gamecocks with a win in Columbia.