The SEC got an early start in its annual quest to shed its label as an underachieving basketball conference. By swapping out Anthony Grant, Rick Ray and Donnie Tyndall for Avery Johnson, Ben Howland and Rick Barnes, the league upgraded in coaching talent and brand name recognition. Losing Florida’s Billy Donovan to the NBA was counterproductive to that pursuit, but by and large, the SEC was the clear springtime winner when the coaching carousel came to a halt. Now the focus shifts to what happens on the court — resumes don’t much matter if you’re not winning games. Here are several ways how the SEC can sustain the momentum to improve its national standing this upcoming season.

Can Bruce Pearl help raise the SEC’s national profile? (athlonsports.com)

• More and higher seeds: Let’s get the obvious out of the way first: The best way for the SEC to get more national respect is to put more teams in the NCAA Tournament. Last year’s five teams invited on Selection Sunday counts as solid improvement on this front. This year you could make an early, sight-unseen case that six or even seven SEC teams could be in position to make the field by March. That volume would be great, but even if the number of teams ends up as fewer than six, it would be good to see a few higher seeds. Last year, the league’s seeds other than Kentucky came in at #5, #9, #10 and #11. There was no other SEC team that was consistently in the Top 25 last season.

• The fight for #2: If the SEC is to become a respected basketball conference again, it must shed the notion that the league is just “Kentucky and everyone else.” That label might tougher to confront than ever with Donovan no longer at Florida, but is it possible with any sort of confidence to name another program that will challenge the Wildcats on an annual basis? Last year that team was allegedly Arkansas; this year it might be Vanderbilt or Texas A&M. Next year? Who knows. The point is that there is no single program in the SEC that has proven ready for a sustained stay in the upper echelon of the conference (and nationally). One sleeper program that could eventually fill that role, however, is Auburn, a football school that will benefit greatly from the coaching acumen of Bruce Pearl and his distinguished track record of success.
• The recruiting payoff: A number of coaches in the league have received praise for their recruiting in recent years. Both Texas A&M and Auburn, for example, will welcome their most well-regarded classes in recent memory. Johnny Jones at LSU and Howland at Mississippi State are bringing in potential lottery picks in Ben Simmons and Malik Newman, respectively. Avery Johnson has been hard at work in Tuscaloosa, securing a commitment from one of the top players in the Class of 2016, Terrance Ferguson. Winning the Rivals and 247Sports ratings game is a solid start, but these prospects need to immediately produce on the court for those victories to actually matter. Some haven’t yet had the chance, but none of these coaches have proven anything yet at their current schools.
• Shine in the non-conference: Many people will pay attention to how Kentucky does in the Champions Classic and its other big-time non-conference games, but the SEC also needs a slow build of quality non-conference wins across the league. Some under-the-radar wins that would boost the general opinion of the league — not to mention its RPI — this season are: Auburn at Xavier; Vanderbilt at Purdue and Baylor; and Texas A&M against Texas and Baylor. If we are being greedy, Texas A&M taking down Iowa State and Florida getting by Michigan State would be excellent too, but those less-heralded match-ups with power conference opponents are a good, and reasonable, place to start.
• More “grinder” programs: Ole Miss and Georgia might not be thought of as basketball schools, but contrary to national perception, Andy Kennedy and Mark Fox have proven that they can put competitive teams on the court on a consistent basis. Kennedy has produced seven seasons of 20 or more wins in Oxford, while Fox’s teams have won at least nine SEC games in all but two of his seasons at Georgia. True, neither Ole Miss nor Georgia has been competing for Final Fours, but that kind of reliable winning from programs without much basketball history to speak of is important for the overall health of the league. Can Frank Martin, Rick Barnes or someone else turn into that type of coach elsewhere? The more programs that can grind out quality seasons (even if they don’t lead to NCAA Tournament success), the better.
• Knock off Kentucky in prime time: At some point we need to accept reality. Most casual college basketball observers will not watch much of the SEC UNLESS Kentucky is on upset alert on national television (and do they ever play games where they are not?). So long as they aren’t crippling the Wildcats in the process, a Wildcats’ loss or two to an up-and-coming program like South Carolina, Auburn, LSU or Texas A&M doesn’t hurt the league at all. At the very least, the league as a whole doesn’t benefit from the Wildcats (or the Gators two seasons ago) charging through to 18-0 in league play again. Still, no matter how great those two teams were, an undefeated season in a power conference is not great for national optics on the strength of the rest of the conference.

Greg Mitchell (@gregpmitchell) (231 Posts)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2015 at 1:15 pm by Greg Mitchell and is filed under microsites, sec. Tagged: andy kennedy, auburn, avery johnson, ben howland, Ben Simmons, feature, florida, frank martin, kentucky, lsu, mississippi state, ole miss, sec, sec basketball, south carolina. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.