Mark Pope likes the thought of a dominant SEC in basketball. (Vicky Graff Photo)
It’s hard to imagine a time when any team could be ranked in the AP preseason top 25 and yet picked to only finish eighth in the Southeastern Conference basketball standings. It’s even harder to imagine that happening to Kentucky.
However, that’s what has happened in part because of the strength of the SEC that some college basketball analysts believe could have 11 teams make the NCAA Tournament and in part because new UK coach Mark Pope does not have a player on his roster who has ever played a game at Kentucky.
“We walked into the Big 12 last year (at BYU) for the first time and the toughest league in the country, and as things go, we get to walk into the toughest league in the country now in the SEC a year later. It’s pretty remarkable,” Pope said at SEC Media Days Tuesday.
“I think nine teams are in the top 25, and it’s 40 percent — forgive my math. It might be a little stretch. But 38 percent of the top 25 is in our conference alone. That’s pretty astonishing. It actually reminds me of when I played here 30 years ago. This league was just so dominant, and it seems like that’s where it’s posturing to be right now.”
Pope added that he “probably had more fun coaching” than ever before in the Big 12 last year because it was such a competitive league.
“Every single game you play is against a top-25 opponent. The SEC venues, per usual, Kentucky was right there at the top of attendance charts last year, but we have three teams, three venues in the top five in the country in terms of attendance. You can go on and on about this league,” Pope said.
“Right now it is a gauntlet that is to be respected and probably feared a little bit, and all of that feeds exactly into what we love with this game. We’re incredibly blessed to be here in this league when it’s so powerful and it’s so strong, and it’s really setting the standard for college basketball right now, and can’t wait to get to it.”
One Response
Gauntlets are going to be the rule with these new super conferences. The real measure of toughness will be that of seeing how many teams get in the Dance and how far they go. I think Pope’s team will go a lot farther than the talking heads say it will.
Comments are closed.