2014 SEC Tournament: Who Can Challenge the Florida Gators?

Mar 8, 2014; Gainesville, FL, USA; Florida Gators guard Scottie Wilbekin (5), forward Casey Prather (24), center Patric Young (4) and forward Will Yeguete (15) talk with CBS as they celebrate after they beat the Kentucky Wildcats for their complete SEC undefeated season at Stephen C. O’Connell Center. Mandatory Credit: ©Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Florida Gators new motto: 18-0 and more to go. This record-setting team has a chance to make history and win all 21 games against conference competition in this year’s SEC Tournament. Florida is the prohibitive favorite to sweep the SEC regular and tournament championships, but a couple of teams that could give the Gators fits and wake them up from their dream league season. While the tournament actually starts tonight, the Gators won’t be in action until Friday. Let’s take a look at the greatest challengers.

The Kentucky Wildcats are by far and away the greatest challenger for the tournament crown. Kentucky has put together a team loaded with talent. Their only issue is they haven’t played as a cohesive unit and show a lot of immaturity as a team. That’s what you get when your team starts five freshman with the top seven contributors being underclassmen. Nevertheless, the Wildcats have put together a solid season, although many thought this team would put together a season much like Florida’s. The two-seed Kentucky starts play with the winner of the LSU-Alabama game. LSU split the season series with UK and Alabama lost at Rupp Arena. This Wildcat team as all the makings to cut down the nets, but it’s more likely they’ll lose to LSU, or the possible Ole Miss-Georgia winner before they even get a chance to face Florida. I just have a feeling Kentucky will find a way to blow it in the end.

The next in line is most likely the Tennessee Volunteers. The Vols played a tough schedule and are in jeopardy of their bubble bursting. With a couple wins in the SEC Tournament, they’ll be all but guaranteed a spot in the Big Dance. A lot depends on which team shows up: The one that lost to Vanderbilt or the one that demolished sixth-ranked Virginia. It also depends on Jordan McRae’s play. When he’s good, they’re a very good team. When he’s off, they get beat (see Florida-Tennessee 1.25.14). That being said, I think Tennessee is the team most likely to beat Florida. They have veterans that can tangle with Florida’s seniors and playmakers all around. They’ve somewhat underachieved this season, but I wouldn’t put it past this team to win the SEC Tournament and make a run in the NCAA Tournament as well. The only way to get off the bubble before the selections come out is win the conference tournament. The Vols can do that.

The Georgia Bulldogs are next in line for teams that might have a chance at knocking off the Gators. Florida and Georgia played only once this season for the first time in 70 years. But they played early in conference play and Georgia ended up tied with Kentucky for second place during the regular season with a 12-6 league record. Not much is known about the Dawgs because they just haven’t played anybody. The SEC wasn’t up to par this season with Florida being elite and the rest being sub-par. And Georgia’s out of conference schedule was light, to say the least. It will be interesting to see how this team competes in the SEC Tournament. They’ve got nothing to lose and a somewhat home crowd, much like when they won the tourney in 2008. This team is better, however. It should be interesting if the Bulldogs can get past Kentucky in a potential semifinal game. If they can, look out.

Three other teams have the ability to knock off any SEC foe on any given day. They are Ole Miss, Arkansas, and LSU. All of these teams put together respectable regular seasons. The biggest threat out of these three has to be Arkansas. The Razorbacks swept Kentucky in the regular season and won enough good games to be considered a bubble team for the NCAA Tournament. They played a challenging non-conference schedule and ended up 21-10, going 10-8 in the SEC. Ole Miss is a threat solely because of Marshall Henderson. If he can get hot, he can put up buckets in an instant, something Florida had to contest with. The Rebels are a good team, but most likely not threats to move past the semifinals. LSU is an interesting team. They have the talent to beat most of the teams in the SEC. With the exception of winning against Kentucky, LSU lost the games they were supposed to and didn’t have that signature win. They’ll miss the NCAA tournament unless they cut down the nets in Atlanta.

Do I honestly think there’s any team that can challenge Florida in the SEC Tournament. In a word, no. The Gators have hit their threes lately and when they do that, they’re unbeatable. They can withstand the schedule of playing three games in three days because they are so experienced. And they have that determination all teams need that want to go far in tournaments. No matter what, Florida’s a lock for a one-seed. But with the SEC Tournament in their grasp, they’ll definitely gain the number one overall seed. There’s still a lot to play for with this Gators squad and I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do in Atlanta.

Here’s the full bracket of games, with tournament play starting Wednesday (tonight):

Do you agree? Who do you think will be cutting down the nets Sunday? Who are the impact players? Get involved in the comments section, or on Facebook and Twitter.

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