Seemingly every year the media posts articles about how the SEC office is trying something new to improve SEC basketball. And seemingly every year the conference outside of Florida and UK falls flat. Is this finally the year that SEC basketball rises up to being competitive with the BIG 10 and BIG 12? (Clearly the ACC with the additions of Louisville and Syracuse coupled with the emergence of UVA is a notch above everyone else right now.) What has the SEC's dominance in football taught us? That the two biggest factors in continued success are 1. Successful recruitment of elite players 2.High level coaching.
Losing Billy Donovan really hurts as he was clearly one of the top 8 coaches in college basketball. However the SEC has now added Bruce Pearl, Avery Johnson, Ben Howland and Rick Barnes in the last two years. Those are all significant coaching upgrades from what those schools had previously.
Also LSU and Texas A&M both had high level recruiting classes this year to add to team's that already had a few quality players. And Mississippi State with Newman and South Carolina with Dozier both added a top 25 caliber recruit. I'm skeptical that the SEC will turn it around this year but I do think SEC basketball is finally trending upward. What say you???
Losing Billy Donovan really hurts as he was clearly one of the top 8 coaches in college basketball. However the SEC has now added Bruce Pearl, Avery Johnson, Ben Howland and Rick Barnes in the last two years. Those are all significant coaching upgrades from what those schools had previously.
Also LSU and Texas A&M both had high level recruiting classes this year to add to team's that already had a few quality players. And Mississippi State with Newman and South Carolina with Dozier both added a top 25 caliber recruit. I'm skeptical that the SEC will turn it around this year but I do think SEC basketball is finally trending upward. What say you???