In 1968 the SEC was ascending…in basketball
From SI.com: “Down among the bayous, everglades and peach trees, football was the religion and people like Bear Bryant and Bobby Dodd were the prophets. Today that has changed and, while the SEC is still one of the best football conferences, it also just might be the best basketball conference.
LSU's Pete Maravich, only a sophomore, is the leading scorer in the country. Florida's Neal Walk, a 6'10" junior, may be—next to Houston's Elvin Hayes—the nation's best combination scorer-rebounder. A college marketing professor in Dayton has figured out that Mississippi, Florida, Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Tennessee have played the five toughest schedules in the U.S., and the latter four schools, plus Alabama and LSU, have lost a total of only six non-conference games.
"I think the balance in our league is the best it ever has been and as good as any in the country right now," said Florida Coach Tommy Bartlett. "For example, Vanderbilt has beaten clubs like North Carolina and Duke, which are one-two in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and Davidson, which is No. 1 in the Southern. Still, Vanderbilt is only No. 4 in our league right now [that changed last Saturday when the Commodores beat defending champ Tennessee in Nashville].
"We are the only league in the country that has three teams [Kentucky, Tennessee and Vandy] in the Top Ten...and they have been there almost all season long. The only reason they ever drop in rating is that they are beaten by another SEC team."
The man most responsible for the SEC's improvement is the Baron of the Bluegrass himself, Rupp. His winning teams finally forced the other schools to improve. As Georgia Coach Ken Rosemond, who has brought winning basketball to a school that had 16 straight losing seasons before this one, points out, "Following Kentucky's lead, the part-time coaches who were physical ed instructors and assistant football coaches had to be replaced by basketball men, men like Rupp. New arenas then had to be built to finance the recruiting necessary to keep the pace, and then recruiting had to be emphasized to justify the big arenas."
But it took the SEC a long time to wake up. While it dozed between football seasons, Rupp built up a backlog of wins that helped him to become the most successful coach in basketball history.”
From SI.com: “Down among the bayous, everglades and peach trees, football was the religion and people like Bear Bryant and Bobby Dodd were the prophets. Today that has changed and, while the SEC is still one of the best football conferences, it also just might be the best basketball conference.
LSU's Pete Maravich, only a sophomore, is the leading scorer in the country. Florida's Neal Walk, a 6'10" junior, may be—next to Houston's Elvin Hayes—the nation's best combination scorer-rebounder. A college marketing professor in Dayton has figured out that Mississippi, Florida, Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Tennessee have played the five toughest schedules in the U.S., and the latter four schools, plus Alabama and LSU, have lost a total of only six non-conference games.
"I think the balance in our league is the best it ever has been and as good as any in the country right now," said Florida Coach Tommy Bartlett. "For example, Vanderbilt has beaten clubs like North Carolina and Duke, which are one-two in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and Davidson, which is No. 1 in the Southern. Still, Vanderbilt is only No. 4 in our league right now [that changed last Saturday when the Commodores beat defending champ Tennessee in Nashville].
"We are the only league in the country that has three teams [Kentucky, Tennessee and Vandy] in the Top Ten...and they have been there almost all season long. The only reason they ever drop in rating is that they are beaten by another SEC team."
The man most responsible for the SEC's improvement is the Baron of the Bluegrass himself, Rupp. His winning teams finally forced the other schools to improve. As Georgia Coach Ken Rosemond, who has brought winning basketball to a school that had 16 straight losing seasons before this one, points out, "Following Kentucky's lead, the part-time coaches who were physical ed instructors and assistant football coaches had to be replaced by basketball men, men like Rupp. New arenas then had to be built to finance the recruiting necessary to keep the pace, and then recruiting had to be emphasized to justify the big arenas."
But it took the SEC a long time to wake up. While it dozed between football seasons, Rupp built up a backlog of wins that helped him to become the most successful coach in basketball history.”
