Bracketology Losers: Lumps of coal this Christmas for the Pac-12 and SEC

SEC

There wasn’t much to celebrate at the top of the SEC this week. Let’s run it down.

Kentucky was the poster child of the league’s problems this week, losing both of their games after ascending to the #6 spot in the national polls. The first loss was especially brutal, with the Wildcats falling to a good-but-not-that­-good Utah team. The second defeat to Ohio State was more expected, but the Wildcats really could have used that boost to their profile. Outside of Michigan State, Kentucky hasn’t really beaten anyone of note (sorry, Georgia Tech).

Besides John Calipari’s club, the other team that was supposed to make waves coming out of the SEC was Florida—but the Gators have been much more bark than bite so far. They did pull off a win over Providence during the week, but with apologies to Friars fans out there, beating Ed Cooley’s club isn’t exactly an impressive feat. Still, after losses to Florida State, Connecticut, and Butler, it looked for a moment that Florida was back on its game with a 31-point win over PC. Then, even with the home state advantage, the Gators fell to Utah State. The Aggies even lost big man Neemias Queta (again) during the game, but Florida couldn’t take advantage.

Luckily for Mike White and company, most of the league also looked shaky.

Tennessee lost to Cincinnati, lost Lamonte Turner for the season, and lost their spot in the national Top 25 rankings. That’s a disaster scenario. Rick Barnes has a tough job ahead of him, especially after the Vols fell to Memphis in the days before their defeat by the Bearcats. They still have wins over Washington and VCU to lean back on, but the postseason outlook for Tennessee has shifted dramatically in just a week’s time. The loss of Turner, the team’s senior floor general, cannot be understated.

Another team that no longer lives in the Top 25 is LSU, and the Tigers won’t be getting back anytime soon with weeks like these. After incurring all the brutality of a snarky Jon Rothstein tweet, losing a buy game to East Tennessee State at home, Will Wade’s team made a weak offer to USC and came away with their third two-point loss of the season. The Tigers thrived in those close games last year, going 4-1 in games decided by two points or fewer. But the breaks haven’t gone their way this time around.

In the next state over, Mississippi State had a sneaky-tough week on the docket and only managed to break even. The Bulldogs moved to 8-2 with a win over Radford in their first game home after losing to Louisiana Tech in Starkville two weeks prior. But then Miss State fell prey to WAC bannermen New Mexico State on a semi-neutral court in the state capital of Jackson.

With Auburn picking up where it left off after a Final Four run last year and Arkansas starting the Eric Musselman era off on a fast foot, the landscape of the SEC is somewhat unexpected. Of course, that just adds to the intrigue of conference play.

While that wraps up the so-called “Power 6”, there are 26 other conferences that have the potential to field at-large teams. Next up is a league that straddles the line between high- and mid-majordom.