Is there another league in the nation that is more balanced than the Southeastern Conference? No. Simple as that. You can look at the league from top to bottom and see that [besides South Carolina really] there is no gimmie games. Auburn has shown a big improvement this year and are playing fairly well so far. Their win against Pearl at home is a big confidence booster for Lebo's young squad! I think that Vandy is the most suprising team so far. Besides Shan Foster, they really dont have all that much athleticism compared to the rest of the leauge but Kevin Stallings really has those guys playing some good basketball! Miss State has some great young players but that's exactly what they are--young. I know that it's just my opinion but Stansburry isn't much of a coach if you ask me. Dispite the loss at home to Vandy, Kentucky was probably the hottest team in the SEC. That loss kinda brought them back down to reality. Morris is having a good year but they just dont have the marque names that Kentucky usually brings to the table year after year. UK fans are growing very impatient of Tubby. Arkansas is a team that is either on or off...But when they are on, watch out they are friggin good. They blew Bama and LSU out at home but lost a heartbreaker to UGA on a last second heave by Dave Bliss. They are young and have a promising future under Stan Heath. Oh and if Steven Hill becomes any kind of scoring threat soon, that is going to be real trouble for any center in the league. Georgia has some good young guards. Gaines is just a great player that can defend. They aren't the most athletic bunch but they play hard and have really gave some teams some trouble so far this year. Heartbreat came back on them when Steele hit a jumper as time expired yesterday. Tennessee is close to the cellar in the east but they still have some great players. Their defense isn't the same as it was last year partly because of the new faces that Pearl has. He's playing a lot of freshmen and is getting some great recruiting classes in. UT is going to be really good when Pearl has all the peices in place and gets settled in. Dispite Steele being hobbled by injury and the hardships that Davidson is going through, the Tide are doing great--except on the road. the Tide have lost SEC road games by an average of 25ppg. They have one of the most talented starting 5 in the nation and are very athletic. To make some noise nationally though, they need to learn how to play on the road. The good news for Bama fans though, is that they are only losing 1 player (Davidson) at the close of the year. With all of his troubles, Steele should return for his senior season. Ole Miss is well...Ole Miss. They played Florida well but there just isn't much that you can say about this bunch besides that they are trying. Curtis is a man down low and Donye can score, but they need help. Florida is well...Florida. Enough said! They are athletic, quick, and VERY talented. Father ahead than anyone in the league. Finally LSU. Trying to find some kind of identity. LSU has the players and the talent, and probably the best big in the SEC, but leadership seems to be a problem. Mason was a great addition but the shooting remains a problem. If these athletic players can ever find the basket, look out they are as talented as anyone (besides UF) in the league. Like I said there really is no gimmie games this year. Everyone can win on any given night. Im excited to what the SEC can do this year in the dance. After all the beating up of one another, I think that other conferences are really gonna have it taken to them this year! The SEC will rule the dance once again!
Thanks for that write up. I thought it was a pretty good overview of the league. I haven't been keeping up too much with the other teams in the conference so I can't say but I felt this was pretty accurate. As for the conference, I think the only knock is that other than Florida, there is a lack of greatness at the top. Bama is good but too inconsistent right now to share elite status with the Gators. LSU could make some noise later but from the way they have played up to this point I foresee a sweet sixteen birth at most in March.
lets define this "talent" that is always brought up. if it means "athletic" then maybe lsu has a lot (relative to sec) but i doubt it. id say the "athletic" players (and that must mean more so than the average sec player/starter) are glen, temple, tac and tas in that order. glen cant jump---defensive disadvantage in the post, disadvantage on breaks if he could run them like many other bigs. temple doesnt have the lateral quickness to guard most 1s. tac is fast, so what. tas is athletic, i guess, based on versatility but im not sure thats athleticism. athleticism means little. ok you need a certain level for sec competitiveness (lsu has that but no significant amount over the avg sec team), but its all about execution execution is skill and athleticism, scheme and effort. this team is short on athleticism (compared to most top sec teams--definately way under uf and bama, probably ark--hard to really say who the top sec teams are). scheme---well, i dont feel like getting into that, but cjb's does like to slow the game down. effort has always been there except perhaps for the occasional uninspired player. to me, its clearly about skill. which this team is sorely lacking (except for gd).
