THE SEC REPORT

The SEC Report: A&M gets destroyed as LSU asserts dominance over the SEC and Auburn wins a heavyweight battle of an Iron Bowl

Georgia QB Jake Fromm
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Born with a comic book in one hand and a remote control in the other, Cory DLG is the talent of Conroe's very own Nerd Thug Radio and Sports. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio show at www.nerdthugradio.com!

LAST WEEKEND

LSU obliterated A&M as Joe Burrow and the Tigers came out to make a statement about their place nationally this season. An inappropriate gesture helped cost Ole Miss the Egg Bowl and Alabama just lost the most important Iron Bowl in a long, long time. Alabama hasn't come into an Iron Bowl lately with their season in more trouble than they did this year, with a back up quarterback, a better team in their own division and already out of the SEC title game a wounded Crimson Tide lost a huge Iron Bowl to Auburn.

THE THREE STARS OF LAST WEEKEND

Jake Fromm, Quarterback of Georgia: This season has been the Swift show but this week we actually had a Fromm sighting and it was prolific. Four touchdowns on just fourteen completions, Fromm picked a great week to come alive as their next game is against LSU for the SEC title and having to worry about both the run and the pass means play calling just got a little easier for The Bulldogs.

Auburn as a team: The young quarterback Bo Nix played well enough in a huge back and forth game. The defense contributed with two pick sixes that kept the pressure on Alabama and back up quarterback Mac Jones. Auburn came in and did exactly what it needed to do to win a close and hard fought game.

Kyle Trask, Quarterback of Florida: Threw for 300 yards and three touchdowns on 30 completions. Florida finished their season in a great place in comparison to how they started it and the leadership and performance of Trask has a lot to do with it and this week is no exception to that.

THIS WEEKEND

This weekend is the big one, everything has been building for this. This week Georgia plays LSU in what has worked out to be a road game for the higher ranked Tigers. Georgia is playing in their third SEC championship game in a row and they have to think the world is playing a cruel joke on them as they've traded one buzz saw for another. While they aren't playing the most successful college program in recent history they are still playing a program on fire with a Heisman hopeful at quarterback. 3pm this Saturday on CBS, we'll see who wins the SEC The Bulldogs or The Tigers.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Jake Fromm, Quarterback of Georgia: For the Bulldogs to have a chance to win Fromm needs to have a great game, complete over half of his passes, be efficient and play mistake free football. There's always a chance a team can win but usually it means their quarterback plays good football.

Joe Burrow, Quarterback of LSU: This guy has been crushing the game all season and needs just one more game to make his case for a Heisman, to win an SEC championship and to secure a shot at the National Championship. After all of the football these next few weeks are so important for Burrow and company to get as much as they can from all of this success this season.

D'Andre Swift, Runningback of Georgia: He didn't finish the Tech game due to a shoulder injury and The Bulldogs will need all hands on deck. One of the best rushers in the SEC this season is a heck of a guy to be missing or to have but not at full strength. Hopefully Georgia can keep everything going just one more game but they'll need Swift to make that happen.

Feel free to check out my brand-new comic book Another Day at the Office or buy a shirt from Side Hustle Ts where some proceeds help people struggling with cancer or listen to Nerd Thug Radio. Thoughts, complaints, events and comments can be sent to corydlg@gmail.com.

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The Coogs are back in action Friday night. Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images.

Sixteen may be sweet, but it isn’t the only relevant number as the NCAA Tournament heads into the regional semifinals.

Here are some other numbers worth knowing for each team. These statistics will help you learn more about each of the remaining teams and could explain how some of them got this far.

EAST REGION

UCONN: In UConn’s second-round victory over Northwestern, Donovan Clingan became just the third player in tournament history to get 14 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocks in a game. The others to do it were Hakeem Olajuwon for Houston in 1983 and David Robinson for Navy in 1986. The blocks also were the most ever by a UConn player in a tournament game.

SAN DIEGO STATE: The Aztecs’ Sweet 16 matchup with defending national champion UConn will mark the fourth time that two teams have faced each other in the tournament a year after meeting in the final. The losing team from the championship won the rematch in one of the three previous instances, when Duke beat UNLV in a 1991 semifinal. Cincinnati won two straight championship games over Ohio State in 1961-62. Florida beat UCLA in the 2006 championship game and in a 2007 semifinal.

ILLINOIS: Illinois has won six in a row, and Terrence Shannon Jr. has scored at least 25 points in each of those games. The 6-foot-6 guard has averaged 30.5 points and has shot 52.8% (56 of 106) from the floor during that stretch. He also shown an uncanny knack for drawing fouls during the streak. Over his last five games, Shannon has gone 51 of 58 on free-throw attempts.

IOWA STATE: Iowa State is allowing just 61.2 points per game to rank fourth among all Division I teams in scoring defense. Since falling 73-65 to Houston on Feb. 19, the Cyclones haven’t allowed any of their last 10 opponents to exceed 65 points. The Cyclones next face Illinois, which ranks ninth in points per game (84.6) and has averaged 91.3 points over its last four contests.

WEST REGION

ALABAMA: Mark Sears and Aaron Estrada were the first set of Division I teammates since 1996-97 to both have at least 410 points, 125 assists, 120 rebounds, 50 3-point baskets and 40 steals during the regular season. Sears is averaging 21.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.7 steals. Estrada has 13.3 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.7 steals per game.

NORTH CAROLINA: Armando Bacot had seven straight tournament double-doubles and six consecutive tourney games with at least 15 rebounds before he ended up with 18 points and seven boards in a second-round victory over Michigan State. His seven straight NCAA double-doubles matched Tim Duncan and Olajuwon for the NCAA record.

ARIZONA: Arizona’s first-round triumph over Long Beach State marked the 19th time this season the Wildcats had five different players score in double figures. No other Division I team had that many games this season in which five different players had at least 10 points.

CLEMSON: Each of Clemson’s first two tournament opponents has shot below 40% against the Tigers. Clemson won its first-round game by limiting New Mexico to 29.7% shooting, the lowest percentage the Tigers had ever allowed in an NCAA tourney game. Clemson now faces Arizona, which shot 52.8% in its second-round victory over Dayton.

MIDWEST REGION

CREIGHTON: Baylor Scheierman is the first Division I men’s player in history to have at least 2,000 career points, 1,000 rebounds, 500 assists and 300 3-point baskets. Scheierman, who is in his second season at Creighton after playing three seasons at South Dakota State, has 2,208 points, 1,250 rebounds, 578 assists and 352 3-pointers.

TENNESSEE: Tennessee is making its 10th Sweet 16 appearance – including its seventh in the last 18 years – but the Volunteers have never reached the Final Four and earned their lone regional final berth in 2010.

GONZAGA: Gonzaga is in the Sweet 16 for the ninth straight time, the longest active streak of any Division I team. Going back to 1975 – the first year that all teams had to win at least one game to reach the Sweet 16 – the record for consecutive Sweet 16 appearances is owned by North Carolina with 13 straight from 1981-93.

PURDUE: Zach Edey is the first player since Kareen Abdul-Jabbar (then known as Lew Alcindor) in 1968 to have at least 50 points and 35 rebounds while shooting 65% from the field in his first two games of an NCAA Tournament. Edey has shot 67.9% (19 of 28) and has totaled 53 points and 35 rebounds in victories over Grambling State and Utah State.

SOUTH REGION

DUKE: Jared McCain has gone 10 of 17 from 3-point range through the first two rounds. In the Blue Devils’ second-round blowout of James Madison, McCain became the first freshman to score at least 30 points without committing a turnover in an NCAA Tournament game since the event expanded to 64 teams in 1985.

HOUSTON: The Cougars showcased their depth by surviving a second-round matchup with Texas A&M in overtime even after four of their five starters fouled out. They became the first team to win an NCAA game while having at least four players foul out since 1987, when UTEP overcame foul trouble to beat Arizona.

MARQUETTE: Marquette owns a 75-29 record under coach Shaka Smart despite posting a negative rebound margin in each of his three seasons. The Golden Eagles have been outrebounded in each of their last eight games but have gone 5-3. They’re getting outrebounded by 3 boards per game this season. The only other Sweet 16 team with a negative rebound margin is North Carolina State (minus-0.8), which faces Marquette on Friday.

NORTH CAROLINA STATE: Mohamed Diarra has 6.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game this season, but he’s averaged 11.7 points and 13.5 rebounds over his last six. Michael O’Connell scored in double digits three times and totaled 14 3-point baskets in 31 regular-season games. He’s reached double figures in six of seven postseason games and has gone 12 of 22 from 3-point range during that stretch.

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