Florida’s win over Alabama last night officially opened SEC play in basketball, but the meat of the schedule kicks off with three more games tonight and one on Thursday. But after LSU’s victory in the BCS title game Monday night clinched conference supremacy in football, hoops are a much different story.
Consider:
- Last week, LSU lost to both Tulane and Texas A&M. Kentucky lost to Louisville. Alabama lost by 26 at home to Clemson. Auburn lost by 23 at home to Xavier. [rivals.com]
- Through Monday’s games, Ken Pomeroy’s RPI calculations had the SEC ranked as the sixth best conference, behind the ACC, Big East, Pac 10, Big 12 and Big 10. [kenpom.com]
- Here are Pomeroy’s RPIs by team, through Monday: 4. Tennessee, 6. Vanderbilt, 20. Ole Miss, 56. Arkansas, 76. Alabama, 115. Florida, 134. Mississippi State, 147. South Carolina, 170. Auburn, 177. LSU, 190. Georgia, 213. Kentucky. [kenpom.com]
- Sagarin also ranks the SEC as the sixth-best league, and has UK at No. 161 in his computer ratings. [Sagarin College Basketball Ratings]
- League coaches talk about the tough start. [Huntsville Times]
- As league play starts, SEC has its skeptics. [NE Mississippi Daily Journal]
- Bruce Pearl disagrees that the SEC is down. [Dawg Post]
- SEC slips and slides. [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette]
John, 7 victories in the “bad” SEC is indeed optimistic. Ky, is depleted, but in a down year you have to figure they should at least rise to NIT calibre. They have a couple of HS All Americans and about 7 players that were ranked in the top 50 or 100 coming out of high school. Coach isn’t paid 2 million to have a group operate at it’s lowest level. Wrong coaching choice. Clearly out x and o’d by Pitino on Saturday. Wrong blend for Ky. bluegrass. Admin. needs to admit this mistake quickly and go after the guy coaching up north that has Ky. BB in his blood…Travis Ford. (Oh how I would like to be proven wrong, but I don’t think so).