Of 18 conference games, only 5 are on the SEC Network. * = saturday game.

Date Game Television Time (ET)
Dec. 30* Texas A&M at Alabama ESPN2 TBD
Jan. 2 Florida at Texas A&M ESPN 9:00 p.m.
Jan. 6* LSU at Texas A&M SEC Network 2:15 p.m.
Jan. 9 Texas A&M at Kentucky ESPN 7:00 p.m.
Jan. 13 Texas A&M at Tennessee SEC Network 6:00 p.m.
Jan. 16 Ole Miss at Texas A&M SEC Network 9:00 p.m.
Jan. 20 * Missouri at Texas A&M ESPN/2 4:00 p.m.
Jan. 23 Texas A&M at LSU ESPNU 9:00 p.m.
Jan. 27 ^Texas A&M at Kansas ESPN 4:30/7 p.m.
Jan. 30 Arkansas at Texas A&M ESPNU 9:00 p.m.
Feb. 3* South Carolina at Texas A&M ESPN/2 2:00 p.m.
Feb. 7 Texas A&M at Auburn ESPN2 9:00 p.m.
Feb. 10* Kentucky at Texas A&M ESPN/2 4/6/8 p.m.
Feb. 13 Texas A&M at Missouri ESPN 7:00 p.m.
Feb. 17 Texas A&M at Arkansas ESPN/2 4:00 p.m.
Feb. 20 Mississippi State at Texas A&M SEC Network 7:00 p.m.
Feb. 24 Texas A&M at Vanderbilt ESPN/2 4:00 p.m.
Feb. 28 Texas A&M at Georgia SEC Network 8:30 p.m.
March 3* Alabama at Texas A&M ESPN/2 2:00 p.m.

Boo-Butt gonna get some exposure.

bobinator said:

---

LawHall88 said:

---

Boo-Butt gonna get some exposure.

---

Yep. That's a ****load of national games.

I went back and counted and it's actually only one less game on SEC Network, but it's two less games on SEC Network/ESPN U. We had 9 SEC Network/ESPNU games last year to 7 this year.

Although we did appear on CBS twice last year.

I like that we don't have any saturday morning games. Those suck.

---

Yep - as I argued before THE DECISION, RW would get a LOT more airtime as an Aggie than sitting on the bench in the NBA and visiting the G-League this year. The NCAA and SEC/ESPN are deliberately marketing him. That absolutely loaded schedule is NOT AN ACCIDENT.

We also have an opportunity in the NCAAs to make a deep run.

The re-engineered Tyler Davis could allow us to be a Run and Gun team. Gilder loves that paradigm. Hogg is better at the semi-break than the half-court. JJ's passing will be more effective in the open floor.

BK just has to roll out the ball...the less coaching the better.

Kinda like where everyone thought we could win the B12.

AG 2000' said:

---

Kinda like where everyone thought we could win the B12.

---

No

The talent and veterans are on this year's team.. Kennedy is either going to make or break this year in my opinion.. I'm still not sure he can coach but hope now that he has the tools he proves me wrong.

TMartin said:

---

The talent and veterans are on this year's team.. Kennedy is either going to make or break this year in my opinion.. I'm still not sure he can coach but hope now that he has the tools he proves me wrong.

---

It is like the 2015-2016, 28 win, SEC Co-Champ Sweet Sixteen season proved zero to some folks that with a talented and deep roster Kennedy's coaching was adequate enough to have some success.

What Kennedy has shown that he generally isn't going to coach his way out of major roster flaws or injuries.

However, on the other hand the data we have indicates that if he has roster as good as this 2017-2018 bunch looks on paper then he'll be fine. His coaching and game prep is no where close to being so bad that he is going to sink a really good roster. They will win a reasonable number of games and be a solid NCAAT team barring a bunch of injuries or knucklehead drama.

Lots of talent in another very weak SEC

We will beat up on the obvious patsies at home and lose most of the tougher games on the road and neutral courts.

Hopefully we can get into the Dance and get a glider-smooth path like we did in our Sweet16 season.

Talent and coaching beats pure talent.

houstontexan said:

---

Lots of talent in another very weak SEC

We will beat up on the obvious patsies at home and lose most of the tougher games on the road and neutral courts.

Hopefully we can get into the Dance and get a glider-smooth path like we did in our Sweet16 season.

Talent and coaching beats pure talent.

---

Very weak SEC? Why do you think the SEC is going to be really weak? Some analysts types think the SEC could get 5 teams in the NCAA tournament this year. Kentucky, A&am, Florida, Alabama all are ranked in various pre-season Top-25 polls.

Watch and see.

houstontexan said:

---

Watch and see.

---

Going to watch, but just really skeptical about the SEC being 'very weak' this season. I think there is a pretty good chance all 4 of the teams below in the SEC will be legit and NCAAT teams. And then there are some wild cards teams who I could see maybe one or two ends up being in the mix for a bid like Vanderbilt, Missouri (with the Porter brothers, Michael Porter Jr. who honestly I think could be almost as lethal a scorer his one year in college as Kevin Durant was in Austin a decade ago), Auburn, Miss State etc.

The only team that I'm almost certain will stink is LSU. I just don't see how they will be any good and feel pretty comfortable predicting them as an almost sure fire bottom feeder. I'm also *pretty* sure South Carolina is going to be in major rebuild mode after their Final Four run last season and struggle a bunch, probably missing any post-season.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2713882-preseason-ncaa-basketball-rankings-2017-18-updated-top-25

24. Alabama Crimson Tide (Previous: Not Ranked)With Collin Sexton headlining an incoming class of three top-60 recruits joining all three of last year's leading scorers, Alabama has more talent on its roster than at any point in at least a decade. The Crimson Tide will be critical in the SEC's quest to send a conference record seven teams to the 2018 NCAA tournament.

21. Florida Gators (Previous: No. 21)The Gators somewhat unexpectedly lost Devin Robinson to the NBA, but adding Rice graduate transfer Egor Koulechov (18.2 PPG, 8.9 RPG) should help soften that blow. If John Egbunu makes a full return to health from a torn ACL, a repeat trip to the Elite Eight is a real possibility.

16. Texas A&M Aggies (Previous: No. 20)Like Seton Hall, Texas A&M returns all four of its double-digit scorers from last season. The only thing that kept the Aggies from succeeding was a lack of a point guard. But between redshirt freshman JJ Caldwell and the addition of Marquette graduate-transfer Duane Wilson, point guard doesn't seem like much of an issue anymore. Look for Robert Williams to have a monster sophomore year.

5. Kentucky Wildcats
We expect Kentucky to lose a ton of talented players every spring, but the roster turnover was particularly drastic this year. Of the nine Wildcats who scored more than 40 points last season, Wenyen Gabriel is the only one returningand he ranked seventh on the team in scoring.

Yet how could we rank Kentucky any lower than this when it signed six of the top 25 players, seven of the top 40 players and eight of the top 90 players in this year's class?

Granted, not all recruiting classes are created equally, and Draft Express currently only has two Kentucky players (Hamidou Diallo and Nick Richards) projected to get drafted in 2018neither of which are projected lottery picks. Still, with at least 27 wins in seven of eight seasons under John Calipari, we're all but required to simply trust that he'll make it work with freshmen every year.

After Isaiah Briscoe and Isaac Humphries both opted for the NBA draft, though, we're no longer willing to put the Wildcats at No. 1.

The best Kentucky teams have had a good blend of both incoming and returning talenteven if those returning players are just a couple of sophomores. But this year, it's Gabriel or bust as far as leftovers from last year go. Considering he shot 1-of-18 from the field and averaged 9.6 minutes over the final nine games, that seems like it could be a big problem.

It's not nearly a big enough issue to definitively state that Kentucky will not reach the Final Four this year, but it is big enough to result in the belief that there are (at least) four teams more likely to get there.