Once again, we were treated to an action-packed slate from start to finish, featuring multiple upsets and some incredible top-25 matchups. With the depth and talent of this league in 2024, it feels like there will be very few letdowns this season. Saturday was no different, and the next six likely won’t be any different.
Here are the biggest SEC Saturday takeaways from January 18th.
- SEC Basketball is becoming appointment viewing
We’re all used to fall Saturdays being filled with must-see, can’t-miss games from noon until midnight. That’s how Saturday basketball slates are beginning to feel. Yesterday began with a top-ten matchup between Alabama and Kentucky, followed immediately by a top-25 showdown in Athens between No. 1 Auburn and an up-and-coming Georgia team.
Both games went down to the wire and were absolute cinema, as the kids say. We probably would have expected that, but then Vanderbilt and Tennessee gave us a one-point thriller and court storming finale. To follow it up, the Egg Bowl of basketball went to overtime and we ended the day with eight straight hours of incredibly riveting basketball. At the very least, this season will give SEC fans everywhere an entertaining excuse to get out of any chores or yard work on non-football Saturdays.
- It is incredibly hard to win on the road
Honestly, road wins should probably count for two wins instead of one this year. That’s how difficult it’s been away from home for teams this season. Over a week ago, we talked about the staggering statistic that SEC teams were 134-3 at home through the first week of January. Now, a good journalist would have followed up on that research to update the number.
I am not a good journalist, and that’s a lot of math. What I will tell you is that on Saturday, home teams went 6-2, and the only two road teams that won were both ranked in the top four in the country. Also, I went ahead and did the math. Home teams are 150-18 at home through the January 18 games. It goes without saying that most of those 18 losses are to other SEC teams.
- John Calipari might be his own next one-and-done
During his time at Kentucky, John Calipari had over 30 one-and-done players come through Lexington. He has built an entire career off being able to recruit elite blue-chip players and putting them in the league almost as soon as they get to college. However, the next one-and-done that may be attached to his name is his own tenure in Fayetteville.
Calipari had never started 0-4 in SEC play as a head coach. He is now 0-5, and it hasn’t been an on-court product that gives a ton of optimism that it will turn around anytime soon. Arkansas’ latest game was an 18 point loss to Missouri, a team that went 0-18 in SEC play a year ago. Their five losses have been by an average of 10.4 points per game.
The good news for Cal and company is that they only have six currently ranked opponents in their remaining 13 SEC games. That may not sound significant, but it’s lower than most other teams in the league—a testament to how deep the league is this season.
