KENTUCKY
The 22-1 Wildcats are rolling ever since a loss to South Carolina on Jan. 26.
A win over ranked Vanderbilt, a win over Ole Miss, and an absolute dismantling of LSU have Kentucky feeling great. This is good, since the Wildcats enter a five-game stretch where they play ranked Tennessee twice and ranked Vanderbilt again (on the road this time.)
Despite what lies ahead for his team, Kentucky coach John Calipari used some of his SEC teleconference time to talk about his plan for making the college game better.
“I think the rule should be if they choose to go out of high school, go. If you go, you cannot go to college. And if you do choose to go to college, you’re going to stay two or three years,” Calipari said.
But the coach didn’t stop there. He also said that players should be able to take loans out against future earnings. Calipari said this would, “eliminate a lot of the (one-and-done) stuff that goes on.”

VANDERBILT
The Commodores enter the second half of their SEC schedule and make their first two-game home stand this week.
Coach Kevin Stallings said his team is in a good position and that winning on its home court is vital to Vanderbilt’s SEC future and making the NCAA tournament.
“Whatever your goals are, taking care of what happens on your home court is extremely important,” Stalling said.
Vandy will get a test this week in Tennessee, and a game against league-worst LSU.

FLORIDA
In the first meeting with South Carolina, Florida’s Chandler Parsons hit a game-winning-buzzer-beating 3-pointer at home.
Now, the Gators hit on the road to face the Fightin’ Devan Downey’s.
“They’ve got a guy in Downey who has to be up there … as a player of the year candidate,” Florida coach Billy Donovan said.
Downey scored 36 points against the Gators in the O’Connell Center on Jan. 23, and is averaging 30.8 points per game in SEC play.

SOUTH CAROLINA
The Gamecocks have relied on all-everything guard Devan Downey all season.
Now, they just need a win.
Even with a win over Kentucky, South Carolina is mired at 4-4 in the SEC, good for fifth in the East.
Coach Darrin Horn knows that Florida will be a challenge this week, and praised the play of the Gators’ Dan Werner in the Alabama game last week.
“The thing that goes overlooked with them is the experience they have at some positions,” Horn said of Florida. “Werner made a huge defensive play late in that game (against Alabama) to knock the ball to the other end. Really, really smart play, that’s the kind of thing that’s hard to coach.”

GEORGIA
The Bulldogs have shown flashes of brilliance this season, but have also shown flashes of ineptitude.
Georgia has won two of its last five games. The three losses came to unranked teams (Florida, South Carolina, Arkansas), the two wins came against No. 8 Tennessee and No. 20 Vanderbilt.
The Bulldogs seem to be a team that plays best against ranked opponents, having knocked off three of the five they have faced this season. The only problem is Georgia faces unranked Auburn and South Carolina this week.
There’s always next week, when the Dawgs face Tennessee again.

TENNESSEE
The Vols have perhaps the toughest week of any team in the nation as they face No. 22 Vanderbilt and No. 3 Kentucky on the road.
Tennessee is 18-4 and ranked No. 12 in the AP poll. Two wins this week could vault the Volunteers well into elite status.
But it won’t get any easier for Tennessee after this week. Two of the Vols’ next four games are on the road at Florida and South Carolina, and also include another game against the Wildcats.
That six-game stretch should solidify Tennessee’s NCAA Tournament seed