Belmont Owns Murray State

We don't write as much about the Murray State men's basketball team as we used to, and that's because the team isn't as good as it used to be.  Here are the last six games between Murray State and its former rival, Belmont (home team listed first):

02/07/24:  Belmont 69 - 64 Murray St.

02/28/24:  Murray St. 61 - 83 Belmont

01/25/25:  Murray St. 77 - 95 Belmont

03/02/25:  Belmont 70 - 60 Murray St.

01/31/26:  Belmont 103 - 86 Murray St.

02/15/26:  Murray St. 70 - 87 Belmont

Today's game was particularly painful.  The Racers were up 39-24 at the half, on their home court.  And then Belmont blitzed them 63-31 in the second half.  Just humiliating.  That's like a 1996 UK half.

In mid-January, the Racers were 16-3 overall, and 8-0 in the Valley -- but that's all over now.  Murray State has now lost six of its last nine games.  This loss drops Murray State to 11-6 in the Missouri Valley and effectively kills any chance the Racers had of winning the regular season title.  Meanwhile, Belmont moves to 14-3 in the Valley.

On the other hand, Murray State did reach the College World Series last year, which is my favorite thing the Racers have ever done.

Pope Update

UK goes to Florida and loses 92 to 83.  Florida's easy win reflected the difference in quality between the two teams -- Ken Pom thought UK would lose by 11.  So the Cats stay at 27 in his rankings, and the Classic SEC rankings now look like this:

6.  Florida:  19-6

12.  Vanderbilt:  21-4

18.  Alabama:  18-7

19.  Tennessee:  18-7

27.  Kentucky:  17-8

33.  Auburn:  14-11

43.  Georgia:  17-8

55.  Louisiana St:  14-11

80.  Mississippi:  11-14

86.  Mississippi St:  12-13

Here's what UK has left (games where they are favored in bold):

02/17:  GEORGIA (72 percent chance of winning)

02/21:  at Auburn (39 percent chance)

02/24:  at South Carolina (73 percent chance)

02/28:  VANDERBILT (47 percent chance)

03/03:  at Texas A & M (45 percent chance)

03/07:  FLORIDA (35 percent chance)

Ken Pom thinks they will finish 11-7 in the SEC, and 20-11 overall.

Seven Games Left

The byes are done, and all SEC men's basketball teams have now played eleven games.  With seven games left, here are the standings:

Florida:  9-2 {point differential in SEC games of +176}

Arkansas:  8-3 {+90}

Kentucky:  8-3 {+23}

Vanderbilt:  7-4 {+51}

Texas A & M:  7-4 {+46}

Alabama:  7-4 {+45}

Tennessee:  7-4 {+21}

Missouri:  7-4 {0}

Texas:  6-5 {+38}

Auburn:  5-6 {+17}

Georgia:  5-6 {-36}

Mississippi:  3-8 {-85}

Mississippi St:  3-8 {-90}

Oklahoma:  2-9 {-68}

Louisiana St:  2-9 {-89}

S. Carolina:  2-9 {-139}

As you can see from the point differential numbers above, Florida is far and away the best team in the SEC.  The Gators went to Georgia last night and crushed the Bulldogs 86 to 66.  On Saturday, they host Kentucky.  Ken Pomeroy thinks that Florida will win 81 to 70, and I would not be surprised if the margin were much bigger.  Pomeroy thinks Florida will finish 15-3 in the SEC.

However, once you get beyond Florida, there is a block of teams who are pretty close in terms of quality.  Here's how Pomeroy breaks them down:

Teams that will finish 12-6 in the SEC:  Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Tennessee

Teams that will finish 11-7:  Kentucky, Texas A & M

Teams that will finish 10-8:  Missouri

Teams that will finish 9-9:  Texas, Auburn, Georgia

For another perspective, here are the Classic SEC Rankings on Ken Pom:

5.  Florida:  18-6

13.  Vanderbilt:  20-4

16.  Alabama:  17-7

18.  Tennessee:  17-7

27.  Kentucky:  17-7

31.  Auburn:  14-10

40.  Georgia:  17-7

56.  Louisiana St:  14-10

72.  Mississippi:  11-13

88.  Mississippi St:  11-13

That would give us the following old-school SEC Tournament (seeds in parentheses):

(1) Florida v. (8) LSU or (9) Ole Miss

(4) Tennessee v. (5) Kentucky

(2) Vanderbilt v. (7) Georgia v. (10) Mississippi St.

(3) Alabama v. (6) Auburn

That would be an outstanding tournament.  I love those rivalry games in the quarterfinals.

Basketball on Tuesday in February

UK is on bye this week, as they prepare for a very difficult trip to Gainesville against the National Champions.  But the games continue.  Vanderbilt -- which has not recovered from the loss of Duke Miles -- is in Auburn to play the Tigers, who have not recovered from the loss of Bruce Pearl.  A Vandy loss will drop the Commodores to 6-5 in the SEC; an Auburn loss would drop the Tigers to 5-6.  Auburn's at home, and it's really hard to see them losing a must-win game at home.  But if you had told me in December, that after 11 games, Vandy would be two games behind UK, I would not have believed you.

For the record, Auburn v. Vandy is the top-rated game on Ken Pom for today.  The top four games tonight all tipped off at 6 P.M. Central:

Auburn v. Vanderbilt

Nebraska v. Purdue

Baylor v. B.Y.U.

Miami (Fla.) v. N. Carolina

UPDATE:  Here's how those games ended:

Auburn 76 - 84 Vanderbilt

Nebraska 77 - 80 Purdue (OT)

Baylor 94 - 99 B.Y.U.

Miami (Fla.) 75 - 66 N. Carolina

That's a huge win for the Dores, who bounce back from a disappointing loss at home to Oklahoma last Saturday.  Vandy is now 7-4 in the SEC and 20-4 overall.  Ken Pom says that Tyler Tanner is the best player in the SEC, and he looked like it tonight.

Oh, and here's the top of the medal count:

1.  Norway:  12 (6-2-4)

2.  Italy:  11 (2-2-7)

3.  Japan:  8 (2-2-4)

4.  United States:  7 (2-3-2)

T5.  Germany:  6 (3-2-1)

T5.  Sweden:  6 (3-2-1)

7.  Switzerland:  5 (3-1-1)

8.  Austria:  5 (2-3-0)

9.  France:  3 (1-2-0)

10.  Canada:  3 (0-1-2)

XXV Olympic Winter Games, Milan Cortina 2026 (More)

The Winter Olympics over the last few cycles has been turning for me into the World Series of Curling with a whole bunch of other events and hoopla going on around and outside the arena. Kind of like when they used to play some basketball games and have a parade in connection with the Sugar Bowl. Maybe they still do.

Anyway, curling is fascinating, and I love it. The United States’ mixed-doubles team—a Corey and a Corey, “the Coreys”—has advanced to the medal round after two thrilling wins Sunday. Right now on USA Network, I’m enjoying their preliminary-round match, or round-robin match, or first-round match or whatever with the Italians. I’m sure the outcome here has bearing on seeding for the medal round, but I don’t really care. I’m treating this as more of a Monday-morning victory lap, and I’m hoping to not get too worked up because I need to focus on other things.

I enjoyed the Olympics over the weekend, mostly on mute, and I’m enjoying rooting for my American home slices, despite what an awful period we’re in as a nation. 

In his first term, President Trump lied and got a bunch of people killed and clobbered a lot of young Americans’ mental health and good feelings about the country, because he was too scared of what would happen to himself if he told the truth about COVID-19 being an airborne virus in the first several weeks of 2020. In his second term, he appears to be willing to do or say anything he can to enrich himself and his family and to distract his shrinking base of idolators from the pedophilia. (Also, over both terms so far, he has been awful to immigrants, refugees and other groups of vulnerable people, and our best moments in those areas are my favorite things about U.S. history and the primary reasons I am patriotic.) 

There is no plan. Certainly, President Trump doesn't have one; this poor abused and sick fellow is just hurting and lashing out. And while there are people around him who have their plans, it's just that they all think they're actually the smartest ones in the room, cleverly owning the libs or using Trump as a Trojan horse or whatever. But don’t kid yourself—there is no plan, and we’re dangerously lost. You can't fool around with somebody like this. We should've never done so.

It’s hard to imagine how we’re going to ever recover from President Trump, at least in my lifetime. We’re all just going to have to pray however we pray, and we’re all just going to have try our best in our own little ways and places. This is where we are. It’s awful. Please, God, for better. 

And, of course, in the meantime, it’s hard to have fun chanting U! S! A! … U! S! A! ..., as nothing at all feels U or fun. That stinks. But I'm fifty-freaking-seven years old, and the Winter Olympics come around only once every four years. So, go Coreys. It's 6-6 going into the eighth and final end on USA Network.