Tennessee basketball: 5 reasons Vols should win the SEC Tournament
1. Tennessee basketball is the only top tier team at full strength.
In addition to playing the SEC Tournament in what should basically be a home environment, the Vols have by far the biggest advantage when it comes to health. And that’s why they should be everybody’s favorite to win it.
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Let’s just take the other top teams competing with them. The LSU Tigers have suspended head coach Will Wade and star player Javonte Smart indefinitely until they sort out the recent scandal that broke. Sure, they beat the Vanderbilt Commodores without those guys, but can they really beat anybody else of substance?
Meanwhile, the Kentucky Wildcats have been without Reid Travis for three weeks now, and even if he is good to go for the SEC Tournament, he won’t be near 100 percent. That’s another huge advantage that favors Rocky Top.
After that, there is nobody who should be able to compete with Tennessee basketball. This year’s tournament being in Nashville, as we said, will essentially make it a home tournament for them against lesser tier teams outside of Kentucky and LSU.
Meanwhile, the Vols are fully healthy and loaded. Lamonte Turner was banged up earlier in the year, but his focus now is just about getting back into a rhythm. Kyle Alexander is good to go as well, and the other key guys in Jordan Bone, Jordan Bowden, John Fulkerson and Yves Pons are all in good shape. Grant Williams and Admiral Schofield aren’t going anywhere.
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LSU is clearly not going to be at full strength, and Kentucky will be dinged up just enough that the Vols should beat them as well. They beat the Wildcats by 19 when they didn’t have Travis just a week and a half ago. It’s hard to see them struggling to win a second time if the conditions are similar in any way.