Ad Disclosure
Zakai Zeigler boasts SEC as the best league in the country: ‘It’s a gauntlet’
Published:
Zakai Zeigler wasn’t holding back on Monday during an appearance on SiriusXM in talking about the sheer dominance that the SEC has displayed this season in college basketball.
Tennessee’s senior guard speaks from experience, after all. He’s helped lead the Volunteers to many victories so far this season, but it doesn’t mean it’s been easy. Just the opposite, in fact. All winter, there’s been a long list of SEC teams in the AP Top 25, and Monday’s new poll was no different, when 9 teams from the powerhouse conference were included.
Included in that long list was the top 3 teams, as Auburn stayed No. 1 despite losing to Florida on Saturday, Alabama was right behind at No. 2 and the Gators were tied with Duke at No. 3. Just behind those 4 teams was Zeigler’s Volunteers, who have won 3 in a row after a 3-4 stretch that followed their time as the No. 1 team in the land.
“It’s a gauntlet. Every single game is a fight,” said Zeigler on Monday in proclaiming the SEC as the best conference in the country.
In spite of checking in at No. 5 in the nation, the Vols are just +20000 to win the SEC title at bet365 with Auburn (-250) and Alabama (+220) leading the way, further proof of Zeigler’s “gauntlet” claim. Be sure to track the odds throughout the season with our legal betting apps for Tennessee.
It would be hard to argue with Zeigler, and all it takes is a peek at the poll as just one of the examples.
As further proof of the SEC’s dominance and depth, Zeigler and the Vols head to Lexington on Tuesday night to face No. 15 Kentucky. Meanwhile, Auburn and Alabama will hook up in a 1 vs. 2 matchup on Saturday in Tuscaloosa that will truly showcase how elite the SEC is this season.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
