re: Where Would Kentucky be Without the SEC?

It really difficult to be both a football and basketball school.

It took forever for the AD to commit to football. It's no coincidence that all it's taken for Stoops to get back to a bowl is to dip into Ohio for a few classes either.

And for what it's worth, Kentucky had some very good teams in the late 70s but got caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

My mom went to UK and is from a small town in the Bluegrass where we still have an old family house, so I've spent a lot of time in the state and Lexington. It's a unique place and a ton of fun to visit. Keeneland is awesome and the Red Mile is cool too.

As for football, they don't have much talent in KY high schools and have smartly been dipping into Ohio with Vince Marrow recently. They've gotten a number of 4-stars/high 3's out of the state but tOSU and Michigan are going to be dominant there. Outside of Ohio, the Midwest is weak in HS football talent anyways. WV doesn't produce much at all and the smallish number that Tennessee produces goes to UT or, ahem, Clemson.

That said, in baseball, they are recruiting the Midwest and Canada very well. HS baseball talent is better in say, Minnesota, than the football talent is. It helps that the Big Ten is miserable in baseball and a lot of these Midwestern kids want to play in the SEC/ACC but not travel 20 hours to Baton Rouge or Starkville. U of L baseball is doing the same thing. Of course, both schools recruit FL/GA for both sports as well.