Around the SEC, Round 1

How crazy was the first weekend of SEC play? Five games were played, and in four games, the favorite lost.

Sadly, one of those four was our Vanderbilt Commodores, who lost 81-71 to Ole Miss. But when have our own team’s misfortunes ever stopped us from pointing and laughing at rivals? To the recap!

Alabama 77, Kentucky 75: Oh Lord, Alabama tried to give this one away. Alabama’s Tevin Mack scored 20 points in the first half and scored two in the second half. The Tide led 72-61 with 2:28 to go and yet Kentucky got off a three-point attempt for the win at the buzzer, but it rimmed out. Remember: when Kentucky loses, everyone wins.

Tennessee 96, Georgia 50: I can only hope the TV cameras were glued on Tom Crean’s face for the entire second half of this one.

Arkansas 73, Texas A&M 71: Arkansas’s usual road woes were solved by playing a team that had already lost to Texas Southern and UC Irvine at home. Texas A&M will compete for the title of “league’s worst team.”

South Carolina 71, Florida 69: Florida led this game 58-44 with 10:16 left; South Carolina’s win probability at that point (per KenPom) was 0.9%. Much of that was based on South Carolina being a team that previously lost to Wofford by 20 points. Plus, Florida lost when they let Chris Silva get behind the defense on a baseball pass in the closing seconds. This is... pretty schadenfreude-worthy.