SEC representing

[JonathanW_rivals]

SEC has 23 losses from 14 teams, but only 14 losses from the top 12 teams, so only 2 teams (Mizzo & UGA) with 2 or more losses.
And even 1 of those 2 has done something, with UGA upsetting #18 Memphis.
SEC losses: Iona, 22 UConn, Okl, Cincy, Ga Tech, UVA, Nwstrn, Wofford, 9 Duke, UL, Minn, FSU, Wichita, Liberty, Marq, Boise St, Princeton, Coll. Charles., 5 Villanova, Wisc, VCU, SMU

But the SEC is playing teams this year, more than in the past.
With wins over: 3 Gonz, Miami, K St, Cincy, Syr, Neb, 20 FSU, Cal, Ohio St, 18 Memphis, Penn St, WF, 18 Memphis, WKU, UAB, Gtown, 18 UNC, Colo, Butler, ND, Pitt

And lots more chances: Houston, Memphis, Baylor, Okl, WV, Okl, MD, Ok St, ND, Ohio St, UL, KU, Ga Tech, TCU, Tex Tech, KU, Utah, Illinois, Iowa St, WKU, Dayton, K St, Clem, Tex Tech, Memphis, Ariz, Texas, TCU, Ore St, Nwstrn, Temple

 

[UKWildcats1987]

I hate UT with a passion, but their OOC schedule has to be the toughest in America. Villanova, UNC, Colorado, TX Tech, Memphis (LOL well it was on paper pre-season), Arizona and Texas.

Overall the conference only continues to improve and I think it will remain one of the top 2-3 conferences (#1 some years) year in and year out for a long long time.

 

[Brentutk1]

I hate UT with a passion, but their OOC schedule has to be the toughest in America. Villanova, UNC, Colorado, TX Tech, Memphis (LOL well it was on paper pre-season), Arizona and Texas.

Overall the conference only continues to improve and I think it will remain one of the top 2-3 conferences (#1 some years) year in and year out for a long long time.

As a UT fan, a tough OOC schedule is fun as hell and gives you a chance to prove yourself, rise in the rankings, get primetime matchups, etc. I can't imagine being a good team like Arkansas and shying away from any sort of challenging matchup. Going to be a big difference in readiness for the SEC schedule.

 

[kyjeff1]

What I don't get though, is if you lose to a team that is ranked higher than you, you can fall up to 5 spots in the rankings. Why should you drop? The other team was ranked higher.
We lost by 8 to duke and we dropped 3 or 4 spots, duke, of course, jumped several spots up. Teams that beat nobody's jumped ahead of us.
You get punished pretty hard for losing, so you have to be careful not to make your out of conference slate too difficult.

 

[KYCAT78]

SEC has 23 losses from 14 teams, but only 14 losses from the top 12 teams, so only 2 teams (Mizzo & UGA) with 2 or more losses.
And even 1 of those 2 has done something, with UGA upsetting #18 Memphis.
SEC losses: Iona, 22 UConn, Okl, Cincy, Ga Tech, UVA, Nwstrn, Wofford, 9 Duke, UL, Minn, FSU, Wichita, Liberty, Marq, Boise St, Princeton, Coll. Charles., 5 Villanova, Wisc, VCU, SMU

But the SEC is playing teams this year, more than in the past.
With wins over: 3 Gonz, Miami, K St, Cincy, Syr, Neb, 20 FSU, Cal, Ohio St, 18 Memphis, Penn St, WF, 18 Memphis, WKU, UAB, Gtown, 18 UNC, Colo, Butler, ND, Pitt

And lots more chances: Houston, Memphis, Baylor, Okl, WV, Okl, MD, Ok St, ND, Ohio St, UL, KU, Ga Tech, TCU, Tex Tech, KU, Utah, Illinois, Iowa St, WKU, Dayton, K St, Clem, Tex Tech, Memphis, Ariz, Texas, TCU, Ore St, Nwstrn, Temple

You know what is missing from the list a UK win against a quality opponent. Of course at least we are beating the sisters of the poor this year.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

As a UT fan, a tough OOC schedule is fun as hell and gives you a chance to prove yourself, rise in the rankings, get primetime matchups, etc. I can't imagine being a good team like Arkansas and shying away from any sort of challenging matchup. Going to be a big difference in readiness for the SEC schedule.

Arkansas may have trouble at Oklahoma on Saturday (Just beat FL when they went there), but otherwise, that schedule is extremely weak OOC.

Jeff, I agree...it is crazy if you lose a close game that you would drop 3-5 spots, especially if the team you lost to was favored/ranked higher than you.

 

[JonathanW_rivals]

You know what is missing from the list a UK win against a quality opponent. Of course at least we are beating the sisters of the poor this year.

Yes, but we have opportunities coming up.

 

[akaukswoosh]

Yes, but we have opportunities coming up.

I assume Ohio State will be back in the Top 25. That means UK has TEN games coming up against ranked teams. We'll finish with one of the best SOSs when it's said and done.

 

[chroix]

I assume Ohio State will be back in the Top 25. That means UK has TEN games coming up against ranked teams. We'll finish with one of the best SOSs when it's said and done.

Somehow we almost always do despite the posts on here saying otherwise.

 

[Blue63Madison]

Somehow we almost always do despite the posts on here saying otherwise.

No one trashes our overall schedule. They trash our OOC schedule, and more specifically our home OOC schedule. And deservedly so.

But whatever fits your agenda, bro, run with it.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

I assume Ohio State will be back in the Top 25. That means UK has TEN games coming up against ranked teams. We'll finish with one of the best SOSs when it's said and done.

Things do tend to work themselves out. Plus, as much as we hate them, UL is usually a ranked game/win and not our fault they suck more this year than usual. The SEC is going to be brutal and while Duke/Gonzaga play in cupcake conferences UK will be getting battle tested almost game in and game out.

 

[Blue63Madison]

SEC has 23 losses from 14 teams, but only 14 losses from the top 12 teams, so only 2 teams (Mizzo & UGA) with 2 or more losses.
And even 1 of those 2 has done something, with UGA upsetting #18 Memphis.
SEC losses: Iona, 22 UConn, Okl, Cincy, Ga Tech, UVA, Nwstrn, Wofford, 9 Duke, UL, Minn, FSU, Wichita, Liberty, Marq, Boise St, Princeton, Coll. Charles., 5 Villanova, Wisc, VCU, SMU

But the SEC is playing teams this year, more than in the past.
With wins over: 3 Gonz, Miami, K St, Cincy, Syr, Neb, 20 FSU, Cal, Ohio St, 18 Memphis, Penn St, WF, 18 Memphis, WKU, UAB, Gtown, 18 UNC, Colo, Butler, ND, Pitt

And lots more chances: Houston, Memphis, Baylor, Okl, WV, Okl, MD, Ok St, ND, Ohio St, UL, KU, Ga Tech, TCU, Tex Tech, KU, Utah, Illinois, Iowa St, WKU, Dayton, K St, Clem, Tex Tech, Memphis, Ariz, Texas, TCU, Ore St, Nwstrn, Temple

So 14 SEC teams have combined for a total of ONE win against top ten teams?

 

[Padsfs07]

So out of the losses, I would completely write off the bottom 4 teams - even though South Carolina has a few good wins - WKU, UAB, and Georgetown. They have two bad losses to Princeton and Coastal Carolina. They play Florida St and Clemson so maybe it will end up being too early to discount them.

Vandy has no good wins and 2 bad losses and Missouri lost to Kansas City and Liberty. It would be funny if they beat Kansas, but had already lost to lowly Kansas City. They also play Illinois would would really help the SEC's standing.

 

[yoshukai]

As a UT fan, a tough OOC schedule is fun as hell and gives you a chance to prove yourself, rise in the rankings, get primetime matchups, etc. I can't imagine being a good team like Arkansas and shying away from any sort of challenging matchup. Going to be a big difference in readiness for the SEC schedule.

Well we wouldn’t know about that. And we certainly can’t trash talk Arkansas. Never thought I’d be envious of a Tennessee basketball fan but , here we are .

 

[chroix]

No one trashes our overall schedule. They trash our OOC schedule, and more specifically our home OOC schedule. And deservedly so.

But whatever fits your agenda, bro, run with it.

It’s the home OOC. Our OOC is fine. It’s the home games. And I get it. But a tough stretch of early season games means more losses than anybody wants. This year’s schedule is set up perfectly for the development of the team. But yeah agenda lol. I watch on tv regardless of who we are playing. That’s my radical agenda.

 

[Cawood86_rivals]

SEC will be tough sledding this year....If UK somehow wins the SEC, they will definitely be battle tested.

 

[Cowtown Cat]

SEC will be tough sledding this year....If UK somehow wins the SEC, they will definitely be battle tested.

Whichever team won’t the SEC should definitely get a 1 seed IMO. Will be interesting to see how that works out. I just don’t see how said team wouldn’t deserve a 1.

 

[Padsfs07]

As a UT fan, a tough OOC schedule is fun as hell and gives you a chance to prove yourself, rise in the rankings, get primetime matchups, etc. I can't imagine being a good team like Arkansas and shying away from any sort of challenging matchup. Going to be a big difference in readiness for the SEC schedule.

It's not apples and oranges comparing the two programs. Arkansas returned two starters (that were both xfers themselves) and two freshman, while bringing in 6 more transfers.

Tennessee has a much more traditional makeup with just one transfer and several highly rated freshmen coming in. 6 rotation players are back from last year, similar to the 18/19 season.

Tennessee is the type of team that you don't want to play in the early going, while Musselman has to give his team time to gel, just like Calipari with the transfers/recruits. They may end up at the same place in the end, but Tennessee can afford to give themselves some runway.

 

[revcort]

SEC is tough this season. If ESPN is talking up the league, you KNOW it must be pretty good. It's normally ACC, Big10, B12, 24/7. I've heard multiple experts predicting as many 8 or 9 teams from the conference making the Dance. How many are currently ranked? KenPom currently has 7 SEC as top 25 teams.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

Well we wouldn’t know about that. And we certainly can’t trash talk Arkansas. Never thought I’d be envious of a Tennessee basketball fan but , here we are .

UK's schedule is way tougher than Arkansas OOC.

The games in December & KU in January are part of the OOC...FYI to everyone who keeps ignoring those games.

 

[Brentutk1]

It's not apples and oranges comparing the two programs. Arkansas returned two starters (that were both xfers themselves) and two freshman, while bringing in 6 more transfers.

Tennessee has a much more traditional makeup with just one transfer and several highly rated freshmen coming in. 6 rotation players are back from last year, similar to the 18/19 season.

Tennessee is the type of team that you don't want to play in the early going, while Musselman has to give his team time to gel, just like Calipari with the transfers/recruits. They may end up at the same place in the end, but Tennessee can afford to give themselves some runway.

Schedules are made at least a year in advance. Tennessee has already committed to several tournaments next year. We have a neutral site game in Nashville. It's all planned and we don't know the makeup of our team next year, obviously. I think it's more intentional from Arkansas.

 

[Padsfs07]

Schedules are made at least a year in advance. Tennessee has already committed to several tournaments next year. We have a neutral site game in Nashville. It's all planned and we don't know the makeup of our team next year, obviously. I think it's more intentional from Arkansas.

I wasn't disagreeing with you on that. It is intentional on Arkansas's part. Musselman has an obvious style of recruiting. He is the transfer king. He's added 6 this year, 3 last year, and 5 the year before. At Nevada, he had 4 in 17/18 and 2 in 18/19.

Barnes recruited hard in his second year, 16/17, and has, more or less, had a heavy returning cast of players each year.

 

[yoshukai]

UK's schedule is way tougher than Arkansas OOC.

The games in December & KU in January are part of the OOC...FYI to everyone who keeps ignoring those games.

Guess I should have said ”thus far “. But I was comparing it to Tennessee anyway. I have no idea who Arkansas has played.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

Guess I should have said ”thus far “. But I was comparing it to Tennessee anyway. I have no idea who Arkansas has played.

They may have beaten higher ranked NET teams but all look like cupcakes. No Duke on their schedule. LSU is #2 in NET because they beat up on better bad teams...so wish UK could have played their schedule. We would be undefeated and LSU would have a loss.

 

[yoshukai]

They may have beaten higher ranked NET teams but all look like cupcakes. No Duke on their schedule. LSU is #2 in NET because they beat up on better bad teams...so wish UK could have played their schedule. We would be undefeated and LSU would have a loss.

Probably. I’m really curious to see if our team has improved at all playing the cupcakes we’ve been playing. December should show us more.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

Florida heard about this thread and said hold my beer op

 

[CB3UK]

I dont get worked up top much about the rankings this early but if we take a loss Indonfear how far we'll drop considering our SOS thus far.

 

[Blue63Madison]

SEC will be tough sledding this year....If UK somehow wins the SEC, they will definitely be battle tested.

If UK somehow wins the SEC lol … wow how times have changed.

 

[Cawood86_rivals]

If UK somehow wins the SEC lol … wow how times have changed.

I'm not confident from what I have seen so far. Are you?

 

[Blue63Madison]

So … the SEC combined, still has only one win over a team ranked 17th or better. I know the OP did a lot of work to try to make the conference look good, but in reality, it’s obviously the same old SEC.

 

[Blue63Madison]

I'm not confident from what I have seen so far. Are you?

I’m not confident in Cal’s in-game coaching. Or his ability to put the pieces together. When he doesn’t have the mega stars, I’m expecting sweet sixteen at best. The fact that we’re worried about where we finish in conference lol.

 

[backinky2018]

The SEC appears to be a definite league of haves and have-nots this year. I've watched most of the SEC teams play (most of them I've seen multiple times). UGA, Vandy, USC, and Mizzou stink (though they have all had glimmers of hope). MSU was supposed to be pretty good, but they also stink (blown out by UL and lost at home to minny).

On the other hand, Alabama, UK, UT, Arky, and Aubie are final four contenders. LSU, Florida, Ole Miss will compete for NCAA bids. A&M is OK, but they're going to the NIT.

 

[Blue63Madison]

Jonathon tried so hard lol.

 

[Blue63Madison]

The SEC appears to be a definite league of haves and have-nots this year. I've watched most of the SEC teams play (most of them I've seen multiple times). UGA, Vandy, USC, and Mizzou stink (though they have all had glimmers of hope). MSU was supposed to be pretty good, but they also stink (blown out by UL and lost at home to minny).

On the other hand, Alabama, UK, UT, Arky, and Aubie are final four contenders. LSU, Florida, Ole Miss will compete for NCAA bids. A&M is OK, but they're going to the NIT.

The entire conference has one total win against teams ranked 17 or higher. Who are the “haves”?

 

[Padsfs07]

The entire conference has one total win against teams ranked 17 or higher. Who are the “haves”?

That's quite the misleading stat.

First, 4 SEC schools are in the top 17.

Second, the top 17 teams in the AP have a total of 13 losses. Of those 13 losses, 2 are by SEC schools that are also in the top 17 (UTs loss to Villanova and UKs loss to Duke) so basically the SEC is 1-3 in top 17 matchups here at the beginning of December with the 3rd loss being UConn's win over Auburn (ranked 18th) since UConn is now up to 15th in the poll.

 

[hogfan14]

I wasn't disagreeing with you on that. It is intentional on Arkansas's part. Musselman has an obvious style of recruiting. He is the transfer king. He's added 6 this year, 3 last year, and 5 the year before. At Nevada, he had 4 in 17/18 and 2 in 18/19.

Barnes recruited hard in his second year, 16/17, and has, more or less, had a heavy returning cast of players each year.

Musselman seems to be getting away from the transfer model now that everyone and their mother is doing it. Signed 5 high school kids for the '22 class. He thinks teams are overvaluing the portal now and so he's going after HS kids more in the next few classes since everyone is focused on transfers.

Arkansas' schedule has been pretty bad so far but I thought the same thing last year and then North Texas, Abilene Christian, Oral Roberts, etc. all had good showings in March. We still have Oklahoma and West Virginia to play and are playing in Maui next year. It's a shame we missed a potential game with Illinois a few weeks ago since they couldn't beat Cincinnati.

 

[Runt#1969]

Well, just my take, but looking at 2011, when the Big East put 11 teams into the NCAAT, the title winner was .... well. YOU KNOW that story....

... And considering that three other times a single conference got 9 teams in - the ACC twice, with a title winner in 2017 ( by that institution who shall remain nameless) and the Big East sent 9 in 2012 ... then OTIS got (Vacated) put in jail ....

Getting nine teams from the SEC would look to put SOMEONE from the SEC as, just perhaps, as history shows us that the tournament champ comes from the conference who sent THAT many teams into the tournament??!!

it bodes well, VERY WELL for the conference as a whole.

The SEC may be the strongest the conference ever has been, as a whole, that I've seen in my 40+ years.

plus..... I like our team. Not going to trade with anyone else this year.

Enjoy the ride, of course!

Go Big Blue!

 

[Cawood86_rivals]

So … the SEC combined, still has only one win over a team ranked 17th or better. I know the OP did a lot of work to try to make the conference look good, but in reality, it’s obviously the same old SEC.

How so?

 

[JonathanW_rivals]

So … the SEC combined, still has only one win over a team ranked 17th or better. I know the OP did a lot of work to try to make the conference look good, but in reality, it’s obviously the same old SEC.

Wrong once again.
By now (most seasons) the SEC would have a lot of losses vs other Major conference teams. Now taken care of business when need to (minus whatever UF did last night).
Also interesting how you cutoff at #17, so that those 3 wins vs #18 don't count in your eyes. Point taken only 1 win vs top 10 or top 15, although top 10 or 15 don't have a lot of losses.