1/28/2021 football Edit

Blowin' Smoke Presented by Weston Tobacco

Gabe DeArmond & Mitchell Forde

Staff

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What's more fun than us giving you a chance to mock us every single week? In our new feature, Blowin' Smoke presented by Weston Tobacco, we will do that each and every Thursday. Gabe DeArmond and Mitchell Forde will make five predictions almost sure to go wrong every week in this space. These will range from big games to big picture predictions with a bit of the comedic and absurd mixed in most weeks as well.

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1) Who finishes second in the SEC basketball regular season?

Mitchell: I am still going to pick Tennessee. It's not uncommon for most teams to go through a rough patch like this at some point in the season. I still think they're probably the most talented team in the league (maybe second behind Kentucky, but experience counts for a lot this year too), plus I'm a believer in Rick Barnes. They'll get it figured out. I think I would pick Mizzou to finish third right now, but with second probably more likely than fourth.

Gabe: I thought maybe I'd be clever by still going with the Vols. Everybody's going to lose some. 13-5 is going to be good enough for second. I trust Tennessee a little more than I do the other teams.

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2) What is Missouri's seed this week in the NCAA Tournament?

Gabe: The win over Tennessee is big. If they can pick up another impressive win or two and avoid anything disastrous, I'm going to bump them to a four.

Mitchell: I never know whether to give an answer based on their resume so far or what I'm predicting at the end of the season. If the tournament started today, I think they'd be a 3. Ultimately, I think I'll pick them as a 5.

3) How many Mizzou players make first or second-team all-SEC?

Mitchell: I think three have a very good chance. As of today, I would have Jeremiah Tilmon, Dru Smith and Xavier Pinson probably all up there. I think it's probably a safer guess, though, to say two of the three end up making an all-SEC team.

Gabe: I see Tilmon and Dru Smith being the guys that will make a team. We're about halfway through the season and I think Tilmon would be first team and Smith second team if they voted today. So that's my guess.

4) Give me your one seeds in the NCAA Tournament

Mitchell: Gonzaga, Baylor, Michigan, Villanova. I'll be curious to see if Villanova playing fewer games than most other teams ends up hurting it come tourney selection time, assuming those get made up. I really considered swapping them out for Houston.

Gabe: I think Gonzaga and Baylor are locks and Michigan is likely. Your choice for the fourth one is probably better than mine, but I'm going to go outside the box and take Texas to nab the final one seed over Alabama and Villanova.

5) At the end of the season, which SEC schools are looking for a new basketball coach?

Gabe: I think the Jerry Stackhouse experiment ends. I'm still going to guess (hope) Will Wade doesn't make it to next season. I think everybody else is probably secure in the league. I can't really come up with anybody else who I see failing to the point he loses his job.

Mitchell: Well, I think you have to start with Vanderbilt. I know Jerry Stackhouse hasn't been there long, but between his 3-21 record in SEC play and cursing out fans via DM, it seems like a safe bet that he might have to find a new job after this season, if he even makes it that long. I think there's a decent chance Georgia ends the Tom Crean experiment, although I admittedly don't know his contract status or whether anyone there cares enough to pay him to go away. I definitely think there's a chance someone comes along and pays Nate Oates a ton of money to move on from Alabama. And then the big question is whether this is the year the NCAA stuff finally catches up to Will Wade and, possible, Bruce Pearl? At this point, I don't think Auburn is firing Pearl no matter what, and I'll believe it when I see it with Wade. All in all, I will say three schools hire a new coach before the start of next season.