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Commute: The SEC Tournament has lived up to the billing

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The Morning Commute for Friday, March 14, 2025

Welcome to the Morning Commute

If there was anyone who might have doubted the depth and quality of the SEC this season, well the league reared it’s ugly head once more with a true #SECBasketballFever but in a non-ironic kind of way.

Wednesday three of the four games were highly competitive, with only Mississippi State bombing LSU out of the tournament. Then yesterday the games started and the first session was so good the Missouri game was delayed 48 minutes.

The action started with an Arkansas-Ole Miss game that went back and forth and finished with a Sean Pedulla three pointer to put the Rebels ahead with just a few ticks left on the clock. Next up was a double OT thriller between Texas A&M and Texas that saw the Longhorns extend the life of Rodney Terry a bit longer as they upset the Aggies to notch another Q1 win.

Both Arkansas and Ole Miss looked to be safely in, so they were playing for pride and seeding. But Texas was on the outside looking in heading into this tournament. Two wins to start the tourney gives them two Q1 wins, and the chance for a HUGE win if they can beat Tennessee today.

The Missouri-Mississippi State game wasn’t always the prettiest affair, but the game was a tight one throughout. There were 17 ties and 9 lead changes, and it wasn’t until a Caleb Grill dunk with 4 minutes left where the Tigers took their final lead. Missouri was able to out-execute the Bulldogs in the final four minutes, and State’s fouling to stop the clock is what expanded the lead to 12. But this was very much a toss up at the 4 minute mark.

OU and Kentucky was a game that was tight throughout as well. UK made a run at around the 8 minute mark that gave them the separation they needed but Oklahoma stormed back and took the lead with 5 seconds to play after being down 12 with 4 minutes to play… only to watch Otega Oweh beat them again on a last second shot for the second time in three weeks.

Today are some big games. #1 Auburn takes on Ole Miss at noon (central time), then Texas faces #4 Tennessee. Following a short break, Missouri will face #2 Florida, and #3 Alabama gets Kentucky. I’m ready for more.

Yesterday at Rock M and Rock M+

It was a pretty busy day, lotta posting! So let’s get to it:

After struggling in recent games, Tamar Bates found a scoring rhythm. He eclipsed his point total from the entirety of last year’s SEC Tournament contest against Georgia in the first half, chipping in 12 points over the first 20 minutes of action. That included a pair of three-pointers, marking his first game with multiple triples since Feb. 22. He finished with 25 points, his most since Jan. 25. His layup with 1:22 left increased MU’s lead to seven.

No Study Hall, I’ve posted the charts on RockM.plus and gave a few thoughts on top of what’s above. We’ve also got a sidebar coming from the Beat boys who are in Nashville.

Alabama’s season finale win over the Tigers likely put a damper on their perception to the country, but Bruce Pearl’s team is still the oddsmakers favorite. Reflecting the level of competition, six teams got votes, and I don’t think it would surprise anyone to see one of Kentucky or Texas A&M make a deep run.

A&M lost to Texas… you hate to see it.

More quietly, though, stars like Bates and Tony Perkins have encountered turbulence ($) on offense, while sophomore Trent Pierce has regressed. Reserves like Marques Warrick and Jacob Crews have done their level best to offset that erosion, but those up-transfers grade out slightly worse defensively – an area where MU can ill afford more seepage.

This is the kind of excellent stuff we’re able to do on Plus thanks to subs. Super cool and insightful analysis.

Mizzou is one of nine teams in the country that have 5 or more Quad 1 wins and are still unbeaten in Quads 2-4. That’s good enough to keep the Tigers on the 6-seed line in this latest edition of Rock-M-Tology, but barely.

MOVING ON FROM HOOPS… there’s more!

  • Sammy also had the baseball preview with a trip to #1 LSU, jumping into the deep end of the pool:

Predicted to finish 4th in the SEC Preseason Poll, LSU comes in at No. 1 in the country in most polls and for good reason. The Tigers are 17-1 overall and have won 12 straight with some key wins over Dallas Baptist, Kansas State, and Nebraska. LSU is coming off of an 18-4 midweek win in 7 innings over Xavier on Tuesday night after a three-game sweep over North Alabama last weekend.

Good luck guys!

When dealing with so many different kinds of players both mentally and emotionally, in order to be successful, each member of the team has to figure out what level they play best at. It’s their Optimum Performance Level (or OPL, as I’ll refer to it as).

Still a long way to go yet.

  • Over at Rock M+, we’re talking about oh well basketball. The game, the SEC Tournament, the transfer portal, and of course an abbreviated Study Hall. Also Matt has the latest on the lineup data… Lots going on.

Rock M Radio: Before the Box Score was back!

Relive my chat with Blake!

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