Tennessee's men face tough road to win SEC East

Well, it's mid-February, and for college basketball fans, it means teams are entering the season's home stretch and are jockeying for berths in the NCAA tournament. As we've seen all season, the Tennessee Volunteer's men's basketball team has been inconsistent. However, the team is tied for first in the SEC Eastern Division as the stretch drive begins.

With a 7-3 conference record, Tennessee is tied with South Carolina and Kentucky for the top spot, and Florida lurks only one game behind them. For the Volunteers, the schedule is not kind the rest of the way. Four of their remaining six regular season games are on the road, beginning Wednesday at Ole Miss. More importantly, the Vols still have to play road games at Florida, South Carolina, and Kentucky.

When comparing the schedules of the teams involved, Florida may be the one with the easiest path to the divisional title. In addition to playing Tennessee at home, they also get South Carolina and Kentucky at home. So, if a person places a lot of stock on home games, the Gators may be the team to beat.

However, Tennessee has played well on the road in SEC play. The Vols are 3-1 on the road with the only loss being a heartbreaking one-point decision at Auburn. Still, there is a big difference between winning at Arkansas and at Kentucky.

In the remaining six games, I look for the Vols to go 3-3. They should win the two remaining home games against Alabama and Mississippi State. Plus, they should be good enough to win at least one of the remaining road games.

If that happens, the Vols will finish with a 10-6 conference record. It probably won't be good enough to win the division, but it should lock up an NCAA tournament berth. The Vols played a challenging non-conference schedule, and if everything shakes out like I have predicted, their overall record will be 19-11. If the Vols were to add one or two wins in the SEC tournament, it would make their case for the NCAA tourney that much stronger.

It's almost tournament time. Take time to enjoy the following weeks.

Vandy's dream of going to a bowl on the verge of happening

Back on June 12, I took the plunge and predicted that Vanderbilt's football team would return to a bowl game this season for the first time since 1982. The upset of South Carolina last Saturday was just the jolt they needed to keep that dream alive.

After going 3-1 to start the season, the Commodores lost back-to-back games to Auburn and Georgia. True, Auburn and Georgia aren't slouches, but the team definitely looked like it was beginning to fade.

However, the win at South Carolina puts them back on track to reach this goal.

Five games remain, and they need two more wins to become bowl eligible. A team has to have six wins to qualify for a bowl. Where will those wins come from? The schedule is challenging the rest of the way.

Win number five should come this week against Miami of Ohio. After that, Vandy plays at Florida, Kentucky at home, at Tennessee, and Wake Forest at home. Assuming a win this week, they will have to win one of those final four games.

Of course, Kentucky is much better than expected this year and playing at Florida is always a grind. Vandy won at Tennessee in 2005 so that is a possibility, while Wake Forest is having a solid season following last year's ACC championship and trip to the Orange Bowl.

The bottom line is if Vandy wants to go to a bowl, then they will have to earn it.

There are no cupcakes down the stretch.