An SEC/Big East Invitation Worth an RSVP

The third annual SEC/Big East Invitational is here. The two-day, two-location event tips off when the University of Georgia plays St. John's at Madison Square Garden Wednesday evening before the University of Kentucky and Connecticut square off in the late game. The second night of games will be played in Tampa, Florida where DePaul and Mississippi State tangle early, then give way for the finale of Syracuse versus Florida.

As good as these four match-ups are -- especially the late games in both locations -- I can't help but be envious of the grand daddy of conference face-offs, the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Not only does the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, which has been played for 11 years, have a lot of tenure on the three-year-old SEC/Big East Invitational, but those guys get to play 11 games to decide which conference reigns supreme, while the SEC and Big East have to settle their argument in four games. That's eight teams representing two conferences with a total 28 schools. The sample size seems too small.

Fans all up and down the eastern seaboard are missing out on some great basketball that could have been played between these two conferences. Three teams in the top 10 have been pushed aside -- No. 9 Tennessee, No. 3 Villanova and No. 6 West Virginia. And it would have been easy to find match-ups for these big boys in No. 25 Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and 15th-ranked Georgetown.

Since we're not going to see the full display or arsenal from the SEC and Big East, let's focus on the four games at hand.

Georgia vs. St. John's: Both Georgia and St. John's have lost in the past week to ACC teams, but for St. John's it was their first loss, to eighth-ranked Duke. Georgia fell for the third time of the season, and it was to unranked Virginia Tech. The Bulldogs are lead in scoring by two sophomores -- Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie -- who both show signs of brilliance mixed in with troubles staying consistent.

No. 4 Kentucky vs. No. 14 Connecticut: The night-cap of the first evening puts on display two of the most successful coaches in college basketball history in John Calipari and Jim Calhoun. We'll get to see if Connecticut can hold off a young talented Kentucky team that just outlasted North Carolina.

DePaul vs. Mississippi State: Mississippi State was picked by many to win the SEC West, but so far they've been embarrassed by Rider and Richmond. The Bulldogs must show more then SEC pride Thursday night, they will need to prove to everyone that those early losses to mid-majors were just hiccups and that they won't continue to lose to teams they should beat.

No. 7 Syracuse vs. No. 10 Florida: Florida jumped into the top 10 this week after beating two small in-state schools. But the Gators have already knocked off one Big East program this season and are hungry for a second. Syracuse brings an 8-0 record to Florida and a resume that has a big win over North Carolina earlier in the season. This match-up of unbeaten teams is going to go a long way towards showing which of these schools truly deserves their current ranking.