The Kentucky Wildcats get a chance to relax and scout the competition today as the first round of the SEC tournament tips off in Nashville.

The Cats will play Alabama tomorrow at 1 p.m est, after the Crimson Tide defeated South Carolina in the first game of the bracket. This will be the second meeting of the season between these two, and as we know, Bama gave the Cats all they could handle in Rupp Arena last month. Should be an interesting game.

For now, here is what we would like to see from the Cats in this tournament:

Good perimeter shooting
Having good outside games from Erick Bledsoe, Darius Miller and Darnell Dodson would be a great sign heading into the NCAAs.

Post dominance
The Cats have crushed the opposition all year, as the nation’s leader in rebound margin and a top five shot-blocking team. Getting offensive boards and fouling out opposing big men, two staples of this season, are the best remedy for poor shooting–which UK often struggles with.

The John Wall show
Wall must continue to grow and understand game situations, when to push the ball and when to slow it down. Keeping his turnovers to a respectable sub-four per game would be big.

Patterson’s production
The BBL thinks at this point that Patterson could essentially dominate and score at will if he chose to. He just lacks that fiery take charge attitude. Not that it will hurt Kentucky, as PP is ultimately all about unselfishness and winning games. Scoring in the 15 point range will keep UK in games.

We’ll be back soon with predictions and post-season speculation.