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Message: [QUOTE="MSSportsGuy, post: 2776737, member: 6485"] I will bite on this one and stay a little closer to home. I disagree that a couple of the programs mentioned have been bad. Vanderbilt was a regular NCAA team with Balcome until her final year and they've just hit bottom with Stephanie White. She may need a little more time. Auburn hasn't been bad at all but are just stuck in the middle of the conference. Florida and Arkansas on paper should be better than they are but the right mix has been absent more often than not for several years. All of those teams have won just enough to keep a coach around for a bit but all are mired in the lower half of a conference that is solid but not as competitive as it was in the 90s and early 2000s. I will say Alabama and Ole Miss have been pretty bad for sometime now. Ole Miss rode All American Armentie Price to the E8 in 2007 after they stunned Maryland and Oklahoma in the tournament. That team was coached by Carol Ross who had success at Florida in the 90s and started 4 seniors. Ole Miss hasn't even sniffed the tournament since and will be on their 4th coach since when this season begins. Even before that, Ole Miss hadn't been successful since Chancellor left for the WNBA in 1997. Alabama too has struggled for years and doesn't seem to get any support from their community or department. Football is no doubt king and thhe basketball facilities were dreadful and I don't think that has changed. The men's program has been occasionally good but the sport is mostly a placeholder between football, spring football and recruiting. Mississippi State, Kentucky and South Carolina were all bottom feeder SEC programs for many years so it's possible to turn things around with the right coaching, recruiting and department support. All of these programs have good fan bases that have been built with their success on the court. Truly I believe if you build it, they will come. As far as other conferences, I'm a pretty good big of the sport and don't ever recall teams like Clemson, Wake Forest, Kansas, Washington State, Illinois, and Wisconsin ever having any success tournament wise or being in the mix for top recruits. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach

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