2018-19 SEC Post-Mortem

The Southeastern Conference’s commitment to basketball, or maybe it should be said ‘recommitment,’ is paying off richly.

And we haven’t even started talking about LSU yet.

(Easy Tiger fans, just a joke. Call it a bad one even if you like.)

Always a league known for football, the SEC now is perhaps collectively as strong as it has ever been in basketball, too. A year after putting a league-record eight teams in the NCAA Tournament, seven SEC squads made it this year, and with more success. Four advanced to the Sweet 16 for the third time in school history (1986 and 1996 were the previous occurrences), and two squared off in the Elite Eight to guarantee one conference representative would make the Final Four.

Auburn defeated Kentucky in that Midwest Regional final to clinch its first-ever trip to the Final Four, and the Tigers came thisclose to making it to the national title game before falling by a whisker to eventual champion Virginia. Auburn became the eighth different SEC school to make a national semifinal, though, and is the fourth different school to get that far just since 2014. And with Mississippi State’s rise to a 23-win season and solidly into the NCAA field, the league also can boast that every single one of its 14 schools has made at least one trip to the NCAAs in the last five years.

A league that sent just three teams to the NCAA Tournament in both 2014 and 2016-pittance totals for a Big Football conference-is vastly improved, and now is one of the deepest in the country. One of the reasons is that it’s abundantly clear that SEC schools have decided that money is no object when it comes to basketball success. TV deals have the league swimming in Scrooge McDuck levels of cash and coin, and the product has been a flurry of coaching hires in recent years, with just about all of them home runs.

Sure, SEC schools have money, but it still takes the right person, and one school after another has hit home runs of late. From Auburn to LSU to Mississippi and Mississippi State, to South Carolina and Tennessee, every one of them has struck gold in recent years, to the point where it’s easy for some to feel left behind and decide to go out shopping themselves. Alabama, Arkansas, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt all fired coaches this year despite recent success (all four have been to the NCAA Tournament since 2017, and three of them were there a year ago).

The other part of the league’s commitment to improvement has been scheduling, and its emphasis on non-conference schedules has also paid off. All 14 SEC members played schedules ranking in the top 80 in the NCAA’s new NET ranking. Kentucky in recent years has loaded up on good non-conference opponents even if of the lesser-known variety-as long as those games were played at home. Others such as Alabama, Auburn and LSU have followed suit-the Tigers, for instance, played Furman, Louisiana Tech and UNC Greensboro this year.

Along with Auburn’s smashing postseason success, Tennessee and LSU also had huge seasons. The experienced Volunteers made residence near the top of the polls and even were ranked No. 1 in the country for a spell. The program’s first-ever Final Four was a realistic goal, though an eventful NCAA Tournament run ended in the round of 16.

Meanwhile, LSU’s Tigers won the conference’s regular season title, rising from up-and-comer to the top in a jiffy. It was a story good enough to stand on its own, but was overshadowed in March when an FBI wiretap of coach Will Wade discussing attempted payment to a recruit surfaced, bringing the term ‘strong-a– offer’ into the college sports lexicon.

Wade was suspended by LSU in March, and did not coach his team’s final five games, including in the SEC and NCAA tournaments. The Tigers advanced to the Sweet 16 anyway, and Wade was reinstated by the school in April.

Of course, Kentucky was also Kentucky, reloading with another new batch of freshmen and getting stronger as the season went on. The Wildcats have more company at the top, though, than just a couple years ago. The SEC certainly is more than just Kentucky now, and John Calipari’s task of keeping the Cats above the rest has never been tougher.

Final Standings:

Conference Tournament
After a year in that noted bastion of southeastern living of St. Louis, the SEC Tournament was back in Nashville this year, beginning a long, almost uninterrupted run coming in the city. The tourney is booked for Tennessee’s capital city every year through 2030 except for 2022 (Tampa), with an option to extend it to 2035.

This year’s tourney was uneventful through the first two rounds, with just one of the first six games decided by single digits-10th-seeded Alabama’s 62-56 win over No. 7 Mississippi, also the only win by a lower seed in those six games. The Crimson Tide stayed squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble with the win, but bowed out one round later with an unimpressive 73-55 loss to 2 seed Kentucky.

Florida made some hay in the tourney, first with a 66-50 win over No. 9 Arkansas in the second round, and then with a 76-73 victory over top seed but Will Wade-less LSU in the quarterfinals. The eighth-seeded Gators came back from 13 points down in the second half, with Andrew Nembhard hitting a three-pointer with a second left for the game-winner. Florida’s second win of the season over the regular season champs likely clinched an NCAA Tournament berth, and even a 65-62 semifinal loss to Auburn did little to diminish the Gators’ good final impression.

Tennessee and Kentucky also played a terrific semifinal game, with the No. 3 Volunteers edging the Wildcats 82-78, rallying from eight points down with less than three minutes left in one of the better games of the entire season. In the end, though, the story of the tournament was Auburn. The No. 5 seed Tigers hit 13 three-pointers plus 18 of 21 from the free throw line in topping No. 4 South Carolina 73-64, and then got a three-pointer from Jared Harper with 12 seconds left to beat Florida in the semifinals. Auburn held on despite allowing the Gators to shoot 60.5% from the field, as the Tigers’ season-long excellence in forcing turnovers paid off (14 steals) and a 19-4 turnover differential was huge. There were another 14 steals in the championship game against experienced Tennessee, when Auburn also hit 15 three-pointers (in 40 attempts) and pulled away early in the second half for a resounding 84-64 win. The Tigers finished off four wins in four days for their first SEC tourney title since 1985.

Postseason Awards
Player of the Year: Grant Williams, F, Jr., Tennessee
Co-Defensive Players of the Year: Ashton Hagans, G, Fr., Kentucky & Tremont Waters, G, So., LSU
Freshman of the Year: Keldon Johnson, G, Kentucky
Sixth-Man of the Year: Hassani Gravett, G, Sr., South Carolina
Coach of the Year: Kermit Davis, Mississippi

All-Conference Team
Daniel Gafford, F, So., Arkansas
Admiral Schofield, G, Sr., Tennessee
Chris Silva, F, Sr., South Carolina
Breein Tyree, G, Jr., Mississippi
P.J. Washington, F, So., Kentucky
Tremont Waters, G, So., LSU
Quinndary Weatherspoon, G, Sr., Mississippi State
Grant Williams, F, Jr., Tennessee

Season Highlights

• The SEC sent seven teams to the NCAA Tournament, posting a 12-8 record in the tourney. Auburn made its first-ever trip to the Final Four, where it lost by a point to eventual national champion Virginia.
• Four teams finished ranked in the top 15 in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls: Auburn, Kentucky, LSU and Tennessee.
• The SEC was the third-rated conference in the NCAA’s new NET rating (per WarrenNolan.com), and was fourth in the conference RPI.
• Tennessee’s Grant Williams was a consensus first team All-American, the Vols’ first to receive that honor since Dale Ellis in the 1982-83 season. Kentucky’s P.J. Washington also was a consensus third team All-American.
• LSU forward Skylar Mays was named a first team CoSIDA Academic All-America selection.
• No team bombed away from three-point range more than Auburn, which led NCAA Division I in three-point makes (454) and attempts (1,204) and was third in three-pointers per game (11.4). The Tigers also led the nation in total steals (369) and ranked third in turnover margin (+5.5) and fourth in steals/game (9.2).
• In other team ranks, Tennessee was third in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.60:1), fourth in total assists (661) and fifth in total blocked shots (199) and blocked shots/game (5.4). Kentucky also was fourth in the country in rebound margin (+9.4) and free throws made (635) and Mississippi was the fourth-best free throw shooting team in the land (78.3%).
• Individually, Auburn’s Bryce Brown made 141 three-pointers to rank second in the country to only Wofford’s Fletcher Magee. LSU guard Tremont Waters was fourth nationally in steals/game (2.91) and Arkansas big man Daniel Gafford was fifth in D-I in field goal percentage (66.0%).

What we expected, and it happened: Maybe not ‘we’; from this spot…preseason polls with Tennessee solidly in the top 10 were a little optimistic, but the polls were right as the Volunteers had a fantastic year and did spend the entire season in the top 10, including four weeks at No. 1. Rick Barnes was a deserving recipient of the NABC and U.S. Basketball Writers Association coach of the year awards. On the other end, Georgia struggled as expected in Tom Crean’s first year.

What we expected, and it didn’t happen: Vanderbilt was thought to be a team on the verge of big things, with a souped-up recruiting class. Instead, the Commodores fell off a cliff after a season-ending injury to star freshman Darius Garland. Vandy became the first SEC team since Georgia Tech in 1953-54 to go winless in the conference loop. Also, we were leery but preseason polls overhyped Kentucky-again.

What we didn’t expect, and it happened: Many lauded Mississippi’s hire of Kermit Davis, but few thought he would turn the Rebels around so soon, taking Ole Miss to the national polls for a couple weeks and a comfortable NCAA Tournament bid. LSU also was a team many knew had potential to have a big season, but the Tigers zoomed from a tie for 9th in the league the year before all the way to a regular season title.

Teams on the rise: LSU, Mississippi. The Tigers went from the NIT to the Sweet 16. Now we’ll see if the lawyers can keep the program out of NCAA hot water. If they do, we’ve already seen Will Wade can make waves on the recruiting lines. Ole Miss was one of the more pleasant surprises in the country this year, with Kermit Davis getting a lot of mileage out of a guard-heavy team and in particular turning Terence Davis and Breein Tyree into a terrific backcourt. Though it won’t be easy to duplicate its season, Kermit will get the most out of the Rebels more than not.

Teams on the decline: Missouri, Vanderbilt. The Commodores fell down the standings the last two years, bottoming out this year at 0-18. The Tigers also slipped from 20 wins and an NCAA tourney trip to a losing record. Moreover, in a league where coaching changes are happening fast and furious, Mizzou appears to be the next program coming to a crossroads where improvement will be expected and fast, but may be hard to attain.

2019-20 SEC Outlook
There’s a good bit of uncertainty trying to sort out next year’s SEC race. That’s not surprising in a league where just one first team all-conference performer (Ole Miss’s Breein Tyree) returns and a lot of seniors and NBA Draft prospects depart.

We won’t over-speculate on teams’ recruiting other than working under the assumption that Kentucky will have plenty of plug-and-play freshmen and LSU will continue to strike big while essentially daring the NCAA to come after it. It so happens, though, that those two also have the most key parts returning, and thus should be favorites at the top. UK keeps Ashton Hagans, E.J. Montgomery and Nick Richards in the fold, even as P.J. Washington and Keldon Johnson are big losses. LSU still has Skylar Mays, Juvonte Smart and Marlon Taylor returning, though Naz Reid and Tremont Waters are substantial losses, especially Waters. The Wildcats are always the safe pick, and even so many programs emerging that should continue for another year.

Auburn, Florida, Mississippi, Mississippi State, South Carolina and Tennessee joined the Tigers and Wildcats in the top eight last year, but all of them suffer substantial losses. That’s a lot of teams in reload mode. Maybe Auburn and Tennessee are right back in the top 15, maybe the Mississippi schools are solidly in the NCAAs again, or maybe Florida really will be as strong as some early polls (confusingly, to us) have the Gators. But if any or all are it will be with different lead performers. Then there’s the possibility of teams with new coaches like Alabama, Arkansas or Texas A&M that could be vastly improved with firebrand new coaches. Alabama under Nate Oats will push the tempo and defend rabidly; Buzz Williams will do similar at Texas A&M, especially on the defensive end. One would expect Georgia to be improved in Tom Crean’s second season.

The thing is, with the coaching track record of the coaches in that group, every single one of those teams could easily be envisioned putting things together quickly with new faces coming in or old faces emerging. It’s a true dog-eat-dog league, and though just who will emerge is unpredictable, the assumption is that this isn’t a league going backward anytime soon.

Twitter: @HoopvilleAdam