ESPN CBB analyst Jimmy Dykes gives his take on A&M, SEC Tournament

Key notes from Jimmy Dykes interview

• It seems that it's easier to ask going into it, who can't win the SEC Tournament? There are seven or eight teams that have real confidence that they can win this tournament, and they should have that confidence. The SEC has been a league that’s been brutal all year for the coaches to work their way through and to try to fight through on their way into the NCAA Tournament.
   
• Right now, I think there are seven teams that can go to St. Louis and lose their first game and they are still fine. Alabama is not one of those teams. They can’t afford to lose against Texas A&M in that game on Thursday, it’s basically a play in game for Alabama. A&M is going to get everything Alabama can muster up and the Aggies are going to have to be ready for it.
   
• With what Billy Kennedy has done, you can almost argue he should be coach of the year in the league because how hard it is to start off 0-5 in league play, have injuries and suspensions and basically have to remake that team every two weeks. For him to keep those guys together and be in the NCAA Tournament, that is a special coaching job. That guy is just a super coach and has is super strong in his belief in how to do things. I don’t know if its out yet abd I don’t know if Rick Barnes or Bruce Pearl are going to win it but Billy has done just as good as a job as anybody, when you look at who had the hardest job to do.
   
• The issue with A&M going forward is going to be their point guard play because they don’t have a true point guard. The loss of Duane Wilson was a big loss. Starks and Gilder, those guys have to be good. They can’t just be okay, not only in this tournament but the NCAA Tournament as well. Starks has had some really good moments where he’s won ball games. He’s going to have to make winning plays now in crucial situations and make sure Tyler Davis and Robert Williams are getting their touches. I don’t think it’s going to be a tournament where you look up and at the end of three or four days or however long they’re in it and Starks has more shots than Davis. To me that’s not a good formula for A&M to win ball games.
   
• You want to stay out of the eight-nine line in the NCAA Tournament if you can. Billy knows exactly what bothers his team and what he doesn’t want to go up against. If A&M gets the right draw that first weekend and there are teams in their path that don’t do what bothers A&M, then they have a chance to be a Sweet Sixteen team. The thing about A&M is, they have size, they have shooting and they can feed the post when they need to. It will be about matchups, but on the other hand A&M possesses some problems that other teams don’t want to deal with as well. When you've got Davis and Williams around the rim, there are not many teams out there that have that kind of size. There are teams that have big guys but they’re not any good. These guys are good. If you can’t handle good players with size, then you’re in trouble when playing A&M.
   
• I would be leery to play teams that have their whole NCAA life on the line this week. Mississippi State is one of them, Arkansas is not. Mississippi State has to get to the finals, if not win the thing to get into the NCAA Tournament. Those kind of teams come in really dangerous. Alabama should have the same type of mojo about them. I’m not sure beating A&M would lock it up for them, so they have to be driven to get all the way to the finals. Alabama is very talented, that is a talented team. Collin Sexton should be the first guard taken in the NBA draft, so that’s a dangerous team if they figure out how to put it back together and get off of this five-game slide they’re on right now.