Comments
Mark J. Terrill/AP/
John Calipari
GoGamecocks.com
Positive buzz returns to SEC preseason
New coaches, returning players look to reignite stagnant SEC after down season
Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury sounded close to annoyed Monday when he was asked about John Calipari.
“I think it’s already obvious what kind of impact he’s had: He’s got you asking me a question about him in the middle of June,” Stansbury said of the new coach at Kentucky.
Stansbury had company during Monday’s SEC coaches teleconference as Calipari and Kentucky were a big topic of discussion. Another big talking point was the improved perception of the league, and Kentucky is not the only reason for that:
• SEC teams will return 44 of their 60 starters, including six who withdrew from the NBA draft.
• League teams signed eight of the nation’s top 30 recruits, according to Rivals.com.
• The SEC didn’t have any first-round picks in last week’s NBA draft for only the third time since 1975. But Draftexpress.com, in a mock 2010 draft, projects five SEC players to go in the first round: Kentucky’s John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Patrick Patterson, Vanderbilt’s A.J. Ogilvy and Mississippi’s Terrico White. Wall is projected as the No. 1 pick.
“Last year we had very few senior players in the league,” said Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl, whose team returns all five starters. “It was a league that was dominated by underclassmen and younger players. And with the vast majority of those players coming back ... obviously our league is due to experience a cycle up.”
During the teleconference, three different coaches cited a statistic that was discussed during last month’s league meetings in Destin, Fla.: In eight of the previous 11 seasons, the SEC has put at least six teams in the NCAA tournament.
It had three in last season, and it might have been two had Mississippi State not won the SEC tournament. Several coaches on Monday, including Pearl, said the criticism of the league last season was fair.
But a repeat is highly unlikely.
While Kentucky gets most of the attention, other teams have improved. Mississippi State, returning all its starters, signed two elite high school big-men, although both Renardo Sidney and John Riek are awaiting NCAA clearance.
Vanderbilt also returns all its starters and adds shooting guard John Jenkins, one of the nation’s top high school shooting guards.
“We have a chance to be pretty good,” Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said. “The only catch there is I think the league is going to be greatly improved as well.”
South Carolina also will be boosted by the return of Devan Downey and Dominique Archie after both pulled out of the draft.
But Gamecocks coach Darrin Horn said a good season will rest on more than just returning talent.
“We need to have a really good summer and a good fall in order to prepare ourselves for what we feel like will be the best conference in the country next year,” Horn said.
Reach Emerson at (803) 771-8676.
Most Viewed Stories
- Notes: Saunders critical of pass opportunities
- Commentary: Play-call duties at heart of debate
- Recruiting: Lattimore, Fulton venture out of state
- Coming unraveled: Hogs handle Gamecocks
- Soccer: Women win SEC title
- Morris: Lack of progress maddening for USC
- Quarles Spends Saturday Night at Death Valley
- QBs aim to be elite company
- Oh, snap: O-line's crumble continues
- Saunders speaks out: Targets a concern
@Nyx.CommentBody@