Monday, February 20, 2023

NCAA with Classic Conferences

Now that we are just over one year away from Texas and Oklahoma joining the SEC, I'm going to begin transitioning all my analysis of college sports back to the classic conferences of the 1980's.  I've got a spreadsheet with the old conference alignments from the early 1980's, and going forward I'm rolling with that.  For example, here is how the AP's final top 20 for college football break down by classic conference:

SEC (5):
Georgia (1)
Alabama (5)
Tennessee (6)
Louisiana St.  (16)
Mississippi St. (20)

Pac-10 (4):
Washington (8)
USC (12)
Oregon (15)
Oregon St. (17)

Big 10 (2):
Michigan (3)
Ohio St. (4)

Southwest (1):
Texas Christian (2)

Big 8 (1):
Kansas St. (14)

ACC (1):
Clemson (13)

Western Athletic (1):
Utah (10)

Independents (5):
Penn St. (7)
Tulane (9)
Florida St. (11)
Notre Dame (18)
Troy (19)

And here's the same for today's AP poll in college basketball:

SEC (2):
Alabama (2)
Tennessee (11)

Southwest (3):
Houston (1)
Texas (8)
Baylor (9)

Pac 10 (2):
UCLA (4)
Arizona (7)

Big 10 (2):
Purdue (5)
Indiana (17)

Big 8 (2):
Kansas (3)
Kansas St. (14)

Big East (2):
Connecticut (18)
Providence (20)

ACC (1):
Virginia (6)

West Coast (2):
Gonzaga (12)
Saint Mary's (15)

Missouri Valley (1):
Creighton (19)

Independents (3):
Marquette (10)
Miami (Fla. ) (13)
Xavier (16)

21 comments:

  1. By the way, what a year Alabama and Tennessee are having. They and Kansas State are the only teams in the top 20 of both big sports.

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  2. Tennessee (20-7) is tied with Texas A & M (20-7) at 31-all at halftime in College Station. Typical slugfest between two very tough teams.

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  3. With 15:39 left, A & M leads 40-39. The Aggies have 18 FT's, and Tennessee has only 7.

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  4. A & M leads 46-41 with 12:56 left, and the Vols call time. You Tee was 18-3 after it beat Texas on January 28, but the Vols have lost five of their last seven, they are trailing here, and they end the season with Arkansas at home and Auburn on the road.

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  5. The timeout doesn't work, and the Vols trail 48-41 with 12 minutes left in the game. After the commercial break, we get Jimmy's Jet.

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  6. Alabama is in first class, UT is in business class, and Mississippi State is in coach. There were a bunch of other teams in there somewhere, but they weren't SEC teams.

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  7. TAMU's lead is only 57-56 with 6:52 left, and the Aggies call time. I've watched UK play this exact same game in College Station. For most of the game, the Aggies were getting all the calls. They have 26 free throws to only 14 for the Vols. But with about 10 minutes to go, the officials stop calling any fouls, because they feel like they've done enough and they want to give UT a chance. So now the Vols are clawing their way back into the game. And since TAMU can't get to the line as easily, they are struggling to score.

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  8. Another timeout for the Aggies, who are clinging to a 59-58 lead with 4:43 left in the game. Both teams are playing with the air of desperation, which is appropriate in late February.

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  9. In the Little Apple, K-State whomped Baylor 75-65.

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  10. Aggies lead 61-58 with 3 minutes left. This game is a good example of why the SEC doesn't do very well in the NCAA Tournament. In the Tournament, you need a real offense -- you can't just bang people around and grind out low-scoring victories. Also Tennessee, like most SEC teams at this stage of the season, is suffering from injuries -- and you'd be injured too if you had to play 18 games of this craziness.

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  11. Between 1992 and 2012, the SEC played a 16-game conference schedule. In that era, Arkansas (1994), Kentucky (1996, 1998, and 2012), and Florida (2006 and 2007) won six NCAA Tournaments in 21 seasons. After 2012, the SEC went to an 18-game schedule. Since then, no SEC team has gone all the way, and only Kentucky (2014) has made the final.

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    1. The way it works now, if an SEC team reaches the final of the SEC Tournament, then it has to play at least 21 games against SEC competition. That's too many if you want to be healthy and fresh for the NCAA's.

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  12. A & M leads 62-61 with 1:44 left, and we're at the stage where we're going to get a lot of monitor reviews. One is happening now.

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  13. Tennessee misses. A & M misses. But A & M gets the offensive rebound and is fouled! The Aggies make both free throws -- they are 24-30 from the line tonight -- and the Aggies lead 64-61 with 46.6 seconds left.

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  14. Tennessee shoots a difficult three-pointer. They miss. The ball goes out of bounds, and so of course we are going back to the monitor to see who gets it.

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  15. The SEC should really ban all monitor reviews. They do too many of them, the reviews take too long, and they just aren't worth it.

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  16. The ball was originally called out on Tennessee, which would have pretty much ended the game. But now the officials have given the ball to Tennessee.

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  17. Tennessee scores a two-point basket to make the score 64-63, but A & M makes its FT's after that, and the Aggies win 68-63. TAMU got 28 of their 68 points at the line. The Aggies are now 13-2 in the SEC. Their last game of the year is at home against Alabama. If they win out, and go 16-2 with a win over Alabama, they would be the number-one seed in the SEC Tournament.

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  18. Tennessee falls to 9-6 in the SEC, and 20-8 overall, and they are 2-6 in their last eight games.

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  19. In Columbia, Mizzou beats Mississippi St. 66-64 in overtime.

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  20. Vandy goes for its sixth straight win tomorrow at LSU. If the Dores win that game, they will be 9-6, and will be tied with the Vols in the SEC Standings. I don't think anyone saw that coming.

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