re: I know its football season, but what is wrong with SEC Basketball?

Most people also tend to like sports their team does well in.

That's why so many LSU fans love college baseball so much. Kind of like Arky and track.

Someone pointed out in another thread, I think most of the time with people like that, they don't like basketball because they can't talk shite to people about it, so they'll just put it down instead. Kind of like a guy calling a chick ugly after she won't go home from the bar with him.

I love Bama basketball and follow it religiously. I wish more of the "football conference" crowd would shut up and try watching a few games. It's like they know absolutely nothing about basketball.

I see posts saying that "Bama will suck this year just like always." Those same people probably don't even realize we're ranked in the top 15 and are projected to have a very good year. And for the record, Bama hasn't always sucked. We've had some good teams in the past. They just fell off in the later Gottfried years.

As an Arkansas fan I am disgusted at my own apathy towards basketball lately. But I am ready for us to get a big time program again. I'm gonna force myself to follow college bball this year.

Well my Aggies will help bring that up next year, as will Mizzou.

FWIW, when I was at school at A&M I probably went to about 4 BBall games in 4 years. Maybe. We sucked. The gym we played in was old. Nobody cared.

Then we finally decided to do something about it several years ago. We hired Billy Gillispie while he was an alcoholic but hadn't completely gone over the edge yet. All of a sudden we went from 0-16 in the B12 to being a Sweet 16 team. It was fun. Those guys played with heart. All of a sudden filling out tournament brackets MEANT something to me other than just filling out a sheet with a bunch of teams I knew almost nothing about hoping to hit the lottery. March Madness when your team is good is FUN. Now that we have made 7 straight NCAA's and we have built up the program to expect to win it's even more fun.

No reason the SEC shouldn't be loaded with bball schools. It just takes money. Buy a coach and build facilities. The only other difficulty might be a cultural shift at the HS level in the South. About 15 years ago in Texas the kids in HS stopped focusing exclusively on football and started playing bball as well and now Texas is a serious recruiting hotbed for both sports and you have multiple Texas teams with quality bball programs. Bball makes money for the school as well so if you aren't maximizing it you are just throwing away cash. It's not football money but it is good money. Florida seems to be the only big football school in the SEC that has figured this out and became a basketball power. If nothing else it gives you something interesting to cheer for from December through March besides a bowl game. It also brings tons of recognition to your school, ESPN loves college basketball.

It seems like the SEC has been successful in spite of itself in basketball but it could dominate if it chooses to. Football and baseball are already dominated by the SEC so why not just add basketball as well? Make the SEC become the epicenter of all college sports. BTW, with A&M added you now have 2 serious powerhouse Women's programs as well with the Aggies and Tennessee. I never thought I would give a damn about Women's bball but it is getting to be a pretty big sport and it's also fun to win.

In terms of national advertising, it goes...

Football >> Basketball >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Baseball >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Title IX sports


March Madness and having a good Basketball program does do wonders for a schools marketability. However, being in the South (and Texas) Football gets you the bragging rights.

SEC will jump from 4th-5th best RPI major Basketball conference to 2nd-3rd with the addition of A&M and Mizzou. Guarantee it.

Most likely we beat Florida at home and lose to Kentucky on the road.

Its nowhere near a lock that we win this tourney though. There are some good teams in it.

It's possible to be a football and basketball school (UF 2006-07 ). Georgia has no reason to not have a great basketball team. In fact, Georgia could be one of the best athletic programs in the nation and I think it'll happen with their AD.