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SEC Standings as of Feb 9

Going to be tough to just get into the top 8 this year and with 16 teams the 9/10 seeds will now have to play an extra game.

Kentucky seeds by year for SEC tournament in the Cal years

For all the frustration with the Cal teams over the years they only missed a top 4 seed once in 15 years. This year we might not even get a top 8 seed.

2024 #2
2023 #3
2022 #3
2021 #8
2020 #1 had they played
2019 #2
2018 #4
2017 #1
2016 #2
2015 #1
2014 #2
2013 #2
2012 #1
2011 #2 East
2010 #1 East
 
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Is that you, Eli???
Tone (and some of the content) completely over the top and stupid on my part. Just ranting because I want UK basketball to be more than mid-tier of our league going forward. That's what our football historically has been (at best, really), but not basketball. And yeah, I get everything about the differences in eras and how much our cash-strapped state is going to struggle with NIL, how we don't have as much home-grown talent, etc.

What I really feel is that I get this is a historically difficult year AND Pope's first year...but if we were around .500 in the SEC consistently in future years that wouldn't be good enough for me.
 
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Way off base. There is some truth to the fact that we didn't attract a high profile coach. But that has nothing to do with Mitch and everything to do with the current state of college basketball. Didn't we offer Hurley like $10+ million a year? What more do you reasonably expect an AD to do?

The reason why we didn't land a high profile coach is because in 2024 you don't need to be at a blue blood to have success. It's quite frankly more trouble than it's worth considering the fan expectations and pressure it puts you under. Pearl and Oats are perfectly capable of winning titles where they already are, so why start over in a higher pressure environment? Drew already won a title at Baylor and is beloved there. Oats and Pearl have been to Final Fours. Bennett won a title at Virginia. With NIL and the transfer portal you simply don't need the brand name of a blue blood to be successful. There's a reason Duke, UNC, and UK all have coaches who previously played at said schools. The brand name of a big program is largely only attractive to people who spent time in the program and value it for that reason alone.

In regards to Pope needing to do better: nonsense. He threw together this team in a few weeks with transfer portal pieces. When it was healthy it was a no questions asked top 10 team. With a healthy roster it was a top 10 offensive team and top 30 defensive team. And that was before the team really had a chance to gel. Injuries have taken a huge toll on this team, but guess what? The offense has continued to get better. Without a single PG available to play for multiple games the offense played itself into being the second best offense in the country.

The defensive issues are about 95% caused by the injuries we've suffered lately. Butler returns and we jump like 20 spots in defensive efficiency. Yes, SC isn't the best team, but defensive efficiency stats are adjusted for opponent. So after taking into account that SC isn't great it still jumped a great deal in a single game.

There's no reasonable analysis of this season, taking into account the realities of the injuries we've had, that doesn't conclude that this season has been a greater success than almost anyone had expected.
This is an awesome post and should be PINNED for the trolls in this forum to read.
 
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