Is the SEC College Basketball’s Best?

Coach Cal Makes the Case—But Do the Numbers Add Up?

ATLANTA, Georgia --Much like a political candidate Kentucky Coach John Calipari is on the stump touting the SEC as a basketball powerhouse. He talked about it during the SEC’s Monday media conference call and again Tuesday following his team’s win over Georgia at Stegeman Coliseum.

“My belief is that we have five Sweet 16 teams,” said Coach Cal outside the Cats locker room at UGA. “ I think Alabama and Vanderbilt  are really good--Florida, obviously. I think we’re (Kentucky) pretty good and Mississippi State, who won at Vandy is really good and talented. I also think,” continued the coach,  “you have teams like Mississippi and Arkansas, who are really good. What about Tennessee?  Go win at Auburn, go win here (Georgia). All of a sudden there are no easy outs in this league. If you go on the road you probably have a chance of losing. So all I can tell you … I think we’ll have eight being talked about (for the NCAA tournament) and I don’t know how many will get in. But that’s good for us. That’s good for this league.”

Most will agree that the Southeastern Conference is the crème dela crème of college football, but basketball is another story. Five locks and eight possibles?  That may be a stretch. But Calipari’s claims were bolstered last weekend by a pair of big upsets. Tennessee defeated UConn of the Big East, 60-57, and Arkansas dumped Michigan of the Big 10, 66-64.

Historically the SEC has had its share of hoops standouts. Think back to the Bernie (Bernard King) and Ernie (Grunfeld) show at Tennessee; Corliss Williamson and Ron Brewer among others on Nolan Richardson’s “40 Minutes of Hell” teams at Arkansas;  Sam Bowie,  Dan Issel,  Rex Chapman and Jamal Mashburn at Kentucky; Robert Horry and Latrell Sprewell at Alabama;  Shaquille O’Neal at LSU; and  Litterial Green, Alec Kessler, and the inimitable Dominique at Georgia.

But, in the SEC, basketball talent has been spread out over the years and outside of Kentucky, very few teams are ever a threat for the national title.  Kentucky has seven national championships, which is second to UCLA’s record 11. The only other teams to win it all were the one and done Razorbacks in 1994 and Billy Donovan’s Florida teams in 2006 and 2007.

But has a new era arrived in SEC basketball, where the league’s overall strength matches or exceeds that of the ACC and the Big East? Perhaps we’ll know more at season’s end when, if Calipari’s prediction comes true, the SEC will have several in the Big Dance and perhaps a national title to boot.  But right now the evidence that that will happen is rather thin.

One measure, albeit easily challenged, is the league’s performance against out-of-conference foes.  Through the games of January 24, the SEC has the second best percentage of wins in non-conference games at 67.4% (157-76). Only the Big 12 has a better percentage (68.9%). The Big East (66.9%), the ACC (64.3%), Conference USA (63.9%), the Atlantic 10 (59.1%) and the PAC 12 (57.0%) have not done as well as the SEC in 2012.

What about the RPI ranking, which factors in strength of schedule along with wins and losses. Again, the SEC falls short—but not by much. According to the web site Real Time RPI, the following are the top conferences and their RPI numbers as of this week: Big Ten (.5936), Big 12 (.5548), SEC (.5773); ACC (.5629); Atlantic Ten (.5485);  PAC 12 (.5316) and Conference USA (.5283).

Much can be made of numbers, but in the end measuring the strength of a league is much like determining the best coach ever, the best running back ever, the best first baseman ever. Too many variables, too much subjectivity.  There is one thing you can count on, however: if SEC teams continue performing as they have thus far in the 2011-2012 season, they will give fans of the league even greater bragging rights when March rolls around. Just ask Coach Cal.

Quick take…SEC basketball is on the brink of going to an 18-game conference schedule. The league feels it will help its RPI by having teams play tougher games with conference foes rather than having them go against so-called non-league “cupcakes.”  The schedule, which may go to 19 before it is all over, will also help the league attract more CBS and ESPN games. Most coaches and A.D.s are in favor. One holdout is Calipari, who likes to mix it up with top teams from other leagues. He also has no problem filling Freedom Hall regardless who his team plays.

              

Best Interest of Students a Must in Public-Private Football Controversy

States to Watch Georgia’s New Class A Format 

ATLANTA, Georgia--Earlier this month the Georgia High School Athletic Association (GHSAA), which governs high school sports in most of the state’s schools, agreed to allow its lowest classification, Class A, to have separate playoffs for public schools and private schools. The vote was 37-12. Publics and privates would still face each other during the regular season.

Why this ruling is significant is that it may set a precedent for other states to follow. Not surprisingly, this same public-private debate has been raging for some time throughout the country without a real resolution. All states differ in the way they handle things. Texas does split public and private leagues in football, but allows private schools to join public leagues in the other sports –with the exception of a few parochial teams in Dallas and Houston. Oklahoma thinks it has solved the problem by moving the top-rated private schools into a higher classification, thereby creating more parity. Colorado is much like Georgia and is looking at the Peach State’s most recent Class A ruling as a potential model for the future. In Ohio, the publics and privates play each other, but privates in Cleveland and Cincinnati usually finish at the head of the pack.


In fact, if you think of the big names in high school football throughout the country, they are often—too often for some fans liking-- private schools. They include such powerhouses as Don Bosco in Ramsey, New Jersey; De La Salle of Concord California; Cincinnati’s Moeller and St. Xavier; Shilo Christian in Arkansas;  Regus Jesuit in the Seattle area; Trinity in Louisville and, of course, Savannah Christian and Landmark Christian, two of this year’s most highly rated teams in Georgia.


Best in the Nation


Don Bosco, which has now won 46 straight games and six straight New Jersey state championships, is the classic example. The Ironmen are so good that many schools, even other privates, don’t want to play them. In one of only four games they played against public schools in 2011, Bosco handily defeated New Jersey’s Clifton High, which had a 5-2 record at the time, 43-12-- after beating them the previous year 71-0. Bosco took mercy this time after leading 43-0 at the half.  Outside of playing a few local schools each year, Bosco must go national to find opponents.


In Arkansas, the perception of private school dominance may be there, but the facts show otherwise. According to a special report in an on-line magazine called Progressive Arkansas, which deals with legislative issues (including who plays who in football), “of the 211 high school football teams in the state of Arkansas , 12 are from private schools…5.68%.” The report also says that “ of the 130…teams who made the playoffs last year (2010), seven were from private schools…5.38%.” Conclusion? In Arkansas being a private school doesn’t give you an edge. http://www.progressivearkansas.com/content/about-us.


Crux of the matter


Despite the Arkansas example, it’s a fact that private schools have several big advantages. The first and foremost is their ability to recruit. While public schools are limited by districts, private schools can acquire talented student athletes from throughout the area. Because of their success, privates garner more media attention-- something publics resent. And whether they admit it or not, the quest for high rankings may drive top teams to run up the score. 


So what’s the answer?  The answer should lie in what is best for the students. While many officials, fans and others differ even on that subject, having the best interests of the student in mind will at least guide the discussion and lead governing bodies to the right, if not the most popular, answer.


Quick take…another spinoff of the above discussion is what to do with home-schooled students. When in high school Tim Tebow was allowed to participate in football at his district’s school in Florida, even while being home schooled. Now Alabama wants the same opportunity for its students and is attempting to make it happen with the passage of what they are calling  “The Tebow Act."

Media Weighs in on Falcon Flop

ATLANTA, Georgia -- The Atlanta Falcons loss to the New York Giants was certainly not the biggest story of the NFL Playoffs. Even the New York Times ran their game story below that on Tim Tebow’s overtime theatrics in Denver.  But those who did attempt to analyze the meltdown at Met Life usually laced their accounts with criticism of the Falcons offensive line and of the coaching decisions made by the two Mikes—head coach Mike Smith and offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey.

Twice during the course of the game, the Falcons chose to go for it on fourth down deep in Giants territory instead of opting for a field goal.  AP writer Tom Canavan implied in his game account that the Falcons made mistakes by going with quarterback sneaks by Matt Ryan instead of trying to kick field goals or giving the ball to  running back Michael Turner.

Then there was the issue of what looked to be poor clock management—and/or the Falcons laissez faire attititue—in the last two minutes of the first half. The Falcons had the ball and were moving. They also had three timeouts left, but dilly dallyed as the clock wound down. In the end they used only one of their time outs, with just seconds remaining, and failed to score.  It led the New York Post’s NFL writer Bart Hubboch on his Twitter feed to say “-- Mike Smith coached … like he was terrified his QB was due for a pick-6.” The Post’s Mike Vaccaro added, “-- I'm starting to think that Mike Smith has won an awful lot of games by accident.”

Even the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Mark Bradley said the Falcons were “so unassuming”(near the end of the first half)…”they made you wonder why they bothered to come.”

Pro Football Weekly also called the fourth down plays ill-advised. Only Deadspin’s probability index said going for it on fourth down was a good move, The on-line site said that if they had attemped field goals on fourth down, the Falcons probability of winning would have gone down by a few points. But the index does not account for play calling. See Deadspin’s story at http://deadspin.com/5874392/are-nfl-coaches-getting-smarter-about-fourth+down-strategy?popular=true.

There is no question the Falcons blew it big time. Whether those fourth down calls and the strange happenings at the close of the first half made all that much difference will never be known. There were, afterall, the performances of the Giants running backs and that of  Eli Manning, who was able to convert on a fourth down play that resulted in the game’s first touchdown on a four yard pass to Hakeen Nicks. In addition, the Giants defense, 27^th in the league going in, also rose to the occasion, giving up just 247 net yards, and keeping the pressure on Ryan all afternoon.

There are changes afoot for the Falcons in playing personnel and on the coaching staff. As of today, defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder is gone to Auburn, and Mularkey to Jacksonville. In the meantime the pressure will build . Gone are the days of the Clampetts  (the notoriously inept Rankin Smith, et. al) when a .500 season was the epitome of success. Arthur Blank has convinced fans that he bought the Falcons to win a Super Bowl. He reiterated as much again at a press conference on Wednesday. But until that happens, he'll continue to feel the heat from the fans and, yes, the media.

Quick takes...Bernie Miklasz in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch cautions that fans should not to read too much into Jeff Fisher taking the Rams head-coaching job. Some believed if he rejected the offer the St. Louis franchise would be headed to Los Angeles. Not necessarily so said Miklasz. The move could happen, he adds, but the decision is not related to the Fisher appointment... The L.A. Times reports Tiger Woods will make his 2012 debut at Pebble Beach Feb.9...Doc Rivers was in Atlanta Saturday to see his son Austin play for Duke. The young Rivers, a freshman, scored eight points in the Blue Devils win...Incidentally, there is reason to be excited again about the Tech basketball program. The very enthusaistic Brian Gregory is an excellent coach and, with another year of recruiting under his belt, should be able to move this program forward. On Wednesday, the Jackets showed promise again with an 82-71 ACC win over NC state. If he can keep the talented third-year man Glen Rice Jr., another son of an NBA player, all the better...some BCS voters said that if Alabama had won by one or two points, they would be tempted to go with LSU as the nation's No. 1 team. That would have been OK by me. Anything to make the current BCS setup look even more ridiculous.