| Conference Tourneys: SEC 2006-03-08 by: badanov The first round of the SEC conference tournaments include on team we regard as a black horse: Arkansas. The Hogs (21-8, 10-6 conf. ) have a mediocre conference record, but they did pull off some stunning upsets, most notable amongst those beating Tennessee at Tennessee. Arkansas has also a good record against some top talent, beating Texas Tech, Missouri and Kansas in their non-conference games earlier in the season. Surprisingly, the Hogs have been in the top three in scoring offense and defense throughout the season, ranking high in several other defensive stats such as second in blocked shots with 6 per game and second in turnover margin with plus three. That isn't to say Georgia ( 15-14, 5-11 conf. ) will be a pushover since they rank second on the SEC overall in steals and third in turnover margin. We believe that Arkansas is on the rise; they may not make it past the second round but we believe they will beat Georgia. Other SEC games: We like Kentucky, Vanderbilt and South Carolina, all teams which have staged some big conference upsets. -----------------------------------------COMMENTS---------------------------------------- |