SEC Starting 5: Revenge is a dish best served old

Saturday’s slate of SEC basketball features one of the best afternoons all season. There are eight conference games, including three ranked matchups, five ranked teams on the road, and multiple can’t miss storylines, especially in Lexington, Kentucky. 

Here is this Saturday’s Starting Five. 

1. Florida and Tennessee: Revenge on (Old) Rocky Top 

Florida heads to Knoxville to rekindle one of the best and most underrated rivalries in college basketball. These former SEC East foes met once already this season and it was a disaster for the Vols. Florida beat Tennessee by 30. Now the Vols get the Gators at home. 

Tennessee has won eight of the last 11 in this rivalry and are 49-18 against the Gators all-time at home. Both teams currently sit on the No. 2 line for the NCAA Tournament projections. A win for Tennessee would be huge to prevent a bigger black eye on their resume, especially after losing at home to Kentucky. 

2.  Prodigal Son Returns 

Speaking of revenge, John Calipari returns to Rupp Arena in a primetime matchup between No. 12 Kentucky and an Arkansas team who has underachieved more than boy bands after Justin went solo. Calipari led Kentucky to a decade of success and a national title. However, it felt like both sides were ready to move on after the end of the last season. So they did. 

Kentucky has won the breakup so far, but that probably won’t stop them from letting Cal hear it when he and his team walk out on the floor Saturday night. Just ask Rick Pitino. 

3. Lucky Number 13

This shouldn’t be a surprise, nor is it unfamiliar given what we saw during football season. However, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey’s team to watch for the remainder of this season may be the Texas Longhorns. Not because Sankey has any inherent bias towards Texas, but the Longhorns are currently the 13th SEC team projected in the NCAA tournament. 

As of today, it appears no other teams will qualify, making Texas the SEC’s best chance to set an all-time record for teams in the tournament. They travel to LSU this weekend to take on an LSU team that is 1-6 in conference play. 

4. Can anyone beat Auburn?

Auburn continues to build the most impressive resumeé in college basketball. That’s not just for this season but for all-time. Auburn currently has 12 Quad 1 wins this season. The all-time record is 17 from Kansas. Auburn heads to Oxford this weekend to take on yet another ranked opponent on the road in Ole Miss. As it stands now they have eight potential Quad 1 games left on their regular season schedule. 

5. Who’s on upset alert? 

The upset special hit last Saturday when Texas beat Texas A&M, so who is on upset alert this Saturday? The home court advantage in the SEC has been talked about at length in this series and with good reason. Home teams are 163-25 this season in the SEC. On top of that there are only four teams in the entire conference who have a record over .500 on the road this season. Those teams are Florida, Alabama, Auburn, and Mississippi State. 

So where does the upset come from? Despite all the praise Auburn has been given, the most obvious spot is in Oxford, as Ole Miss has proven to be a team that can compete, and beat, top ranked teams. Outside of the obvious one, the Georgia vs. Alabama game is a sneaky good game. Asa Newell has been one of the best players in the league this season and when Georgia is on, they are one of the best teams in the conference. They have not played well on the road this season, but Alabama has struggled with inferior opponents at home multiple times too.