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Thoughts on the idea of leaving the SEC?

No offense to OP, but this discussion is way beyond him.
NOT talking about intelligence.
But (speaking as a business owner), there are zero reasons to even mention leaving the SEC for the Big 10 or fill-in-the-blank.
 
I have to admit I’ve wondered for a while now if both our football and basketball programs would be better off in another conference.

The sec does us no favors in basketball. Could you imagine duke, UNC or Kansas getting the kind of calls against them that we got against Tennessee? Or anyone getting the whistle against those teams that grant Williams got against us the last two games? Can you imagine duke, UNC or Kansas losing a game the way we lost to LSU?

And I’ve always felt the football program would have a better chance at consistently competing in just about any other conference.

What if it came down to either keeping Cal or staying in the SEC?

Do you actually think you will get better calls in another conference. The football team may have a few more wins but the money the football teams makes by just being in the SEC far out weighs going to a lesser football conference, hell there are teams just waiting to get into the SEC.
 
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No offense to OP, but this discussion is way beyond him.
NOT talking about intelligence.
But (speaking as a business owner), there are zero reasons to even mention leaving the SEC for the Big 10 or fill-in-the-blank.

What kind of business do you own?
 
What kind of business do you own?
I meant no disrespect to your thread.
I referenced "business" because the view from Owner + Management side is driven by the bottom line.

UK has a diverse Men/Women Athletic Department that ALL are dependent on the SEC funds. Moving to any other Conference (even Big 10) is unthinkable.
 
I would leave the SEC in a heartbeat in favor of either the SEC or the Big 10. Both conferences offer far better academics (and sports fans don't realize exactly how much that drives the boat - academics wants to be around superior academics, not community colleges like Mississippi state or Auburn). BIG has similar revenue and upside. ACC currently rakes in fewer dollars, but I'm not sure that will always be the case. With that said, I don't think it will happen for two reasons:

1) Money: The SEC is a printing press of money and I don't see that changing, especially now that it's in more large media markets in Texas with the addition of A&M.

2) Culture: For whatever reason, the UK fanbase LOVES being in the SEC. I don't know if it's pickup truck, southern pride, hatred of yankees, blah blah blah, but I think there would be a revolt if UK tried to join the BIG or ACC.
 
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Cat fans should boycott the SEC Tournament next season to send a message to the SEC about the inept and criminal officiating.
 
Lol. UK will never leave the SEC and all of the money being thrown UK’s way. UK basketball doesn’t pay the bills. UK football does along with that SEC network cash flow.
 
I say we leave and join Conference USA. We all ready would have a built in rivalry with WKU. Could you imagine E.A. Diddle Arena rocking with UK in town ? LOL, some of our fans kill me. If we are cheated so much, how in the hell do we own over half of the conference titles ? No other school in a power conference can say that. We need the SEC and the SEC needs us. Period.
 
leaving the SEC would be the dumbest thing ever that UK could do
it will never happen and will never ever be even a small thought
 
I think it helps us in football more than we realize.


If we leave the SEC, then our football recruiting drops, and we become a lower-tier ACC team.

No, thank you.
This is the absolute truth. We're as good as we are in Football because we belong to the SEC. If we moved to a lesser conference, recruiting would immediately regress to the level of the conference.
 
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The only solution is to start ponying up the $$$ . sports is all about throwing money around. Im a basketball first fan..... i'd disband the football program if it meant securing favoritism and our basketball programs future... I dont even want to think about how screwed we are when Cal leaves ... unless we hit a home run with another legendary coach.... the refs screwing us could put us back in a BCG / Tubby debacle. Gotta get in the SEC's pocketbooks to get those ref calls.
 
I have to admit I’ve wondered for a while now if both our football and basketball programs would be better off in another conference.

The sec does us no favors in basketball. Could you imagine duke, UNC or Kansas getting the kind of calls against them that we got against Tennessee? Or anyone getting the whistle against those teams that grant Williams got against us the last two games? Can you imagine duke, UNC or Kansas losing a game the way we lost to LSU?

And I’ve always felt the football program would have a better chance at consistently competing in just about any other conference.

What if it came down to either keeping Cal or staying in the SEC?
Why should we leave...unc and duke should join the sec. Afterall they are more south than KY
 
In the past 8, or so, decades not ONE program has left the SEC. Per the last SEC commissioner, the SEC doesn’t have a buy-out clause because no one wants to leave, but they line up to get in. Couple that with our 1 million SEC basketball titles and we ain’t going anywhere.
 
no but maybe our gutless AD could have some ball about how KY is treated by the refs in basketball and football seems most game the refs look like they have money on it
 
I've wanted UK to leave & join the ACC since I was a teen (30 years ago). But it won't happen. We get too much $ from SEC football!
 
The money we receive from the SEC provides the money for EVERY other sports program AND allows our athletic dep. to give over $1 million to the university.

Because we are in the SEC, we have top of the line facilities in EVERY sport. So why would we leave the SEC?

I am a University of Kentucky fan, not just one UK sport!!!! I LOVE ALL UK TEAMS!!!!
 
Here in lies the problem. The conference gets zero respect nationally because of this, and we get zero respect from the conference despite it.
Please quit the no respect angle. We are in the prime time slot every week on the SEC network. All the coaches realize the championships run through UK. Thirteen of the fourteen fan bases think we get all the calls. How many of the SEC schools would like to get the attention we get in basketball? We get many more CBS games than the other conference schools. I am sorry but I have a hard time with constant pity party
 
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The money we receive from the SEC provides the money for EVERY other sports program AND allows our athletic dep. to give over $1 million to the university.

Because we are in the SEC, we have top of the line facilities in EVERY sport. So why would we leave the SEC?

I am a University of Kentucky fan, not just one UK sport!!!! I LOVE ALL UK TEAMS!!!!

When an outsider such as myself looks at it from this point of view, then yes it makes no sense for UK to move. It is unfortunate however, because I believe it would otherwise be an incredible partnership. Just imagine UK vs Duke, Carolina, and of course UL twice, along with Cuse, etc.... and in football, UK would have a better chance of going to the Conference championship game from time to time, not to mention if Miami, and FSU get back on track in football and if ND fully joins, along with the ACC network. Clemson has already proven itself to be a power.
 
Where's the evidence that we would get better refs in the ACC or Big 12 or Big 10?
 
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Here in lies the problem. The conference gets zero respect nationally because of this, and we get zero respect from the conference despite it.
We just placed 7 team in the NCAA tourney, I'd say that was a good measure of respect.

Here's what I know. UK fans are like a lot of women with whom you can tell them 1000 times how wonderful they are but tell them once something uncomplimentary and that will be the only thing they remember. We see it time after time. Jay Bilas, Dan Dakich...name the talking head, they can drool all over UK and yet if they say one negative thing about UK then "They are the worst!".
The people talking on the radio and tv have zero effect in what happens in games.
SEC basketball has gone through times when it has been considered one of the best and deepest conference in the country...and it's has gone through times when it has been deservedly trashed. Going into this season it was suggested by many that it would get 9 teams into the tourney, how can anyone say that equates to "zero respect"?

The SEC has been, is, and will always be a football first conference and you should damn well love that it is because frankly, that's where the money is. Nobody outside of the states of Kentucky, Kansas, Indiana and North Carolina gives two hoots about college basketball until at best, football season is over and for most, not until the NCAA tourney.
 
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UK in the ACC would make a lot of sense IMO. I stated this in another thread. MD left the ACC, and I believe they were an original member there. UK would get to play UL twice. UK basketball would be better off IMO, especially with K and Roy getting older. In football, both Duke and UNC have made it to the title game, so you imagine UK football could enjoy more success. The ACC would be the mother of all conferences in basketball just like the SEC is in football. UK has no chance in football as it stands.
I was SHOCKED you guys took UL into your conference. I still can’t believe it . I honestly think it cheapened the ACC .
 
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UK basketball should be the Notre dame of football. No league affiliation. No conference tournament champs that when we win means nothing and when we lose we get bumped. No bullshit sec refs. No more Bruce pearl sweat. We just schedule the best. Make more money too. When the sec basketball falls to shit and they come crawling for Kentucky. We set the rules. We set the unbiased refs. We control it. None of this only blue blood who doesn’t get the calls bs. Jesus Christ Kansas rode 14 big 12 championships cause of refs. In closing the **** the sec.
 
When an outsider such as myself looks at it from this point of view, then yes it makes no sense for UK to move. It is unfortunate however, because I believe it would otherwise be an incredible partnership. Just imagine UK vs Duke, Carolina, and of course UL twice, along with Cuse, etc.... and in football, UK would have a better chance of going to the Conference championship game from time to time, not to mention if Miami, and FSU get back on track in football and if ND fully joins, along with the ACC network. Clemson has already proven itself to be a power.
Stoops has had to work hard to get the recruits we are now getting. If we moved to a lesser conference like the acc or b10, we'd go back to competing with MAC schools for Football recruits. The SEC is a big draw for MANY good Football recruits.
 
We just placed 7 team in the NCAA tourney, I'd say that was a good measure of respect.

Here's what I know. UK fans are like a lot of women with whom you can tell them 1000 times how wonderful they are but tell them once something uncomplimentary and that will be the only thing they remember. We see it time after time. Jay Bilas, Dan Dakich...name the talking head, they can drool all over UK and yet if they say one negative thing about UK then "They are the worst!".
The people talking on the radio and tv have zero effect in what happens in games.
SEC basketball has gone through times when it has been considered one of the best and deepest conference in the country...and it's has gone through times when it has been deservedly trashed. Going into this season it was suggested by many that it would get 9 teams into the tourney, how can anyone say that equates to "zero respect"?

The SEC has been, is, and will always be a football first conference and you should damn well love that it is because frankly, that's where the money is. Nobody outside of the states of Kentucky, Kansas, Indiana and North Carolina gives two hoots about college basketball until at best, football season is over and for most, not until the NCAA tourney.

Darn, Two times in less than a month I've had to agree with Fuzz. Maybe there's hope for you after all.
 
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In the past 8, or so, decades not ONE program has left the SEC. Per the last SEC commissioner, the SEC doesn’t have a buy-out clause because no one wants to leave, but they line up to get in. Couple that with our 1 million SEC basketball titles and we ain’t going anywhere.

Actually three programs have left the SEC. Georgia Tech, Tulane and Sewanee. All for different reasons.
 
I think it helps us in football more than we realize.


If we leave the SEC, then our football recruiting drops, and we become a lower-tier ACC team.

No, thank you.

I could not disagree more. Even if recruiting dropped, the level of competition ALSO drops SIGNIFICANTLY. Right now, UK is recruiting at around #30 in the country. Let's say recruiting drops a bit. UK would still be top 6 in the ACC while at their current level, they're recruiting ahead of only Vandy and Mizzou in the SEC.

Look at all of the mediocre teams from other conferences that have had glory runs built on soft schedules (ahem, UL anyone???). This literally does not happen in the SEC b/c of who one has to play.

Think UL would EVER have been sniffing the playoffs if they were an SEC team? I think not.
 
Kentucky would be crazy to do that. The SEC brings in more revenue than any other conference. The SEC is head and shoulder the best conference in NCAA FB, and as SEC basketball gets better you can make an argument that the SEC has the best collection of basketball coaches than any other conference.
 
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I could not disagree more. Even if recruiting dropped, the level of competition ALSO drops SIGNIFICANTLY. Right now, UK is recruiting at around #30 in the country. Let's say recruiting drops a bit. UK would still be top 6 in the ACC while at their current level, they're recruiting ahead of only Vandy and Mizzou in the SEC.

Look at all of the mediocre teams from other conferences that have had glory runs built on soft schedules (ahem, UL anyone???). This literally does not happen in the SEC b/c of who one has to play.

Think UL would EVER have been sniffing the playoffs if they were an SEC team? I think not.

The recruiting could drop precipitously.

We are selling SEC. Take that away and you are selling Kentucky.

Have fun with that.
 
UK in the ACC would make a lot of sense IMO. I stated this in another thread. MD left the ACC, and I believe they were an original member there. UK would get to play UL twice. UK basketball would be better off IMO, especially with K and Roy getting older. In football, both Duke and UNC have made it to the title game, so you imagine UK football could enjoy more success. The ACC would be the mother of all conferences in basketball just like the SEC is in football. UK has no chance in football as it stands.
We went 10-3 last year
 
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