SEC basketball turns from ‘lackluster’ non-conference to league play
As if solidifying a position in the next NBA Draft and maintaining a program’s status regularly proclaimed as possessing “THE GREATEST TRADITION IN COLLEGE BASKETBALL” was not burden enough, Kentucky players are also key to the Southeastern Conference’s basketball profile.
As the Big 12 stands on the shoulders of Kansas and the ACC basks in the reflected glory of Duke and North Carolina, so Kentucky fuels SEC basketball.
“I think every league has a team like that,” said Mike Tranghese, a special advisor for basketball to SEC commissioner Greg Sankey. “If that team is perceived as not being quite as good, then people will assume the league is not as good.”
Kentucky’s fall to an un-Kentucky-like No. 19 in The Associated Press’ latest poll was especially ill-timed for the SEC. With league play starting next weekend, Tennessee senior guard Lamonte Turner — a career 1,086-point scorer — announced last weekend that he won’t play again this season because of a shoulder injury.
Of the so-called Power Five conferences, the SEC has the fewest teams in the top 25: No. 8 Auburn and Kentucky. And the other four leagues have a team or teams ranked higher than Auburn.
As of Thursday, the SEC had the fewest teams in the top 25 and top 50 of the NCAA Evaluation Tool. Kentucky was No. 72.
UK looked to improve the league’s 5-11 record against ranked teams in Saturday’s game against No. 3 Louisville.
There have been, uh, unhelpful defeats: LSU to East Tennessee State, Missouri to Charleston Southern, Texas A&M to Fairfield and Vanderbilt to Liberty.
SI.com said the SEC had a “lackluster non-conference” period of the season. Stats savant Ken Pomeroy ranks the SEC fifth best: behind the Big Ten, Big 12, Big East and ACC.
There is encouraging news for SEC basketball, which is retooling after having 12 of its players picked in the 2019 NBA Draft (only the ACC, with 13, had more). Tranghese noted South Carolina’s 70-59 victory at No. 9 Virginia last weekend. And he pointed out how Florida routed Providence 83-51 four days before Providence whipped Texas 70-48.
After the victory at Virginia, South Carolina Coach Frank Martin all but asked skeptics to reassess SEC basketball. “I hope the people that never pay attention to our team because they don’t watch us, they don’t watch the SEC, stop with the nonsense that we’re not any good,” he said.
Tranghese saw a potential bonus effect for South Carolina. “Let’s say South Carolina at the end of the year is on the bubble,” he said. “That win is so huge. It’s really significant with the way the NET operates.”
Whether the intramural play of the SEC schedule can boost arguments for a NCAA Tournament bid is less clear. Pomeroy said it was unlikely that the SEC would match the seven bids to the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
For SEC teams to enhance their NCAA Tournament profile going forward, “you have to win the right games,” Tranghese said. Looking at you Auburn and Kentucky.
‘Perfect coach’
On Monday, The Sporting News named John Calipari its College Basketball Coach of the Decade.
In 10-plus seasons as UK coach, Calipari had a won-loss record of 313-74 going into the Louisville game. To put his winning percentage of 80.9 in context, Adolph Rupp won 82.4 percent of the time through his first 387 games (319-68).
When asked on his radio show Monday night about being named Coach of the Decade, Calipari turned to self-deprecation.
“That’s great, that’s great, but they had the Coach of the Week this past week, I don’t think I got that award …” he said.
Of the process of maximizing his team’s potential, Calipari said, “That Coach of Decade has not figured it out yet.”
Ohio State Coach Chris Holtmann vouched for Calipari’s superiority.
Said Holtmann: “When the Good Lord created the perfect basketball coach, it’s hard to get a whole lot more perfect than Coach Cal in terms of who he is and how he operates and his skills as a coach and a guy who can be really innovative in his thinking and who has always been on the cutting edge of a lot of stuff and who embraces all of what being the head coach at Kentucky is.”
Still a believer
Before and after his team beat Kentucky, Ohio State Coach Chris Holtmann tried to reassure UK fans near and far that the Wildcats would be good.
Of course, UK went into the Ohio State game off a loss to Utah.
“I know they lost last night, but at the end of the day (UK is) going to be one of the better teams in the country,” Holtmann said on the day after Utah’s victory.
His mother, Patty Holtmann, said earlier this month that her older son has tried to ease her concern about past Kentucky teams.
“When I say I’m worried about them or something like that, they need to get going because I’m rooting for them, he says, ‘Mom, they’re going to be fine; they’re going to be great; they’re right where they need to be,’” Patty Holtmann said.
After Ohio State defeated Kentucky, Holtmann said of UK, “I think they’re going to be fine.”
Son vs. UK
Of course, Ohio State Coach Chris Holtmann grew up in Lexington and Nicholasville. So, the Buckeyes playing Kentucky last weekend put his parents, John and Patty Holtmann, in the position of rooting for their son against the family’s favorite team.
Here’s how the coach’s father described being in T-Mobile Arena and watching Ohio State beat UK.
“It was a great game and great atmosphere,” John Holtmann wrote in a text message. “Patty and I agree: a March Madness-type game. BBN well represented, as always! Of course, as a mom and dad of Chris, we were happy with the outcome!”
All-time victories
Until beating UCLA in Las Vegas, North Carolina had last won on Nov. 29: a 78-74 victory over Oregon. That was Roy Williams’ 877th coaching victory. That moved him past Adolph Rupp into fifth place for victories by a Division I coach.
With the 878th victory coming last weekend against UCLA, Williams was within one of fourth place on the all-time list. That spot is held by UNC coaching icon Dean Smith (879 victories).
Williams will seek to tie Smith on Monday when North Carolina plays Yale.
The top three winningest coaches are Mike Krzyzewski (1,142 victories going into Duke’s game Saturday against Brown), Jim Boeheim (953 victories going into Syracuse’s game Saturday against Niagara) and Bob Knight (902).
Three-point trend
This season’s slightly longer three-point distance (from 20 feet, nine inches to 22 feet, 1 and ¾ inches) has caused a small dip in three-point shooting accuracy. Through games of Monday, Division I teams had made 33.5 percent of their three-point shots. The accuracy last season was 34.5 percent.
By the way, the six best shooting percentages came in the first six seasons in which three-point shot was in effect. The best was 38.4-percent accuracy in the initial season of 1986-87.
Why the best accuracy at the beginning? “There were far fewer threes being shot,” ESPN analyst Jay Bilas said.
Correction
Ohio State has eliminated Kentucky from the NCAA Tournament five times, not six times as previously reported. It was Ohio University that beat UK in the 1964 Mideast regional.
So, Ohio State and Marquette have eliminated Kentucky from the NCAA Tournament the most times: five each.
Happy birthday
To former Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson. He turned 78 on Friday. … To Kansas Coach Bill Self. He turned 57 on Friday. … To former Mississippi State Coach (and later UK assistant) Jim Hatfield. He turned 76 on Saturday. … To Travis Ford. He turns 50 on Sunday (today). … To Eloy Vargas. He turns 31 on Monday. … To Aminu Timberlake. He turns 47 on New Year’s Day.
