SEC Tournament 2012: Kentucky Must Not Let Inexperience Show in Tourney

The Kentucky Wildcats are without a doubt the best, most talented team in the country. Their problem is that of their top six players, only one is not a freshman or sophomore, so there is some vulnerability. To eliminate that potential weakness, they need to pulverize their SEC rivals at the conference tournament this week.  

Here's the problem if some of Kentucky's youth and inexperience shows in the SEC Tournament—even if it does so in a competitive win. The rest of the country is watching these games. There are better teams than the ones Kentucky will be dealing with in the SEC, and those are the ones that they will see when the NCAA Tournament begins.  

Those teams will all see that vulnerability and learn from it, especially with a young team. Young teams have a tendency to get flustered on the big stage against talented opposition. If those challengers see something to attack, it's only going to heighten the chance of Kentucky's players getting overwhelmed by the moment. 

So, if Kentucky wins a close game against a conference rival, a slightly more talented non-SEC team could see that and improve on it when they play the Wildcats, winning the game.

None of this is really true if UK steamrolls their competition. The only thing the North Carolina's of the world will see in those games is an extremely impressive team, which would be an accurate assessment.

But the last thing you want to do is show anything that gives the opposition an edge. What happens in the conference tournament is going to be a nice preview of the NCAA's Big Dance. 

If Kentucky handles the better teams in the SEC, they will do the same in the NCAA. A confident Wildcats team will walk over the rest of the country. The top six of Anthony Davis, Doron Lamb, Terence Jones, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Darius Miller and Marquis Teague are easily more talented than any group in the country. 

The only problem is if they're given a reason to have their confidence shaken, or if an opponent sees something that can be exploited. If Kentucky wins in New Orleans, never being challenged, expect the same thing to happen during the six games of the NCAA.

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