Team Tampa Bay's Take: THE RISE OF SEC BASKETBALL

By Joey Johnston

When Greg Sankey became SEC commissioner in 2015, his initial concern was about the league’s underachieving men’s basketball teams. Only 14 NCAA Tournament bids in a four-season span? Not good enough.

Sankey is a former basketball coach. Perhaps appropriately, he’s also an avid marathon runner. So the SEC implemented a methodical long game — proper appropriation of resources, careful coaching hires, sharp marketing, relentless recruiting — and that steady, productive pace has worked to produce a memorable 2021-22 season.

With the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament set for March 9-13 at Tampa’s Amalie Arena, the league has continually flexed its muscles. Five teams are in the top 25 — with Auburn (5th) and Kentucky (7th) having spent time in the top five — and seven different SEC squads were ranked overall this season. The SEC, which won its annual challenge series against the Big 12, has a realistic opportunity at seven bids in the NCAA’s 68-team field.

Not long after Sankey’s conference developed an intentional plan to improve the foundation of SEC men’s basketball, the league earned eight NCAA bids in 2018.

It went to seven bids in 2019, then six last season (after COVID-19 caused the cancellation of the 2020 event).

The SEC has long been a football colossus, capturing 12 of the last 16 national championships in the BCS/College Football Playoff era. Indeed, three of the national-title games in the past decade were SEC vs. SEC showdown affairs.

No one can deny that SEC football is king.

At the same time, SEC men’s basketball has clearly been made into a conference-wide priority. The league’s coaches are delighted with the progress. Their needs have been heard.

“The SEC is the best intercollegiate conference in America,’’ Auburn men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl said. “We have the greatest success in everything — men’s sports, women’s sports. Why not men’s basketball? We appreciate the commitment of our conference.’’

Fans accustomed to the sights and sounds of SEC football — when stadiums can swell to the size of small cities — shouldn’t underestimate the conference’s men’s basketball heritage. It is substantial.

When the SEC got two teams into the 1994 Men’s Final Four (Arkansas and Florida) at the Charlotte Coliseum, then-Commissioner Roy Kramer was holding court on the sport’s unpredicted success.

Kramer turned to a reporter and said with a wry smile, “We believe we’ve always had strong basketball programs. You know, I wish more people would realize we play a pretty good brand of football, too.’’

Kramer’s humorous point was well-taken. It was a moment for SEC men’s basketball — too often perceived as “Kentucky … and everybody else’’ — to bask in the spotlight.

Kentucky’s blue-blood reputation has been hard-earned and well-deserved. The Wildcats have eight national-championship banners hanging at Rupp Arena — won by five different head coaches (John Calipari, Tubby Smith, Rick Pitino, Joe B. Hall and Adolph Rupp) — and their legendary group of passionate followers will undoubtedly make the trek to Tampa.

But there’s more to the strength of SEC men’s basketball.

A lot more.

* When Billy Donovan’s Florida Gators won national championships in 2006 and 2007, they joined Mike Krzyzewski’s Duke Blue Devils (1991 and 1992) as the only other men’s basketball program that went back-to-back since John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins won seven straight from 1967-73.

* The Arkansas Razorbacks — and their “40 Minutes of Hell’’ defense — were a compelling force during their 1994 and 1995 run (one national title, one runner-up finish). Who can forget Scottie Thurman’s rainbow 3-pointer that shot down Duke?

* Georgia’s Dominique Wilkins — leader of the early 1980s era “Dogs of Dunk’’ — remains one of the finest athletes ever to grace the hardwood. Many of his highlight-reel moves would fit nicely into today’s high-flying game.

* Can you visualize the furor if Auburn’s Charles Barkley had performed during the social-media age? As it was, the “Round Mound of Rebound’’ (circa 1981-84) was a physical marvel, always quick with a thunderous end-to-end dribble drive or, afterward, an outrageously funny statement. That personality and presence has translated well to Barkley’s current tenure as an NBA broadcaster.

* And speaking of physical marvels, the basketball world was hardly prepared for LSU’s Shaquille O’Neal (7-foot-1, 325 pounds) when he emerged as a college sensation from 1989-92. In just three seasons, he had 1,941 points and 1,217 rebounds before becoming the NBA Draft’s No. 1 pick and winning four world championships.

* It’s hard to imagine anyone eclipsing Shaq’s legendary status at LSU. Then again, Pete Maravich’s LSU accomplishments have defied everyone’s imagination for more than a half-century. The Pistol was the subject of four different documentaries, yet his mystique remains as powerful and unexplainable as ever. Complimenting an array of eye-popping ball-handling moves and flashy passing instincts, Maravich remains the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer with 3,667 points and a 44.2-point average (in just three seasons from 1967-70 because freshmen were then ineligible). Former LSU coach Dale Brown claimed to have charted every LSU shot ever attempted by Maravich — and had the 3-point line existed, he said the Pistol would have averaged 57 points per game.

All of that — and more — is part of the conference’s legend and lore. SEC football undoubtedly ranks among the most big-time experiences in American sports, but don’t sleep on men’s basketball. After the SEC’s riveting regular season, it’s time to crown a champion.

For more on the surging state of SEC basketball, check out the latest installment, which unfolds next week at Amalie Arena. It’s a show you won’t want to miss.