Man, is this guy drinking the Kool Aid...

[pap49cba]

The Southeastern Conference women’s college basketball teams retain their mastery of the rest of the world.

LINK

 

[huskeynut]

We should send a reply - Come north to the Capitol of college basketball - UConn! The Big Dog awaits you!

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Some nasty things to say about DePaul. You shouldn't brag about your team's win so much if you think that poorly of the competition.

 

[Kibitzer]

In the spirit of Christmas, I wish for the author that Santa place a clue in his stocking.

 

[HuskyFan1125]

The ONLY thing I will say thus far in the "early" season is that Kentucky has indeed played the tougher schedule.

Kentucky beat #4 Louisville and #9 Baylor and will have #2 Duke before Christmas break.

Tennessee beat #12 UNC and will play Stanford at Maples before the break.

South Carolina ummmmm, beat Clemson and Southern California but will still have #15 UNC next week.

I think SEC will be a good conference to watch this season. They also have ranked Georgia and LSU plus Vandy (which always seem good).

"Mastering the world".... idk.

and being a Chicago native I will tell you I was at the Depaul game and the Blue Demons played them tough for a half. Kentucky is a 2nd half team for sure but i got the feeling that Mitchell is focusing on offense in the pre-Sec schedule. I didnt see the 40 minutes of dread that I am used to seeing. They were playing offense. So maybe he has a game plan.

 

[chrissaran]

The toughest non conference schedule of any team in America. Stanford, Maryland, Penn St., Duke, California, and Baylor. Who's he kidding. Haven't we beaten Kentucky the last two years in the tournament. I thought so. Bring on the Cats.

 

[Phil]

Mike writes a nice article, with a lot of interesting information, but the notion that the SEC retains the "mastery of the rest of the world" is quite a false note.

Yes, their won-loss record is pretty good. And truth be told, the SEC has bounced back from their long slide, but they are hardly mastering the world. They aren't even the top conference. Based upon Sagarin metrics, the B12 is stronger.

The SEC often gets an undeserved reputation. Tennessee often plays a strong schedule and Tennessee plays in the SEC, so the SEC must generally play a strong schedule, right?

Wrong.

Not a single SEC school has a strength of schedule in the top 10 (although Tennessee isn't far off that mark, and will move up when the SEC starts playing each other, but the general SEC OOC schedules are usually weak). Kentucky is the only other team whose SOS breaks the top 25. Only four teams have an SOS in the top 100. There are as many team, fours with an SOS in the 300's. (Compare to AAC with zero team playing that weak a schedule) That's a recipe for piling up wins.

The SEC does have five wins against the top 25, but they also have 7 losses. That's really not bad, but like the ill fated dynasty call of another team, when you talk about "mastery of the rest of the world", you shouldn't be under .500 against top 25 teams.

They aren't even the top conference in terms of number of wins against the top 25. That would be the AAC with 6.

The SEC can point out they have three different teams with a win against the Top 25, but so can the ACC. And the Pac-12 has four, count em, four teams with a win over the top 25.

So yes, the SEC is doing well, but no way no how can they be characterized as achieving, or even coming close to "mastery of the rest of the world". Maybe they ought to send a team, or two to the Final Four, an achievement they haven't accomplished this decade, before talking about mastery of the word.

 

[Icebear]

Slackards.

 

[pppggg]

There world is limited to South of the Manson-Dixon Line and East of the Smokey Mountain. The Huskies are going to take Duke like Sherman took Atlanta. The Huskies will roast the Dukies on their home court.

 

[pinotbear]

There world is limited to South of the Manson-Dixon Line and East of the Smokey Mountain. The Huskies are going to take Duke like Sherman took Atlanta. The Huskies will roast the Dukies on their home court.

I admire your fervor, but it's "Mason-Dixon Line" and, and Knoxville is west of the Smokies (as is Lexington, KY, Arkansas, etc.).. and, it's "their", not "there". I agree the article is about as level as the Tower of Pisa, but, let us not stoop to it's inaccurate "slant" on things. The author isn't "drinking the kool-aid": he's bathing in it.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Conference strength is meaningless in women's basketball. There's only one characteristic that matters.

Can you compete with UConn, or not?

 

[Wonkster]

There world is limited to South of the Manson-Dixon Line ...

I think you meant to write "South of the Manson-Nixon Line." Nixon got his law degree at Duke.

 

[pinotbear]

Wonk, the "Manson-Dixon Line" runs from Hollywood to San Clemente.