February is disappearing as this SEC hoops notebook is being written. March Madness is here, and it’s been a mad, mad season of SEC basketball. Who’s up, who’s down, what are the big picture takeaways (and honors) for a wild and woolly SEC season, and which remaining regular season games mean something? Here’s our final regular season SEC hoops notebook?

Alabama’s dirty laundry

Yes, much of the last week has been preoccupied with new reporting on Brandon Miller and the death of Jamea Harris. The immediate knee-jerk reaction is that Miller’s situation can’t help but be a distraction to Alabama and will imperil the team’s focus and possibly ruin their season.

But there’s another side, too. Our society is full of people who like to wear the black hat. Granted, it’s been t3hree decades ago, but UNLV’s well-documented hatred of the NCAA manifested itself in many ways, but most notably in a great Runnin’ Rebels team’s willingness to exist as a constant red flag to the NCAA.

Don’t bet against Nate Oats’ team folding Miller’s situation into an “Everybody hates us, it’s us against the world” sort of mentality. Which rather than being a distraction is an incredibly unusual shot of unity heading into March Madness.

Of course, none of these scenarios detract from the much more important and concerning real world issues in play… but this is a sports column, so we’ll hold it to a sports discussion.

Tennessee’s bad break

Tennessee thumped Arkansas on Tuesday night and looked to have recaptured its focus heading toward the SEC Tournament. But Vols point guard Zakai Zeigler suffered what looked to be a season-ending leg injury in the contest. Zeigler is UT’s second leading scorer, their assist leader, and the initiator of the Vol offense. UT’s February already was a running string of injuries, but this one is definitely bad news for the Vols.

Is Kentucky back?

Has John Calipari’s annual resuscitation of his UK team’s postseason chances become a thing? Check back in a few days. Kentucky finishes with Vandy and at Arkansas, two games that will give one more shot to assess the improvement of Chris Livingston, the steadiness of Cason Wallace, and whether UK’s chemistry can survive the reintroduction of CJ Fredrick and potentially Sahvir Wheeler into the mix. Kentucky is in infinitely better shape than it was a month ago. But the next two games will tell plenty as to whether the Wildcats have been good or full of good luck.

Accolades

Since it’s about that time, postseason business is near enough to begin. SEC Player of the Year has to be Brandon Miller. Which, of course, means he’s also the Freshman of the Year by definition. Coach of the Year could be Nate Oats, but the vote here would go to Dennis Gates of Missouri, who has taken an expected cellar-dwellar into what will likely be the NCAA Tournament. Gates has made Missouri not only pretty good, but very interesting to watch. The thought here is that he edges out Oats, Chris Jans and Buzz Williams. Liam Robbins of Vandy, as the league’s top shot blocker, gets the surprise nod as league Defensive Player of the Year.

An All-SEC team? How about Miller, Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe, Mizzou’s Kobe Brown, Arkansas’s Ricky Council, and Texas A&M’s Wade Taylor?

Big Dance talk

With Mississippi State playing its way off the bubble, it looks like the SEC gets 8 teams in the NCAA Tournament field. Auburn and State probably are in the diciest situations, but both should be looking pretty good down the stretch. BracketMatrix has Alabama as a No. 1 seed, UT as a No. 3 (but watch to see if the Zeigler injury moves them down), Kentucky as a No. 6, Texas A&M at No. 7, Arkansas as a No. 8, Mizzou as a 9 seed, Auburn as a 10, and Mississippi State at 11 as the 3rd to last team in the field.

This is all pretty close to Joe Lunardi’s thoughts. Heading into Tuesday, he had A&M as an 8 seed, Mizzou also as an 8, and Auburn as a No. 11, but otherwise his picks echo the BracketMatrix overall projection. Lunardi has Auburn at the bottom of the last teams with FIrst Four round byes, and Mississippi State as the 4th to last team in the field.

Games to Watch

What’s left? Plenty…

Auburn at Alabama (Wednesday) Bruce Pearl’s Tigers need to at least salvage a decent showing, and an Auburn upset would send the league title down to the final day with Bama playing A&M.

Kentucky at Arkansas (Saturday) Nobody thought these teams would combine for 20 losses, but here they are. Momentum seems to favor the Wildcats, but Nick Smith is a human wildcard.

Alabama at Texas A&M (Saturday) Could be the league title on the line?

Tennessee at Auburn (Saturday) Apparently the beginning of the post-Zeigler Era and a game that could become pivotal to Auburn’s bubble situation, should the Tide blow them out first.