Can the SEC dominate basketball the way it does football?

[carolinaviking]

What do you think? Could the SEC build consistent dominance in basketball within the next five years? UF and UK should continue to be strong. UT is a big question mark right now. What about Texas A&M and South Carolina? Any others who might rise?

LINK: Sorry, the SEC has not completely taken over college basketball | For The Win

Nice that they included Tennessee as one of three SEC teams who should repeat their success next year and called them "outstanding" in this year's tourney. I suppose that depends on the continued stability of the program, though, which should be determined in the coming days.

 

[drewtigeralum]

Outside of Florida, and possibly Atlanta, there just isn't a huge pool of basketball talent in the South East. Teams like Ole Miss, Miss St, Bama, Auburn, South Carolina, Vandy, LSU, Arkansas, and even Georgia just don't have the consistent recruiting bases to bring the bottom of the league up.

 

[Stoked]

Unless teams can run a pipeline through the east coast for recruiting...then no

 

[99gator]

Lee Humphrey, Corey brewer and Casey Prather are all from Tennessee.

Donovan signed another Tennessee kid in this class.

I think Louisiana, Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida produce a fair amount of basketball talent

 

[Mphsbball]

Outside of Florida, and possibly Atlanta, there just isn't a huge pool of basketball talent in the South East.

Memphis, TN???

 

[OrangeBalls]

Lee Humphrey, Corey brewer and Casey Prather are all from Tennessee.

Donovan signed another Tennessee kid in this class.

I think Louisiana, Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida produce a fair amount of basketball talent

Yes, Donovan is a bastard.

 

[VolGee4]

Lee Humphrey, Corey brewer and Casey Prather are all from Tennessee.

Donovan signed another Tennessee kid in this class.

I think Louisiana, Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida produce a fair amount of basketball talent

Corey Brewer was really the one that got away, but I don't think Pearl had a chance because he had just been hired. Humphrey was debated forever, but he was just a specialist, and I believe we took Bradshaw and McFadgon as a transfer. Prather developed late, and Bruce never really recruited him.

All UT fans that recruiting Memphis is tough because of its location to other schools. But, most fans don't realize that there are alot of UT fans in the metro Memphis area. I know, I grew up here. If we can get back to sustained success, we could have some (not alot) success here.

 

[Persian Vol]

Outside of Florida, and possibly Atlanta, there just isn't a huge pool of basketball talent in the South East. Teams like Ole Miss, Miss St, Bama, Auburn, South Carolina, Vandy, LSU, Arkansas, and even Georgia just don't have the consistent recruiting bases to bring the bottom of the league up.

Georgia probably has the best recruiting base outside Florida so they can definitely recruit if they invested more into their basketball program. But UGA doesn't give a rats ass about their basketball program. Outside UK, UT, and Arkansas, the rest of SEC and their respective fanbases do not care very much about basketball. It shows to be Obvious considering UK, UT, and Arkansas have the largest stadiums in the SEC. The SEC will never be a dominate basketball conference. It's just not possible to expect every SEC school to have the money to be able to invest 100% in football and basketball and dominate the world of college athletics.

 

[Rudy123]

the northern communities have harsher weather for longer periods of time than we do. They emphasize basketball & hockey, rather than baseball, tennis or football.

Basketball, as a whole, is improving in the S.E.C. but slowly. We had 3 teams from the S.E.C. make it to the Sweet 16. We a few powerful teams but we don't have strength in numbers. There are three strong teams and then the other 11 teams that are not good.

 

[drewtigeralum]

Memphis, TN???

Yes, Memphis is also a great basketball city, but historically, they don't really send many players to the S.E.C. unless it's to either U.F. or U.K. Getting Stokes out of Memphis was a steal for U.T.

The blue bloods at the top are always going to get their pick, but most talent from any of the rural states is usually raided quickly, leaving the teams in the bottom 3/4 of the league to fight over the scraps.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

A huge problem is generally speaking SEC fans just don't seem to care that much about basketball. And I don't think it's a winning thing either. I think roughly half of the league is at best indifferent.

Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Florida are the only fanbases I believe have passion for basketball. Vandy and LSU maybe, but it's waned a lot.

The rest I don't see any passion and I really don't ever see them ever really being that passionate. Even Auburn with Pearl I don't see him changing it all that much.

 

[VolGee4]

Outside of Florida, and possibly Atlanta, there just isn't a huge pool of basketball talent in the South East. Teams like Ole Miss, Miss St, Bama, Auburn, South Carolina, Vandy, LSU, Arkansas, and even Georgia just don't have the consistent recruiting bases to bring the bottom of the league up.

Disagree a little. There is no reason why Georgia shouldn't taken advantage of Atlanta basketball.

Alabama and occasionally Louisiana churn out some good talent. Of course, there isn't a high quantity. JaMychel Green, Tony Mitchell, Trevor Lacey, and Levi Randolph were all Alabama high school players. But, recruiting hasn't really been Anthony Grant's problem- it's been on the court. Now, he will have Bruce to deal with.

 

[Vols4us]

Lee Humphrey, Corey brewer and Casey Prather are all from Tennessee.

Donovan signed another Tennessee kid in this class.

I think Louisiana, Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida produce a fair amount of basketball talent

I agree. I wish posters would actually look at the situation/data and not just repeat what the media wants them to hear.

The SEC became the undisputed premier conference in football when television programming of games kicked into high gear. That combined with the emphasis on it in the south made it what it is today. Why would that not also help promote it in basketball?

Upgrade the facilities of the lesser programs and enforce scheduling upgrades and it can happen. Like Vandy - where they play is embarrassing. Do something about it and that program would take off. Mizzou just needs a real coach. Arkansas is on the cusp of turning around - and they have won an NC in their history with big financial backing. LSU is improving and has good tradition.

Life has moved out of the rust belt and LA despite what the media wants you to believe.

 

[99gator]

The point I was making is that Tennessee produces enough quality talent that is good enough to be offered by out of state schools, including those that are nationally relevant.

I am sure there others that were quality players that left the state.

Memphis, vandy and Tennessee have all made the tourney in the same year before, correct?

And Belmont or one of those kind of schools is usually pretty good, right

 

[OrangeBalls]

A huge problem is generally speaking SEC fans just don't seem to care that much about basketball. And I don't think it's a winning thing either. I think roughly half of the league is at best indifferent.

Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Florida are the only fanbases I believe have passion for basketball. Vandy and LSU maybe, but it's waned a lot.

The rest I don't see any passion and I really don't ever see them ever really being that passionate. Even Auburn with Pearl I don't see him changing it all that much.

Cliff Ellis had Auburn at #1 at one point and they were packing the gym. So, Auburn can have success. Will Pearl have the success he did at UT? That remains to be seen, but I think he'll have them competing much more than they have been recently. Auburn also has a pretty new gym that he'll be able to sell to recruits and it's a good school that has a great campus. He can sell some things there.

 

[99gator]

A huge problem is generally speaking SEC fans just don't seem to care that much about basketball. And I don't think it's a winning thing either. I think roughly half of the league is at best indifferent.

Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Florida are the only fanbases I believe have passion for basketball. Vandy and LSU maybe, but it's waned a lot.

The rest I don't see any passion and I really don't ever see them ever really being that passionate. Even Auburn with Pearl I don't see him changing it all that much.

This x1000

 

[VolGee4]

The point I was making is that Tennessee produces enough quality talent that is good enough to be offered by out of state schools, including those that are nationally relevant.

I am sure there others that were quality players that left the state.

Memphis, vandy and Tennessee have all made the tourney in the same year before, correct?

And Belmont or one of those kind of schools is usually pretty good, right

Just not enough to go around in one year. In an average year, there are probably 4-5 in-state players that are good enough to get major D1 offers. This past year there was probably 4, and that includes Hymon (Ole Miss) and London (Xavier). The other two ent out of state to Florida and Illinois. The 2013 class was a great class, and there were 7. 3 went to Memphis, and the others were UT (2), Mizzou, and Marquette.

TN produces good talent but not in high numbers. There simply is not enough to pass around to UT, Memphis, Vandy, and the other local SEC schools every year.

 

[volboy81]

I think there's more BB talent in Tennessee than Florida...