re: Alabama in top 3 sports

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We have been historically competitive, upper echelon in the SEC programs in basketball and baseball.

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This is what I'm talking about. Bama fans constantly spew these types of things when the facts don't back it up. Bama is not "upper echelon" in the SEC in either of those sports.

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Basketball - #5-8 (behind Kentucky, Florida, Arkansas, LSU; in a grouping with Tennessee, Missouri)

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Okay. This is about right. But since when does being somewhere around #6 or #7 in a 14-team league make you "upper echelon" ?

As for basketball, Kentucky is obviously way out from at #1 all-time.
Arkansas and Florida follow up in the #2 and #3 spots. Arkansas has had fewer hard times than Florida, but Florida has one more national title. I'd probably go with the Hogs at #2 but I could understand Florida fans claiming the #2 spot.

LSU is clearly #4 in the SEC, with 21 trips to the NCAA Tournament and four Final 4 appearances.

Missouri is clearly #5. With 25 NCAA Tournament appearances, that gives them 4 more than even LSU. But Mizzou lacks a Final Four. They do have four trips to the Elite 8 though.

As for #6, its pretty much a tie between Alabama and Tennessee. They have the same number of trips to the Elite 8 and the Sweet 16. Tennessee has one more NCAA tournament bid. Because of that, I'd probably put the Vols #6 and Bama #7, but we're talking razor-thin separation here.

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Baseball - #4-8 (behind Florida, LSU, South Carolina; in a grouping with Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, Ole Miss)

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There's a pretty big difference between #4 and #8 in a 14-team league.

LSU is obviously #1.
South Carolina is obviously #2.

Those two programs have the most trips to Omaha, and they are the only two programs with multiple National Titles.

Florida and Mississippi State are certainly #s 3 and 4. They each have 9 trips to the CWS.

Georgia, Missouri, and Arkansas would be next in line. Georgia and Mizzou each have 6 CWS appearances and a National Title. Arkansas has 8 trips to Omaha but lacks a National Title.

This puts Bama at best #8, but I think with a National Title under their belt, a strong argument can be made that Vandy has passed Bama as well. So that drops Bama to #9.

I have a very hard time seeing how you can claim that Bama is "upper echelon" in the SEC in both basketball and baseball when Bama probably ranks #7 and #9 all-time in the league in those two sports. There are just 14 teams. How is being #7 or #9 "upper echelon" ?