Thursday, December 23, 2010

Is Anyone Else At Work?

I am but I'm not really doing any of it. So after a pretty hectic month, I expect the next few days to be pretty quiet in Commie Country. Wouldn't expect CJF to hire any more assistants until after the holidays (at least not publicly) and the basketball team is off time next Wednesday against Marquette (which is a HUGE game since we are kinda lacking in signature out of conference wins).

So lets talk about how the SEC is shaping up this season (based on my totally subjective opinion). Here is the East:

1) Well UK looks strong (not as good as last year) but still incredibly talented and although John Wall and Cousins are gone, I think one could successfully argue this is a deeper or at least more well balanced team.
2) UT......I mean WTF? Does a day go by that they don't report a secondary violation from one of their teams? I'm pretty sure if you googled "Lack of Institutional control" a picture of Bruce Pearl with his chest painted Orange would come up. Now UT has some big wins this season but the wheels started to come off recently. After beating Villanova and Pitt (with a MTSU win sandwiched in) they have now lost 3 in a row to Oakland (not in Cali), Charlotte (does Brendan Plavich still play for them?) and USC (I wish both these schools would just go away, seriously). UT still has Memphis and UConn in their non-conf schedule so they can easily bounce back but I would love nothing more than to see a complete free-fall followed by Pearl beginning his suspension.
3) Florida - another weird team. They beat Kansas State but then went out and lost to that epic basketball power house the Jacksonville Dolphins!!!! Kenny Boynton is not half the basketball player that John Jenkins is but that dude Alex Tyus is awesome. Not necessarily at basketball but with the whole bald guy with dreadlocks thing.
4) Georgia scares the $#!+ out of me. They have 3 guys who can score and there two losses are two VERY good teams. I'm gonna say it now and guess that the DAWGS are Vandy's main competition for 2nd in the SEC East this year and it would not surprise me if they end up winning the SEC tournament in March.
5) South Carolina lost to Furman. They only have one guy averaging double figures. I think they are at the bottom of the division when all is said and done.

I'll post about the West on my bus ride up to NY for Christmas later today.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Work sucks. American Idol sucks. ut sucks - obviously.

Seth said...

I dont get the American Idol thing but ok ha. Agree with most of your right up except for Georgia, I just dont think they are that good. They do have 3 great players but after that... theres really nothing. UGA will be great in a few years under Mark Fox, I just dont think they are their yet. You can't sleep on Florida, Kentucky is down, but I agree UK is much more balanced than last year, and UT is all over the place. This could be the year of the Dore.

Anonymous said...

Can whoever that is with the American Idol thing please stop? Christ. It stopped being funny 2 years ago.

Douglas James said...

It was never funny.

Drew said...

The East is gonna be insane this year. I predict a lot of winning at home and losing on the road in conference. Take care of business against SCar and the West, and we'll be fine at 12-4 or 11-5.

Anonymous said...

It would be easier to stop saying it if the show stopped sucking.

But that will never happen.

Couldn't they just cancel the show?

Please.

Anonymous said...

Fatwa: american idol guy. I'm prepared to contribute $100 toward his demise.

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't a bribe be cheaper?

Like a 6-pack of a cold beverage?

Anonymous said...

I don't think Georgia is that good. They keep winning close games against sub-par teams, and have lost to the two teams that were good that they played. I think our first real threat for conference play is UT. We should beat USC and UGA.

Bobby O'Shea said...

Before VU fans jump all over Tennessee for beating Belmont by 1, remember that the pesky Bruins gave the Commodores all they could handle at Memorial

Anonymous said...

ut won because of a (blown) no-call - their fat post player threw a football block to spring hobkins for that final basket - otherwise Belmont gets the upset

screw ut

Chuck Heston said...

It may be time to face the fact that the SEC East is just not as good as we thought it might be coming into the season. I expect UK to dominate w/ Vandy finishing 2nd w/ a predicted record of 10-6.

Let me put it to you this way. If you were a head coach of a D-I program and I said you had a choice of playing back-to-back-to-back games against the top 3 teams in the Big East, Big 10 or SEC, which would you choose. I (and likely most) would choose the SEC hands down because it's the weaker conference by comparison.

Anonymous said...

I think 10-6 is a worst case scenario, after a closer look at the schedule.

The SEC West is already bad, and Vandy lucked out and got the 3 "best" teams at home. Arkansas hasn't beaten anyone (unless 6-5 Seton Hall counts) and neither has Ole Miss. Alabama is .500 but 3rd by default, because...

The other 3 West teams are pitiful. Jarvis Varnado is gone, and MSU has home losses to FAU and ETSU, plus got thrashed by 31 and 26 on neutral sites. LSU is 7-5 with home losses to Nicholls State, Coastal Carolina, and North Texas (by 20). Auburn is unspeakable. If you have to play 3 road games in the SEC, these are the places to do it.

I hate to predict a sweep, but Vandy really should go 6-0 vs. the West. So that brings us to the East. Surely Vandy is favored at home against USC, UGA, UT, and UF. There's 10 conference wins.

Let's call for one home upset, or West loss -- but surely no one expects Vandy to go 0-6 on the road against the East either. Road wins against USC and UGA are reasonable to expect if this is a Sweet 16 team, and maybe even UT with Pearl out.

I'd sooner expect 11-5, with 12-4 more likely than 10-6.