All-Important Non-Conference '15-16 Schedules for SEC M Basketball Teams

[jbcarol]

Connor Riley@Kconnorriley
Georgia wins 71-48, biggest win of the year. The team is now 6-3 and plays Robert Morris a week from today.

Marc Weiszer ‏@marcweiszer  57m57 minutes ago
Marc Weiszer Retweeted Connor Riley
Largest margin of victory for UGA over Clemson since 1953 (played 19 times since then).

[jbcarol]

Kevin Brockway ‏@gatorhoops  8m8 minutes ago Orlando, FL
Final: Florida 89, Jacksonville 65. #Gators 8-3 going into Christmas.

[jbcarol]

@GrantRamey ‏@GrantRamey  2m2 minutes ago Knoxville, TN
Hubbs dunk. Vols win 76-67 [over ETSU]. Tennessee (6-5) off until Dec. 29

[jbcarol]

VandyMBB ‏@VandyMBB 1h1 hour ago

FINAL:  PURDUE 68, VANDERBILT 55.

[jbcarol]

David Cloninger ‏@DCTheState 13m13 minutes ago

FINAL: South Carolina 75, St. John's 61. The Gamecocks improve to 11-0 and host Francis Marion on Dec. 30.

South Carolina men and women head into Christmas break a combined 23-0. Each team in the Top 25.

[jbcarol]

Jon Rothstein ‏@JonRothstein 7h7 hours ago

Wednesday's games to watch: Auburn/Harvard, New Mexico State at Baylor, Oklahoma/Hawaii, Missouri/Illinois, Colorado/SMU.

[jbcarol]

David Cloninger ‏@DCTheState 13m13 minutes ago

FINAL: South Carolina 75, St. John's 61. The Gamecocks improve to 11-0 and host Francis Marion on Dec. 30.

South Carolina men and women head into Christmas break a combined 23-0. Each team in the Top 25.

Adam Zagoria ‏@AdamZagoria 5h5 hours ago Manhattan, NY

With last night's 75-61 loss to South Carolina, St. John's has dropped 3 straight since the Syracuse win.

[jbcarol]

Morale (sic) victory / Quality loss

Jason Butt ‏@JasonHButt 5h5 hours ago Doral, FL

UGA's win over Oakland earlier this year became that much more impressive after last night. Oakland took No. 1 MSU to OT, lost 99-93.

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/bmarcello/status/679810205102690304

Brandon Marcello ‏@bmarcello  3h3 hours ago
Instant Analysis: Harvard forces Auburn into its worst performance of season http://www.al.com/auburnbasketball/index.ssf/2015/12/alcoms_instant_analysis_harvard_auburn.html ...

[jbcarol]

Steve Walentik ‏@Steve_Walentik  32m32 minutes ago
Online gamer: Illinois holds onto Braggin' Rights as Missouri rally comes up short http://www.columbiatribune.com/sports/mu_basketball/illinois-holds-onto-braggin-rights-as-missouri-rally-comes-up/article_85d95589-8cf2-55f8-bd94-b513ec0c033e.html#.VntcOqhlrks.twitter ...

Mizzou rally comes up short. Illinois wins third straight in Braggin' Rights Series, holding off Tigers 68-63 final

[jbcarol]

loganlowery ‏@loganlowery  25m25 minutes ago Jackson, MS
Mississippi State defeats Northern Colorado 93-69 to improve to 6-5 on the year.

[jbcarol]

 Jon Rothstein ‏@JonRothstein 16h16 hours ago

Harvard beats Auburn by 18 to advance to the Diamond Head Classic title game. Tommy Amaker is now 8-0 in exempt events as HC of the Crimson.

[jbcarol]

James Crepea ‏@JamesCrepea 10h10 hours ago

Auburn called for 18 fouls in 2nd half to Hawai'i's 10, including 12-3 in final 9:29. AU went from up 9 to 79-67 L.
http://bit.ly/1QN3iTO

[jbcarol]

Kyle Tucker ‏@KyleTucker_CJ 7h7 hours ago

FINAL: UK 75, UL 73. Cards airball winning 3-point try. Did Poythress get a piece of that?

[jbcarol]

Jon Rothstein ‏@JonRothstein 4h
Tuesday's games to watch: Temple at Cincinnati, SMU at Tulsa, Wake Forest at LSU, Purdue at Wisconsin, Michigan St at Iowa, UConn at Texas.

Tuesday's under-the-radar games: Tulane at Memphis, Texas Southern at Baylor, Richmond at Texas Tech, FSU at Florida, UC Irvine at Kansas.

[jbcarol]

@GrantRamey ‏@GrantRamey 3h3 hours ago

Final stats



Barnes: The better team didn't win today. We were horrible today.

Rob Lanier
‏@icehandler

1pm on a Tuesday and still had a great crowd in TBA. Impressive

@GrantRamey ‏@GrantRamey 1h1 hour ago

Announced crowd today (tickets sold) was 13,214, by the way.

[jbcarol]

Sheldon Mickles ‏@MicklesAdvocate 14h14 hours ago

Final score from PMAC -- Wake Forest 77, #LSU 71. Another tough loss for LSU, now 7-5 going into SEC opener Saturday night at Vandy.

[jbcarol]

Kevin Brockway ‏@gatorhoops 14h14 hours ago Sanford, FL

Bacon jumper with 4.6 seconds left game-winner as FSU beats Florida 73-71.

[jbcarol]

Steve Walentik ‏@Steve_Walentik 13h13 hours ago

#Mizzou gets back to .500 with 78-25 win vs Arkansas-Pine Bluff. It's largest win since another 53-point win over Central Arkansas in 2010.


Who's guarding #3?  He's killing them!

Anderson said he told his team at halftime that if #Mizzou held Pine Bluff to 30, they wouldn't have to practice tomorrow.

Kim Anderson wasn't born the last time #Mizzou held a team to 25 points. That was 1947.

Anderson has said repeatedly he thinks his team needs something good to happen. "Maybe this is the start of something positive."

[jbcarol]

taylor denman ‏@taylorddenman 14h14 hours ago

Georgia pulls out a 79-67 win over Robert Morris to end long homestand.

http://www.macon.com/sports/college/sec/university-of-georgia/bulldogs-beat/article52184835.html ...

Georgia heads to Gainesville for next game against UF.

[jbcarol]

Aggie Men's Hoops ‏@AggieMensHoops 15m15 minutes ago

ICYMI: The Aggies moved to 10-2 after defeating Cal Poly Yesterday

[jbcarol]

Matt Zenitz ‏@mzenitz 13h13 hours ago

Final: Alabama 67, Jacksonville State 59 in OT

Retin Obasohan missed two FTs with two seconds left

Alabama narrowly avoids being upset by Jacksonville State http://s.al.com/Y6bpIjb

[jbcarol]

Kyle Tucker ‏@KyleTucker_CJ 51m51 minutes ago

This includes a list of all 14 SEC teams' best wins, worst losses (in @kenpomeroy's rankings) entering league play. http://www.courier-journal.com/story/sports/college/kentucky/2015/12/30/sec-basketball-still-has-work-do/78074546/ ...

Despite Ben Simmons, LSU's best win is (narrowly) over No. 143 North Florida. Three losses to teams 90th or worse.

Despite Malik Newman/Ben Howland, Mississippi State's best win is No. 186 Eastern Washington. Two sub-200 losses.

Andy Kennedy, whose Rebels (10-2) open SEC play at Kentucky (10-2) on Saturday, points out that the league ranks No. 1 nationally in non-conference strength of schedule. But the SEC didn't win many of those tough games. So far, based on Pomeroy's rankings, the league has seven wins against top-50 teams and 10 losses to sub-100 squads.

Kennedy's team has padded its record with five wins over sub-200 teams and its best victory is over Memphis, which lost at home to UT Arlington. The Rebels have also lost to 188th-ranked George Mason. The Commodores played Kansas, Baylor and Dayton close but couldn't beat any of them and got handily beaten by Purdue, leaving them with zero quality wins.

The Gators have a similar profile: all four losses are to top-40 teams, but they have no marquee victories. The Gamecocks are undefeated, but five of their wins are against sub-200 teams and their best win is against 68th-ranked Tulsa. So what do we really even know about South Carolina?

Kentucky and Texas A&M are carrying the flag for the SEC. The Wildcats have wins over Duke, Louisville and Arizona State. The Aggies have already beaten Gonzaga, Baylor, Texas and Kansas State.

While Alabama (led by new coach Avery Johnson) is a pleasant surprise – top-50 wins over Notre Dame and Wichita State and all three losses coming against top-50 teams, including a four-point loss to Oregon – five-loss LSU is a total disappointment. Even with likely No. 1 pick Ben Simmons putting up crazy numbers, the Tigers' best win is against North Florida and they have two sub-100 losses.

SEC IN POMEROY'S RANKINGS

15. Kentucky (10-2)

Best wins: No. 5 Louisville, No. 9 Duke, No. 51 Arizona State

Worst loss: No. 52 Ohio State

18. Vanderbilt (7-4)

Best wins: No. 63 Stony Brook, No. 90 Wake Forest

Worst loss: No. 43 Dayton

23. Texas A&M (10-2)

Best wins: No. 22 Gonzaga, No. 28 Baylor, No. 49 Texas, No. 62 Kansas State

Worst loss: No. 53 Syracuse

25. South Carolina (11-0)

Best win: No. 68 Tulsa

Worst loss: None

26. Florida (8-4)

Best wins: No. 66 Richmond, No. 71 St. Joe's, No. 85 Oklahoma State

Worst loss: No. 37 Florida State

59. Georgia (7-3)

Best wins: No. 77 Georgia Tech, No. 78 Oakland, No. 101 Clemson

Worst loss: No. 86 Chattanooga

69. Ole Miss (10-2)

Best win: at No. 73 Memphis

Worst loss: No. 188 George Mason

80. Arkansas (6-5)

Best win: No. 54 Evansville

Worst losses: No. 89 Stanford, No. 90 Wake Forest, No. 151 Mercer

91. Tennessee (7-5)

Best win: No. 135 Army

Worst losses: No. 77 Georgia Tech, No. 137 Nebraska

93. LSU (7-5)

Best win: No. 143 North Florida

Worst losses: No. 90 Wake Forest, No. 133 Houston, No. 140 College of Charleston

98. Alabama (8-3)

Best wins: No. 30 Notre Dame, No. 35 Wichita State

Worst loss: No. 43 Dayton

122. Mississippi State (6-5)

Best win: No. 186 Eastern Washington

Worst losses: No. 202 Southern, No. 215 UMKC

152. Auburn (6-5)

Best win: No. 97 UAB

Worst losses: No. 102 Middle Tennessee, No. 109 Harvard

177. Missouri (6-6)

Best win: No. 146 Nebraska Omaha

Worst losses: No. 70 N.C. State, No. 111 Illinois

[jbcarol]

Jeff Goodman ‏@GoodmanESPN 4h4 hours ago

Dayton coach Archie Miller told ESPN that Dyshawn Pierre will make his season debut tonight against Arkansas.

[jbcarol]

Razorback Basketball ‏@RazorbackMBB 10h10 hours ago

FINAL (OT) | Dayton 85, Arkansas 81

Hogs trailed by 23 in the first half and battled back to force OT.

[jbcarol]

Chip Cirillo ‏@ChipCirillo 7h7 hours ago

#Vanderbilt beats Western Michigan 86-61 | NCAA Men's Basketball http://collegebasketball.ap.org/article/vanderbilt-beats-western-michigan-86-61 ...

[jbcarol]

David Cloninger ‏@DCTheState 11h11 hours ago

USC remains one of the country's four unbeaten D-1 teams -- Xavier, SMU, Oklahoma.

SCar 78  Francis Marion 56

[jbcarol]

 MSU Men's Basketball ‏@HailStateMBK 31 Dec 2015

FINAL | Mississippi State 71, NC Central 48

[jbcarol]

Alabama M Basketball ‏@AlabamaMBB  5m5 minutes ago
#Alabama defeats Norfolk State 68-49 to finish non-conference play at 9-3! #RollTide #BuckleUp 🐘🏀

[jbcarol]

SportsTalk ‏@sportstalksc  3h3 hours ago
We are at USC- Memphis tonight.

SportsTalk ‏@sportstalksc  30s31 seconds ago South Carolina, USA
New school record for most free throws made in a game for USC: 46.

FINAL SCORE: USC beats Memphis 86-76.

[jbcarol]

SportsTalk ‏@sportstalksc  30s31 seconds ago South Carolina, USA
The game had 68 fouls for those scoring at home.

[jbcarol]

Steve Walentik ‏@Steve_Walentik  10h10 hours ago
Updated: Clark has career day as Missouri wraps up nonconference schedule with rout of Savannah State http://www.columbiatribune.com/sports/mu_basketball/clark-leads-missouri-s-rout-of-savannah-state/article_73d75ef7-1502-5f4b-8d7d-8d83dddd3ba7.html?_dc=127201173687.35373#.VoiHgKZIeSQ.twitter ...

Anderson said he's still disappointed that #Mizzou didn't add another victory over one of the high-major teams.

Anderson: "I'm happy in the fact that we've won seven games. We beat everybody on paper we were supposed to beat."

Anderson challenged the team again to hold Savannah State to 50 or less, so the Tigers don't have to practice Sunday.

[jbcarol]

Some of the SEC's Worst losses in Pre-SEC action:

Mississippi State to Southern and UMKC

Ole Miss to George Mason

Arkansas to Mercer

Auburn to Middle Tennessee and Harvard

Missouri to Illinois

LSU to Houston, College of Charleston

Georgia to Chattanooga

Tennessee to Nebraska

South Carolina N/A

[jbcarol]

Some of the SEC's Best Wins in Pre-SEC action (maybe ever):

Kentucky Best wins: Louisville, Duke, Arizona State

Texas A&M Best wins: Gonzaga, Baylor, Texas, Kansas State

Alabama Best wins: Notre Dame, Wichita State

Ole Miss Best win: at Memphis

South Carolina Best win: Tulsa

Florida Best wins: Richmond, St. Joe's, Oklahoma State

Georgia Best wins: Georgia Tech

Arkansas Best win: Evansville

[jbcarol]

Craig Pinkerton ‏@SEC_Craig Jan 5

The SEC owns the nation's No. 1 basketball SOS to-date. This is the 2nd consecutive season the SEC enters January with the nation's best SOS

[jbcarol]

Worst of SEC's losses in Pre-SEC action are so much "better" than those of the recent past:

Tennessee to NCAA RPI #206 Nebraska (Missing Doc Sadler?)

Mississippi State to NCAA RPI #195 Southern

Ole Miss to #181 George Mason (not your forefather's George Mason)

State to #179 UMKC

Auburn to #135 Harvard (Top 25 team back when game was scheduled)

LSU to #123 Houston

Missouri to #113 Illinois

Arkansas to #96 Mercer

Auburn to #61 Middle Tennessee

South Carolina N/A

[jbcarol]

Some of the SEC's Best Wins in the Non-Conference Schedule to-date

Kentucky Best wins: Coaches #10 Duke, Coaches #16 Louisville, NCAA RPI #41  Arizona State


A&M Best wins:  Coaches # 22 Gonzaga, Coaches # 25 Baylor, NCAA RPI #23 Texas


Florida Best wins: RPI #43 St. Joe's


Alabama Best wins: RPI #51 Notre Dame, RPI #62 Wichita State


Georgia Best Wins: RPI #57 Georgia Tech

[jbcarol]

Sports Illustrated ‏@SInow 1h1 hour ago

Hoop Thoughts: Winners and losers from the nonconference season (by @SethDavisHoops) http://on.si.com/1ZWAJox 

There is, however, one area of the RPI in which the verdicts are already in: the nonconference strength-of-schedule rankings. These are crucial because they are often the primary differentiators between bubble teams whose résumés otherwise look identical.

Ten who helped themselves

Florida (4). This number is a little deceiving considering Florida's best nonconference win was over Saint Joseph's. The Gators don't have any bad losses, but it is critical that they find a way to win some decent road games in the SEC.

Georgia (27). Only two nonconference opponents are ranked 200 or below, and even though Georgia's loss at home in overtime to Chattanooga wasn't as bad as you think (Chattanooga is ranked No. 34 in the RPI and also won at Dayton), it was definitely a blown opportunity. That leaves the home win over Georgia Tech as Georgia's best win, but the Bulldogs have yet to win a true road game.


Ten who hurt themselves

South Carolina (260). If the Gamecocks keep winning all their games, their nonconference schedule would only help determine where they are seeded, not whether they are selected. But the fact is they have yet to play a team that is currently ranked in the top 60 of the RPI.

Ole Miss (237). Once again, here's a team that could very well be on the bubble, but a home win over Georgia State is not going to make a big impression.

​LSU (208). The problem here isn't so much the weakness of LSU's schedule, but rather the fact that it lost to every halfway decent team it played outside the SEC. The Tigers do not have a single nonconference win over a team ranked in the top 100. They need for Kentucky and Vanderbilt to turn things around lickety split so those wins keep their traction.

[jbcarol]

For comparison, here are some of the SEC's non-conference losses from 3 seasons ago. This was before the emphasis on improved scheduling to help conference RPI.

More of those Out of Conference losses that have a bearing on SOS and seeding in March:

296. Troy  56,  245. Mississippi St.  53

258. Marist  50,  202. Vanderbilt  33

186. Boston College  50,  195. Auburn  49

180. Rhode Island  78,  Auburn  72

174. Mercer  66,  78. Alabama  59

169. Winthrop 74,  Auburn 67

163. Loyola-Chi.  59,  Mississippi St.  51

152. Southern  53,  87. Texas A&M  51

149. Elon  65,  222. South Carolina  53

141. Iona  81,  190. Georgia  78

136. Clemson  64,  South Carolina  55

126. Davidson  75,  Vanderbilt  62

123. Youngstown St.  68,  Georgia  56

118. USF  64,  Georgia  53

116. DePaul  80,  Auburn  76

112. Villanova  62,  Vanderbilt  52

108. St. John's  89,  South Carolina  65

99. Indiana St.  87,  39. Ole Miss  85

89. Texas  69,  Mississippi St.  55

85. Southern Miss  62,  Georgia  60

83. Arizona St.  83,  100. Arkansas  68

81. Providence  73,  Mississippi St.  63

68. Georgia Tech  62,  Georgia  54

67. Virginia  46,  58. Tennessee  38

66. Oklahoma  64,  Texas A&M  54

65. UCLA  60,  Georgia  56

63. Saint Louis  70,  Texas A&M  49

59. Wisconsin  77,  Arkansas  70

55. Marquette  89,  Mississippi St.  62

Marquette  84,  56. LSU  80

54. North Carolina  95,  Mississippi St.  49

53. Dayton  73,  Auburn 63

Dayton  81,  Alabama  76

50. Murray State  79,  Auburn  59

48. Georgetown  37,  Tennessee  36

40. Oregon  74,  Vanderbilt  48

38. Notre Dame  64,  Kentucky  50

36. Middle Tennessee  65,  Ole Miss  62

Middle Tennessee  56,  Vanderbilt  52

32. Baylor  64,  35. Kentucky  55

27. Boise State  89,  LSU  70

18. Arizona  65,  6. Florida  64

17. Oklahoma State  62,  Tennessee  45

13. Cincinnati  58,  Alabama  56

9. VCU  73,  Alabama  54

7. Syracuse  91,  Arkansas  82

5. Indiana  66,  Georgia  53

4. Michigan  80,  Arkansas  67

2. Louisville  84,  16. Missouri  61

1. Duke  75,  Kentucky  68

Sagarin rankings updated daily (Updated: 12/23/2012 8:45:02 AM)

[jbcarol]

Craig Pinkerton ‏@SEC_Craig Jan 11

ESPN has finalized the television network designations and start times for the third annual Big 12/SEC Challenge
http://www.secsports.com/article/14548889/big12-sec-challenge-s-finalized ...

2016 Big 12/SEC Challenge Presented By Sonic (Jan. 30)
Matchup    Network    Time (ET)
West Virginia at Florida    ESPN    Noon
Vanderbilt at Texas    ESPN2    Noon
Iowa State at Texas A&M    ESPN    2:00 p.m.
Tennessee at TCU    ESPN2    2:00 p.m.
Ole Miss at Kansas State    ESPNU    2:00 p.m.
Texas Tech at Arkansas    ESPNU    4:00 p.m.
Oklahoma at LSU    ESPN    5:00 p.m.
Georgia at Baylor    ESPN2    6:00 p.m.
Kentucky at Kansas    ESPN    7:00 p.m.
Oklahoma State at Auburn    ESPN2    8:00 p.m.

[jbcarol]

Jon Rothstein ‏@JonRothstein 46m46 minutes ago

Brad Brownell has now beaten Syracuse, Louisville, & Duke back-to-back-to-back. ... Palpable buzz at Clemson.

Bama, Georgia, and of course South Carolina all beat Clemson.

[jbcarol]

Jon Rothstein ‏@JonRothstein 46m46 minutes ago

Brad Brownell has now beaten Syracuse, Louisville, & Duke back-to-back-to-back. ... Palpable buzz at Clemson.

Bama, Georgia, and of course South Carolina all beat Clemson.

Brad Senkiw ‏@BradSenkiw_AIM  9m9 minutes ago
Final: Clemson 76, Miami 65

Will Vandervort ‏@steelerwill  9m9 minutes ago
It also marks the first time in #Clemson history the Tigers have won 3 straight over top 25 teams.

[jbcarol]

Tony Castricone ‏@Castricone 33m33 minutes ago

.@ClemsonMBB on a 4-game W strk vs @kenpomeroy Tier-A opponents. No Top 50 team has done that. Closest was KU (3-1)

[jbcarol]

Jason Butt ‏@JasonHButt 23h23 hours ago

College basketball can be weird. Clemson's won 5 straight with wins over 'Cuse, Louisville, Duke and Miami. Yet UGA beat the Tigers by 23.

[jbcarol]

Kevin Brockway ‏@gatorhoops  42m42 minutes ago Spring Hill, FL
Oklahoma State upset of Kansas should help #Gators from RPI standpoint. Florida beat OK State earlier this season.

[jbcarol]

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/bracketology/jerry-palm-reader

Find out which teams need to win or lose to directly help each team's RPI each day with the Jerry Palm Reader.

[jbcarol]

 Jon Rothstein ‏@JonRothstein 9h9 hours ago

Not many first-year HC's having a better season than Chattanooga's Matt McCall. Mocs improved 17-3 after tonight's win over UNC Greensboro.


Georgia lost to UT-C in overtime.

[jbcarol]

You have to wonder if the Gamecocks' weak non-conference schedule has finally caught up with Frank Martin's club.

South Carolina dropped to 5-2 after losing 78-69 at Tennessee.

[jbcarol]

Josh Newman ‏@Joshua_Newman 12m12 minutes ago

Eight projected NBA Draft picks between Kentucky and Kansas, who play each other Saturday in Lawrence. @AdamZagoria

[jbcarol]

Steve Walentik ‏@Steve_Walentik 3m3 minutes ago

Ben Howland said doesn't mind not being part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge because he's never liked playing non-league game in mid-conference

Rick Barnes said the Big 12/SEC Challenge comes at a great time for the SEC and he said the league can help itself by getting some wins.

Rick Barnes: "Our league is extremely balanced. I think everybody can see that. We're all kind of beating each other up."

The absence of South Carolina means one of the SEC's top teams won't have a chance to help the league's record in the Big 12/SEC Challenge.

David Ubben ‏@davidubben 1h1 hour ago

Bill Self on KU-Mizzou rivalry: "It's probably in our court on who should make the next move." KU hasn't discussed intentions in months.

@GrantRamey ‏@GrantRamey 2m2 minutes ago Knoxville, TN

Highlights of Big 12/SEC Challenge: Oklahoma at LSU; Kentucky at Kansas; Iowa State at A&M

Barnes said he didn't like the Big 12/SEC Challenge when he was at Texas. Played a tough nonconference schedule as it was. Didn't need it.

Barnes on why ESPN wants Big 12/SEC Challenge Saturday: College football playoff over, break in NFL playoff calendar. Good week to have it