When Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban raised the crystal football above his head, the Southeastern Conference made history.
Alabama’s 42-14 victory against Notre Dame on Monday night in the BCS National Championship Game put the SEC at the top of college football for a seventh straight season.
However, the league’s football prowess has not rubbed off on men’s basketball this season.
The SEC’s 118-58 non-conference record is one of the worst among the major conferences this season. The league ranks seventh in KenPom.com conference efficiency ratings, compiled by averaging the ratings of each team in a league.
“Clearly up to this point in time, our league has had some difficult and challenging losses. We all have,” coach Billy Donovan said.
“I don’t think you take our league and just put it in a box and say the league is not as good because I think teams are going to get better. They are going to improve.”
Donovan said that one of the reasons the SEC is not one of the nation’s toughest conferences is because people overlook the numerous coach and player departures.
Last year, the SEC had the most NBA draft picks of any league, with the first three overall draftees coming from Kentucky and Florida.
Twelve NBA draft selections played at SEC schools — six came from Kentucky.
During the offseason, South Carolina hired Frank Martin, LSU hired Johnny Jones and Mississippi State traded Rick Stansbury for Rick Ray — a first-year coach.
The beginning of the 2012-13 season also brought departures for the SEC. Missouri guard Michael Dixon was kicked off the team on Nov. 29 after two sexual assault claims surfaced, and Florida forward Cody Larson, who decided to transfer on Oct. 26.
Still, the SEC started the season with Kentucky, Florida and Missouri ranked in the AP Poll.
Now only the No. 11 Gators and the 10th-ranked Tigers remain. The Wildcats are unranked, dropping out from their preseason No. 3 ranking due partly to their 0-2 record against ranked opponents.
The SEC began conference play with a 3-13 record against top-25 teams.
“There are a lot of different elements that go into this right now that you have players plugged into different roles and positions they have never been in before,” Donovan said.
“It takes time for guys to adjust, get better and figure out what they need to do and that is what the schedule is for: to continually get better.”
Florida begins SEC play tonight against Georgia at 7 in the O’Connell Center. The Bulldogs have one of the worst records in the conference at 6-7. Georgia is one of four SEC teams sitting at or below .500.
Still, Donovan thinks it’s too soon to judge the SEC’s slow start.
“I’m all for the resume and the whole body of work,” Donovan said.
“But where that is somewhat flawed for all of us as coaches and teams is, what about the improvement that a team makes over the course of a year? It is like people talking on Selection Sunday, ‘Well, back in November they lost this really bad game.’ Well … that was four months ago. The team could have gotten better.”
Contact Katie Agostin at kagostin@alligator.org
Coach Billy Donovan smiles during Florida's 78-61 victory against Air Force at the Orange Bowl Classic on Dec. 29 in Sunrise, Fla. Donovan defended the Southeastern Conference's struggles earlier this week.
