SEC Basketball - Can We Get Some Respect?
I just got back today (early Sunday morning for you folks on the East Coast) from my last mission in Mosul. I am almost out of here and I cannot wait to get back. I will have something more for tomorrow, but hopefully the following article will satisfy your Sunday college sports fix. This article is by YBW guest contributor and resident Auburn/SEC fan, Dr. Z. You may remember him from that article on Hating Notre Dame. Enjoy. -yb
PS - Thanks to Dan, Nathan, and Goldtimer at What's the Good Word?, Golden Tornado, and Wreck Ramblin for the promos for this site on their blogs. There are not too many of us GT sports bloggers and I am glad they saw fit to welcome one more into their ranks. If you haven't checked out their sites, I highly recommend you do. Thanks again guys.
SEC Basketball - Can We Get Some Respect?
College football season is almost over and basketball is now upon us. It’s early, but I have already found myself on the defensive pertaining to an issue that confuses me on a yearly basis. Why doesn’t the SEC get any basketball respect?
The ACC is the king of college basketball. Statistically, the Big Ten is a close second (although recently fading). Take out the John Wooden UCLA years which were an anomaly (no single school should represent and entire conference) and the PAC-10 isn’t even a factor. So which conference is number three? Talk to anyone in a bar or on the streets, and the knee jerk reaction is to say the Big East. Somehow they have accumulated a metric ass-load of street credit without producing corresponding results.
This gross error in the loose conference ranking system can only be corrected with cold hard facts. Just as the ACC has started to separate themselves from the competition over the last several years, the SEC has closed the gap. One thing that isn’t debatable is the fact that the SEC has solidified its place as one of the top three basketball conferences in the NCAA, consistent wit their place in all-time history. The separation between third and fourth place in this topic of water-cooler conversation is so vast that it would take years of Big East dominance and SEC ineptitude to change the rankings. In fact, the odds are greater that the SEC would improve its position before it ever declines. Note to the Big Ten….watch your back.
| Conference NCAA Tournament Stats | ACC | Big Ten | SEC | Big East |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Champions (Last 20 Years) | 7 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Champions (All-Time) | 10 | 10 | 8 | 5 |
| Final Four Appearances (Last 20 Years) | 19 | 15 | 13 | 7 |
| Final Four Appearances (All-Time) | 41 | 40 | 26 | 21 |
-Dr. Z
(Guest YBW Contributor and Token Non-GT Fan brought in to keep YBW from turning into a GT love-fest blog)
posted by Libba at 5:56 AM
5 Comments:
The dominance of the ACC was never disputed. My issue is with the over-rated Big East. Teams like Georgetown, Seton Hall, and Providence get a lot of respect but haven't done anything since the days of Ewing, Murdock, and Hurley(#2) respectively. Those has-been teams, along with the never-were teams such as West Virgina, Rutgers, and Notre Dame could be taken by the bottom half of the SEC (USC, Auburn, Ole Miss, LSU, and Bama)
2 points:
1) Dr. Z says "no single school should represent and entire conference." Ok, Kentucky basically represents the SEC (as pointed out by Whiskey Jacket), so what was your point again?
2) Granted, the Big East might not have the PAST success to back up any serious claims, but no one can deny that the future will produce a different result. The new Big East is a powerhouse, one that I fear will, in time, dethrone the ACC. Look at the teams currently in the "new look" Big East:
UConn, Louisville, Cincinnati, Georgetown, Marquette, DePaul, Notre Dame, Pitt, Providence, Rutgers, Seton Hall, USF, St. John's, Syracuse, Villanova, West Virginia.
This lineup has at least 5 or 6 schools that could be considered perennial basketball powers, and is a solid basketball conference from top to bottom. Granted, USF, Rutgers and WV may not do much in the basketball world, but that means there are still 13 other scary teams out there.
The Big East is a tough conference, one that should currently be considered the 2nd best in the country, and could compete to be the best.
Thank you Stumpy's Bear. I was looking for the same thing.
I also want to add one correction to a mistake made in my original article which has obviously opened a door to criticism. I erred in saying that "no single school should represent an entire conference" when what I should have said is "no single school's success over a ten year period in the late 60s and early 70s should represent an entire conference's legitimacy". See, the difference between Kentucky and UCLA is that Kentucky has maintained their upper tier status for decades whereas UCLA only did it for one (admittedly a remarkable one). Kentucky is STILL good which is why the SEC can use their status as a representative of their conference. If we were to just base standards on ancient history and 60's-70's championships then the PAC-10 could literally stop playing basketball for the next 10 years and still be considered one of the top conferences (based on all the titles that UCLA racked up). Bottom line - I should have said "if the PAC-10 is going to use a teams's past history of success as the main litmus test for success, then that team better still be good. UCLA isn't."
And the Big East is still average at best with the addition of Louisville, albeit I'm sure USF and Rutgers will someday bring them to the next level.
Now I am going away to do my breakfast, afterward having
my breakfast coming again to read additional news.
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