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Rivals article - Ranking the most attractive SEC Men's Basketball jobs in 2020
Posted on 9/18/20 at 7:25 pm
Posted on 9/18/20 at 7:25 pm
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This week in Dan McDonald’s series of ranking the best basketball jobs by conference, he takes a look at how the jobs in the SEC stack up. If every job in the conference were to open up today, how would he rank them in order of the most attractive to the top candidates?
1. Kentucky:
I can’t imagine anyone will argue with this one. Winning tradition, fan support, resources, great facilities and the ability to recruit coast to coast because of the brand of Kentucky basketball. Not many schools get a home-court advantage with fans on the road in the majority of their conference games like Kentucky does. The one negative -- the expectation is to win the national championship every year, something UK has done just once in the last 21 years.
2. Florida:
Billy Donovan set the standard for what the Florida job can look like. National championships, Final Fours, Elite Eights, and dominance in the SEC. It’s in a state loaded with talent and Florida is one of the few schools in the SEC that can regularly attract players from outside the SEC footprint as well.
3. Tennessee
Every coach at Tennessee seems to win. Bruce Pearl had it rocking before NCAA issues took him down. Cuonzo Martin made it to an Elite Eight. And now Rick Barnes has the Vols at the top of the SEC regularly and recruiting top five classes. There aren’t many truly passionate basketball fan bases in the SEC, but the Vols have one of them as they pack Thompson-Boling Arena even in the down years like this past season.
4. Arkansas
Arkansas is probably the only school in the SEC outside of Kentucky where the fan base supports its basketball program more than the football program. There is a history of winning in Fayetteville that goes back to Nolan Richardson’s incredible run. It’s not in a state that pumps out as much talent as some of the other SEC states, but the ones that do come out of there tend to be pretty loyal to the Razorbacks. You can also go into Texas and get good players.
5. LSU:
Like Arkansas, players that come out of Louisiana, and there are some good ones regularly, tend to give the Tigers the first crack at winning them over. It’s also within striking distance of really good talent in Texas. The program has been to four Final Fours and gets pretty good fan support. From making calls around on this job, facilities came up as an issue. All in all, this is one of the better SEC jobs.
6. Alabama:
I’m probably higher on this job than others, but I really think it’s a very good job. The state puts out a pretty good amount of Rivals150 talent and those kids are very loyal to the Crimson Tide. You are within striking distance of metro Atlanta and a stone’s throw from good players in Florida. The brand of the football program can be tricky as it gets the “football school” label that other SEC schools also deal with, but it can also open up doors to certain prospects and makes for a great official visit weekend.
7. Missouri
Missouri is the toughest job to rank in the SEC. It’s a bit of misfit in the league as it feels like a Big 12 job with more natural rivals there. That being said, there is some winning tradition there, fan support and great facilities. You can go any direction from campus and attract some really good players.
8. Georgia
Along with Texas A&M, has the best in-state recruiting base in the SEC. The problem here is it’s always been really tough for the Bulldogs to consistently sign that talent as prospects from metro Atlanta aren’t as loyal to the in-state school as you see in other SEC states. Sustained success has been hard to come by, but it does feel like a job with a high ceiling
9. Auburn:
If Missouri was the toughest one to rank, Auburn comes right behind it. The question becomes how much of Auburn’s success in recent years is because of Bruce Pearl being a great coach and recruiter, and how much of it is Auburn becoming a better job in the past decade? The truth is probably somewhere in between. The Tigers get one of the best home-court advantages in the league in one of the best arenas. In recent years, Auburn has benefitted in a big way from recruiting in Georgia. Could a new coach come in today and sustain this success? It would be fascinating to watch that play out.
10. Texas A&M:
I could copy and paste almost verbatim what I mentioned about the Georgia job. Great in-state talent and resources, but success on a consistent basis has been elusive and it’s viewed as a “football school”. So why is it two spots lower than Georgia? Recruiting in Texas is really complicated. There are multiple major metro areas and a plethora of high major programs in the state trying to take ownership of the region. Buzz Williams is the kind of coach that could tap into that talent and make this ranking look silly in a few years.
11. South Carolina:
The Gamecocks have a great arena and campus, and a fan base and administration that supports the program. Outside of the run to the Final Four a few years back, success has been elusive. It’s not in a great state for producing talent, but on the flip side, they can be tough to beat for some of the top talent that comes out of there such as Sindarius Thornwell or P.J. Dozier.
12. Ole Miss:
Ole Miss has one of the best campuses in the SEC and now one of the best arenas in the league. It’s just not in a state that pumps out a ton of talent and the closest city that does, Memphis, can be a tough place to win big recruiting battles. There just isn’t a history of winning and not a ton of fan support.
13. Mississippi St:
It shares a lot of similarities with Ole Miss except the campus and town aren’t as nice and they don’t have the new arena. The Bulldogs do have a better history of winning and signing top players, though.
14. Vanderbilt:
Nashville is a great city. The academic reputation is by far the best in the league. You have a unique home-court advantage with the bench setup. In recent years though, the athletic department has had a ton of issues and the basketball program has struggled on the court. The profile of the program just isn’t the same right now to attract top talent, and you’re already recruiting from a smaller pool with the academic restrictions.
Thoughts?
imo Vanderbilt & State too low & AU too high
This post was edited on 9/19/20 at 8:57 am
Posted on 9/18/20 at 7:27 pm to Thumpa15
Hard to argue, clear top 3 this millennium
Posted on 9/18/20 at 7:30 pm to Thumpa15
Wimp Sanderson 2.0 aka "Mr. Swag" himself, Nate Oats bout to push Bama up the rankings on this list.. BIG TIME!!
Give him 2-3 years and we'll be kicking Kentucky's arse around the moon..
Give him 2-3 years and we'll be kicking Kentucky's arse around the moon..
This post was edited on 9/18/20 at 7:39 pm
Posted on 9/18/20 at 7:34 pm to Thumpa15
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LSU
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gets pretty good fan support
Posted on 9/18/20 at 7:38 pm to Thumpa15
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A&M it’s viewed as a “football school”
Imagine being number 10 on this list and being called a "football school" and then realizing you are probably number 10 on the football list too.
Posted on 9/18/20 at 8:00 pm to Thumpa15
Surprised A&M is that high. Historically we have been awful.
Posted on 9/18/20 at 8:12 pm to Thumpa15
quote:
6. Alabama:
Nothing to debate here.
Posted on 9/18/20 at 8:24 pm to Gary Busey
Georgia is waaay too high.
Posted on 9/18/20 at 9:37 pm to Peter Venkman
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Georgia
Almost every school behind UGA should be ahead them in the rankings imo
Posted on 9/18/20 at 9:56 pm to Thumpa15
NC teams then final 4 teams. Everyone else is lulz.
Posted on 9/18/20 at 10:39 pm to Thumpa15
Retarded is the best way to describe many of these.
Posted on 9/18/20 at 11:35 pm to Thumpa15
I'm pissed off at how bad State is atm. But I can't disagree. Ecspecially with where we were 10 years ago. Easily a top half program with fan support, results, and identity.
The dump is due to a combination of bad decision making by Greg Byrne, Scott Stricklin, and MSU Boosters. The perfect storm to completely wreck it into irrelevancy.
But quite frankly I don't see a realistic way for MSU to pop back up because it doesn't matter what MSU does now, the basketball fans are too negative even when positive accomplishments had been the case. Which meant there was no support to build on success. It's completely dumb. But I don't think they get it.
ETA: I didn't read this list And thought it was a rn list. But then I saw Auburn at 10 and Alabama at 6 and didn't realize how stupid this list is. Historically State is still a top half when it comes to conference Championships so this is stupid.
The dump is due to a combination of bad decision making by Greg Byrne, Scott Stricklin, and MSU Boosters. The perfect storm to completely wreck it into irrelevancy.
But quite frankly I don't see a realistic way for MSU to pop back up because it doesn't matter what MSU does now, the basketball fans are too negative even when positive accomplishments had been the case. Which meant there was no support to build on success. It's completely dumb. But I don't think they get it.
ETA: I didn't read this list And thought it was a rn list. But then I saw Auburn at 10 and Alabama at 6 and didn't realize how stupid this list is. Historically State is still a top half when it comes to conference Championships so this is stupid.
This post was edited on 9/18/20 at 11:37 pm
Posted on 9/18/20 at 11:42 pm to Thumpa15
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Tennessee
quote:
Cuonzo Martin made it to an Elite Eight
No he didn’t. Made it to the Sweet 16 before losing to Michigan. Obviously a lot of research went into this article.
Posted on 9/18/20 at 11:50 pm to Thumpa15
A&M is a women's basketball school
Posted on 9/19/20 at 12:23 am to Thumpa15
Football season hasn’t even started yet. Who the hell cares about basketball right now?
Posted on 9/19/20 at 12:29 am to Thumpa15
Just as far as job is concerned, my personal opinion:
Kentucky
Tennessee
Arkansas
Florida
LSU
Alabama
Missouri
South Carolina
Texas A&M
Mississippi State
Auburn
Vanderbilt
Georgia
Ole Miss
Kentucky
Tennessee
Arkansas
Florida
LSU
Alabama
Missouri
South Carolina
Texas A&M
Mississippi State
Auburn
Vanderbilt
Georgia
Ole Miss
Posted on 9/19/20 at 12:35 am to Thumpa15
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Arkansas is probably the only school in the SEC outside of Kentucky where the fan base supports its basketball program more than the football program.
Wrong
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There is a history of winning in Fayetteville that goes back to Nolan Richardson’s incredible run
Let me get this straight. Arkansas supports basketball more than football, but our winning history only goes back to Nolan? I guess those 3 Final Fours before Nolan don't count? I guess Coach Sutton does not count?
This guy doesn't know Arkansas.
Posted on 9/19/20 at 12:51 am to Thumpa15
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Mississippi St: It shares a lot of similarities with Ole Miss except the campus and town aren’t as nice and they don’t have the new arena.
Damnnnnnnn
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