Porter Moser spent three seasons at Big 12 before passing Oklahoma to the Southeast Conference, causing the coach for a long time to be appropriate to compare the old best conference in the United States with the current king of university rings.
“Things are, there is no background,” Moser explained. “That is what he felt in Big 12 in the last two years.
Incredible it is a good way to describe SUNDAY SELECTION.
The expanded sec landed A record of 14 teams In the support of 68 teams, filling it with the general seed No. 1 (Auburn), another seed No. 1 (Florida) and four more among the four main seeds in their respective regions. The total was three more than the previous record, held by the Big East, when the dominant league in the country was considered.
Buzz Williams was part of that league, when he was with Marquette. Then he moved to the ACC in Virginia Tech, which never seemed much easier. But these days? Every night, Williams meets his children in Texas toANDM are in a fight.
“I think what is happening is historical.” You are trying to discover how not to define the load you feel that (every) possession can move the needle. “
So how exactly did this point arrive? How did a league known for autumn Saturdays in the south (the Iron Bowl bowl, Egg’s bowl, the “largest outdoor cocktail in the world”) became the epicenter of winters in hard wood?
A good place to start is 2016, when Greg Sankey assumed the commissioner position. The SEC only got three schools in the NCAA tournament that year, and Sankey was not willing to accept any excuse of coaches, athletics directors and administrators.
One of his first calls went to Mike Tranghese, the former Big East commissioner, who went up as a consultant. The next was for Dan Leibovitz, a former coach with NBA ties, who became an associated commissioner in charge of basketball. When Leibovitz took over Big East, Sankey brought Garth Glissman, who had been vice president of basketball for the NBA.
In other words, Sankey brought basketball minds to lead a basketball resurrection.
Then, that group convinced schools to win in football and basketball was not a proposal or a proposal. They could succeed in the two most lucrative games in the university, provided they did some seemingly simple things:
– They invested in them. More than half of the teams in the current configuration of 16 teams have created new sands or transforming renovations since Sankey was hired, and others have invested in players of players and practice facilities.
– They hired the right coaches and paid them well. The common denominator has been tracker as winning coaches, whether in other power conferences, such as Rick Barnes in Tennessee and Chris Beard in Ole Miss, or from the level of Major medium, such as Dennis Gates de Missouri, Todd Golden At Florida, Nate Oats in Alabama and the state of Mississippi Chris Jans.
– They recruited the right players, transfers and first -year students equally. Three of the largest stars in the league began elsewhere: Johni Broome de Auburn in Morehead State, Walter Clayton Jr. de Florida in Iona and Mark Sears of Alabama in Ohio. Looking towards the next season, 14 of the 16 teams in the league have at least one first year recruit of the 100 best.
The coaches have managed to navigate a new brave world of the transfer portal and the compensation of name, image and likeness in university sports, keeping their best players with adequate packages while brings to others with a robust support of former students and administrators.
“When Vandebilt wins, strengthens our connection with the university and among themselves, as ex -students and supports,” said Mark H. Carter, a businessman who recently promised a coincident gift of $ 1.5 million for school to support NIL initiatives.
“Yes, in turn, we invent in recruiting and maintaining the best of the best, we can do great things for the university,” Carter said. “When everyone is looking at Vanderbilt, the return on investment is exponential.”
On Sunday, Vanderbilt received his first offer from the NCAA tournament in eight years. The commoders also deserved it, defeating people like Seton Hall (Big East), Virginia Tech and Cal (ACC) and TCU (Big 12).
It is difficult to argue that the SEC did not deserve its 14 tournament offers when it considers that its combined teams to go 30-4 against the ACC, 14-2 against the Big 12, 10-9 against the Big Ten and 5-4 against the Big East.
“I thought it was a record rate of no conference for all the teams in our league,” said Ole Miss coach Chris Beard. “Then, when the league begins, it has been a bloodbath.
The only two SEC teams that lost the NCAA tournament were LSU and South Carolina. The Tigers beat the NCAA Arkansas and Oklahoma teams, while the Gamecocks beat the Razorbs and the classification partner of the NCAA Texas.
“There is no Alfa in this league,” said Dylan Caldwell, who helped Auburn spent eight weeks at number 1 this season. “We were, maybe five or six possessions of being the 5 seeds, you know?”
In fact, there is certainly an alpha in university basketball.
“Every game you play at this conference is an elite level game,” Kentucky Kobe Brea guard explained. “You are playing against a really good team. All your list is really good. Obviously, they are trained by good coaches.
“The SEC has just been different this year,” Brea said. “I think it has been a historical year, in reality, for any conference.”
___
Sports writers AP Teresa Walker and Mark Long contributed to this report.
___
Ap marness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/caa-mens-backet and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/mark-madness
