Question: Is the the SEC really better? (As we've been told)

Tide&True

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Sep 24, 2004
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Although the SEC got a record 8 teams into the NCAA tournament...I ask the question...are we really better as a conference if no one advances past the sweet 16?
 

teamplayer

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Jul 31, 2001
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I definitely think the league was better overall than the past few years. We had more good teams this year, but we did not have any very good or great teams. A few teams showed potential to be very good, but no team was very good consistently. I still think we are a league that has a lot of athletically gifted players but not a lot of great pure basketball players.
 

imauafan

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Mar 3, 2004
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From top to bottom the league was as good as I've ever seen. Given all the upsets in the tourney this might be the deepest tourney that we've had in a long time with a lot of really good teams but perhaps only 1-2 great teams.
 

CrimsonEyeshade

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Nov 6, 2007
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The league had to get better. But more is needed. Given the quality of coaching, it's likely to occur.

For some historical context ... In 1983, as I recall, we were at the very bottom of the conference and went on the road to beat top-ranked UCLA. A lot of truly great players up and down the rosters back then, and the SEC was seen by many as the top league in the country.
 

CajunCrimson

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Mar 13, 2001
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Keep in mind that the 4 schools in the Elite 8 are:

A 9 seed ACC, a 9 seed B12, an 11 seed Mid Major, and a 3 seed B1G......

It's a weird year -- not sure you can judge how the league is doing based solely on making it to the Elite 8
 
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CrimsonForce

Hall of Fame
Dec 20, 2012
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I don't think it was better I think it was just a different distribution. The SEC normally has 3-4 really strong teams at the top and the rest is meh. This year there were no dominant teams at the top of the conference but instead about 10 pretty good teams. I don't really define that as being better but I guess it depends on what each person values in conference strength..
 

RTR91

Super Moderator
Nov 23, 2007
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Better? Yes.

Seems like the national landscape of basketball was pretty even this year, though. This allowed the SEC to be one of the top conferences in the nation while still not being where it wants to be in terms of level of play.
 

RammaJamma10

1st Team
Dec 5, 2006
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To me, going 6-2 in the first round solidified that it was better. After that, it's pretty much gravy, especially since we didn't have a 1 or 2 seed with super high expectations. The fact that Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Florida won a game, with Kentucky and aTm winning 2 games is hard to top. Arkansas and Missouri were inconsistent all year and we got the bad versions in the first round unfortunately. Not many conferences can say they went 6-2 in the first round of the tournament most years. Also, you have LSU winning a first round game in the NIT and Miss St making it to MSG for the semi's and may very well win it they way they are playing.

All that to say yes, the SEC is really better. The only thing missing was that national powerhouse at the top.
 

gamersfuel

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Jan 20, 2008
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i think it was a good bit better than it's been in a while due to upgrades in coaching. I think Miss State should have made the dance based on the eye test. But they did not have the resume. They will have to be dealt with next season. Recruiting has picked up big time. IIRC Vandy has a great class coming in next season
 

TitleWave

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Dec 3, 2012
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Not really "contextable" - that team also beat G'town with Patrick Ewing and 3-4 All-Americans by 20 to win a tournament (Winston Tire Classic in LA, presaging the win at Pauley) then beat UK to win "the" (SEC) tournament, only to get blowed out by 25 in the first round of the NCAA tournament by the mighty Lamar Tech Cardinals of Beaumont, Tejas.

The league had to get better. But more is needed. Given the quality of coaching, it's likely to occur.

For some historical context ... In 1983, as I recall, we were at the very bottom of the conference and went on the road to beat top-ranked UCLA. A lot of truly great players up and down the rosters back then, and the SEC was seen by many as the top league in the country.
 

CrimsonEyeshade

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Nov 6, 2007
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TW, how not contextable?

We were undefeated and highly ranked going into our SEC schedule with that rousing win over Georgetown. Then we lost five out of our first six Conference games. As a last place team in the tournament, we beat a talented Auburn, top-seeded Kentucky (second time that year), a very good Mississippi State team by a point, and led a Final Four Georgia team at half in the final before fading.

Go go back and look at the rosters. Almost every SEC team that year had stud players. So did we. Except we finished next to last. I’ll stand by my point. That was some league.
 
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BamaInBham

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Feb 14, 2007
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Not really "contextable" - that team also beat G'town with Patrick Ewing and 3-4 All-Americans by 20 to win a tournament (Winston Tire Classic in LA, presaging the win at Pauley) then beat UK to win "the" (SEC) tournament, only to get blowed out by 25 in the first round of the NCAA tournament by the mighty Lamar Tech Cardinals of Beaumont, Tejas.
They lost to UGA in the tournament final. You may be thinking about the previous year when they beat UK in Lexington to win the SEC tournament. Then made it to the Sweet 16 beating St. Johns and losing to eventual national champion NC with Worthy, Perkins, Jordan, etc. in a close one - scared them to death. Black couldn't guard Whately. That was a great Bama team. It was a pity they were matched up with NC so early, they were Final Four worthy.
 

CrimsonEyeshade

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Nov 6, 2007
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After we beat St. John’s with Chris Mullen and Walter Berry, our door prize was Carolina in Raleigh. Some friends and I got tickets. What a cow palace that place was. Awful.

Our entire front line and the two top inside reserves fouled out. As I recall, Carolina made something like 35 foul shots and only won by 5. We ran them down in the second half but could not keep anybody on the court.
 

Crimson1967

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The UCLA game was a couple days after Coach Bryant died.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

BamaInBham

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After we beat St. John’s with Chris Mullen and Walter Berry, our door prize was Carolina in Raleigh. Some friends and I got tickets. What a cow palace that place was. Awful.

Our entire front line and the two top inside reserves fouled out. As I recall, Carolina made something like 35 foul shots and only won by 5. We ran them down in the second half but could not keep anybody on the court.
Close - Phillips, Hurt and Lockett fouled out, three others had 3 fouls. NC was 26-31, Bama 11-16 on FTs. The game was close throughout - the game seemed closer than the 5 pt final. Worthy, who only scored 16, was tough at crunch time. Half of his pts from the line. Jordan scored 11.
 

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