Florida is the Class of the SEC this Century

[HeismaNole]

In 86 NCAA tournaments Kentucky has 8 national championships
In 86 NCAA tournaments Florida has 3 national championships


Since 1932 Kentucky is the class of the SEC

Yeah, how many people here have been alive to witness this. If you're 40 years old, Florida fans have witnessed just as many national champions as Kentucky fans have.

But the key issue with us and this isn't any knock on Pope as it's not his fault but we have had our two longest Final Four droughts in school history all in the last 26 years. UNC, Duke and Kansas haven't had breaks in Final Fours like we have the last few decades.

 

[Worf88]

That would suck but I will say the president holding all this together has to retire soon and when he goes so will his good ole boy network. Who’s the woman? Did show go to UK? From Kentucky at least?

Rachel Baker is her name I believe.

I have never heard that rumor and the 2nd in command in the athletic department is Marc Hill. If there was going to be an internal candidate, it would be Hill and not Rachel Baker, who I think you're talking about.

The next AD needs to be a guy like Ryan Alpert from UT.

And to the guy you responded with, no way Strickland leaves Florida for Kentucky. That would be a step backwards in terms of AD jobs.

Yea Baker is who I was referring to. Strickland would be nice but Danny White at UT is who I’d prefer. He’s turned UT into a total powerhouse in numerous sports but mainly the 3 that matter. Being born in KY couldn’t hurt our chances.

Link? Proof?

It was originally stated in the Trilly Donovan discord by a guy who has a history of being very accurate with UK info.

 

[Skyguyb27]

It absolutely does not exist anymore. I don't know how you could even argue that college basketball is remotely like it was before. Complete roster turnover every year not just one and dones; building entire rosters of transfers every year. You do not have guys staying 3-4 years at the same school.

Hell, until last night, there were only four active coaches with national championships. It's a completely different time period and what we have been known as to all college recruits has been the NBA U brand under Cal. Different era and we have no idea how all of this goes. We're in unknown territory in this era where it's a crapshoot every year as we just saw a guy who had never even won a NCAA Tournament game before this year just win a national championship.

Nah that’s not what you said in your post I replied to. And if I’m not mistaken wasn’t Houston filled with 2-4 years playing for Houston? By all accounts they beat the best team in Duke and only lost to UF due to a few minutes of play at the end of the game. Hell I don’t think Florida lead for more than a minute all game. Yeah the NIL changed things but it appears the good teams will
have returning players year after year, which is what it appears Pope is going for.

 

[bthaunert]

Rachel Baker is her name I believe.

Yea Baker is who I was referring to. Strickland would be nice but Danny White at UT is who I’d prefer. He’s turned UT into a total powerhouse in numerous sports but mainly the 3 that matter. Being born in KY couldn’t hurt our chances.

It was originally stated in the Trilly Donovan discord by a guy who has a history of being very accurate with UK info.

Alpert is Danny White's clone, that's why I put him down. Going from UT to UK would be a step down for an AD.

 

[59coop]

Houston turned over on its last four possessions; they deserved to lose, refs or no refs

Not blaming the refs but You gotta wonder how much difference that non called goal tending made though, that was a 5 point swing.

 

[trueblujr2]

This makes it even worse. Florida winning titles without NIL; imagine if they start using NIL. Florida might win football too. I don't think even the most devout Gator fan saw this coming at the beginning of the year.

Did you read the article? it said they make sure they're players are compensated well enough. That they're doing basically what I've stated several times before on here that Pope seems to be doing. and that's spreading out your resources to build a complete and deep roster, not one that's top heavy with 2-3 superstars sucking up all the NIL while the rest get peanuts. Build a roster where everybody eats. JQ apparently took less money to come here. Pope sold him on that.

 

[NKYWildcat]

Could any of you imagine sitting at a party with lakercat and Philstat? Forget leaving the party, they'd want to leave and harm yourself.

Goodness gracious, y'all need to lighten up.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

Not surprised to see Ayesha Curry have such an awful take.

For starters, we didn't "allow" anything when it comes to Florida. It's not like we stand directly in their way. They can build a successful program regardless of what we do.

Second, their team isn't even exceptionally talented. So this idea that they just used NIL money to buy guys like Walter Calyton Jr, is just silly.

 

[lakercat]

Not surprised to see Ayesha Curry have such an awful take.

For starters, we didn't "allow" anything when it comes to Florida. It's not like we stand directly in their way. They can build a successful program regardless of what we do.

Second, their team isn't even exceptionally talented. So this idea that they just used NIL money to buy guys like Walter Calyton Jr, is just silly.

No, it's more about what UK has failed to do that has allowed Florida to leapfrog them as a program. I never said anything about Florida using NIL, but they have that in spades unlike Kentucky. WCJ reminds you of Steph, doesn't he?

 

[UKWildcats1987]

The good thing is the century is only one quarter over. The bad news is no one on here will see who the real sec basketball team at the end of the century is lol.

 

[Kerry Kat]

1999 is very convenient for your narrative.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

was originally stated in the Trilly Donovan discord by a guy who has a history of being very accurate with UK info

Trilly is wrong often as hes right, but this is some very specific info. I tend to believe the more specific the info, the more likely it is to be true at least at that moment.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

No, it's more about what UK has failed to do that has allowed Florida to leapfrog them as a program. I never said anything about Florida using NIL, but they have that in spades unlike Kentucky. WCJ reminds you of Steph, doesn't he?

They didn't leap frog us you dingus lol.

And how do we not have NIL? Granted I was someone who was skeptical of what we can offer, but here we are with a top5 recruiting class and THE #1 transfer class (which combined sure seems like the #1 combined of all of D1).. so clearly we have some money going around.

 

[CaptainBoogerBuns]

My Son graduated from UF this past year, I went down to see him at the dorms and this one area was absolutely full of beautiful women and fancy sports cars, it was its own area, and I said "wow, what's going on over there" he was like, oh, that's the BB Team, LOL...sorry UK is not competing in that type of environment...

If you think UK players over the decades weren't provided nice cars, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

 

[GainesvilleGreen]

And UF hadn't done much of anything in 18 years. When most of their players were still toddlers.

One title in 26 years. Who was coach for the majority of that? Could it be......Cal? So, you're blaming the lack of success on Cal? Cool. I agree.

"Cling to stuff from the 40's...." That's our history. Stuff from the 90's is MY history too. I'm not as young as I would like, but I'm not ancient either.

Goodness gracious.

2014 was a pretty good year for the Gators despite falling short in the Final 4 (undefeated in the SEC)

2 Elite 8’s the previous 2 seasons

 

[TheAnonymous13]

This makes it even worse. Florida winning titles without NIL; imagine if they start using NIL. Florida might win football too. I don't think even the most devout Gator fan saw this coming at the beginning of the year.

FWIW, Florida is using NIL.. and Golden has it well established. They are smart about it, but it is certainly a competitive tool.

 

[Baller Val]

Sorry to say it, but it’s an indictment on what we have allowed.

Three Championships
Four Final Game Appearances
Five Final Fours (7-2 in such games)
Nine Elite Eights
13-3 against top three seeds
Won the best conference ever

Not going to stop, especially with NIL.
It’s not a coincidence why traditional football powers are doing well in basketball. Kentucky is looking up at the Gators now. Sad state of affairs.

Sorry to say that no serious UK fan would want to trade places with a Florida fan during their liftime no matter what accomplishments Florida ends up with.

 

[lakercat]

2014 was a pretty good year for the Gators despite falling short in the Final 4 (undefeated in the SEC)

2 Elite 8’s the previous 2 seasons

Gator fan is right, but it was 3 Elite Eights in the previous three seasons. I believe it was Walker (or Boynton) that missed a three in 2011 that would have sent the Gators to the FF, Gators had a double-digit lead against Louisville in 2012, and Michigan destroyed them in 2013. Florida also went to the Elite Eight in 2017 before losing to South Carolina in a narrow defeat. Kentucky in that time period went to the EE or further seven times, but none since 2019. Kentucky was King between 2010-2015. It's time for Kentucky to be King again. Florida has become an elite program under Donovan/Golden, but they should NOT be above Kentucky, which right now, they are.

 

[bucsrule8872]

Will be interesting to see how this will all turn out.

History often repeats itself and UK has been written off for the “new” leader in the SEC before.

In 1986, LSU beat UK to go to the Final Four. Then Dale Brown brought in Chris Jackson and then Shaq. Meanwhile, UK was going on probation. LSU was passing the Cats up as the leaders of the SEC.

Then in 1995, it was Arkansas led by Nolan Richardson, that was taking over the SEC and nationally. One title, two title game appearances. They looked unstoppable.

Many questioned if UK could keep up. After all, they had no titles since 1978. Only two Final Fours in those 17 seasons with a recent scandal and the aforementioned probation with a big name coach that really hadn’t accomplished anything since coming in and rumors every year that he was going back to the pros.

Atkansas definitely seemed to be in the driver’s seat in the SEC in 1995.

Then 1996-1998 happened.

Next it was Florida. Back to back titles in 2006 and 2007. Billy Donovan would definitely keep them atop the SEC and the nation for years to come. UK was going to be second fiddle from then on.

Then Donovan didn’t make a Final Four again until 2014. Then he left.

Meanwhile UK won a title in 2012 and almost got another in 2014 and again in 2015.

In 2019, Auburn sent the Cats packing on their way to their first Final Four. Pearl and War Eagle was on top of the SEC now.

Now, it’s 2025 and Auburn’s best team just failed to cut down the nets.

Now it’s back to Florida. Let’s see what happens there. Will they remain the top dog in the SEC or come back down to earth without Clayton and company?

Let’s see how things play out in the next few seasons before we bury the Cats and anoint the Gators the greatest team this century.