Why is the SEC so Underrated

[AGEE11]

NCAA Tournament last 5 years

Title Final 4
Big East 2 4
SEC 1 5
ACC 1 1
American 1 1
Big Ten 5
Miss Valley 1
Big 12 1
Horizon 1
Colonial 1

Last 10 years

Title Final 4
SEC 3 8
ACC 3 4
Big East 2 8
Big 12 1 2
American 1 1
Big Ten 8
Pac 10 3
Horizon 2
Colonial 2
Miss Valley 1
Conf USA 1

The SEC is consistently called one of if not the weakest power conference. Yet by the numbers we outperform everyone where it truly matters. We are tied for the most Final 4 appearances in the last 5 and 10 years. Tied for the most championships in the last 10 and second in the last 5.

I truly don't get the bias towards our league when we outperform the "great" Big 10 and Big 12 in banners. I know we are a top heavy league, but that should count for a lot.

*Sorry, can't get this to format like a table*

 

[Wildcat-in-STL]

Part most SEC teams dont care about basketball until Late january if at all and part the SEC officiating is mentally challenged. Every other conference protects their better teams ... in the SEC the home court whistle is so wild and stupid that everyone just looks bland because everyone ends up with like 5 to 8 losses.

 

[CharlieT71059]

because we generally have Kentucky and then the rest of the conference. Most years there are 2 or 3 other contenders

 

[kats23]

Probably because UK is the only team in the 5 years to make the FF or win a title. The SEC is not underrated. They are who we thought they were.

 

[bigbluelou]

Lack of interest, football first mentality and perception.

 

[Nuke99m]

because we generally have Kentucky and then the rest of the conference. Most years there are 2 or 3 other contenders

Exactly. I learned my lesson a long time ago about picking any SEC team other than UK in the NCAA tourney.

 

[AGEE11]

because we generally have Kentucky and then the rest of the conference. Most years there are 2 or 3 other contenders

Florida was considered the best team in the country going in the tournament in 2014, and made the Final 4

 

[Neue Regel]

NCAA Tournament last 5 years

Title Final 4
Big East 2 4
SEC 1 5
ACC 1 1
American 1 1
Big Ten 5
Miss Valley 1
Big 12 1
Horizon 1
Colonial 1

Last 10 years

Title Final 4
SEC 3 8
ACC 3 4
Big East 2 8
Big 12 1 2
American 1 1
Big Ten 8
Pac 10 3
Horizon 2
Colonial 2
Miss Valley 1
Conf USA 1

The SEC is consistently called one of if not the weakest power conference. Yet by the numbers we outperform everyone where it truly matters. We are tied for the most Final 4 appearances in the last 5 and 10 years. Tied for the most championships in the last 10 and second in the last 5.

I truly don't get the bias towards our league when we outperform the "great" Big 10 and Big 12 in banners. I know we are a top heavy league, but that should count for a lot.

Probably a more realistic picture would be to look at the total number of tournament wins by league in said time frames. (and I say that not knowing the numbers) Because in terms of the big boy achievements (Final Fours/Titles) we both know it's mostly Kentucky from the SEC since 2009/10 (Calipari era) and Florida with their 2014 FF and several elite 8's before that. It's been mostly Duke from the ACC in that same time frame (2 NCAA titles in six years) though UNC has been in a few elite 8's. 11, 12. when you go to ten years then the Florida Gators NCAA title comes into play along with UNC and their 2009 Title and 2008 Final Four. As bad as the Big 12 was in the NCAA'S last year, it was the opposite for the ACC, while the ACC only had one FF team, they placed a team in three Regional Finals and I believe won more tournament games in a season than the league ever had. But I'm only giving a one season example, there were other seasons where I'm sure other leagues teams won a ton of tournament games even if nobody made the Final Four.

 

[Neue Regel]

Florida was considered the best team in the country going in the tournament in 2014, and made the Final 4

They were and I was shocked when UCONN handled them in the National semi-final. What was Florida's winning streak going into that game?

 

[IL Wildcat]

I agree that the conference gets undersold. Some of it is deserved, some not. Some of it is the fact that in football the conference is so dominant that the relative weakness in basketball makes it an easy target, and many of these reporters are so sick of talking about the SEC being great during football season, they just love to utter the words SEC and "down" or "weak" in the same sentence. Another reason is the Kentucky effect- the conference is viewed as UK and everybody else, which is true to a degree, especially since Calipari came, but it's historically true also.

But here's what I would say in defense of the SEC- the conference has good athletes on pretty much every team, so it's not a matter of lacking talent. The issue has been 1. priority and 2. coaching. For example, at Kentucky the men's basketball team better be ready and looking pretty decent by mid-October. The fans won't stand for anything else. But at most of the other schools, basketball has been on the back burner until at least January 1st. (or later with the BCS championship game) Because of this, coaches haven't come to the SEC or haven't stayed long. But that has changed now, it seems, with the addition of some new coaches among the ranks.

Regarding talent, and the performance of the SEC in the NCAA-T, SEC teams always seem to have poor non-conference results because of lack of attention from their fan-bases and poor coaching, but by the end of the season these teams finally start getting it together and their talent is right there with anyone else in the country, so they always seem to improve more in January and February than others. That's my theory anyway. The champ of the SEC and the top 3-4 teams usually do pretty well in the NCAA-T.

 

[Ukblue12]

Like was said in another thread, making the argument that the sec is underrated because we have more FF or elite 8's than another conference is a terrible argument when all of the success comes from 2 teams. What about the other 12 teams that do nothing year in and year out? If you're going to judge an entire conference you need to judge all teams in it.

U.K. Would be fine in any conference, Florida would have success in any conference, after that, historically almost every other team would be a consistent seller dweller in the big12 or big10 etc.

Nothing wrong with that, could honestly care less about the other teams in the conference. Just making the point that one teams success doesn't mean the entire conference has achieved anything.