NCAA tournament: SEC (Georgia) has passed ACC (Tech)

Georgia has punctuated the SEC's rise in basketball by making the tournament.

Georgia has punctuated SEC's rise in basketball by making tournament. (Jason Getz/AJC)

Georgia obviously is ahead of Georgia Tech in basketball right now.

But has the SEC also moved past the ACC?

When the NCAA tournament field was announced Sunday night, the SEC had more teams (five) in the bracket than the ACC (four — and that includes Clemson, which must play a preliminary round game against Alabama-Birmingham Tuesday).

The ACC has two of the top six teams in the country, Duke and North Carolina, according to RPI. But the conference was obviously down this season. The SEC is on the rise, led by the improvement at Georgia under coach Mark Fox.

This isn’t a debate about “tradition” but rather where things are at right now. After Kentucky beat Florida Sunday, and before the tournament field was announced, coach John Calipari said: “I hope, I really hope, that Georgia’s in. I really hope that Alabama’s in. I really do. This league is better than everybody wants to give it credit for. The coaching and the players are outstanding. And there were talking heads today — I usually don’t listen to Digger Phelps because he’s usually wrong — but he said that when those teams get in the tournament, they win games. And I’m telling you, we lost to both of those teams [Georgia and Alabama]. They will win games.”

(Postscript: Alabama didn’t get in, despite being Georgia in the final regular season game and in the conference tournament.)

Here are the two conference’s tournament teams, including RPI.

♦ ACC:  Duke (5), North Carolina (6), Florida State (46), Clemson (57)

♦ SEC: Florida (10), Kentucky (12), Vanderbilt (26), Tennessee (36), Georgia (39).

Seems kind of obvious which conference is better right now, doesn’t it?

By Jeff Schultz

Follow me on Twitter @JeffSchultzAJC; friend me at Facebook.com/JeffSchultzAJC

241 comments Add your comment

Paul H

March 14th, 2011
9:46 am

redeye

March 14th, 2011
9:46 am

Not the FIRST time.

Paul H

March 14th, 2011
9:46 am

redeye

March 14th, 2011
9:47 am

Just my luck.

john

March 14th, 2011
9:48 am

Despite being Georgia?

Well

March 14th, 2011
10:02 am

It’s a bit like halley’s comet. It happens about once every 75 years. So take a picture, it won’t last.

lucky21

March 14th, 2011
10:06 am

But still since 2000 the ACC has 5 national championships in basketball, so I would still give the nod to the ACC over the SEC

RambleOn84

March 14th, 2011
10:06 am

Umm…no.

Tech has certainly not helped the ACC’s cause, but the ACC is still the better conference.

Were people saying the ACC was better than the SEC in football in 2008 when the ACC sent 10 teams to bowl games? No, of course not, because an SEC team won the National Championship.

And this year, when Duke or UNC wins the NCAA, everyone will again be reminded that the ACC, even when down, is the elite basketball conference.

SEC wins football championships, ACC wins basketball championships.

Mark it down Dude.

Al

March 14th, 2011
10:07 am

So using your logic when the ACC sent more teams (9) to bowls (2009) when the SEC couldn’t fill their slots the ACC is a better football conference?????? You mailed this one in Schultz.

SOUTH GA DAWG FAN

March 14th, 2011
10:07 am

Glad the dogs are in and hope they can get a win , but i just finished my bracket and I have Belmont winning it all !

Beast from the East

March 14th, 2011
10:08 am

Let me be up front here…..I’m an SEC homer. That being said, the SEC is better overall this year in hoops. That is just this year, though. Even being a homer, I have to admit that the ACC is normally one of the top 2 conferences in the nation in hoops. Down year for them. Is it a trend? We won’t know until next season.

Beast from the East

March 14th, 2011
10:08 am

SOUTH GA DAWG FAN,
Belmont? Care to place a wager? LOL!

robodawg

March 14th, 2011
10:09 am

If the ACC didn’t have Duke, the SEC would be the better conference. Even so, the SEC East is pretty grueling — tough games just kept coming week after week. If they weren’t playing Duke or UNC, FSU and Clemson didn’t have to worry too much.

theTruth

March 14th, 2011
10:10 am

The ACC has been slipping in the past few years, just not this year. They will always have Duke/UNC and then not much else.

As for Bama, two games does not a season make. Play SOMEBODY in your OOC and then don’t go 8-6 in your OOC.

GT has a chance to get a good coach from a mid major but like Forrest Gump said, you never know what you are going to get. Hewitt was a victim of his own recruiting success, he would still be the coach had those guys not left for the NBA.

Did GT beat UGA in any sport this year? Let the hating commence.

JSS

March 14th, 2011
10:10 am

@ Jeff Schultz…
Will this be true when Blubber (Price). and possibly Thompkins, and Leslie leave?

Oh yeah, interesting interchange with Barnes…

ATLman86

March 14th, 2011
10:11 am

SEC may have more in, but I bet that the ACC has more teams in the Sweet 16 than SEC. And you can mark that down.

Beast from the East

March 14th, 2011
10:12 am

Rambleon84,
Bowl invitations are not an accurate gauge. How did they fare in those bowls? BCS bowls and bowls won should be the yardstick for a conference…..not invites. Invites are based on tie-ins and projected revenue for the most part.

RambleOn84

March 14th, 2011
10:13 am

The problem with the ACC is that: Hewitt wouldn’t go away, NC State ran off Sendek and replaced him with a mannequin, Skip Prosser tragically died, and Maryland, who is always solid, just had an off-year.

But Tech should bring in a good coach and is remaining plenty of talent. Maryland will rebound next year. Who knows about Wake or NC State? VPI always seems on the cusp of decency, but maybe they’ll finally spill over.

RambleOn84

March 14th, 2011
10:16 am

Beast,
Bowl invitations are absolutely fair comparisons to tournament invites. We can compare results AFTER the tournament if you want, but invites are comparable to invites.

I mean aren’t we being told how great the Big East is because 11 teams got invited? We have not seen results yet, have we?

theTruth

March 14th, 2011
10:16 am

ATL86, Duke and UNC are the only teams from the ACC that will make the sweet 16. Ky/Vandy will make it, maybe FLA.

Charles

March 14th, 2011
10:16 am

SEC’s absolutely better this year, though I don’t think that makes it a better conference period. Duke’s outstanding but the rest of the ACC is very watered down.

Carolina is the most overrated team in the country. Either UGA or Wash is going to give them all they want in the second round. That game will come down to the wire.

woebegong

March 14th, 2011
10:17 am

I am sure proud of the UGA team making it into the tournament and for the SEC as a whole this year. I don’t know if I would say the SEC surpassed the ACC this year, based on the number of teams in the dance. Let’s face it, when two of your teams are Duke and NC, and they make regular drives into the late stages of the dance and win it when they do a fair amount of times, It is hard to say the ACC is down too much. These two teams alone, are extremely well coached, and seem to get the players they need each year to be strong.
It is sort of like SEC football. The teams usually beat the heck out of each other in conference play, and one or two usually dominate in the standings for that year. A ACC team like, say for instance, GT might have a better record than say, Tenn. or UGA, but they probably couldn’t beat UGA or Tenn. the majority of the time.
I am sure am proud of the SEC teams this year, but in my mind at least, the ACC is still the better basketball conference of the two.

GOOOOOOOOO DAWGSSSSSSSSSSSS

JSS

March 14th, 2011
10:19 am

Gee, Alabama played somebody in their non-conference schedule. The problem was those members of the Big East were bottom dwellers Seton Hall and Providence and they stomped Bama and good! They laid that egg against St. Peters who I can tell you are better than Ole Miss, LSU, South Carolina, and that awful Auburn team…

Beast from the East

March 14th, 2011
10:22 am

Rambleon84,
I disagree on the bowl invites. The basketball invites are done using 15 different criteria that are reviewed by a selection committee. The bowl invites are based on contracts. Nowhere near the same thing. The bowls are just looking for attendance ($).

Supersize that order, mutt

March 14th, 2011
10:23 am

Other than KY and perhaps Vandy, does anybody really care? The mutts will lose their opener. No way they should be a 10 seed. DRAD will find us a coach and order will be restored.

Diablo69

March 14th, 2011
10:23 am

The number of teams a particular conference gets into the tournament is a matter of (the committee’s) opinion. Let’s count how many of each are left in the Sweet 16. That’s the true measure of conference quality.

BTW Top to bottom the ACC is better even in a down year. One would be wise to avoid the SEC and the BIG when filling out one’s bracket.

5150 UOAD

March 14th, 2011
10:24 am

Jeff after reading your article I want the Dawgs to beat the HUSKIES just so UNC can DESTROY the dawgs. TECH beat UNC and woke the Sleeping Giant that is Carolina Basketball. UGA made the Tourney good for them, but to say they have passed TECH is a stretch. UGA can’t even beat BAMA once in a week. Fox is improving UGA, but he has a long way to go. Fox has been to the dance 3 times in his 7 yr career. he mad it to the second round 2. Fox has coached 5 NCAA GAMES. Hewitt did better than that in 1 year as the coach of the Runner Up.

SOUTH GA DAWG FAN

March 14th, 2011
10:24 am

Beast from the East

you pick a long shot and i will stick with belmont and which ever last the longest the loser has to praise the winners school of choice on a Shultz Blog . You in lol

theTruth

March 14th, 2011
10:27 am

5150, what did Hewitt do in his other years? Heck, he only had ONE year in his entire careet at Tech where he had a winning conf record. Congrats on finding $7M to get rid of him. I think Tech could be a powerhouse in bball with the right coach.

RambleOn84

March 14th, 2011
10:27 am

Schools have to qualify for a bowl appearance the same way they have to qualify for a tourney spot. The selection process is different of course, but it’s not only about contracts like you say it is.

theTruth

March 14th, 2011
10:28 am

Beast from the East

March 14th, 2011
10:28 am

SOUTH GA DAGW FAN,
I’m in. I’ll take Oakland.

RambleOn84

March 14th, 2011
10:28 am

But enough bickering…I really am happy for UGA

woebegong

March 14th, 2011
10:29 am

It kills me but I gotta agree with you beast, LOL. It is all about the bucks. There are what now, 34 bowl games played after the regular season. This allows marginal teams to get into bowl games where, say 15 years ago, they would not have had a bowl to go to.
As much as I hate to say it, UGA and Tech. should not have been in any bowl game this year based on their records. The NCAA stipulates that you only have to win 6 games to be bowl eligable. If your team can draw a money crowd into a game, and you have 6 wins minimum, you most likely will get a bowl invite from some bowl or another.

GOOOO DAWGSSSSSSSS

Beast from the East

March 14th, 2011
10:30 am

Ramble.
We’ll just have to agree to disagree. Like I said earlier, I think the SEC was better in hoops THIS YEAR. That is certainly not the norm. Good luck in the search for a coach. The ACC needs Tech to be competitive.

Tifton

March 14th, 2011
10:30 am

Jeff come on. Are you and Bradley both so sucked into the UGA pocketbooks that you are wearing rose colored glasses?

Fox has done a very admirable job in two years at UGA and this from a Jacket fan. Clearly the UGA bball program is in a better position that Tech at this time.

But you guys are talking out both side of your mouth when comparing basketball and football. Let’s be honest the SEC for the past 6 years has been king of the mountain in football but from top to bottom was it that much ahead of the ACC or Big Ten, maybe? At the upper echleon of the league there is no debate that the SEC is the best football program.

But yet it seems to be completely overlooked that the ACC has won the past two NCAA basketball championships. Also since 1990 the ACC has won 8 championships albeit mostly UNC and Duke. Are you really telling me that you think anybody in the SEC can play with UNC or Duke?

And Bradley last night tried to convince the home base that UGA IF they beat Washington can take down UNC who finished the season on a 19-3 run and and two of those losses were to Duke. Yeah they lost to Tech but I would dare say that UNC and Duke are probably the hottest teams in the NCAA outside of maybe UCONN. So quit being such a homer to declare UGA is better than UNC. Give me stats and reasons rather than editorial statements.

So let’s quit playing to the home crowd and be honest. UGA had a year that was unexpected and Fox seems to have things headed in the right direction at UGA. But remember Hewitt took Tech to the Finals in year 4 and that was the top of the mountain. Before you start declaring him the next great thing to come to Athens how about allowing 5 years to pass before we determine how good he is. I am not saying he can’t do all these things but right now Fox is getting way too much love when he is still just 24 months into the job.

And please stop with the SEC is better than the ACC as a whole in basketball. After the 5 programs in the SEC that go in who’s next Alabama? In the ACC, Maryland and VT are both teams deserving of consideration but both of them didn’t make it. You guys are stealing money from the AJC every time you write stupid stuff like this.

RambleOn84

March 14th, 2011
10:31 am

To be honest, we should be more supportive of each others’ programs when we’re not playing each other.

There is no reason we shouldn’t both have top programs in football and basketball. We have one of the most talent-rich states in the country and only two major schools…let’s support our state and hope for the best.

I don’t think it’s realistic for UGA to beat UNC like Bradley predicted, but hey, we can dream right?

5150 UOAD

March 14th, 2011
10:31 am

THE TRUTH. Since 2000 Duke 2, Maryland, and UNC 2 all have won National Championships. Other winners Michigan St, Syracuse, UConn, Florida 2, and Kansas. So the ACC has 5 Titles and 4 other teams have the other 5 titles and you think the ACC is slipping?
I bet you think Charlie Sheen is WINNING too.

JasonGT

March 14th, 2011
10:35 am

Ready for KY to choke just like every year. I think you judge every conference by its bottom half because those teams all make the top teams what they are. Before the trolls say anything, I realize w/ the exception of Wake, GT is the bottom of the ACC and that makes my point. GT clobbered UNC, anyone think GT would lose to the bottom half of the SEC? Wouldn’t happen.
Point #2 the big east is not a real conference. They have too many teams and some of them like Notre Dame are only basketball members of the conference. The NCAA should put a cap on number of teams a conference has. Pitt and Nova lost to Tennessee who turned out to be an average team and then all they do is beat up on each other for the rest of the year and people rank them high.

Jeff Schultz

March 14th, 2011
10:37 am

Al and RambleOn84 — Do you consider the bowl “system” on the same level as the NCAA tournament in terms of the worthiness of the field?

Dog gone

March 14th, 2011
10:38 am

Umm no Jeff wrong again. ACC is better than the SEC. Sorry :) History will show it and so will the future.

Jeff Schultz

March 14th, 2011
10:39 am

JSS — Hey now, Price has come a long way. … But yes, losing Thompkins (and possibly Leslie) will be major for this team next season.

Jeff Schultz

March 14th, 2011
10:40 am

Atlman86 — Might be right about that. Certainly Duke and UNC make it to the Sweet 16. So may Florida/Kentucky.

Jeff Schultz

March 14th, 2011
10:40 am

Beast from the East — Thanks, that’s point I was getting at above.

SOUTH GA DAWG FAN

March 14th, 2011
10:41 am

I will be happy is uga can beat washington ,
now i have to go and do some research on oakland .

Beast from the East

March 14th, 2011
10:41 am

Jeff,
Don’t be surprised if UT makes it, as well. If Pearl can get any type of consistent play out of them then they can play with anyone. Lots of talent up there in Knoxville.

GTBob

March 14th, 2011
10:43 am

Its kinda hard to say that the SEC is better then the ACC right now. Duke and UNC are better then all of the teams from the SEC and the bottom tier ACC teams are much better then the bottom tier SEC teams. The SEC is basically two good teams, 4 decent teams, and the rest of the conference is pretty awful. There is a reason the ACC has a higher RPI even though the SEC has 5 teams in the top 50. As for UGA and GT. Of course UGA is doing better. Most division 1 schools are doing better then GT right now. We just had one of our worst teams ever and fired our coach. Being better then us isn’t much of an accomplishment right now.

Jeff Schultz

March 14th, 2011
10:45 am

Tifton — You’re kind of all over the place but I’ll try to respond to a few points here: 1) I didn’t compare basketball and football, others did; 2) I never said Fox has achieved as much as Hewitt did when he got Tech to Final Four; 3) I’m not in anybody’s pocket (but if somebody wants to try to buy me, I’ll listen to offers); 4) Anybody, and I mean ANYBODY, in this tournament field can be beat, and that includes North Carolina.

JSS

March 14th, 2011
10:46 am

Sorry to tell you Jason, but the only Sport that Notre Dame does not participate in the Big East is Football. Every other team (men and women) are Big East championship eligible…

The genie is out the bottle on Conference size. They are going to get bigger with subdivisions, not capped… They NCAA is salivating at the thought of those revenue streams…

RambleOn84

March 14th, 2011
10:46 am

No, of course not, Jeff…but they are both indicators of the number of competitive teams within the conference are they not?

My point is just because you have a number of teams who are competitive does not mean you have a good conference. Again, the ACC in 2008 had TEN bowl-eligible teams!!! But the conference was not good because NONE of them was a real competitor on the national level.

And we are about to see shortly that out of the teams listed from the SEC and the ACC, only Duke and UNC are real national competitors.

Perhaps we should include NIT-qualifying teams if we want to make a comparison to bowl games.

jhoffman

March 14th, 2011
10:47 am

I propose we try an ACC-SEC challenge to test this theory. Over or under: the SEC would win 3.5 games…under

RambleOn84

March 14th, 2011
10:48 am

Schultzie,
You won’t be bought while I’m around. I may not have the influence or audience you do, but I won’t be undercut by anyone. I can currently be bought by little more than a pat on the back.

Tiger Blood

March 14th, 2011
10:48 am

Calipari said the same s**t ever year when he was cheating his way through C-USA.

murfdawg

March 14th, 2011
10:49 am

Maybe next year they can have a ACC vs SEC in basketball. I’m sure the ACC has gotten tired of beating the Big 10/11/12 every year.

joe

March 14th, 2011
10:49 am

GA over Tech, maybe, but Duke > KY, UNC > FL, so ACC still better at the top.

Typical Democrat

March 14th, 2011
10:50 am

This is all George Bush’s fault.

JSS

March 14th, 2011
10:54 am

@ Jeff Schultz…
No doubt, Price has come a LONG way; but he’s a Chuck E. Cheese version of Stanley Roberts… I’m just glad it is almost over… They better hope the NBA does an NFL style lockout and scares off the underclassmen…

That triple post offense requires continuity. If they leave, that is like Jordan and Pippen hitting the road, you suddenly transform into Tim Floyd!

Hewitt Fan

March 14th, 2011
10:54 am

@Jeff

you are 100% right…The SEC is 20x better than the ACC..I like how the refs let the kids play over there..Either you have good players or you dont!…Kentucky is the traditional power, but the refs give them nothing..If Ole miss has the best team, they will win the conference..In the ACC Duke and NC are going to be 1 and 2 no matter what!.I noticed the PLAYERS are the STARS of the SEC not the coaches…In the ACC its all about the COACHES..Coach K this, Coach K that..The ACC is a joke..I was happy that VT and BC sorry a$%’es were not invited to the NCAAS!…

Hewitt Fan

March 14th, 2011
10:55 am

@Jeff

If you put Duke on the court with Florida without ACC refs, Florida wins by 25 easily!..UGA would blow Duke out by 10 at least with decent refs!

5150 UOAD

March 14th, 2011
10:56 am

The GREAT BASKETBALL CHALLANGE was the ACC Big EAST challenge a few years back. The Big East stopped it because the ACC was killing them and their chances at High seedings in the NCAA Tourney. An ACC SEC Challenge will never happen. The SEC is scared to even try to go head-to-head against the ACC. That right there tells the truth if the SEC is better than the ACC.

RambleOn84

March 14th, 2011
10:57 am

Wow Jeff, you have a VERY credible supporter in “Hewitt Fan.”

" WE ARE ............

March 14th, 2011
10:57 am

“Well, um, ah, we may not be much in football but for sure WE ARE a basketball school (GT) or a basketball conference.” Right???????????????

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAH
SEC has done it again.

GTBob

March 14th, 2011
10:57 am

UGA would blow Duke out by 10 at least with decent refs!

You are reaching new levels of insane.

5150 UOAD

March 14th, 2011
10:58 am

Hewitt Fan
Give it a rest. THE REFS the refs it is all the refs. DUDE go love on your little Atlanta Celtics and scream and intimidate the AAU refs.

Luke

March 14th, 2011
11:00 am

RPI doesn’t take into account close/blowout losses. That being said, only two teams will realistically make it to the Sweet 16 – Florida and Kentucky. Tennessee will hit a brick wall when they play Duke, Washington is the most explosive seed under 4 in the tournament, and Vandy has a trend of fizzling out in the tournament (Richmond is also a tough team to prepare for). out of them all, none of them make it to the Elite 8.

As far as the SEC having 5 teams and the ACC having 4, one can argue that VT and BC should have made the tournament over the likes of VCU and UAB, but having a play-in game of the same conference just does not make sense. I’m almost certain that if Georgia, Alabama, or even Florida played in the ACC, they’d be middle of the pack with Maryland and Miami.

Beast from the East

March 14th, 2011
11:01 am

Anyone that follows college hoops knows that the ACC is usually the best…..usually. I don’t think that is the case this year. I think people will be surprised at the SEC’s showing in the tournament. The conference was tough this year and I think that we could have as many as 3 teams make the Sweet 16. Having said that, we could also have none. That’s the beauty of the tournament. It’s all decided on the court……not by voters.

DawginLex

March 14th, 2011
11:03 am

Jay Bilas is right. The NCAA is watered down this year. No great teams so the thing is wide open as to who can win it.

Florida as a 2 seed is a joke. That decision was made before they lost to Kentucky. It must have gotten down to needing a 2 seed and a 4 seed and they didn’t feel UK was worthy of the 2.

The ACC is a crapfest this year. Duke is very good but UNC is up and down. It comes down to matchups. florida got a better draw than UK even though UK is clearly better than them now.

PFFT

March 14th, 2011
11:04 am

The ACC still won 5 national titles over the past decade. It just got more polarized as DukeUNC separated themselves from the rest of the field.

JSS

March 14th, 2011
11:06 am

Luke
March 14th, 2011
11:00 am
“RPI doesn’t take into account close/blowout losses.”

The RPI doesn’t but the Selection Committee does in assessing team performance. And it killed a lot of teams chances.

JDawg1785

March 14th, 2011
11:08 am

I am a total SEC homer and am proud that the conference outdid the ACC this year in hoops. That being said, just because the Dawgs enjoyed a better season than their in-state ACC rivals doesn’t mean the conference has surpassed the ACC in the sport as a whole. I know I’d much rather face Kentucky in the tournament than Duke.

Enrique Palazzo

March 14th, 2011
11:10 am

I never understood the ACC’s claim about being superior…if you look at the all time #’s, at total national championships, etc, it is very even between the ACC and SEC. I think a lot of people forget about Kentucky’s dominance in the past, which rivals UNC’s or Duke’s.

DawginLex

March 14th, 2011
11:10 am

Kentucky has 7 national titles.
Florida has 2
Arkansas has 1

Beast from the East

March 14th, 2011
11:12 am

DawginLex,
Why is UF a joke at #2? They went 13-3 in the regular season then 2-1 in the conf tourney. Both wins were over tourney teams. They had an awful day shooting the ball against UK and lost. It happens to the best of teams. Their RPI is as high as #8. Their SOS is #4. Again, why is a 2 seed a joke? Don’t let your hatred for all things UF cloud your judgement.

Ben

March 14th, 2011
11:16 am

Beast from the East, I was about to post the same thing. UF had a GREAT season. UNC got beat down in the ACC title game as well. Does that mean that UNC is a joke? No, it means anyone can be beat but the committee rewarded UNC and UF for their SEASON. Both were regular season conference Champs.

They completely deserve a #2 seed and could do some damage in this tourney. (and I’m a Georgia fan)

DawginLex

March 14th, 2011
11:17 am

Not hating at all. Florida is good. It has been stated by many folks that they are overseeded. They are a 3 at best and maybe a 4.

They got a huge break and they have the best road to the Final Four of all the SEC teams.

UK’s bracket is loaded.

DawginLex

March 14th, 2011
11:20 am

ACC/SEC challenge?

Kentucky opens with Duke next year.

Beast from the East

March 14th, 2011
11:21 am

DawginLex,
UF went 11-3 against the RPI top 50. Maybe there is another school in the country that had that many wins over quality teams, but if there is I’m not aware of it. I think their resume speaks for itself. Now, I just hope we don’t get bounced early….lol!

Hewitt Fan

March 14th, 2011
11:21 am

@GTBob
If UGA played Duke, UGA would have the best 2 players on the court, Trey(CELTIC) and Lesile..FLA,KEN, and Vandy all have more talent than Duke..I was happy when they sent Duke out west and not to Charlotte with ACC refs like they do most years…If Fox would play his bench and quit the Booby Cremins iron man system, they will beat NC…Remember what happened to Duke last time they were sent out west..VCU 79 Coach k 77…When other conference refs do Duke games, they are not scared to blow the whistle at all…They make them play and then you see that Duke is protected by the ACC refs…In the VCU game, Paulus tried the famous DUKE FLOP and the ref looked at him like he was stupid…

DawginLex

March 14th, 2011
11:22 am

Your bracket is there for the taking.

But Pitt will be a tough game but that would be Elite 8

GTBob

March 14th, 2011
11:22 am

Florida is good but they should never have been a 2 seed over Kentucky or Uconn. They are easily the worst of the 2 seeds. It probably should have been Kentucky as a 3 and Florida as a 4.

3-4

March 14th, 2011
11:22 am

Nice Schultz. Stir the pot my friend. It’s your job and you did great. Its a good debate and one that can be argued just like the VT snub. VCU over VT? Since VCU gets into NCAA, they are better than VT or Bama?

[...] NCAA tournament: SEC (Georgia) has passed ACC (Tech) | Jeff Schultz – Jeff Schultz [...]

RambleOn84

March 14th, 2011
11:26 am

Individual<team play, "Hewitt Fan."

What you AAU morons don't realize is how you are ruining the game by focusing on nothing but talent and the NBA.

You hate Coach K because he takes less talented (but still very talented) guys and consistently wins. He gets them to play together and it WORKS.

So sit down, shut up, and observe a winner on Duke's sidelines…cuz we all know you'll never be one with your horrible attitude.

Texas Pete

March 14th, 2011
11:26 am

The SEC passes the eye test this season but I am not willing to disrespect the ACC and say that the SEC has passed them in basketball. The SEC has become just as capable at producing elite caliber teams but the ACC might still be better top to bottom and is more consistent. The ACC has always been about Duke and UNC with a random draw of some other team having a great season. The SEC used to be all Kentucky and Arkansas but has quickly evolved to Florida, Kentucky, and Tennessee being consistent quality programs with several others having their random ups and downs.

All that said, ACC basketball is nowhere near SEC football. Sure, Duke and UNC produce a lot of basketball titles but that’s about it. Every once in awhile a team like Tech or WF sneaks into the Final Four but there is hardly any signficant depth to ACC basketball to put it in the discussion of SEC football.

SEC football has produced 4 different BCS Champions the past 10 years and 5 if you want to add in UT’s national championship a few more years back. Aside from that, the SEC typically has several teams in the final Top 10 as well as more just outside each year. I think that is a better display of depth without worrying about bowl and tournament invites or wins and loses.

A lot of people would argue that the Big East is more elite than the ACC in basketball as of late and are closer to SEC football than ACC basketball when measuring performance from top to bottom year in and year out.

Jeff Schultz

March 14th, 2011
11:28 am

RambleOn84 — They can both be indicators but not necessarily. The only standard in football to make a bowl is that you must win six games and conferences have automatic bowl tie-ins. Neither is the case in basketball. It’s all on merit.

yeah

March 14th, 2011
11:29 am

Going by SEC football fan logic the top teams in the ACC are better( elite is the word many use) and thus this makes the ACC the better conference. The ACC had somewhat of a down year but Duke and UNC are good teams with loads of talent….either one or both could make a run to the final four….I dont see an SEC team that can honestly. The ACC lost some good coaches recently and Maryland had a down year. Luckily, Paul Hewitt is gone, and Sidney Lowe will probably follow. The ACC needs GT to get back to its former level, and NC State used to be a consistently good program…they will get back to that with the right coach. Wake Forest really screwed itself over by firing Dino…VT, UM, and UVA will fade back into irrelevance when GT and NC State get back to top form. Clemson is looking pretty good with the hire they made, and I expect GT and NC State to make similar progress under good coaches…whomever they may be. If you want to see how important SEC basketball is you should have been in the dome this weekend…the place was half empty.

Jeff Schultz

March 14th, 2011
11:29 am

RambleOn84 — By the way, you did undercut me. Lowest bid I would accept is pat on the back and either 2 beers or 1 scotch.

Jeff Schultz

March 14th, 2011
11:30 am

JSS — If I were Mark Fox and you called me Tim Floyd, I’d run you over with a Winnebago.

FAN

March 14th, 2011
11:30 am

There is not 1 team in the SEC that Duke wouldn’t completely and utterly man handle!

Jeff Schultz

March 14th, 2011
11:31 am

Hewitt Fan — I’m looking forward/hoping to see some good ACC/SEC matchups in this tournament. I’m curious.

yeah

March 14th, 2011
11:34 am

Texas Pete….Maryland? Hello! They had an amazing run during the early 2000s. NC State has a storied history as well. I agree that Duke and UNC dominate, but other teams have consistently good to great programs in the ACC. Also GT was one game away from another Title….also Wake hasnt made a final four since 1962…just saying. I think the SEC is to football as the ACC is to basketball…its a very fair comparison.

dawggirl

March 14th, 2011
11:35 am

Okay, so off-topic, but does Tony Barnhart not work for the AJC anymore? He was supposed to return today, and now his last blog saying that has been deleted off the UGA page.

Best of luck to the Dawgs on Friday!

Beast from the East

March 14th, 2011
11:35 am

@ yeah,
I was at the dome on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The dome was not half empty. UK brought about 20,000 fans. When their games were over about 30-40% of their fans left.The announced attendance yesterday was 21,400. The four day total was a little over 195,000 people. I’d hardly call that empty.

GTBob

March 14th, 2011
11:35 am

Hewitt Fan, lets look at the four common opponents that Duke and UGA had this season.

UAB: Duke wins by 21, UGA wins by 2.
St Louis: Duke wins by 37, UGA wins by 2.
GT: Duke wins by 22, UGA wins by 1.
Temple: Duke wins by 17, UGA loses by 7.

The average difference in those games was Duke by 25 points. Not to mention Duke just won their conference tournament are a 1 seed and are defending National Champions. To claim that UGA would beat them by at least 10 points is utterly insane. Regardless of your stupid ref conspiracy theories.

Jeff Schultz

March 14th, 2011
11:36 am

3-4 — I’m not on the Virginia Tech-got-screwed bandwagon at all. Virginia Tech ranked 64th in RPI. VCU 49th. That’s not everything but it’s significant. But I agree that, despite RPI, Alabama has a good argument for the 2 late wins over Georgia.

yeah

March 14th, 2011
11:38 am

I went thursday and friday. UK was the only team that drew a significant crowd. It was kind of boring to be honest…it just doesn’t feel like a big east or ACC game. Hang your hat on UK fans if you like, but every other team had very little fans there supporting them…even UGA.

Jeff Schultz

March 14th, 2011
11:39 am

Dawggirl — Tony actually hasn’t been an AJC employee for a couple of years almost but he was free-lancing back blogs (like Mr. College Football). I believe that’s not the case any more as he is going to CBS Sports full time.

dawggirl

March 14th, 2011
11:40 am

Thanks, Jeff. I wasn’t sure how to word it, but you answered the question well.

Beast from the East

March 14th, 2011
11:42 am

@ yeah,
I was just pointing out actual numbers. Obviuosly, UK fans far outnumber everyone else. They live and breathe basketball. If you took Duke and UNC out of the equation for the ACC tourney, how much better would their attendance be? The Big East has the best tourney. It helps that it is in the most populated city in the continent with a 16 team field, though doesn’t it?

Worm

March 14th, 2011
11:43 am

The Big East has watered down the ACC talent level..

Tide Rising

March 14th, 2011
11:44 am

“As for Bama, two games does not a season make. Play SOMEBODY in your OOC and then don’t go 8-6 in your OOC.”-the Truth

theTruth and JSS,

Point taken. Bama was slow to start off the season but once we gelled we won 17 of our last 22- the NCAA is supposed to look at momentum and improvement also as an intangible.

And just as you can complain and say we should have done better nonconference I can look at you and say maybe you should have done better in conference (10-8 vs 13-5 including 5-3 against the East).

I can also say maybe you should have done better in your games against the top 50 (3-9 which is abysmal) or top 100 (5-11). When you look at those stats your season is very unimpressive.

In a scenario where the 2 teams are neck and neck it should have come down to head to head- especially since both head to head games were in the last week. Good luck and go ahead and celebrate getting in while we didn’t. I’ll go ahead and celebrate spanking you twice in one week.

yeah

March 14th, 2011
11:46 am

Worm…maybe you are partly right. But the Big East powers have been recruiting like this for a long time. Some of the crap teams in the ACC still have had top talent flowing through….for example NC State and GT who have recruited 5 stars, one and dones, and put people in the NBA all while playing at a low level in conference and out. Paul Hewitt and Sidney Lowe really wasted a lot of talent… however there is still plenty to go around.

Tide Rising

March 14th, 2011
11:47 am

Beast of the East,

11-3 against the RPI top 50 is well deserving of a no. 2 seed. Nuff said and good luck.

5150 UOAD

March 14th, 2011
11:49 am

DawginLex
The old ACC Big East challenge was every team in the ACC played every team in the Big East. 1 ACC team vs 1 SEC doen’t the Challenge make. The ACC and SEC have the same # of teams. So in one week they could each face another team from the other conference. I also think a few years back the ACC did the challenge against the Big 10 too. That challenge didn’t last as long as the ACC Big East challenge did.

Hewitt Fan

March 14th, 2011
11:50 am

@GTBob
GT beat NC this year..Kennesaw ST beat Gt UGA beat GT..Last year Duke had 2 seniors starters who did not even get drafted!The refs carried Duke to a title..Without the ACC refs, UGA would pound Duke on the glass..Who would guard Trey? Singiler? Travis Lesile would have a field day on Duke lol..UT could easily beat Duke in the second round…Duke is headed out west my friend..Time to see how good they really are!

JoeFan

March 14th, 2011
11:54 am

UGA was just fortunate to get into the tournament. They lost twice to an Alabama team that was clearly better but for inadequate justification left out of the Dance and just narrowly defeated an under coached GT team. Lets see what Fox does after his talent leaves. He still hasn’t proved he can recruit. The statement SEC passes ACC so far doesan’t hold water, yet.

Beast from the East

March 14th, 2011
11:55 am

Tide Rising,
Thanks. For the record, I think your team should have gotten in, but their early season woes really hurt them. Grant is going to be a good one. He had that team playing some ferocious defense the second half of the season. You just need a couple of guys that can shoot from the perimeter. That was really the only glaring weakness on an otherwise solid team.

Grant to GT?

March 14th, 2011
11:57 am

Uh oh Alabama fans. The idea of coaching in the ACC may be too much to turn down.

you idiot

March 14th, 2011
12:01 pm

Schultz, you are about as dumb as Bradley. It took a lot of strength not to comment on Bradley’s earlier story predicting UGA upsetting UNC in the second round… now I have to read this crap from you?! You people at the ajc are so incredibly stupid and moronic it makes me sick. Next year, when the ACC has more bowl appearances in football, I would bet my life that y’all would not even fathom publishing a column about the ACC surpassing the SEC in football, and Tech surpassing UGA. I mean, get real. What kind of opiates and psychadellic narcotics are you folks ingesting over there? How in the f’ing world does the Macon Telegraph print superior stories to the ajc? You make me want to vomit every time I see that stupid, smug, dick head smile that should have a thought bubble above your head reading “Dee Da Dee” when I read one of your jaw-dropping columns. I quit. Every time I see one of your stupid headlines I pray for a mistype, but the column always reiterates just how incredibly inept you are. I hate you.

JSS

March 14th, 2011
12:03 pm

@ Tide Rising…
I don’t think anything short of them winning the SEC Tournament outright helps them. Those losses yo really bad teams just killed them.

@ Jeff Schultz…
VA Tech just had too many injuries. Seth Greenberg (not one of my favorite people) will one day build a team that can stay healthy. It’s a recurring problem… Moreover, he knows that people question his non-conference schedules and still thumbs his nose at the process….

Buckeye

March 14th, 2011
12:04 pm

you idiot,

How do you really feel?

Tide Rising

March 14th, 2011
12:05 pm

Beast,

You must know your basketball because that pretty much sums up our team. Poor start to the season, great defensive play, but absolutely atrocious perimeter shooting- glaring weakness was a good way to describe it. Anyway, good luck in the tourney. I think UF and UK- which is really hot right now- can both be final four and or nc title caliber teams. After those 2 and after UNC and Duke in the ACC its a pretty good drop off in both conferences.

CrackDaddy

March 14th, 2011
12:05 pm

UNC is a two seed while starting 2 frosh, 2 sophs, and 1 jr. Heel, they’re still babies.

Johnny Vaught

March 14th, 2011
12:06 pm

Not based on that shallow analysis.

5150 UOAD

March 14th, 2011
12:06 pm

HEWITT FAN
with all YOUR POWER and PULL why don’t you see if you can get DUKE to play UGA after the SEASON on a Neutral Floor with your beloved AAU referees and let us see what would happen.

Coach K 36 years as a Head Coach.
2 NIT apperances
4 Championships
4 Runner-ups
3 Final 4’s
1 Elite 8
7 Sweet 16’s
5 2nd rounds
2 1st rounds

If Duke gets some call well I think you can see why. You are such a Basketball genius you should be able to understand this concept. I am sure your Atlanta Celtics get a lot of calls because of who they are or because the Refs are scared of your fans.

GTBob

March 14th, 2011
12:08 pm

GT beat NC this year..Kennesaw ST beat Gt UGA beat GT..Last year Duke had 2 seniors starters who did not even get drafted!

This is why UGA would blow out Duke? Try harder. I’m sure all of the basketball experts in the country agree with you that Duke would have no chance against UGA.

papadawg

March 14th, 2011
12:08 pm

The Dawgs first passed GT in football and now Basketball, life is good

woebegong

March 14th, 2011
12:10 pm

Simple solution for one so disapointed in the journalist at AJC. Don’t read the damn paper then. You just wasted a lot of space on this blog.

GOOOOOO DAWGSSSSSSS

Tide Rising

March 14th, 2011
12:11 pm

JSS,

Sure. We had some bad losses early in the season. My point though is that it was early and we dramatically improved and won 17 of our last 22, we dominated a division of a big 6 conference, and although the west was weak we went 4-2 against the east during the regular season including a win at UT and a win over UK. Against the 4 east division teams that went to the tourney we lost only to UF, split with UK, beat UT at UT, and swept UGA. That’s 4-2 against the teams in our own conference that did go to the tourney. How do you explain that?

5150 UOAD

March 14th, 2011
12:13 pm

woebegong
You know what would be no fun. LOL. We know Mark and Jeff write stories for facts and to get BLOG hits too. That what makes it fun. Atlanta has so many people from so many places the blogs can get a view from just about any teams fans. It is all fun for the most part.

Beast from the East

March 14th, 2011
12:13 pm

woebegong,
Well said!

bulldogmaniac

March 14th, 2011
12:15 pm

It must stink for techies knowing that the bee’s are behind UGA in the 2 MAJOR sports!

you idiot

March 14th, 2011
12:15 pm

@woebegong,

I may have wasted a lot of space on this blog, but you have wasted even more space on this Earth! Doesnn’t Athens have their own news paper? The Athens Herald, I believe? The ajc stands for the Athens Journal Const.

Oh yeah, I hate you too.

John

March 14th, 2011
12:18 pm

UGA definitely ahead of GT in athletics…but the SEC is not above the ACC in basketball. Not how many teams you get in the tourney…it’s how far they go. 0 will be in the Final Four, possibly even the Elite Eight. You won’t say the same about the ACC.

Paul in RDU

March 14th, 2011
12:20 pm

2010-2011 is probably the worst year ever in ACC basketball and there is no doubt that the SEC was better – this year. Let’s see how long the SEC stays better than the ACC. GT is about to get a new coach, as is NCSU. Clemson looks like they hired a winner in Brownell. Hamilton, Krzyzewski, Williams and Williams aren’t going anywhere.

Supersize that order, mutt

March 14th, 2011
12:24 pm

Don’t be surprised if Tech goes hard after Bobby Knight.

Brian F.

March 14th, 2011
12:26 pm

Love the fact that none of the so called National experts are picking the Dogs. Gotta Love that. Upset waiting to happen. If we play well, we can beat Washington.

Jeff Schultz

March 14th, 2011
12:28 pm

Dawggirl — No problem. Tony’s a friend and his contributions will be missed.

Pull My Finger

March 14th, 2011
12:29 pm

Hey, wait! Tech’s going to the N.I.T. (Not In Tournament)…………..BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Jeff Schultz

March 14th, 2011
12:29 pm

You Idiot — Are you having a bad day?

woebegong

March 14th, 2011
12:30 pm

%550,
It does indeed get the blogs going and this is good from Jeff’s point of view because 1. His bosses know he has a good readership and 2. By launching a little controversey in each story, it stimulates the readers even more to comment and accomplishes nbr. 1. Lets face it, we all have our different views but we can express them without be so dang hateful and disrespectful of others. Most of the comments on here made by knowledgable fans, all have so merit. I admit, I am not a big fan of BB, but I grew up as a teen in the heart of the ACC, and realize that they almost always seem to be in the middle of the dance, either winning it, or disrupting it for other teams. The SEC is good this year and I agree Alabama should have been in the big dance as well.
One thing I am sure that most folks have not given any consideration to9 though, is “Sometimes, success can be the enemy”. The Chairman of the turnament committee is also the AD of Ohio State I believe. Not saying that he had it in for Alabama, but their track record against Alabama, in almost any sport is not good. Maybe if we were in the same position, we might just be a tad less excited to see Alabama in the big dance, reasoning that they won it all in football two years ago and have dominated us, along with the rest of the SEC for about the last 10 years, so let them sit out this one. Just saying, but it just seems like human nature to me.
Now I know this will bring out some nasty, objectionable comments, and that is OK. Just trying to find a reason, that could possible explain it, but like I said, not a big BB watcher so, if I am wrong, so be it. Just trying to help Jeff get his blog more hits, LOL.

GOOOOOOOOOO DAWGSSSSSSSSSSS

woebegong

March 14th, 2011
12:32 pm

Can’t ya just feel the love in this blog, Jeff? LOL.

Supersize that order, mutt

March 14th, 2011
12:33 pm

Jeff, can you confirm that Tech has inquired about Bobby Knight’s availability? Thanks for the hard work you do.

woebegong

March 14th, 2011
12:36 pm

Do you think Bobby Knight would come out of retirement to coach again. Man, what a steal that would be for any team. He is over the top sometimes in his actions on the court, but he flat out knew how to coach, 92% of his kids got their degree on his teams, and he made that state when he was the coach.

BravesFan79

March 14th, 2011
12:37 pm

Within 2 seasons, GT will again be a power, and the ACC will regain dominate status over the SEC in basketball.

headley lamar

March 14th, 2011
12:39 pm

Lets see what Fox does after his talent leaves. He still hasn’t proved he can recruit.

He has already signed the number 4 guard in the entire nation for next year. Those are the kind of guys UGA NEVER got before. If he got talent to come to Nevada, UGA shouldn’t be a problem

Jeff, can you confirm that Tech has inquired about Bobby Knight’s availability?

Tech and Knight would be a perfect combo. He would fit right in with the coaches assaulting players etc.

headley lamar

March 14th, 2011
12:41 pm

Personally ive always thought the ACC was extremely overrated.

Back in the 80’s they were something special but aren’t and haven’t been for a long time now.

Georgie Fan 909

March 14th, 2011
12:43 pm

http://kenpom.com/conf.php?c=SEC

Um…SEC is lucky to be considered a Top 6 conference in basketball.

UGA Rules

March 14th, 2011
12:44 pm

Hard to say….the tournament will likely determine which is better. I doubt a one year uptick by SEC places them above the ACC. We’ll see how good Fox is after he loses our two NBA players. We still lost a lot of games with these two exceptional players.

dawgrific

March 14th, 2011
12:47 pm

I love how the techies, desperate to cling to something. ANYTHING, will not just admit the obvious, and that is that the SEC is clearly better this year in hoops, especially if we are doing a “most good teams” thing comparison :)

Dan

March 14th, 2011
12:48 pm

Jeff – agreed SEC has passed the ACC in basketball for now.

Hard to recall when the ACC was the gold standard of college basketball for decades, a distinction now held by the Big East.

ACC sold its soul to unsuccessfully attempt to upgrade in football, which destroyed the round robin schedule for basketball.

It would help for the ACC to field more competitive teams in the Atlanta and Washington media markets, but for the forseeable future the Duke-UNC duopoly will rule over what is otherwise of conference of basketball dregs

Supersize that order, mutt

March 14th, 2011
12:49 pm

headley lamar, is your name Jeff?

Alphare

March 14th, 2011
12:50 pm

I cannot believe some of you guys are so high on RPI. The top 25 teams have RPI between 0.6793 to 0.6073(diff=0.072).

But from 26 to 80 are 0.6064 to 0.5545(diff=0.052). So these 55 teams are pretty much piled up together in RPI.

Georgia’s 47th RPI is 0.5774 compared to 80th Bama at 0.5545. The diff=0.023. Does this number mean UGA is better than BAMA?

Why BAMA beat UGA twice in one week if 0.023 is so magical?

dawgrific

March 14th, 2011
12:52 pm

Also, shifting gears a bit, 11 Big East teams and no Bama (except uab, also ridiculous) is ridiculous to me, especially after that conference has been so over rated the last couple of years, based on tourney results.

headley lamar

March 14th, 2011
12:52 pm

headley lamar, is your name Jeff?

No. Its Shane.

My nickname playing ball was Goose after Goose Gossage.

You can use either one. Or Headley

headley lamar

March 14th, 2011
12:53 pm

Why BAMA beat UGA twice in one week if 0.023 is so magical?

Fortunately for Georgia the NCAA committee looks at all 30 or so games.

Not just 2.

Steve

March 14th, 2011
12:54 pm

UGA has a basketball team? Do they ride donkeys?

Supersize that order, mutt

March 14th, 2011
12:54 pm

has anyone ever called you “mutt” before?

dawgrific

March 14th, 2011
12:55 pm

I am quite happy, but Bama should have gotten in, especially over the 11th big east team, as well as over the uab’s, clemson’s and harvard’s of the world.

dawgrific

March 14th, 2011
12:56 pm

Colorado got screwed too, but we beat them so there :)

woebegong

March 14th, 2011
12:57 pm

Kind of hard for me to think the ACC hasn’t been any good since the 80’s, given the national titles they have one since then in BB. Conferences can have down years just like teams do and it can stretch for a couple of years even. Kentucy has won a couple of championships since the 80’s and I think Arkansas won one during that time, but I think the ACC probably has at least doubled that total in that 40 year time span.
I would think the SEC would have to be better over a longer period of time, before the mantel is passed to them, right now. Say like a period of five years or more.

headley lamar

March 14th, 2011
12:58 pm

has anyone ever called you “mutt” before?

Not that I can remember.

But you can if you want. What do I care.

Go Big Blue

March 14th, 2011
1:00 pm

Hate on UK all you want, but they will force this conference to be better. Not to mention the SEC has the TV contract with ESPN. Getting to play on national TV two-three times a week should help recruiting. UGA is on the rise, UT needs to figure out what to do with Pearl, and LSU/Arkansas need to do better. Florida is a great program as well.

woebegong

March 14th, 2011
1:02 pm

12:57 post corrections.
National titles they have “won”
And I don’t even drink. Perhaps I need to start though.

Tifton

March 14th, 2011
1:04 pm

Jeff the point I was trying to make is that you throw out a statement that the SEC has passed the ACC in basketball base on what? The fact that they got 5 teams into the tourney.

The other point is too often when arguing conference strength in football the argument is to look at the NCs and for the past six years the SEC has dominated college football if that is the measuring stick. But yet when it comes to college basketball that measuring stick seems to go away in your piece in what I see as attempt to make the home SEC crowd in the ATL happy.

When the dicussion turns to basketball and the fact that UNC and Duke have won the past two NCs and right now look to be two of the strongest teams in the field none of that matters. These two programs as much as I despise Coach K are the best programs over the long haul in college basketball the last 20 years. Much like Alabama and UF in football. Just use the same criteria when arguing greatness for both sports is all I am saying.

Plus we both know that the ACC will get 2 into the Round of 16 and the SEC will get 1. Too many teams beyond UF, Duke, and UNC with too many holes for good teams to exploit. Teams like George Mason and Butler advanced because they were experienced teams with solid fundamentals. Name for me one team in this list: UGA, UT, Vandy, FSU, Kentucky, and Clemson that fit that criteria.

UF and Duke are veteran teams and you can never question Duke’s fundamentals. And can somebody explain how UNC can go 19-3 to close out the season and yet people question how deep they can go. Teams on runs tend to continue playing well over this tourney and beyond these three none of the other 8 teams from the ACC or SEC are playing consistently good bball.

bob

March 14th, 2011
1:13 pm

They should give Mark Fox a big fat long contract that rolls over every year automatically with a big buy out clause. What could go wrong?

ND Leprechaun

March 14th, 2011
1:16 pm

Big East is far superior to either conferences. Go Irish!

bob

March 14th, 2011
1:17 pm

Why is everyone complaining about seeds? If you are a 2 or 3 or 4 you get a couple of bubble boys, then you have to beat 4 good or hot teams to be the champs. Prove it on the court, not by voters.

JB

March 14th, 2011
1:20 pm

The BIG test for fox will come next year when he loses his two studs. Don’t know if Dawgs have the depth to show up pretty good next year. Better than Felton, yes, get back to the dance, doubtful.

headley lamar

March 14th, 2011
1:20 pm

Jeff the point I was trying to make is that you throw out a statement that the SEC has passed the ACC in basketball base on what? The fact that they got 5 teams into the tourney.

Id say that’s a pretty good indicator.

Your trying to compare Football to Basketball and draw some kind of conclusion.

Apples to Oranges.

Bottom line. SEC is far superior in football and has nudged ahead in basketball.

I know that hurts your ACC feelings but its true.

headley lamar

March 14th, 2011
1:22 pm

The BIG test for fox will come next year when he loses his two studs

Id think Leslie would come back. He is nowhere near polished enough for the NBA.

Thompkins will probably go.

USC Jimi

March 14th, 2011
1:23 pm

Bowl bids and tournament invites do not make for apples and apples. Before the football season starts either conference is committed to X number of bowl bids. There is no such assurance of tournament entrees. You only have one automatic entry to the big dance. The SEC has always been underrated in basketball. The ACC has always been underrated in football. The Big Ten is overrated in everything.

Buckeye

March 14th, 2011
1:25 pm

If Bob Knight signs on with GT I’ve got 4 tickets on the 50 for the Akron game for you.

Harry from da Burn

March 14th, 2011
1:25 pm

HAHA. Hey Jeff, Who did you know in AJC to get this job?? The tournament hasn’t even started yet. And one season doesn’t put a conference ahead of another. SEC isn’t that great, everyone who watches college basketball knows this. Only 1 maybe 2 SEC teams get out of the first round. Believe that like a rat said it son.

Buckeye

March 14th, 2011
1:29 pm

I’ll take the combined W’s of Ohio State Wisconsin and Purdue against the combined W’s of any three from the SEC or the ACC.

I’ll put up 4 tickets on the 50 for the Toledo game.

Buckeye

March 14th, 2011
1:30 pm

USC Jimi,

You in, Mr. Over/Under rated?

woebegong

March 14th, 2011
1:31 pm

Buckeye,

Got to agree with you there. Not a real good chance he will come out of retirement to coach again. He has got to be in his late 60’s at least I think. He looks a lot older than me in his recent advertisement on TV and that is going some, LOL. Shoot, all my hair is white and he still has a some gray in his.
On another subject, they sure as heck gave Ohio State a tough tournament as far as opponents go though. NC and Kentucy both in their conference. That ought to make for some goos BB, if all survive.

Harry from da Burn

March 14th, 2011
1:33 pm

Hey Buckeye, doesn’t the SEC own Ohio State?

Buckeye

March 14th, 2011
1:46 pm

Woe,

Could have some great games…..Kentucky, North Carolina, UCON, Duke in the Final Four. If we stay true to form from 3 point range I’ll take on anybody, anywhere. If we have cold streak, which we did against Northwestern after going 13/14, we’ll take one on the chin.

I’m also pulling for Clemson. Watched Tanner Smith play high school ball with Howard ( before I was Trey). The two of them were something else.

RambleOn84

March 14th, 2011
1:46 pm

Did I really read that the ACC hasn’t been good since the ’80s?

Didn’t the ACC win HALF the titles of the last decade?

Buckeye

March 14th, 2011
1:49 pm

Harry,

Not in March. Noticed your ballers were last in the West and no one from the West is doing the two-step. Funny, you can’t even root against Alabama for the next few weeks.

And to think I supported you and your traditions when the Toomer’ Corner story broke.

Fool me once, Harry.

ACC Fan

March 14th, 2011
1:55 pm

I believe that most any team in the ACC except Wake and Ga. Tech could beat Georgia (Tech lost by 1 pt.) and Tennessee even though it is a relatively down year for the ACC. The ACC teams did beat up on each other which didn’t help their records. Let’s see how long Georgia and Tennessee last in the tournament. They will be lucky to get past the first round.

The Washington Huskies

March 14th, 2011
1:59 pm

ACC Fan,

I can personally guarantee Georgia won’t get past the first game.

Texas Pete

March 14th, 2011
2:01 pm

SEC Football > ACC Basketball

Basketball Champions since 2000
Duke
UNC
Kansas
Florida
Florida
UNC
UCONN
Syracuse
Maryland
Duke
Michigan State

ACC – 5, Big East – 2, SEC – 2, Big Twelve – 1, Big Ten – 1

Football Champions since 2000

Auburn
Alabama
Florida
LSU
Florida
Texas
USC
LSU
OSU
Miami
Oklahoma

SEC – 6, Big Twelve – 2, Pac Ten – 1, Big Ten – 1, Big East – 1

If you go back to 1990 you can add 3 more ACC national basketball championships from Duke and UNC as well as 3 more SEC national championships from Tennessee, Florida, and Alabama. So the trend continues. ACC basketball is simply top heavy and that hasn’t changed in a long time. SEC football has more teams capable of winning a championship. As I said before, the depth of SEC football is greater than ACC basketball.

The more interesting fact is to flip it and start counting ACC football national champions against SEC basketball national champions. Going back to 2000 you’ll see Florida winning basketball titles but I don’t see any ACC teams winning football championships. Go back to 1990 and you have one trick pony FSU and Tech splitting with Colorado in 1990. In basketball you have Kentucky and Arkansas winning it all.

The SEC appears to be deeper over time in both sports while the ACC depends more on their traditional top teams for each sport. But to throw the ACC a bone, the Duke-UNC basketball duo might be the most formidable 1-2 punch in all of college sports going conference-by-conference over the past 20 years. It’s bigger than Texas-OU in football, OSU-Michigan in football, and I can’t think of another basketball combo from a single conference worth mentioning. Kentucky-Arkansas would have probably been in the discussion had Nolan Richardson not lost his mind (oh what could have been). SEC football doesn’t have a duo. Over 20 years it’s Alabama-LSU-Florida.

gdawginkalamazoo

March 14th, 2011
2:03 pm

We were behind Tech? When?

JSS

March 14th, 2011
2:03 pm

Tide Rising
March 14th, 2011
12:11 pm
“How do you explain that?”

I lobbied for Alabama making the field of 68. Instead of Southern California or Colorado. But I’m going to play the Committee for a minute, entertain this for a minute.

I look at Alabama and their schedule. I look at their wins. I look at their conference. I look at their division within that conference. I look at what they did in their losses. I look again at “what the teams they loss to did.” Then I say to them, were the losses to quality opponents? Then I have to re-look at whether their conference was truly strong. 2) Did the conference play enhance them?

The answer to all of those questions were that no, Alabama was a team lost to too many really bad basketball teams early. There case against tournament teams were that they only beat teams inside their conference and those games were home games with the exception of one (UT). Your chance at getting into the tournament died at Vanderbilt and in Gainesville. From that point forward, Alabama needed to win the SEC Tournament outright. The wins over UGA only put them back on the Selection Committee line to be one of the two 11/12 that would be playing in Dayton tomorrow if they had pulled it off…

To me, that is how the scenario played out… Is that fair and clear enough of an explanation?

Whiskey Clear

March 14th, 2011
2:03 pm

5/10. Until the SEC can consistently win the big one with multiple teams, they will not be better than the ACC. And with the teams they have in the tourney this year, I don’t see them winning the big one again. Sorry.

Beast from the East

March 14th, 2011
2:04 pm

Gotta love all these guarantees and “mark it down” comments. If you people knew half as much as you thought you did, then why not bet your life savings and just retire after the tourney? Me, I voice my opinion but offer no guarantees. I’ve seen way too many upsets over the years to place my hard earned cash on any sporting event…..especially the NCAA tournament. About the closest thing to a sure bet is the #1 seeds versus the #16 seeds. Other than that, anything can and has happened.

DawginLex

March 14th, 2011
2:06 pm

Buckeye,

Wisconsin sucks.

Watching them play is equivalent to watching grass grow. I actually would get more excitement out of the lawn.

Bo Ryan’s style of play puts basketball back 100 years.

Can’t wait for Belmont to expose them for the fraud they are.

5150 UOAD

March 14th, 2011
2:10 pm

Dan
March 14th, 2011
12:48 pm

Jeff – agreed SEC has passed the ACC in basketball for now.

Hard to recall when the ACC was the gold standard of college basketball for decades, a distinction now held by the Big East.

DAN since the Big East has won 3 NCAA tourneys by 2 teams since 1990, UConn and Syracuse. In that time the ACC has 8 NCAA National Champions and the SEC has 5, but you think the Big East is the Basketball King? AHHAHAHA OK. 20 teams in the big east makes them great but they don’t play in all the sports like football and baseball. Hell the ACC should offer members to join that just want to play basketball. Just for fun the ACC add close to home schools just in Bball. Florida, UGA, Vandy, UT, USC, and Kentucky join the ACC and then the Big East would never be heard of again. That would 13 NCAA Champions since 1990 to 3 for the Big East that could be fun.

JSS

March 14th, 2011
2:20 pm

But the style of play of Auburn, Ole Miss, and South Carolina are something any sane wants to watch? Wisconsin grinds, they aren’t looking to be beautiful… Do I want my team to play that way? Nope, but it happens to get them there as it did at Washington State…

JSS

March 14th, 2011
2:23 pm

And I picked Belmont not because they are going to expose Wisconsin; but because they are better team in that match-up…

DawginLex

March 14th, 2011
2:23 pm

http://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/

********************************************

For WDE

Auburn wraps up 2011 Fulmer Cup

5150 UOAD

March 14th, 2011
2:25 pm

Put the ACC and the SEC head to head in everything. Everything is getting kids to graduate with a Degree that matters in the JOB Market. SEC football is God with ESPN helping to sell it. ACC is Basketball God and beyond the SECs reach when it comes to EDUCATING Student athletes on a diverse campus in VALUABLE degrees.
Dean Wormer said it best, “Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.” That describes the SEC student Athlete and most of their fans,

headley lamar

March 14th, 2011
2:28 pm

Hey Buckeye, doesn’t the SEC own Ohio State?

They do.
But they have a million excuses for it.

Too warm. Long layoff. Playing in the south. Etc etc etc

DawginLex

March 14th, 2011
2:29 pm

5150 you are FOS

My kid goes to UK and is getting tail kicked in Organic Chemistry and Physics. The UK Pharmacy program is one of the top 5 in the country. Vandy is a better school than all of the ACC schools put together.

Go spew your holier than thou BS somewhere else because it doesn’t fly.

Buckeye

March 14th, 2011
2:29 pm

DawginLex,

Wisconsin doesn’t suck. The Gov signed the bill.

Their style of play sucks.

5150 UOAD

March 14th, 2011
2:30 pm

DawginLex the Fulmer Cup for 2011 just started. How has Auburn already won it? Tennessee doesn’t even have all their new players on campus same for UGA. STILL 8 good months for UGA to pull out another winner. UGA wrapped it up late last year. Be confident! UGA is a real gamer in the Fulmer Cup. Don’t write then off so early. Have confidence in Richt and the boys to keep working hard for a BACK to Back year.

DawginLex

March 14th, 2011
2:31 pm

5150 Read the article. Auburn has an insurmountable lead.

28 more episodes of riding a moped will never equal all those felonies

Buckeye

March 14th, 2011
2:31 pm

Headly,

You are a genious. Your orginal thoughts on the topic of the day are spellbinding. Thank you for sharing them! Perhaps DawginLex can repost his list for you to make your posting efforts less taxing.

headley lamar

March 14th, 2011
2:32 pm

EDUCATING Student athletes on a diverse campus in VALUABLE degrees.

What are you smoking?

Tech hasn’t graduated a basketball player in years.

Most ACC schools are exactly the same. They dont graduate anybody.

Spare me the academic superiority crap because the stats show it just isnt true.

[...] – NCAA tournament: SEC (Georgia) has passed ACC (Tech) [...]

RambleOn84

March 14th, 2011
2:35 pm

Statistics are like a bikini…what they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital

sliderule

March 14th, 2011
2:36 pm

FWIW ranking by Ken Pomeroy @ kenpom.com

Ranking of conferences by average rating of the teams
Conference Rating Conference Rating
1 Big Ten Conference .8906 18 Mid American Conference .3586
2 Big East Conference .8719 19 Summit League .3534
3 Big 12 Conference .8481 20 Atlantic Sun Conference .3461
4 Atlantic Coast Conference .8276 21 Southern Conference .3370
5 Pac 10 Conference .7952 22 Ohio Valley Conference .3331
6 Mountain West Conference .7809 23 Big Sky Conference .3328
7 Southeastern Conference .7650 24 Patriot League .3186
8 Conference USA .6575 25 Northeast Conference .2998
9 Atlantic 10 Conference .6078 26 Sun Belt Conference .2958
10 Western Athletic Conference .5946 27 Big South Conference .2952
11 West Coast Conference .5717 28 Southland Conference .2698
12 Horizon League .5649 29 America East Conference .2473
13 Colonial Athletic Association .5509 30 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference .1350
14 Missouri Valley Conference .5216 31 Independents .1137
15 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference .4259 32 Great West Conference .0936
16 Ivy League .4176 33 Southwestern Athletic Conference .0763
17 Big West Conference .4099

UGA REALLY STANDS FOR JOE DIRT

March 14th, 2011
2:37 pm

The ACC has won the last 2 national titles and and have plenty in the books! UGA barely beat a horrible GT team and so how much better are they really? Not much! GT has played for a national title in the past decade and been to the big dance 3 times as much as uga in the past decade alone!

UGA better this year, yes…overall as a program, HELL NO! Jeff, put down the weed buddy!

Beast from the East

March 14th, 2011
2:37 pm

5150,
I usually enjoy your wit, but come on man! How can anyone from Tech talk about graduating student athletes? Do you really want to go there? I can do some quick research if you’d like. Just let me know. LOL!

headley lamar

March 14th, 2011
2:37 pm

Here is my stat

Number of SEC teams in the tourney 5

A She She 4

5150 UOAD

March 14th, 2011
2:37 pm

OK DAWGinLex
Vandy is equal with Duke in the medical dept. Vandy is not better than every school in the ACC.
So is your kid studying to be a Trailer Park Pharmacist? Wee-Haw you will be rolling in METH money in no time.
Really congrats on your child on working hard and studying in a usable field after gradation. Not like UGA players in housing, consumerism, magazine advertising, of Jr year students in Pre-Business. Hope you child is making you so very proud.

GTBob

March 14th, 2011
2:39 pm

Tech hasn’t graduated a basketball player in years.

There was a Ga Tech basketball player that graduated just last semester.

RambleOn84

March 14th, 2011
2:41 pm

That’s cute, Headley…

I just thought of a really good one, though…the Ass E She…

DawginLex

March 14th, 2011
2:41 pm

Child wants to be a doctor, not Pharmacist. Too much personality(like Dad) to sit behind a counter and fill pill bottles. Point is, Uk and Florida are very underrated schools academically. Vandy is a tough place to get in. Ole Miss has consistently been solid and even MSU is improving.

The whole stereotype of these schools not being tough is what hacks me off. I know what my kid is going through and I know what my friend’s kids are going through at Georgia and Florida and none of it is easy.

5150 UOAD

March 14th, 2011
2:42 pm

I didn’t say TECH was graduating a huge number of players. It was an ACC vs SEC thing. The ACC schools do very well in graduating athletes with degrees that Businesses & the Job Market actually want.

gdawginkalamazoo

March 14th, 2011
2:43 pm

RambleOn84, I loved the statistics post.

DawginLex, regarding the ESSBS link, thanks, that was a good read. If 5150 would read it, Auburn has an insurmountable lead at this point. However, with the great salaries these kids made while playing they will probably hire a few good lawyers. Maybe Auburn’s “dream team” of lawyers.
That or LegalZoom.com.

DawginLex

March 14th, 2011
2:44 pm

5150,

There are lots of comparisons

Clemson=Auburn with a lake

You really throwing Miami in as an academic giant?

Beast from the East

March 14th, 2011
2:44 pm

5150,
How does Tech contribute to the overall graduation rates for the ACC? Can you say dead last?

Texas Pete

March 14th, 2011
2:45 pm

2:25 PM – 5150 lost all credibility. LOL. He resorted to playing the education card when discussing sports. What does it say about the kid who did so much to get accepted to GT or Duke only to flunk out or change their major to something “easy” and cookie cutter like some General Business degree?

You cannot possibly get a good education at Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, or even Mississippi State. Anyone with their future in mind would never attend an SEC school. There has never been a successful person to attend a class on any SEC campus.

Beast from the East

March 14th, 2011
2:47 pm

Texas Pete,
I think you’ve had too much hot sauce, buddy.

DawginLex

March 14th, 2011
2:48 pm

Beast,

I hope he had his tongue firmly in cheek when he typed

Paul in RDU

March 14th, 2011
2:51 pm

In 2011 Auburn has already set a record in the Fulmer Cup that is unlikely to ever be broken.

5150 UOAD

March 14th, 2011
2:52 pm

OK OK OK I know there are good student athletes that actually get good degrees in the ACC and the SEC. It has been proven over the years that the SEC is a win at All Cost Conference with academics for the athletes not on the top of the list of priorities. That is my point and it has been proven over the years. The SEC cares more about a Huge full stadium on Saturday and a full Trophy case more than having the Best and Brightest playing sports. Every school does it, but the SEC makes a Lifestyle of it.

Paul in RDU

March 14th, 2011
2:55 pm

Texas Pete,
When I was in grad school I attended a couple of seminars at UGA – I guess that means I’ll never be a successful person

5150 UOAD

March 14th, 2011
2:58 pm

Didn’t The Vols have those kids do an Armed Robbery on a convince store and the fight at The Bar Knoxville? How did UGA beat the VOLS then? I guess Auburn will be hard to beat. I just remember all the crap the VOLS had going and some how UGA took the Cup. Sorry if I am wrong there just seems to be a lot of time left to call a winner right now.
It is sad that there is actually a measuring stick for this and a pseudo award as well.

RambleOn84

March 14th, 2011
3:04 pm

Dawginlex,
Point taken about Clemson, but Miami actually IS a very good school…not that you can tell by looking at the football team.

Tide Rising

March 14th, 2011
3:09 pm

JSS,

You have some points but I can counter each of them. As you stated we did poorly at the beginning of the season and had some bad losses- particularly out of conference. My point is that while that is true it is also true that we played very well in conference- going 12-4 regular season, 13-5 overall, and 4-2 against the 4 sec east teams that did make the tournament.

Also the NCAA selection committee has traditionally gone with who has had the hotter hand as of late when looking at 2 similar overall records. Our trend was certainly up having won 17 of our last 22.

In most playoff considerations what you do in conference, in division, carries more weight than what you do non conference and out of division. This is not debateable. It is the first tiebreaker in the formula in determing a division or conference champion in practically any sport- pro or college. The division and conference accomplishments take precedence over what a team does nonconference. You see this in pro or college tiebreakers in football, pro basketball, baseball, etc. Only here the NCAA giving out of conference games played early in the season precedence over not only head to head but also conference and division success. Nowwhere else in pro or college sports do you see this backwards logic. You know it and I know it.

We’ll agree to politely disagree. In any event I’ll pull for the dawgs but to be honest with you I can’t see UGA or Bama advancing very far in the NCAA tourney. Or UT for that matter. UF or UK I can see as potentially going all the way.

5150 UOAD

March 14th, 2011
3:11 pm

Texas Pete
Had to be joking. Even this UGA hater(not really just a Tech fan) knows that the SEC members have graduated many great people in many fields of study.

gdawginkalamazoo

March 14th, 2011
3:16 pm

In that picture Mark Fox’s is yelling, “When you get between here and here Ware, I am going to call a timeout, got it, so don’t shoot, okay.”

5150 UOAD

March 14th, 2011
3:17 pm

Miami is one of the most diverse schools in the country. It is also a Private school. Miami is 52% non-white. There very few schools in the US that can claim an almost 50-50 break in White vs Non-white students. I say that in itself is impressive even if many of the non-whites play sports.

Tide Rising- Criminals by conference

March 14th, 2011
3:18 pm

Sports Illustrated recently did a study on criminality in D-1 football that focused on the top 25 programs last year but also on all college football 1-A programs. Here are some of the results- this was a record of college players with criminal records. Interesting results

According to our data the University of Pittsburgh had the most players with police records (22) which the school said in statement, was “unacceptable.” The school was followed by Iowa (18), Arkansas (18), Boise State (16) and Penn state (16).

Among the major conferences, the Big Ten led our list with 50 players. The ACC was next with 39. Then came the SEC (33), Big East (27), PAC-10 (19) and Big 12 (16).

There was good news: 11 schools had five or fewer run-ins with the law. One school came out completely clean – undefeated Rose Bowl champion Texas Christian University. Alabama also had fewer than 5.

RambleOn84

March 14th, 2011
3:25 pm

“Tide Rising,”
That study only included SI’s preseason top 25 teams.

Hence why TCU, with 0 arrests, showed up at #25.

Tide Rising- Criminals by conference

March 14th, 2011
3:28 pm

The Sports Illustrated focus was only on the teams that finished top 25. So if some of the dawg haters are wondering why Georgia isn’t represented due to their various off field issues last year its just because the dogs didn’t finish to 25.

RambleOn84

March 14th, 2011
3:29 pm

Additionally, is that study really surprising? Pittsburgh had a little over 1/4 (22 of 85) of its scholarship players with police records. A police record includes traffic tickets and the like.

The SI article was lazy and really told us nothing at the end of the day, especially since it failed to take those numbers and compare them to the overall student populations.

Tide Rising- Criminals by conference

March 14th, 2011
3:30 pm

Rambleon84,

Ooops. You are correct. It is in fact based on the preseason top 25.

RambleOn84

March 14th, 2011
3:32 pm

It’s cool, Tide…the article is confusing and not very useful.

The subject matter is intriguing, but there is no real in-depth investigation there. I find it to be rather lazy “journalism,” intended more for shock value than any real insight.

Tide Rising- Criminals by conference

March 14th, 2011
3:37 pm

Ramblon84,

That’s true. The numbers are misleading and aren’t really any worse than for the male student population at large. Still kinda interesting overall though and it has some relevance considering that nearly 40% of the incidents were for more serious crimes. Extrapolated across the overall numbers it still tells you something.

Nearly 40 percent of what we found were serious crimes. Fifty-six were arrested for so-called violent crimes – including 25 for assault and battery, robbery, domestic violence and sex crimes. Forty-one were arrested or cited for property crimes. The more than 100 drug and alcohol-related offenses, included 27 DUI’s.

Tide Rising- Criminals by conference

March 14th, 2011
3:42 pm

Rambleon84,

As far as lazy reporting hell I’ve come to expect that in practically all news. Rarely is the full story told. And while this article is misleading and a case of lazy reporting for shock value there is a little bit to glean from it. For instance I kinda have noticed over the years that Ark takes some very questionble personnel like Batman Carroll and that since Shula Saban has largely cleaned up the kind of guys he’s bringing in at Bama. And I’ve noticed sometimes in recruiting that we’ve backed off significantly several times from high profile recruits that went on to get in trouble at other schools.

Joe

March 14th, 2011
3:55 pm

If you had ACC SEC challenge using Sagarin computer for seeds and result the “down” ACC would win 10-2.

Jeff you’re drunk

Rating Team Rating Team Winner
3 Duke 12 UK Duke
15 UNC 18 UF UNC
40 VT 30 VU VU
42 CU 51 UT CU
44 FSU 52 UGA FSU
50 MD 60 AL MD
58 BC 80 Miss BC
65 UM 102 AR UM
92 NCST 118 SC NCST
103 UVA 123 MSU UVA
114 GT 223 LSU GT
249 WF 231 AU AU

Ncaa selection committee

March 14th, 2011
5:21 pm

In the history of the tourney no team from a major conference that went 12-4 or better has ever been denied a slot in the tourney. Until Alabama this year. What BS

Paul in RDU

March 14th, 2011
5:32 pm

BC @SC 85-70 W
CU @SC 60-64 L
FSU vs UF 51-55 L
FSU @AUB 60-65 L
GT vs UGA 72-73 L
UM vs Miss 86-73 W
UNC vs Vandy 65-72 L
UNC vs UK 75-73 W
UVA vs LSU 64-50 W
VT vs MSU 88-57 W
Overall 5-5

Jborodawg

March 14th, 2011
5:43 pm

Jeff’s parting sentence, “…the SEC is on the rise…”

No doubt about it as long as UGA and Ala continue to improve…and given that KY, Vandy, Fla remain top-tier…and then the occasional great season from AR, LSU and Awbun.

However, it’s a stretch to say the SEC is a better BB conference. Not with those perennial top 10 teams in the ACC. Maybe just for the moment and this tournament.

Great conversation starter!

MJC

March 14th, 2011
6:59 pm

Jeff, you went full retard on this one.

You never go full retard.

woebegong

March 14th, 2011
7:32 pm

Jeff, I think you got your readership statistics with this blog for the week.

UGASlobberknocker

March 14th, 2011
7:37 pm

Well who didnt know that? the SEC is better in every sport. Well, the ACC does have the SEC beat in lacrosse..ill give em that

UGASlobberknocker

March 14th, 2011
7:40 pm

Schultzie..youre good ..230 comments but Tim Tuckers blog today is over 350..Im thinking the diff is that just mentioning the ACC scared off a few people due to fear of boredom.

Maurice

March 14th, 2011
7:41 pm

I don’t really give RPI rankings that much weight, since it was used to get UAB in over Colorado, but using your logic Jeff, I guess the Lady Jackets have surpassed the Lady Bulldogs…

Go for 2

March 14th, 2011
8:16 pm

Jeff:

Really Jeff, this is your insight for a column?

That column had about as much effort, factual support as any make shift office email thrown together in two minutes. I guess the citing of an SEC Coach , John Calipari , pumping up his own conference is as good as any place start to demonstrate how shallow this piece is. Since I am now sure you do no fundamental research, I’ll share a little news flash with you; Coach Calipari used to also go on glowingly about the difficulty of playing in CUSA just a few years back when his Memphis Tigers rolled through it. Seriously, Jeff…this is your offering for March Madness Monday?

Also, if you look at conference RPI you’ll notice SEC (7th) was well behind the ACC (4th) (and Mountain West and Pac 10). I assume you just didn’t make the effort to research this (versus just leaving out an inconvenient fact).

I hope you are better than this.

gcs

March 14th, 2011
9:27 pm

“But still since 2000…”
Oh you just knew that was coming. Did you not read the article? Schultz is not talking about the past. He is talking about today and the future.
Today, the SEC is better and deeper and the future is heading moreso that way.
.

the ajc

March 14th, 2011
9:55 pm

Congrats Schultz, you can count! Now why are we paying you?

C C

March 15th, 2011
8:44 am

Jeff you are insane…and not in a good way this time.

Yes the SEC got one more team in the NCAAs but that’s only one partial, incomplete measure of the relative quality of the conferences. Look past the top 4-5 teams and see who those teams had to play during their conference schedule. Also there were TWO ACC teams which just missed the cut (and we all know VA Tech got hosed). Meanwhile the ONLY other SEC team which had any hope of getting in was Alabama…who had by far the worst RPI of any bubble team.

Although the ACC down this year it’s still ahead of the SEC overall. Look at any measure/rating, and top-to-bottom the ACC is still ahead. And let’s see how many teams are left from each conference after 2, 3, or more games.

IMO this year, the top 2 ACC teams are better than the top 2 in the SEC. Comparing the 3rd and 4th best teams in each conf, the SEC is probably better although it’s close (and UT has al lot of bad losses for example). The middle 4 teams and the lower 4 teams are each better in the ACC. Beating those middle and lower-tier ACC teams on the road is more difficult than the mid/lower tier SEC ones.

For example Sagarin’s conference ratings for this year have the ACC 4th overall, the SEC 7th. The ACC has almost always been in the top 2 or 3 conferences for at least 25 or 30 years, often #1, and never anywhere near as bad as 7th. The current Sagarin order:
1 Big East
2 Big Ten
3 Big 12
4 ACC
5 Mountain West
6 Pac 10
7 SEC

So how is the 7th-rated conference better than the 4th rated one? Pretty huge difference Jeff.

C C

March 15th, 2011
8:45 am

Jeff,

Also it doesn’t look like your RPI’s are current. UGA’s has dropped to well below 39, for example.

Losing twice in one week to a team with an 80-ish RPI will do that to you.

UGA was very lucky to get a 10 seed. Will need their ‘A’ game to get past Washington. Zero chance against UNC: Obvoiusly, they aren’t remotely the same Heels who somehow lost at GT by 20.

C C

March 15th, 2011
8:59 am

@ Maurice “but using your logic Jeff, I guess the Lady Jackets have surpassed the Lady Bulldogs…”

Although the Lady Bulldogs have been a very strong program for a long time, Jeff is talking about *this year*. Unlike his ACC vs SEC numbers which do not hold up for the conferences overall, as several people have demonstrated, an argument can be made that GT has a better women’s team this year:

The Lady Jackets did beat UGA by 16 head-to-head this year, are currently ranked more highly than UGA, and are seeded more highly in the NCAAs. (The rankings are pretty close, yes.) GT women’s basketball has improved GREATLY during the last few years. SEC men’s basketball…not so.

Although it’s not the same as football, there are still only a few major conferences for b’ball, and the SEC is only 7th.

Joshua Barlowe

March 21st, 2011
10:59 am

The ACC is still better (as shown by 3 teams in the sweet 16) and here’s the bad news for Dog fans:
Mark Fox is headed for NC State and Tech got rid of Hewitt. So the ride is over. Hope you enjoyed it.