Bracketology 2020 Losers: League play leads to early casualties

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - DECEMBER 04: Romeo Weems #1 and Paul Reed #4 of the DePaul Blue Demons react after their defensive stop in overtime of the game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Wintrust Arena on December 04, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images) /

6 of 8

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA – MARCH 22: Breein Tyree #4 of the Mississippi Rebels (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

SEC

This was actually a pretty good week for the top teams in the SEC, as Auburn and Kentucky both coasting in their first games of the New Year. Arkansas also moved closer toward that top-tier. But there were plenty of losers, too. LSU has bounced back nicely from its stumbles a few weeks back. Even struggling teams like Florida and Georgia put a little shine on their resumes.

But as always in league play, for every winner, there’s a loser, too.

Tennessee continued its slide without Lamonte Turner, falling to LSU and dropping to 1-4 in their past five games. Mississippi State fell prey to Auburn, while Missouri lost to Kentucky. The Razorbacks beat up on bottom-feeders Texas A&M. And in one of the most exciting SEC games of the week, Florida bested Alabama in double overtime. All these teams find themselves on the wrong side of the bubble right now, but there’s still plenty of time to turn things around.

A couple teams took their business outside the SEC. Georgia picked up a big win over Memphis, while Vanderbilt went 1-1 on the week, beating Davidson and falling to SMU. Lastly, Ole Miss took on Wichita State over the weekend, but the Rebels weren’t able to pull off what would’ve been a marquee win for their tournament profile. Perhaps worst of all, South Carolina lost to Stetson. The Gamecocks were riding high after taking down Virginia just before Christmas, but their euphoria turned to agony against the Hatters.

It’s hard to predict just how many bids the SEC is going to get this season. It could be eight, it could be four. It could be anything in between. But that number is going to keep dwindling if teams in the middle can’t pick up big wins when it counts.

Home/Bracketology