The opening round games are out of the way and three of the four followed the seedings; only Ole Miss was able to overcome a higher seeded opponent to make their way into round two of the tournament.

Regular season champion Auburn takes on Ole Miss in Game One today. Auburn has the SEC Player of the Year DeWanna Bonner, who leads the league in scoring and her team in rebounding and blocked shots. She is assisted by Whitney Boddie, who leads the SEC in assists with 8.1 per game, and Alli Smalley, who is a 3-point threat and leads the league in 3-point shooting percentage. Ole Miss should be feeling some fatigue after the game they played against Arkansas. It was fast-paced and furious and the Lady Rebels did not pull away and secure the game until only a few minutes were left. If Auburn gets off to a fast start, this game could end fairly quickly.

Game Two pits Vanderbilt against Georgia. Georgia had fits with Kentucky, yesterday,  eventually asserting themselves in the second half and scoring more than twice as many points as they had in the first half. Good Georgia has the potential to beat any team in this tournament; Evil Georgia could as easily lose to any team in the field. Vanderbilt may be hurt by Hannah Tuomi’s absence, suffering from a stress fracture. Tuomi has been Vandy’s leading rebounded and second leading scorer, this season, and a lot of that burden will fall to Christina Wirth today.

Game Three is the one with the most potential for an upset. Florida takes on the #5 seeded Tennessee Lady Vols, who struggled mightily against Alabama. Give credit where credit is due; Alabama played tough and smart and never backed down against the Lady Vols, despite their #12 seeding. Tennessee managed the win without much of a contribution from Angie Bjorklund, upon whom they generally rely for a good bit of offense. That they were able to win with her spending most of the game on the bench can only be a positive sign. Florida has the advantage of having had an extra day of rest before their first game, but this edition of the Lady Vols seems to need a bit of warming up before being able to hit their highest gear. Maybe playing on Opening Day will be an advantage for them?

Game Four is Mississippi State vs. a very young (and very good) LSU team. Van Chancellor’s team doesn’t really look like a bunch of freshmen, anymore. They fought their way to the #3 seeding and get to play Sharon Fanning’s Instant Bulldogs, acquiring a small group of junior colleges players who have transformed the team in the space of one season and who are on the NCAA bubble and need every win they can get. They’re not going to give up, but they played a very fast and physical game against the South Carolina Gamecocks yesterday. If they have another game like that in them, they will need it (and probably more) against the Tigers today.