By Ken Cross
The challenge between the 16 teams in SEC Basketball is unparalleled in the history of the game. Metaphorically, the truth is real. Never has a conference shown this much depth and versatility as we see in the latest AP Top 25 where four season teams, No. 1 Auburn, No. 4 Alabama, No. 5 Florida, and No. 6 Tennessee assembled the college basketball landscape and nine help to compose the Top 22.
Oh? You need another set of examples other than these four teams?
Let’s bring No. 9 Kentucky, No. 13 Texas A&M, No. 14 Mississippi State, No. 16 Ole Miss, and No. 22 Missouri into the picture. Once again this week, the Top 25 is a litany of the depth of SEC power.
Every game is a must-see matchup with these nine teams and Texas, Oklahoma, and Vanderbilt are likely teams to join the aforementioned nine in the NCAA Tournament in March.
Many teams have so much talent and so much focus on their methods of attack that losing two or three in a row is not in the equation. This is a conference of the “bounce back,” where refocus is even more of a major quality as teams transition from game to game.
No. 1 Auburn has posted a 17-1 start and is currently the only undefeated team in the SEC. The Tigers continue their prowl the SEC jungle with NCAA Player of the Year Candidate Johni Broome out for the past two games with a sprained left ankle and no return date is set as of now.
Auburn picked up two impressive wins during last week with an 88-66 win over talented No. 15 Mississippi State and a 70-68 win over a tough Georgia squad.
Freshman Tahaad Pettiford was named SEC Freshman of the Week after he stepped up in the clutch against Georgia and joined Chad Baker-Mazaar as five Tigers enjoyed double figures in the win over Mississippi State.
Pettiford is an elite point guard at a young age and plays with no fear as he showed with 24 points and key plays in the clutch in the win over the Bulldogs on Saturday.
“I would say from a shooting standpoint, he’s the most impactful freshman that I have had at the point guard position,” said coach Bruce Pearl.
Pearl’s depth is a major reason why Auburn can reset its attack without Broome and other Tigers can contribute majorly within their levels of play.
Miles Kelly was known as a solid shooter when he transferred over from Georgia Tech and is making 43 percent of his triples. Denver Jones and Chaney Johnson “share the sugar” as they round out six Tigers who average double figures.
Saturday evening’s matchup with No. 6 Tennessee makes the third consecutive ranked team that Auburn has faced. The game is featured on ESPN’s College Gameday with a 7:30 pm local tip in Auburn.
The Vols were the SEC preseason favorites and are like the Tigers and the Florida Gators, all three can win the SEC and go into the last weekend of the NCAA Tournament if the three teams stay healthy and continue playing at a high level.
Leading-scorer Chaz Lanier and point guard dynamo Zakai Zeigler make the Tennessee backcourt a tough matchup and Jordan Gainey has come off the bench and his the Volunteers’ third leading scorer.
Lanier came over from North Florida and has put his shooting at the forefront with Tennessee’s vaunted defensive play as the Vols give up only 58.8 ppg. (5th/CBB) and allow just 36.4 percent from the field (4th/CBB).
According to Barnes, Lanier still has to continue to get used to the physicality in the SEC.
“Chaz is going to adjust,” said Barnes. “I mean people are being very physical with him. We can throw out freedom of movement. That rule’s gone. I mean they’ve made a big emphasis of it. I mean, I can say that both ways.”
Auburn and Tennessee have both shown a consistently high level of defensive play as has the No. 5 Florida Gators.
Coach Todd Golden did a superior job of reinforcing his lineup when the Gators lost key players in Zyon Pullan and Tyrese Samuel while Riley Kugel transferred to Mississippi State and Micah Handlogten has continued to recover from a broken leg that he suffered in last season’s SEC Tournament Finals.
With that Alijah Martin, Rueben Chinyelu, and Sam Alexis came in and have filled those spots well as Martin is the second-leading scorer behind Walter Clayton, Jr.
Florida bounced back from its 83-82 midweek loss to Missouri with an 84-60 win over Texas. The Gators are 16-2 and are tied with Tennessee for fifth in the SEC.
Golden saw his defense play at a higher level in the win over Texas.
“Ten live-ball steals, 14 turnovers, that was a huge, huge area as to why we won today, and I was really, really pleased with the effort on the defensive end,” said Golden.
Martin, Clayton, and Will Richard fill a backcourt that poses tough matchups with Denzel Aberdeen coming in as the sixth man.
“It’s obviously a big reason as to why we are where we are, and I’d throw Will (Richard) in that group (Clayton and Martin) as well, from a standpoint of just providing just some really big winning efforts,” said Golden.
Martin scored 22 points and Clayton had 19 in the win over the Longhorns as the Gators also use posts Alex Condon, Thomas Haugh, and Chinyelu as dynamic contributors.
No. 5 Alabama went into No. 9 Kentucky and literally outran Mark Pope’s rebuilt “Bluegrass ‘Cats” as the Crimson Tide used a combined effort from Mark Sears and post-Grant Nelson and made 13 triples in the 102-97 win.
Nate Oats continues fashioning an Alabama running game that is a tough cover with it’s transition and three-point ability. Pope did an excellent job in the transfer portal as he has eight Wildcats who play well together and find each other consistently throughout games.