law unforcement

Some of you guys are awfully defensive over a coach who has never built a consistent winner.

In any case, the SEC has scheduling issues with so many teams now in the conference. Arkansas was the big schedule winner this year; Florida the big loser. It would be interesting to hear Billy Donovan's thoughts on the matter.

Each SEC team plays 18 conference games during the regular season. They play five teams two times and the others once. Which teams they play twice and which teams they play once can have a major influence on the end of season standings and the subsequent conference tourney seeds.

This season the standings can be broken down into 3 tiers. There is Kentucky alone at the top. There is a large middle with eight teams, the bookends being Arkansas and Florida – the teams with the easiest and toughest conference schedules, respectively. And then there's the bottom five.


------------------------------------------- # of teams played twice in top 9. -------------------------- # of teams played twice in bottom 5.


1) Kentucky (18-0) -------------------------------- 3 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2

2) Arkansas (13-5) -------------------------------- 1 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 easy street
3) LSU (11-7) ---------------------------------------- 3 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2
3) Texas A&M (11-7) ------------------------------ 3 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2
3) Georgia (11-7) ----------------------------------- 3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 2
3) Ole Miss (11-7) --------------------------------- 4 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1
7) Vanderbilt (9-9) --------------------------------- 3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 2
8) Alabama (8-10) --------------------------------- 3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 2
8) Florida (8-10) ---------------------------------- 5 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 0 got the shaft

10) Tennessee (7-11) ---------------------------- 3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2
11) South Carolina (6-12) ----------------------- 4 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 1
11) Mississippi St (6-12) ----------------------- 3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2
13) Auburn (4-14) ---------------------------------- 4 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 1
14) Missouri (3-15)--------------------------------- 3 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 2

As can be seen in the table, Arkansas played only 1 team twice (Ole Miss) that was among the top 9 teams in the conference. Every other team played at least 3 of the top nine teams twice.

Arkansas played 4 teams twice (South Carolina, Miss St, Mizzou, Tennessee) which were among the bottom 5 teams in the conference. No other team played more than 2 of the bottom 5 teams.

Florida, on the other hand, is at the opposite extreme. Of the other 8 teams which finished among the top 9 the Gators played 5 of them twice (LSU, Ole Miss, Vandy, Kentucky, Texas A&M). They played none of the bottom 5 teams twice.

Conference champion Kentucky was 18-0. Eighth/ninth place teams Alabama and Florida finished 8-10. Though second in the final standings, at 13-5 with 11 games decided by 6 points or less, Arkansas finished closer to ninth than to first.

Seven of the 18 games that conference champion Kentucky played during the regular season were closer than either of their two games (counting the one in the SEC tourney) vs Arkansas, further evidence that Arkansas was hardly the second best team in the conference.

The good fortune Arkansas enjoyed was not limited to the conference schedule either. For instance, the SMU victory in Dallas over a team that would go on to win its conference looks like an excellent win --- on paper. What the score doesn't show about this game early in the season is that SMU had two players out (and a third that never made it to campus).

Unfortunately, Razorback basketball futures look like a good short next year. Expectations will be high based on this year's deceptive record. The team could be better yet have a worse record because of all the breaks they received this season. And they'll still be missing the single most important ingredient to success: a top coach.

Mike Anderson had one good year at UAB out of four and one good year at Missouri out of five. Nine seasons and only two good ones, with one tie for a conference title, hardly defines success.

This year's Arkansas team only played 1 of the other top nine teams in the conference twice. Every other team played at least three of the top 9 twice.

Meanwhile, Arkansas played 4 of the five bottom teams twice. No other team played more than 2 of the bottom five twice.

With that schedule and only having to play Kentucky once, a good coach would've had the Hogs contending for the title.

Middle of the pack coach gets middle of the pack results. This year's underachievement was glossed over by the relatively lightweight schedule.

It is what it is.

Put money on it. It'll get interesting.