SEC

I was glancing through my pre-season publications the other day, and noticed that UK’s Jodie Meeks was nowhere to be found on any of the three All-SEC teams, not entirely unthinkable given his injury-riddled sophomore year. Similarly, he was also not listed among the best NBA prospects from the conference, again not a total surprise.

 

Thank goodness for Tim Tebow.

 

The legend-in-the-making Florida QB led the Gators to the national championship last Thursday, their second in three years and the third straight title for an SEC school. Tebow’s performance erased much of a mediocre SEC season in most people’s minds, and gave the conference bragging rights once again. The only bad thing is…Tebow doesn’t play basketball as well.

 

Kevin McNeill's weekly 5 Things column breaks down what's important in the world of college basketball.

 

This week, we learned that...

 

Big Ten (Better Than Expected)

Butler (Ranked in the Top 25)

Minnesota (Unbeaten)

SEC (Arguably 8th or 9th Best Conference)

Southern Illinois (Bad. Only 5-7)

Other? (Discuss it Below)

ACC

Big East

Big Ten

Big 12

Pac-10

SEC

One or Two Teams

Three

Four

Five

More Than 5

I'll admit it - I'm biased toward the SEC. I grew up rooting for Florida, thanks to my Dad, who is a Gator alum. I myself went to UK, and I have friends who attended Georgia, Auburn, Tennessee, Alabama, Vanderbilt and South Carolina. It's been embedded into me my entire life that the SEC is simply the greatest conference in the country, and no one else measures up.

That's why it's so painful for me to admit that maybe, just maybe, if I take a step back and look objectively, if I just allow myself to say it, if I want to be truthful....

Nick Calathes (Florida)

Devan Downey (South Carolina)

Jodie Meeks (Kentucky)

AJ Ogilvy (Vanderbilt)

Patrick Patterson (Kentucky)

Tyler Smith (Tennessee)

Other (Marcus Thornton, Chris Warren, etc)

Wild ride: Cats fans should expect bumpy season

56:       That's the number of points junior guard Jodie Meeks scored in two games in the Las Vegas Invitational, earning MVP honors as the Cats won two straight.

54:       That's the number of turnovers UK had in two games in Vegas, giving them a six-game total of 138. By contrast, they have been credited with just 93 assists.