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SEC Sports
In football-centric SEC, expectation for basketball success has never been greater
Three years ago, the 14-school Southeastern Conference put three teams in the NCAA Tournament. After the first two rounds of this year’s event, four SEC teams reached the Sweet 16.
Three years ago, the 14-school Southeastern Conference put three teams in the NCAA Tournament. After the first two rounds of this year’s event, four SEC teams reached the Sweet 16.
Two, Kentucky and Auburn, advanced to the Midwest Regional semifinals at the Sprint Center and will be in action with the second-seeded Wildcats taking on No. 3 Houston and the fifth-seeded Tigers facing top-seed North Carolina in Friday’s Sweet 16 games. LSU plays Michigan State in the East Regional on Friday and Tennessee met Purdue on Thursday night in the South Regional.
In another example of SEC basketball improvement, four coaches have lost jobs since the end of the season: Vanderbilt’s Bryce Drew, Alabama’s Avery Johnson, Arkansas’ Mike Anderson and Texas A&M’s Billy Kennedy. All had taken their SEC teams to the NCAA Tournament. An occasional NCAA trip is no longer the standard in the SEC.
This list doesn’t include Will Wade and the uncertain future at LSU after his March 8 suspension for refusing to talk to school officials following the revelation of a FBI wiretap.
Still…
“The league is as good as it’s ever been,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “Even teams at the bottom of the league were really good.”
Pearl, who previously coached at Tennessee, sees more “commitment, great coaches and fan support,” than before, and he remembers a conversation with former SEC Commissioner Mike Slive upon coming into to league. For the conference to be great, Pearl said he told Slive, it had to be about more than perennial power Kentucky.
“It just can’t be Kentucky,” Pearl said. “What always made the ACC was that it wasn’t just Duke and North Carolina.”
Others program had their national bursts, Maryland under Gary Williams, Wake Forest during the Tim Duncan era, North Carolina State under Jim Valvano.
The SEC has broadened its scope this season. Tennessee spent time ranked No. 1. LSU won the regular-season title. Auburn won the SEC Tournament.
Wildcats coach John Calipari mentioned teams toward or at the bottom — Missouri and Vanderbilt — with seasons greatly impacted by injuries. The Tigers’ Jontay Porter was a SEC all-freshman choice in 2018, but missed the season because of a torn right ACL and has since torn it again.
Vandy’s Darius Garland, the program’s highest-rated recruit, played in five games before a season-ending knee injury.
“Those two teams slid because of those injuries,” Calipari said.
The SEC went seven deep in this year’s tournament after advancing eight last year. That success coupled with the coaching turnover suggests there’s more pressure to win than ever in the football-centric conference.
Well, maybe not Kentucky pressure.
“At Kentucky, a lot of times teams have nothing to lose when they play you,” Calipari said. “And we have everything to lose. Oh, my goodness. We lose a home game, they got a list of who the next coach is going to be. It’s one of these six names.”
As for new coaches, Alabama has hired Buffalo’s Nate Oats, who is coming off a second straight NCAA appearance. Other schools will aim high. Houston coach Kelvin Sampson was asked Thursday if he had heard from Arkansas.
Whoever enters the SEC, the expectation for success has never been greater.
