While Kentucky is undoubtedly the favorite to take the SEC Basketball crown in both the regular season and conference tournament, these 4 teams stand a chance at knocking them off.
Southbound and Down will feel the same dread of fans after college football season officially ends on Tuesday, January 12th, 2016. But we also look forward to a full focus on basketball season. So will fans in Big Blue Nation, as another class of one-and-done freshman will attempt to lead the Wildcats to their second straight Southeastern Conference regular season championship. That title, however, could be harder to reach this season than ever before.
Why? Kentucky has a giant target on it’s back after last season’s one-loss Final Four run. Plus, they’re not nearly as talented — with disappointing losses to UCLA and Ohio State further proving that point.
The good news? The Wildcats are 11-2 with wins over powers like Duke and Louisville, and currently sit at 100 percent in conference play after dismantling Ole Miss 83-61 in Rupp Arena on Saturday night.
While this year’s freshman class certainly can’t win as many games for Big Blue Nation as last year’s did, they’re still a top ten basketball program with a seventh national RPI rank. Heck, many SEC programs just wish they could qualify for The Big Dance every once in a while.
One can’t deny Kentucky’s presence in box score in 2016, no matter what you think of their overall body of work, as Wildcats’ players are ranked in the top five in four out of six SEC individual statistical categories.
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6’9” forward Marcus Lee can do it all, as he shoots 66.7% from the field and averages two swats per game. Teammate Tyler Ulis can feed the ball to hungry Wildcats, with 5.9 assists per game. To cap it off, Isiah Briscoe takes 1.7 steals per game.
To say the least, Kentucky may not have the most experience (per usual), but they’re a talented bunch that knows how to win basketball games. In a weaker SEC, one would think they’d have an easy run to the championship.
That’s where Southbound and Down comes in. Sure, Kentucky has long dominated the SEC’s basketball competition (winning the regular season title 46 times). But let’s not forget there’s a 21st ranked Texas A&M and an undefeated South Carolina who have different things in mind. Plus, we might have a few dark horses up our sleeves that we need to discuss.
To balance (and try to make competitive) SEC basketball, Southbound and Down presents four programs that have reason to believe that they can take down goliath, and we give them all of the luck in the world to try.
Next: Ole Miss Rebels