The SEC Race Will Take Shape In Saturday’s NCAAB Betting Action

With four teams at the top of the SEC East all competing for NCAA Tournament berths, a lot will be at stake in Saturday’s Basketball Betting action.

So who’ll have the edge when Kentucky travels to Vanderbilt and Tennessee heads to Florida? Let’s take a look.

No. 18 Kentucky Wildcats (17-6 SU, 9-9 ATS) at No. 24 Vanderbilt Commodores (17-6 SU, 10-8-1 ATS)

Saturday, February 12: 1:00 p.m. CBS

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Starting in Nashville, the highly ranked Kentucky Wildcats have to enter Saturday’s NCAAB Betting action a bit nervous. That’s because they’re one of the nation’s worst road teams and will travel to one of college basketball toughest venues Saturday.

That’s right, Kentucky is just 1-4 on the road in the SEC, as they get set to make the trip to Memorial Gymnasium. Vanderbilt is 13-1 at home this season on their home court, including Thursday’s epic win over Alabama. In that game, John Jenkins led four Commodores in double figures with 20 points.

Still, when it comes to the NCAAB Betting, we’ve got to take Kentucky here. To the Wildcats credit, they seem to have turned a corner in Tuesday night’s win over Tennessee in Lexington. In that game, the “big three,” of Terrence Jones, Brandon Knight and Doron Lamb finally got some help offensively, as center Josh Harrellson chipped in 16 points.

While that kind of production shouldn’t be expected from Harrellson every night, going against a smallish Vanderbilt front-line and a team which allows over 67 points a game, he and his teammates should have no problem putting the ball in the basket here.

It’s not often we get to say this, but on the road, the Kentucky Wildcats are the NCAAB Betting pick to make.

NCAAB Betting Pick: Kentucky

Tennessee Volunteers (15-9 SU, 11-12 ATS) at No. 19 Florida Gators (19-5 SU, 9-11 ATS)

Saturday, February 12: 6:00 p.m. ESPN

Next up we head far South, where the SEC East leading Florida Gators again hit the court. This might be the hottest team in the entire conference, as after years of struggles, Florida is now 6-1 straight up in their last seven games.

And really to the Gators credit, they’re doing it with a number of different scoring options. Florida has five players averaging at least eight points a game, including guard Erving Walker, who is putting up just under 15 points a game.

Still, despite it all, we’ll take the Tennessee Volunteers as our NCAAB Betting pick.

That’s because on Tuesday, Bruce Pearl returned to the sideline to coach this team after being suspended for the first eight SEC games. While his team lost at Kentucky (where the Wildcats are 11-0 this year by the way), they showed a strong sense of resolve after falling down early. Junior guard Scotty Hopson played especially tough, scoring 11 points, despite playing on a severely injured ankle.

With extra time to rest and recuperate after having off since Tuesday, Hopson should be at close to 100 percent and ready to lead this team Saturday. Along with forward Tobias Harris and guard Melvin Goins, it should be enough for Tennessee to pull the NCAAB Betting upset!

NCAAB Betting Pick: Tennessee