It’s hard to believe there are only a few games left in the college basketball regular season. After Saturday, there’s only 1 week of SEC regular-season hoops left!

We’ll see how many teams are chosen for the NCAA Tournament on Selection Sunday, but it could be 6 or 7. Plus, the SEC tournament bracket should provide plenty of elite matchups.

March is just around the corner – one of the best months on the sports calendar! Enjoy the last few games of the regular season (both men’s and women’s) while you can.

Now, let’s dive into this week’s Mailbag questions:

Jackson:

What’s your take on college football’s reported consideration of changes to the clock rules?

For reference, in case you missed it, here are some of the proposals under consideration:

  1. Prohibiting consecutive timeouts, such as icing kickers.
  2. No longer extending a first or third quarter for an untimed down if the quarter ends on a defensive penalty (the down would be clocked starting the next quarter).
  3. The clock will continue to run after an offense gains a first down except inside of 2 minutes in a half.
  4. The clock will continue to run after an incomplete pass once the ball is spotted for play.

Like many who have responded to these reported changes under consideration, I’m fine with all of them except No. 4. There’s no logic to that. The NFL doesn’t even do that.

I know I’m not the first to suggest this, but one great way to short games would be to adjust the commercial breaks around kickoffs. Instead of going extra point, commercial, kickoff, commercial, there should be only one commercial break. After a team scores, there should be a commercial break.

Then, once you come back from break, kickoff, spot the ball and let the offense have at it. They don’t need another breather after what is statistically just going to be a touchback, anyway.

If you want to get rid of the kickoff entirely, I won’t fight you on that, either. But I think eliminating one commercial break around kickoffs and adding the first 3 clock tweaks listed above (but not No. 4) will do plenty to get games down to around 3 hours.

Tim:

Will the SEC have any Round 1 quarterbacks in the 2024 NFL Draft?

The SEC will likely have 3 (maybe 4) Round 1 quarterbacks in the 2023 NFL Draft – Bryce Young (Alabama), Will Levis (Kentucky), Anthony Richardson (Florida) and Hendon Hooker (Tennessee).

I don’t think Hooker will come off the board until Day 2, but those first 3 are all but locks to go in the first round of the draft. One of them might even go No. 1 overall if the Chicago Bears trade out of that spot.

Arkansas’s KJ Jefferson and LSU’s Jayden Daniels are perhaps the best bets to go in Round 1. I could also see Kentucky’s new transfer QB, Devin Leary, working his way into the Round 1 mix with a big year. Heck, even a guy like Joe Milton at Tennessee could be a dark-horse first-round talent if he improves his accuracy.

Then there’s Spencer Rattler at South Carolina. He came into college with top-10 aspirations. He hasn’t lived up to the hype yet, but he’ll have another chance to woo NFL scouts.

I’ll predict that 1 SEC QB goes in Round 1 next year. I have absolutely no idea who it’ll be at this point yet, though.

Robert:

Who are your favorite men’s college basketball players who never played a game in the NBA?

This is a really tough question, because most guys who are considered “stars” these days at least play a handful of NBA games. Even Phil Pressey, one of my favorite Mizzou Tigers of all-time, played for a while with the Boston Celtics and some other teams. Same thing with Dee Brown of Illinois fame.

But there are still a few answers to this question. Now, keep in mind y’all, these are just my personal favorites. As an Illinois fan growing up and a Mizzou alum, you can bet those schools will feature heavily in my answers. You are more than welcome to remember some guys from your favorite schools who never played in the NBA in the comments section!

My first answer is Marcus Denmon, the former Mizzou guard who I’ll never forget because I was there in Mizzou Arena when he scored 9-straight points to beat Kansas:

Zaire Taylor is another former Mizzou player who I’ll always remember fondly for his heroics against Kansas. I was also in the arena for this buzzer-beater (seems like we beat Kansas a lot during my time in Columbia):

My college roommate Shane was one of the guys mobbing Taylor in the post-game interview. What a night that was!

On the Illinois side, I remember watching Cory Bradford launch 3-pointers for the Illini from 1998 to 2002 before the 3-point shooting revolution in basketball. He set the record for most games in a row with a 3-pointer at 88. I remember watching those games at my grandparents’ house when I was little and rooting for him to keep his streak alive.

Honorable mentions go to Mizzou’s Laurence Bowers, who I always liked watching and who seemed like a genuinely good guy, and Illinois’ Demetri McCamey, who was a standout on some not-so-great Illini teams.

@Dobbe8:

What’s the best basketball halftime show?

Well, in SEC country, we’re pretty partial to Red Panda. She’s incredible, and when she’s in town to do a halftime show, it adds a little something to the game.

In general, though, the answer is any sort of dog racing. I also like dogs catching frisbees, but racing is way better.

Second place in the non-Red Panda division goes to trampoline dunks. Sometimes you just want to see some really freakin’ cool dunks. Bonus points for anyone who can do an amazing slam while wearing a mascot costume.

Honorable mention goes to any sort of fan contest (half-court shot, long putt, etc.) on the condition that the fan actually wins the prize. If they don’t win, hard pass.

Have a question for next week’s Mailbag? Tweet at us using #SDSMailbag or email me at Adam.Spencer@XLMedia.com.