SEC Tournament 2015: Kentucky vs. Arkansas TV Schedule, Live Stream, Predictions
SEC Tournament 2015: Kentucky vs. Arkansas TV Schedule, Live Stream, Predictions, After all of the upsets to grace Nashville this weekend in the 2015 SEC tournament, the bracket has returned to chalk for a big-time matchup in Sunday's final between top-ranked Kentucky and No. 21 Arkansas.
The three double-digit seeds that made it to Friday's quarterfinal round were the story early on, but the Wildcats' dominating semifinal win over 13th-seeded Auburn brought the final Cinderella story of the tournament to a halt. Kentucky preceded that by pulling away from Florida for the third time this season in the quarterfinals.
The NCAA tournament-bound Razorbacks come in brimming with confidence after two impressive wins over Tennessee and Georgia, but standing between them and their first SEC tournament title since 2000 is one of the best teams in college basketball history.
Here's everything you need to know for Sunday's Kentucky-Arkansas final, along with a prediction.While Kentucky's top overall seed in the NCAA tournament is set in stone, Sunday's game just feels like there is much more than a conference tournament championship at stake.
And that is because, well, there is. After improving to 33-0 with an emphatic 91-67 win over Auburn in front of a Bridgestone Arena packed to the brim with blue, the Wildcats are one win away from entering the NCAA tournament unbeaten and seven wins away from the first 40-0 season ever.
The young Wildcats have shown no susceptibility to the pressure heaped upon them even when losses almost came their way, but this will be the last time they can afford a loss, if you will. A regular-season loss would not have stunted any title hopes. An NCAA tournament loss will.
Although they're embarking in uncharted territory, the Wildcats have looked beatable in many games—even if it's due to their own shortcomings and not actual weaknesses. With that in mind, the opposing Razorbacks are coming in confident, per Lexington Courier-Journal's Kyle Tucker:Arkansas' only crack at Kentucky came in Rupp Arena, where a 16-point first-half advantage was too much to overcome in a 84-67 Wildcats win. Kentucky had lost three straight to Arkansas prior to that win, but that's now distant history.
The Razorbacks are right to believe they can beat Kentucky, with SEC Player of the Year Bobby Portis and a stable of lengthy defenders and shooters capable of making a deep NCAA tournament run. They're one of very few teams with enough size to stack up against the Wildcats, and they have lost only twice in the last two months.But if they have a plan devised to do so, Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl—who battled Kentucky twice per year while at Tennessee—might want to hear it. He told Sports Illustrated's Zac Ellis that 2014-15 is the first time he's failed to find a hole in John Calipari's system:
“When I was in the league at Tennessee, Kentucky had great players, but always there was something there,” Pearl said. “Maybe they weren’t a great free-throw shooting team one year or they weren’t a great three-point shooting team. There’s nothing there that I can think of [this season].”
The Wildcats are so deep that even when their front-line players aren't cutting it, Calipari just makes a platoon swap and the tide typically turns. Perhaps a Final Four showdown against a somewhat similarly stacked lineup like Wisconsin or Duke could prove too much, but Arkansas—like so many others in the nation—just doesn't have the blueprint.
The three double-digit seeds that made it to Friday's quarterfinal round were the story early on, but the Wildcats' dominating semifinal win over 13th-seeded Auburn brought the final Cinderella story of the tournament to a halt. Kentucky preceded that by pulling away from Florida for the third time this season in the quarterfinals.
The NCAA tournament-bound Razorbacks come in brimming with confidence after two impressive wins over Tennessee and Georgia, but standing between them and their first SEC tournament title since 2000 is one of the best teams in college basketball history.
Here's everything you need to know for Sunday's Kentucky-Arkansas final, along with a prediction.While Kentucky's top overall seed in the NCAA tournament is set in stone, Sunday's game just feels like there is much more than a conference tournament championship at stake.
And that is because, well, there is. After improving to 33-0 with an emphatic 91-67 win over Auburn in front of a Bridgestone Arena packed to the brim with blue, the Wildcats are one win away from entering the NCAA tournament unbeaten and seven wins away from the first 40-0 season ever.
The young Wildcats have shown no susceptibility to the pressure heaped upon them even when losses almost came their way, but this will be the last time they can afford a loss, if you will. A regular-season loss would not have stunted any title hopes. An NCAA tournament loss will.
Although they're embarking in uncharted territory, the Wildcats have looked beatable in many games—even if it's due to their own shortcomings and not actual weaknesses. With that in mind, the opposing Razorbacks are coming in confident, per Lexington Courier-Journal's Kyle Tucker:Arkansas' only crack at Kentucky came in Rupp Arena, where a 16-point first-half advantage was too much to overcome in a 84-67 Wildcats win. Kentucky had lost three straight to Arkansas prior to that win, but that's now distant history.
The Razorbacks are right to believe they can beat Kentucky, with SEC Player of the Year Bobby Portis and a stable of lengthy defenders and shooters capable of making a deep NCAA tournament run. They're one of very few teams with enough size to stack up against the Wildcats, and they have lost only twice in the last two months.But if they have a plan devised to do so, Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl—who battled Kentucky twice per year while at Tennessee—might want to hear it. He told Sports Illustrated's Zac Ellis that 2014-15 is the first time he's failed to find a hole in John Calipari's system:
“When I was in the league at Tennessee, Kentucky had great players, but always there was something there,” Pearl said. “Maybe they weren’t a great free-throw shooting team one year or they weren’t a great three-point shooting team. There’s nothing there that I can think of [this season].”
The Wildcats are so deep that even when their front-line players aren't cutting it, Calipari just makes a platoon swap and the tide typically turns. Perhaps a Final Four showdown against a somewhat similarly stacked lineup like Wisconsin or Duke could prove too much, but Arkansas—like so many others in the nation—just doesn't have the blueprint.
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