SEC Releases 2012-13 Conference Schedule

Texas A&M will hit the ground running when it opens up its inaugural season in the SEC while fellow newcomer Missouri will have to wait until mid-January for its first marquee matchup in its new league.

The SEC unveiled on Friday the composite conference schedule, which returns to an 18-game slate for each team. League play tips off January 8-9, beginning with a double-header on Tuesday and followed by a quartet of games on Wednesday.

Missouri will kick-start the conference season by hosting Alabama at 7 p.m. Texas A&M caps off the double-header at home against Arkansas.

Kentucky opens up league play in Nashville for a showdown with Vanderbilt on January 10. The reigning SEC regular season champs and defending conference tournament champs will have the spotlight to themselves that Thursday, taking part in the only league game on the docket for the night. The rematch of the two SEC Tournament title game participants will feature two entirely fresh starting lineups, with each program losing all five starters from last year’s team to either graduation or the NBA.

The Wildcats and Tigers, who along with Florida are projected to vie for the conference crown, will square off just once next season. UK and MU will meet for a late-season tilt in Lexington on Saturday, February 23.

The top-heavy SEC could see some renewed depth next season, what with the addition of Missouri, the anticipated improvement of Tennessee under Cuonzo Martin and the standing threat of Arkansas, one of college basketball’s under-the-radar sleepers.

Below are five marquee games that may not jump off the schedule (read: they won’t feature Florida or Kentucky), but are nonetheless compelling and important.

South Carolina at Mississippi State (January 9): Frank Martin (South Carolina) and Rick Ray (Mississippi State) make their SEC head coaching debuts together, as the Gamecocks and Bulldogs lock horns in the league opener for both teams.

Missouri at Ole Miss (January 12): Ole Miss isn’t Kansas, or Baylor, or Texas. But the Rebels will be a formidable challenge for Frank Haith’s posse in the first weekend of the conference season. With forward Murphy Holloway back in the fold and four of five starters returning to Oxford next season, Ole Miss enters next season with slim, but certainly viable tournament aspirations. A home game against with Mizzou will serve as an early litmus test of where they stand and exactly how real their tournament hopes are.

Tennessee at Arkansas (February 2): Two teams firmly entrenched on that second-tier in the SEC will duke it out in early February at the Bud Walton Arena. Both the Vols and Razorbacks have legitimate tournament hopes for the upcoming season, and so a signature conference win is on the line in this one. Tennessee and Arkansas only meet once, so this early-February contest could go a long way in determining just how much each team will be sweating it out on Selection Sunday. In a battle of contrasting styles, Tennessee will pit its rough-and-tumble front court combination of Jeronne Maymon and Jarnell Stokes against the Arkansas back court attack of B.J. Young and Mardracus Wade.

Missouri at Texas A&M (February 7): The two SEC newcomers play their first and only meeting against one another at Reed Arena. And it’s a good thing, because if this game was to be played in Columbia, you’re looking at a lopsided affair. A&M has a bleak outlook for next season, but the Aggies are always stingy at home. Home court advantage could prove to be the great neutralizer as one former Big XII school looks to upset the other in their first-ever game as members of the SEC.

Tennessee at Vanderbilt (February 13): How high has Tennessee climbed—saddled with high expectations and all—under second-year head coach Cuonzo Martin? Just how far has Vanderbilt slipped one-year removed from a team that won the SEC and reached the Sweet 16? This mid-February tilt will give us a good idea. With both teams in the swing of their seasons by the point, we’ll know just how for real the Vols are [or aren’t] as well as how much the Commodores are feeling the losses of John Jenkins, Jeffrey Taylor and Festus Ezeli. If UT can pull off a road win at Memorial—regardless of Vanderbilt’s roster—call me a believer.