SEC Tournament Day 2: Notes from the Afternoon Session

Greetings from Bridgestone Arena, where I’m hunkered down in the media room contemplating a second serving of popcorn. It’s been an exciting day of action thus far, with Mississippi State outlasting Florida in overtime in the first game and Tennessee cruising past Ole Miss in the second. Tomorrow, the Bulldogs will face No. 1 seed Alabama and the Vols No. 4 seed Missouri.

We’ve got a little time before the evening session starts, so I thought I’d check in with a few notes, some basketball related and some not.

— The crowd has been lively all day, but the best group of fans were behind Mississippi State’s bench wearing “Jans the Man” t-shirts in support of Bulldogs’ coach Chris Jans. I don’t think they sat down the entire game and were very happy to have their picture taken. Looking forward to seeing them tomorrow.

— I haven’t spent much time outside of the arena today, but inside, there’s a decent showing of Kentucky fans thus far. Obviously, Tennessee fans dominated the crowd this afternoon. Vanderbilt never really has a good showing at the SEC Tournament despite it taking place a few miles from campus, but I actually think we’ll see a good amount of Commodores fans tonight. They’ll probably prove me wrong.

— Tennessee guard Zakai Zeigler, out for the season with a torn ACL, was in attendance, as you likely saw on the SEC Network broadcast.

— It’s going to be a late night for the KSR crew. Not only are some of us going to attempt to catch part of Shannon the Dude’s show with Alice Blue Gown at The Green Light, there is more work to do. Once we find out who the Cats will play tomorrow, a member of Kentucky’s coaching staff — it could be John Calipari, it could be Chin Coleman, it could be Orlando Antigua, who knows! — will Zoom with reporters to preview the game. I would imagine the health of Kentucky’s guards (more on that coming) will be the biggest topic, and I also imagine we probably won’t get much of an update. Regardless, we’ll be watching to bring you the latest, so check the site if you’re still awake at midnight.

— As you’ve probably seen, it appears Cason Wallace (ankle) and CJ Fredrick (rib) participated in shootaround this morning, furthering the buzz that Wallace could give it a go tomorrow vs. Vandy/LSU. Add in the reports that Sahvir Wheeler could even be ready to play next week and we could have a healthy team for the first time in…a long time? It’s an exciting prospect, especially when you see tweets like this:

Kentucky's "Basketball Benny" lineup of Wallace, Reeves, Fredrick, Toppin, and Tshiebwe is still by far the most efficient lineup in the country based on Adjusted Team Efficiency Margin (150+ possessions).

UK might have these 5 guys healthy for the first time in a while soon. pic.twitter.com/PzaXe4aQEL

— Evan Miyakawa (@EvanMiya) March 9, 2023

— Looking forward to tonight’s games, especially Auburn vs. Arkansas. Eric Musselman and Bruce Pearl are sure to bring the theatrics. The Razorbacks are currently a 3-point favorite. Vanderbilt is a 4.5-point favorite over LSU in the nightcap.

— Your updated bracket:

Feel free to leave your predictions in the comments. Popcorn time for me.