College Baseball Update

Today in Bracket Two, we have the following matchups:

Texas v. Alabama

Oklahoma v. Georgia

And I just want to comment that at my age, I will never accept Texas and Oklahoma as members of the Southeastern Conference.

College Baseball Update

There was no late drama last night.  USC pasted A & M 7-1, while Auburn buried Richie Cunningham's old school 8-3.  So the Super Regionals look like this (home team listed first):

BRACKET ONE:

(16) W. Virginia v. Cal Poly

Troy v. Ark-Little Rock

(5) N. Carolina v. So. California

(4) Auburn v. Mississippi

BRACKET TWO:

(15) Kansas v. Oklahoma

(7) Alabama v. St. John's

(6) Texas v. (11) Oregon

(3) Georgia v. (14) Mississippi St.

We have two all-SEC matchups and an all-Big 8 matchup.  We also get to watch at least two games in Troy, Alabama and two more in Morgantown, West Virginia.  I'm really looking forward to this.

Pope v. Alabama

Since coming to Alabama, Nate Oats has a record of 7-4 against Kentucky.  He went 3-4 against Calipari, and he is now 4-0 against Mark Pope.  Here are the four games against Mark Pope:

01/18/2025:  Kentucky 97 - 102 Alabama

02/22/2025:  Alabama 96 - 83 Kentucky

03/14/2025:  Alabama 99 - 70 Kentucky (Nashville, Tenn.) (SEC Quarterfinals)

01/03/2026:  Alabama 89 - 74 Kentucky

Fortunately, the Cats won't have to play Alabama again this season, unless they meet in a post-season tournament.

Championship Saturday

A few years ago, the folks at the University of Kentucky decided to destroy their basketball program, and they are now well on their way to accomplishing that goal.  But college basketball continues, and (unless you're a Kentucky fan) it looks like we're in for a great season.  Today the Dukies went into East Lansing and beat Michigan State -- as they pretty much always do.  (Izzo is 3-14 against the Dukies).  That 66-60 defeat was Sparty's first of the year, and they drop to 11th on Ken Pom.  Duke is at Number 4.  (UK is now down to 20, so they still have a long way to fall before they reach their proper level).

Now we have a game from Indianapolis, where U of L is pounding Indiana 13-0.  It's a nice bounce back for the Cardinals, who lost at Arkansas earlier in the week.  It's worrying for the Hoosiers, who had been 7-0 before they lost at Minnesota on Wednesday night.  On the whole, it seems likely that we'll see a lot of long faces when IU rolls into Lexington next Saturday.

Meanwhile, Western Kentucky is 5-2 after their trip to the Bahamas, and they will be playing the Evansville Purple Aces in Bowling Green today in the Battle of Eric.  That game tips off at 3 P.M. Central, apparently because the Hilltoppers want to make certain that only folks willing to miss the SEC Football Championship will watch.

And that brings us to the main business of the day, deciding the remaining Conference Championships in football.  So far, in the Big XII, Texas Tech is beating BYU 31-7 with seven minutes.  That would be a huge outcome for Alabama, who would probably need to win the SEC Championship to make the playoffs if BYU gets an automatic bid by beating Texas Tech.  

The SEC Championship kicks off at 3 P.M. Central, followed by the Big Ten Championship (Ohio State v. IU) at 7 P.M. Central.  That game is also in Indianapolis, and it occurs to me that there must be a lot of IU fans at the basketball game who have tickets for the showdown with the Buckeyes tonight.  I'd like to say that I'll feel bad for IU fans if they get swept by U of L and OSU, but knowing me I probably won't.  For the record, OSU leads its series with IU 80-12-5, and the Buckeyes have beaten Indiana fourteen times in a row.

Alabama leads the all-time series with Georgia 45-26-4.  Since Nick Saban arrived in Tuscaloosa, this has been one of the most intense rivalries in America.  Alabama has won 10 of the last 11, but most of them have been very close, and Georgia got a huge win to capture the 2021 National Championship.

 (Home teams listed first unless otherwise noted):

09/22/07:  Alabama 23 - 26 Georgia

09/27/08:  Georgia 30 - 41 Alabama

12/01/12:  Alabama 32 - 28 Georgia (Atlanta) (SEC Championship Game)

10/03/15:  Georgia 10 - 38 Alabama

01/08/18:  Georgia 23 - 26 Alabama (OT) (Atlanta) (NCAA Championship Game)   

12/01/18:  Alabama 35 - 28 Georgia (SEC Championship Game)

10/17/20:  Alabama 41 - 24 Georgia

12/04/21:  Georgia 24 - 41 Alabama (Atlanta) (SEC Championship Game)

01/10/22:  Alabama 18 - 33 Georgia (Indianapolis, Ind.) (NCAA Championship Game)

12/02/23:  Alabama 27 - 24 Georgia (Atlanta) (SEC Championship Game)

09/28/24:  Alabama 41 - 34 Georgia

09/27/25:  Georgia 21 - 24 Alabama

Alabama won the National Championship in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, and 2020.  Georgia won the National Championship in 2021 and 2022.  But the last two titles have gone to Michigan (2023) and Ohio State (2024).

Vegas likes Georgia to win by 2 1/2 points with a total over/under of 48 1/2.  That would work out to something like a 26-23 win for the Dawgs.

Vegas likes Ohio State to win by 4 with a total over/under of 46 1/2.  That would work out to something like a 25-21 win for the Buckeyes.  Personally, I will be stunned if the Hoosiers are within 10 points of OSU when this game ends.

One final point.  Today, in West Lafayette, the Purdue Boilermakers (who had been ranked Number One in Men's Basketball by the AP), were CRUSHED 81-58 by the Iowa State Cyclones, who are coached by T.J. Otzelberger.  The Cyclones are now 9-0, with wins over St. John's and Purdue, and they are ranked number two on Ken Pom.

The Greatest Football Coach in the History of the South

Here are the records of two Alabama coaches.  It's close, but there's a clear difference:

2007-2023:  Nick Saban:  Overall record 206-29 (.877)  Conference record 120-18 (.870).  Six AP national titles (2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2020).

1958-1982:  Bear Bryant:  Overall record 205-42-9 (.818)  Conference record 125-25-5 (.823).  Five AP national titles (1961, 1964, 1965, 1978, 1979)

The Alabama folks are going to miss Nick Saban a lot.

Classic SEC Matchups: Football

Here are the matchups from the Classic SEC.  Matchups that have been played 100 times or more are in bold:

Alabama v. Auburn:  50-37-1

Alabama v. Florida:  27-14-0

Alabama v. Georgia:  43-26-4

Alabama v. Kentucky:  39-2-1

Alabama v. LSU:  56-27-5

Alabama v. Mississippi:  55-10-2

Alabama v. Mississippi St:  86-18-3

Alabama v. Tennessee:  59-39-7

Alabama v. Vanderbilt:  60-19-4

Auburn v. Florida:  43-39-2

Auburn v. Georgia:  56-64-8

Auburn v. Kentucky:  27-6-1

Auburn v. LSU:  24-33-1

Auburn v. Mississippi:  35-12-0

Auburn v. Mississippi St:  66-29-2

Auburn v. Tennessee:  29-22-3

Auburn v. Vanderbilt:  22-21-1

Florida v. Georgia:  44-55-2

Florida v. Kentucky:  53-21-0

Florida v. LSU:  33-34-3

Florida v. Mississippi:  12-12-1

Florida v. Mississippi St:  34-19-2

Florida v. Tennessee:  32-21-0

Florida v. Vanderbilt:  44-11-2

Georgia v. Kentucky:  63-12-2

Georgia v. LSU:  14-18-1

Georgia v.  Mississippi:  33-12-1

Georgia v. Mississippi St:  20-6-0

Georgia v. Tennessee:  28-23-2

Georgia v. Vanderbilt:  61-20-2

Kentucky v. LSU:  17-40-1

Kentucky v. Mississippi:  14-29-1

Kentucky v. Mississippi St:  26-25-0

Kentucky v. Tennessee:  26-84-9

Kentucky v. Vanderbilt:  49-43-4

LSU v. Mississippi:  65-42-4

LSU v. Mississippi St:  78-36-3

LSU v. Tennessee:  10-21-3

LSU v. Vanderbilt:  24-7-1

Mississippi v. Mississippi St:  65-47-6

Mississippi v. Tennessee:  20-44-1

Mississippi v. Vanderbilt:  54-40-2

Mississippi St. v. Tennessee:  16-29-1

Mississippi St. v. Vanderbilt:  15-7-2

Tennessee v. Vanderbilt:  80-33-5

Willie Mays, Requiescat in Pace

Wins Above Replacement, all-time:

1.  Babe Ruth:  182.6

2.  Walter Johnson:  166.9

3.  Cy Young:  163.6

4.  Barry Bonds:  162.8

5.  Willie Mays:  156.2

6.  Ty Cobb:  151.5

7.  Henry Aaron:  143.1

8.  Roger Clemens:  139.2

9.  Tris Speaker:  134.9

10.  Honus Wagner:  131.0

Wins Above Replacement for players whose careers began after 1946:

1.  Barry Bonds:  162.8

2.  Willie Mays:  156.2

3.  Henry Aaron:  143.1

4.  Roger Clemens:  139.2

5.  Alex Rodriguez:  117.6

6.  Rickey Henderson:  111.1

7.  Mickey Mantle:  110.2

8.  Tom Seaver:  109.9

9.  Frank Robinson:  107.2

10.  Mike Schmidt:  106.9

11.  Greg Maddux:  106.6

12.  Albert Pujols:  101.4

13.  Randy Johnson:  101.1

14.  Joe Morgan:  100.6

15.  Carl Yastrzemski:  96.5

T16.  Eddie Mathews:  95.9

T16.  Phil Niekro:  95.9

T16.  Cal Ripken, Jr.:  95.9

19.  Roberto Clemente:  94.9

20.  Bert Blyleven:  94.5

Mike Trout is the highest ranked currently active player, with a WAR of 86.2.

For most of his career, Willie Mays was regarded as the greatest baseball player since Babe Ruth -- and some folks even ranked him ahead of Ruth.  Then he retired after a 1973 season in which he had looked old and frail, and Hank Aaron was the player who got the fame for breaking Babe Ruth's record for career home runs.  Aaron was a great, great player -- and modern statistical analysis bears that out.  But modern statistical analysis also confirms that the fans in the 1950's and 1960's were right.  Willie Mays is the greatest baseball player since Jackie Robinson initiated the modern era.  Yes, Bonds has 6.6 more wins above replacement ("WAR").  But Mays only played 34 games in 1952, and played no games in 1953, because he was in the Army.  He missed about 266 games because of his military service.  In 1954, his first full year back, he generated 10.4 WAR.  So I think it's safe to say that if he had played in those 266 games, he would have generated at least 6.7 WAR, and thus he would rank ahead of Bonds.

Now here's the thing:  I never saw Willie Mays play baseball, but I remember Barry Bonds very well.  He made the whole game look ridiculous.  Here were his WAR numbers from 2001 to 2004:

2001:  11.9

2002:  11.8

2003:  9.2

2004:  10.6

Now remember, when Bonds was playing at that level, he looked like a guy playing a video game.  He didn't seem real.  But if you look back at Mays's career, here are his WAR Numbers from 1962 to 1965:

1962:  10.5

1963:  10.6

1964:  11.0

1965:  11.2

It's absolutely crazy to me that anyone put up Barry Bonds-type numbers after 1947 without being Barry Bonds.  But Willie Mays did it.  No wonder they thought he was so great.

Southeastern Conference (1932-2024)

In November 1932, Franklin Roosevelt was elected President for the first time, thus launching a new era in American politics.  One month later, in December 1932, thirteen members of the old Southern Conference left to form a new conference:  the Southeastern Conference.  Those members were:

University of Alabama

Auburn University

University of Florida

University of Georgia

Georgia Institute of Technology 

University of Kentucky

Louisiana State University

University of Mississippi

Mississippi State University

University of the South (Sewanee)

University of Tennessee

Tulane University

Vanderbilt University

The founding of the SEC formalized the tripartite division of Big-Time College Sports in the South.  In the East, the schools that would form the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1953, were heavily influenced by the notion that Southerners should be led by an elite caste of high-minded people.  (There is a reason that the University of Virginia is known as the Cavaliers.)  From an intellectual perspective, this viewpoint was well-represented at the University of North Carolina, which has long stood for a form of genteel Southern liberalism.  In the Southwest, the tremendous resources of Texas led to a culture of extremes -- you could choose the elitism of the University of Texas, the devout social conservatism of Baylor, or a variety of options between them that continue to the present day.

But the people who lived between the Appalachian Mountains in the East and the Sabine River in the West had their own views.  Politically, this is country that largely belonged to Andrew Jackson -- and as a result, it has always trusted the views of average people more than it trusts the views of experts.  Because average people tend to love tradition, this region has often been very traditional.  But this region has never been very good at accepting authority, and thus is generally uncomfortable with the type of overt elitism you might find in Charlottesville, Chapel Hill, or Austin.  In 1933, this region was starting to see some glimmers of hope after many years of difficulty, and they knew that their people were very excited about college sports.  So striking out on their own made a huge amount of sense.

In fact, the creation of the SEC was a watershed in the history of the region.  For the next 90 years, millions of people who lived in these states identified with the SEC, and marked their seasons by its calendar.  Sewanee couldn't afford to stay in the conference after a few years, and so dropped out.  But the other 12 original members stuck together until 1964, and by that point the SEC had become a major force in Southern life.  SEC fans didn't just root for their teams -- they rooted for their conference (and their vision of the South that it represented) against the teams from the ACC and the Southwest Conference.

By the mid-1960's, Atlanta and New Orleans were entering a new era of their own, and so Georgia Tech and Tulane left the SEC.  But the original ten members stuck together until 1991 -- going through integration, negotiating early TV deals, and building the legend.  The SEC never lost its popularity, but in the 1980's there was a marked contrast between the success of the region -- which was enjoying significant economic and population growth -- and the fact that SEC teams usually couldn't compete with Florida State and Miami in football, or with North Carolina and Duke in basketball.

In retrospect, the SEC of the 1980's was a gold mine waiting to be discovered, and Roy Kramer was the person who figured it out.  Kramer became the sixth Commissioner of the SEC on January 10, 1990, and within seven months the SEC had announced plans to add Arkansas and South Carolina.  For the first time, the SEC had reached into the territories traditionally controlled by the Southwest Conference and the ACC.  Even more importantly, the SEC could take advantage of a loophole that allowed any conference with 12 teams to play an extra football game as a conference championship.

From 1991 to 2012, the SEC went through a golden era.  After years of being a scrappy underdog, the SEC finally had the type of monetary and media support that its fans wanted.  The schools took that support and used it to build much stronger programs -- not only in football (which the SEC began to dominate) but in almost every other sport.

By 2012, the SEC had become so strong that both Texas A & M and Missouri were eager to join.  Now at 14 teams -- including one team in the heart of Texas and another from the old Big Eight -- the SEC had truly become a Super Conference.  But still, the SEC's slogan -- "It Just Means More" -- underscored the popular traditionalism that had been key to its success all along.

Over time, however, the Conference that had started as an underdog had become so powerful that its success disrupted the rest of college sports.  This fact created a whole new challenge for the SEC and its region.  For years, the SEC looked out for the interests of its fans, regardless of what that meant for the rest of the country.  But as the 2020's began, that approach became more and more difficult to maintain.  After all, it doesn't do you any good to win the National Championship unless there are other teams across the country that can give you a game.  And as the NCAA faced more and more legal challenges, and the rest of college sports became unstable, the SEC faced hard choices about how to proceed.

A few years ago, the SEC announced its decision:  the league would expand again to include the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma.  For most of the last 90 years, these were two of the football programs that the SEC had measured itself against -- now, they were acknowledging that the SEC had won, and they would rather switch than fight.  It was, and is, a tremendous victory for the SEC and its fans.  But it was also a loss.  No longer will the SEC belong to our region.  Going forward, it will be a national, and perhaps an international brand -- just like Coca-Cola.

For almost 90 years, SEC fans were proud to be scrappy underdogs going up against the bigger and richer schools in the rest of the country.  Those days have come to an end, and those of us who love this region can be proud of the success that the SEC attained.  But greater power means greater responsibility.  Going forward, fans in the old SEC heartland can't just think about what's best for their school or their region -- they have to consider the whole field of college sports.

Maybe they'll do great.  I certainly hope so.  Contrary to Lord Acton, power does not always corrupt.  Sometimes, it causes people to take more responsibility.  For a long time, folks in the SEC looked out for themselves regardless of what anyone else thought.  They can't do that any more, and maybe they will be wiser and more generous as a result.  But whatever they do, the SEC will never be the same.  Watching the SEC become respectable is like imagining Burt Reynolds's Bandit settling down with a country club membership and a big house in Mountain Brook.  

Becoming respectable always carries a price.  At the end of Huckleberry Finn, Huck says:  "I reckon I got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she's going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I can't stand it.  I been there before."  The SEC has always been more Tom Sawyer (let's win within the rules) than Huck Finn (let's do what's right, regardless of the rules), so I'm not surprised to see the SEC strive for respectability.  But I will miss being underdogs.

Men's Final Four

From Glendale, Arizona tonight:

(3) Purdue (33-4) v. N. Carolina St. (26-14) (5:09 P.M. Central on TBS)

(1) Connecticut (35-3) v. (19) Alabama (25-11) (7:49 P.M. Central on TBS)

Ken Pom likes the two favorites:

Purdue 81 - 71 N. Carolina St.

Connecticut 86 - 78 Alabama

Regional Finals

Four tickets to the Final Four going out this weekend.  Here's what it looks like:

Saturday, March 30:

EAST (in Boston):  (1) Connecticut (34-3) v. (10) Illinois (29-8)

WEST (in Los Angeles):  (19) Alabama (24-11) v. Clemson (24-11)

Sunday, March 31:

MIDWEST (in Detroit):  (3) Purdue (32-4) v. (6) Tennessee (27-8)

SOUTH (in Dallas):  (13) Duke (27-8) v. N. Carolina St. (25-14)

Almost every year, we get at least one team in the Final Four that has not been there in at least 20 years.  This year, Alabama, Tennessee, and Clemson have never been to the Final Four, and Purdue hasn't been there since 1980, so at least two teams in the Final Four will meet this criterion.

In the Regional Semi-Finals, Alabama's victory over North Carolina was the only game in which the western-most team won the game.  In the other seven Regional Semi-Finals, the eastern-most team won.  Illinois is now the western-most team left in the field.

Spare a thought for the Houston Cougars, who lost their All-American guard Jamal Shead 13 minutes into their game with Duke.  Houston ended up losing to Duke by 54 to 51, and I am certain that the Cougars would have won if Shead had remained healthy.

This will be the third meeting between Duke and N. Carolina St. this season, and all three meetings will take place in March.  On March 4, Duke went to Raleigh and thumped the Wolfpack, 79 to 64.  On March 14, in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament (in Washington, DC), N. Carolina St. upset Duke 74 to 69.  And tomorrow they will play the rubber match.

Here are Ken Pom's predictions this weekend:

Connecticut 82, Illinois 76

Alabama 83, Clemson 81

Purdue 76, Tennessee 73

Duke 78, N. Carolina St. 69

Meanwhile, over on the women's side, two of the Regional Finals are set:

Sunday, March 31:

ALBANY 1:  (1) S. Carolina (35-0) v. (12) Oregon St. (27-7)

PORTLAND 4:  (4) Texas (33-4) v. (11) N. Carolina St. (30-6)

Today we have the following Regional Semi-Finals:

ALBANY 2:

(2) Iowa (31-4) v. (17) Colorado (24-9)

(6) U.C.L.A. (27-6) v. (8) Louisiana St. (30-5)

PORTLAND 3:

(3) U.S.C. (28-5) v. (19) Baylor (26-7)

(10) Connecticut (31-5) v. Duke (22-11)

To me, the U.C.L.A. / L.S.U. game feels like the first really critical game in this tournament.

College Baseball Update

One thing I have learned is this:  If you really love rain, go to Birmingham in the week before Memorial Day.  They play the SEC Baseball Tournament there every year at this time, and every year it rains.  Today the SEC Baseball Tournament began, and they only got into the 8th inning of the second game before play was stopped by rain.

You Can Probably Skip the Playoffs This Weekend

This is the ninth season for the current College Football Playoff system, which means that there have been sixteen semi-final games over the last eight season.  Of those games, only three were decided by less than a possession.  Here is a complete list of the competitive semi-finals:

01/01/15 (Sugar Bowl):  Ohio St. 42, Alabama 35

01/01/18 (Rose Bowl):  Georgia 54, Oklahoma 48 (2 OT)

12/28/19 (Fiesta Bowl):  Clemson 29, Ohio St. 23

That's it.  That's the list.  And even that list is misleading, because the wins by Ohio State and Clemson shown above were more lopsided than the final score suggests.  The Georgia/Oklahoma Rose Bowl is one of the most exciting games I've ever seen, but for the most part these games have been significantly less competitive than the old Bowl Games that they replaced.

1975: Congratulations, Shug Jordan

I'm pretty sure we've discussed Ralph "Shug" Jordan before. I'm a pretty big fan, so, if you know bad stuff about him, don't tell me. Anyway, I thought his last appearance on the weekly Auburn Football Review program was just so sweet. It aired at 5 on Sunday evening, Nov. 30, 1975, in Montgomery, Alabama. My favorite part is when his wife shows up at the end, and the South Central Bell Telephone dude presents the Jordans with a built-for-two, monogrammed stadium seat.

Congratulations, Coach and Mrs. Jordan. I hope you enjoy the next four and a half years together very much.

Here are the previous and future 1975 reports.

11th World Games, Birmingham 2022

So Matthew and Troy Vincent have been saying all along (All Along™) that flag football is going to be a big deal, and it turns out that the sport is already part of the deal--along with and breaking, drone racing, fistball, parkour and wushu, among 56 disciplines--at the 11th World Games, which is scheduled to begin today in Birmingham, Alabama:

The World Games 2022 Birmingham is the new generation of global sport competition, welcoming elite athletes from all over the world to compete for gold in 34 unique, multi-disciplinary sports. Featuring 3,600 athletes from more than 100 countries, the international event will unite global fans with the Birmingham community in 25+ venues around the greater metropolitan area. The World Games 2022 Birmingham, which marks the 40th anniversary of the event, will take place from July 7-17, 2022 and will generate an estimated $256 million in economic impact. The World Games was established by the International World Games Association, an organization recognized by the International Olympic Committee. The World Games 2022 is organized with the support of the International Olympic Committee. 

I'm looking forward to looking in on this over the next couple of weeks, and I'm especially gratified that we don't have to deal with any Russia (or Belarus) jive when it comes to putting together the medal standings. Comments flow ...

Nick Hornby and the Big Blue

Back in the early 1990's, Nick Hornby wrote Fever Pitch, the best book ever about being a sports fan.  The book (rightfully) made him famous and changed the way lots of us think about sports.  Since then, he's done a lot more writing, but he doesn't write that much about soccer.  I don't blame him -- he probably thinks that he pretty much wrote everything he had to say about soccer in Fever Pitch, and no one likes to be typecast.

Anyway, for some reason he wrote a little mini-book on the 2011-12 soccer season called Pray, and I just found it on Kindle.  It's full of all sorts of little gems, and shows what we missed by his decision not to become the Roger Angell of soccer.  Here's a quote that I thought was particularly brilliant, about the reaction of Chelsea fans to their team's grinding out a 2-2 tie against Barcelona that put them in the Champions' League Final:

The Manchester United fans who'd just watched their team flake away a two-goal lead would have envied the Chelsea fans that night.  I know I did.  In the end, that's all you want:  to know that you support a team clearly straining every collective sinew to overcome its own limitations and get the result it needs.

This is also an excellent summary of why I was so happy with UK's 66-55 win at Tuscaloosa last night.  There are no pretty wins for UK in Tuscaloosa, and I'm really pleased that the Cats accepted that fact and did what was needed to get an 11-point win.  It was UK's first win at Coleman Coliseum since February 11, 2017.

That gym is not a fun place for UK fans.  Since 1977, UK has only scored 80 points at Coleman Coliseum once.  That was on January 26, 1991, when Pitino had UK playing at a breakneck pace, and they lost that game 88-83.  Calipari is now 4-4 in Tuscaloosa, which is pretty consistent with our history.  UK's all-time record against Alabama in Coleman Coliseum is 21-19.

Let's go back to Nick Hornby.  Here's another useful quote from Pray, where he's complaining about high-scoring soccer matches:

{I}f you have always regretted that football is not more like basketball, then I suspect that football is not the game for you.

He's right about that, too.

Cats Are Number 9

 After sweeping Albany and North Florida last week, the UK Wildcats moved up to number-9 in this week's AP men's basketball poll.  UK's best victory as the number-9 team took place on March 22, 1958, when the Cats beat Seattle 84-72 to win the NCAA Tournament.  In my lifetime, the Cats' best victory at number 9 took place on March 15, 1992, when the Unforgettables beat Alabama 80-54 to win the SEC Tournament.  I can vividly remember expecting a long and painful afternoon, and being stunned as UK just pulled further and further away down the stretch.  It was the first time I could really see that Pitino had taken the program to a whole new level.  It was also the last time UK played against an Alabama team coached by Wimp Sanderson.

The SEC is looking even more formidable after the Thanksgiving tournaments.  Here is the top of the league, according to Ken Pom:

10.  Florida

14.  Kentucky

15.  Alabama

17.  LSU

18.  Tennessee

19.  Auburn

25.  Arkansas

That's seven teams in the top 25, and six teams between 10 and 19.  We're going to see some close games this winter.

Alabama 13 - 5 Kentucky (15:50 left in first half)

Everyone is acting like Alabama has some sort of miracle formula for shooting three's.  I probably watched UK start 60 games like this during the 90's.  Villanova won two National Championships with this approach.  Coach K has won three.  To me, what Alabama does is just common sense.

Now you can beat a team like Alabama if you have superior players.  I saw the Fab Five beat Kentucky in 1993, and Michigan went 0-4 from three-point range in that game.  But you need superior players, because this is a better system.

Rose Bowl

 Alabama leads Notre Dame 14-0 early in the fourth quarter, but I think Notre Dame just scored a touchdown.

Unbalanced Line

Beginning with the 2009 Season, the SEC West has a record of 11-1 over the SEC East in the SEC Football Championship.

The only victory for the East was in 2017, when Georgia beat Auburn 28-7.  A few weeks later, Alabama (from the SEC West) beat Georgia in the National Championship Game.

Here's the record of SEC East teams in the title game during this period:

Georgia:  1-4

Florida:  0-4

Missouri:  0-2

S. Carolina:  0-1

And here's how the SEC West teams have done:

Alabama:  7-0

Auburn:  2-1

LSU:  2-0

Oh, Kentucky

This deal with the vulgar message, U.S. Rep. James Comer and the fired chief clerk of the state house now appears to connect with the sexual-harassment investigation into Kentucky's former house speaker, Jeff Hoover. Here's the story so far--from Joe Gerth of the Louisville Courier-Journal, Melissa Pettitt of the Hopkinsville Kentucky New Era and Randy Patrick of the Bardstown Kentucky Standard.

Underpants donations for the Butler County public-schools kids will get your fines scrubbed at the Butler County Public Library.

Jackson County is getting together tonight to talk more ATV trails.

Overflowing chamber and 4-1 in favor of expanding LGBTQ protection in Paducah.

A Calloway County farmer who rescued a 5-day-old calf from a frozen pond credits in part his background in competitive water skiing for his success. John Wright drops the knowledge in the Murray Ledger & Times.

Good jobs news in Alabama (not Elizabethtown).