After beginning the season 16-0, Vanderbilt lost three straight games in SEC play. They got revenge on one of those losses yesterday by defeating Florida 91 to 74. Now they have a chance to do it again in what was their worst loss of the season to Arkansas 93 to 68. Take Vanderbilt to finish off the job as they win the SEC Conference Tournament.
Arkansas is wedded to a seven-man rotation, which works fine when playing twice weekly with days in between. In the SEC Tournament, not so much. In the Razorbacks opener on Friday, three starters logged 40, 37 and 35 minutes. The semifinals on Saturday went overtime, forcing four starters to endure at least 40 minutes -- one of them the entire 45. Vandy was blessed with the earlier game Saturday and got more recovery time before the quick-turnaround championship match. Both teams have won four straight outright. The difference is, three Commodores victories were over ranked foes -- twice against tough Tennessee -- while all of Arkansas' victims were unranked.
Arkansas and Vanderbilt meet in the SEC Championship game, and I think it's going to be a high-scoring game. I like this game over the total of 166.5, considering seven of their last eight meetings have gone over. Arkansas has won the last three meetings, scoring 90 points or more in all of them. Arkansas wants to run fast all the time, but so does Vanderbilt. The Commodores have gone over in five of their last six games, including shutting the Gators down in their last game. Arkansas plays at a fast pace but shoots a smart 50% from the field and 38.1% from three-point range. Over is the play.
