1942 SEC Championship: why wasn’t it Tennessee?

#1
NighthawkVol

NighthawkVol

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#1
I asked this question last year. Got no answer. I’ll try again.

In the 1941-42 season, Tennessee had the best record in the SEC. Yet, Kentucky was named the SEC champion (with the 3rd best record after Alabama). Kentucky then won the SEC Tournament, to win both the regular season championship and the tournament championship.

Why was Kentucky named the regular season champion with the 3rd best record? Here’s a link to the standings.

www.sports-reference.com

1941-42 Men's Southeastern Conference Season Summary | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

1941-42 Men's Southeastern Conference Season Summary
www.sports-reference.com www.sports-reference.com
 
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#2
#2
NighthawkVol said:
I asked this question last year. Got no answer. I’ll try again.

In the 1941-42 season, Tennessee had the best record in the SEC. Yet, Kentucky was named the SEC champion (with the 3rd best record after Alabama). Kentucky then won the SEC Tournament, to win both the regular season championship and the tournament championship.

Why was Kentucky named the regular season champion with the 3rd best record? Here’s a link to the standings.

www.sports-reference.com

1941-42 Men's Southeastern Conference Season Summary | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

1941-42 Men's Southeastern Conference Season Summary
www.sports-reference.com www.sports-reference.com
Click to expand...

This was Tennessee’s schedule. Split with Kentucky, winning by 6 in Knoxville and losing by 3 in Lexington.
 
#9
#9
NighthawkVol said:
In the 1941-42 season, Tennessee had the best record in the SEC. Yet, Kentucky was named the SEC champion (with the 3rd best record after Alabama). Kentucky then won the SEC Tournament, to win both the regular season championship and the tournament championship. Why was Kentucky named the regular season champion with the 3rd best record?
Click to expand...
We shot the ball with one hand and it was deemed cheating (internally of course).
 
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#12
#12
Not sure how Kentucky got it, but looking at the records I’m not sure how they could even crown a champion with Tennessee and Kentucky playing 8 SEC games and Alabama playing 17.

The following season we won the regular season and the tournament despite having the third best conference record. Kentucky had the best and didn’t win the regular season. It really made no sense how they did things.
 
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#14
#14
72 KPT VOL said:
Believe conference tournament champions were the official conference champions in that era.
Click to expand...
That’s not what this is. There was a regular season champion and a conference tournament champion.

Edit: perhaps you’re right. The regular season champion each year matches the tourney champion each year. So maybe they just said the regular season champ is the tourney champ. Which is silly…why not just name an SEC champion, rather than naming both?
 
#15
#15
In the 1941 and 1943 seasons, we are listed as regular season and tournament champions, despite having finished 3rd in the final regular season standings.

It appears that the tournament champion was the only recognized champion back then.

No conspiracy.
 
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#16
#16
hillsborovol said:
In the 1941 and 1943 seasons, we are listed as regular season and tournament champions, despite having finished 3rd in the final regular season standings.

It appears that the tournament champion was the only recognized champion back then.

No conspiracy.
Click to expand...
I think we have our answer. The thing that confused me is that they lost a regular season champion and a tournament champion. Why do that if the only champion is the tournament champion?

Regardless, that appears to be the case. The reason I went down this rabbit hole is that we are tied for 2nd in all time championship with Alabama with 11 each. But Wikipedia gives us 12, crediting the 1942 team with a regular season championship. Obviously, that’s an error.

Since Tennessee isn’t going to win the SEC regular season this year, we need Auburn to win it and box out Alabama so they don’t break the tie.
 
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#17
#17
LegionnaireOfTheMiserable said:
Not sure how Kentucky got it, but looking at the records I’m not sure how they could even crown a champion with Tennessee and Kentucky playing 8 SEC games and Alabama playing 17.

The following season we won the regular season and the tournament despite having the third best conference record. Kentucky had the best and didn’t win the regular season. It really made no sense how they did things.
Click to expand...
Sounds like they made it up to us the following year😜
 
#18
#18
The other 10 teams in the conference (besides Tenn and Kentucky) played anywhere from 11 to 17 conference games. TN & KY played 8. Maybe they went by national ranking at the time and KY was ranked above TN nationally😜. TN played 22 games overall, ALA 24, and KY 25. Far more than the other 9 schools.
 
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#19
#19
Man...'42, '43, and '44 all screwed up. I quit looking after '44. Kentucky won the '44 regular season without even playing a conference game! Must have had something to do with WWII.
 
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