SEC sends out message: It’s good after Challenge
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Rick Barnes has a message for anyone wanting to count out the Southeastern Conference this season. Not so fast.
His 18th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers routed No. 15 Kansas, 80-61, Saturday night, clinching a 5-4 advantage in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. It’s just the second time the SEC has won this non-conference showdown created as a chance at improving resumes in late January and a bit of an NCAA tournament preview.
The previous time the SEC won this event was in 2018 when it sent a leaguerecord eight teams to the NCAA tournament. The SEC has had 15 NCAA tournament teams since that season, second most in the country in that span.
“I am glad we won the challenge, I really am,” Barnes said. “If there is enough talk about our league not being very good and people talking arguably the Big 12 or the Big 10 being the best league, the fact is we were able to win 5-4 … yes I think it’s great for our league.”
Kentucky isn’t leading the SEC as usual with the Wildcats (5-10) struggling through the longest skid of coach John Calipari’s tenure. Florida wound up postponing four games. Florida’s Keyontae Johnson, the SEC preseason player of the year, collapsed on the court during a Dec. 12 game and hasn’t played since.
Tennessee, the preseason pick to win the SEC, lost three games to drop to fourth in the league.
Not a good sign for a league that had been showing signs of improving depth beyond Kentucky and Florida with its national titles. The SEC had the top pick in the 2020 NBA draft — Georgia’s Anthony Edwards — with three other lottery picks from Auburn, Alabama, Vanderbilt and not Kentucky.
Barnes said there has been so much uncertainty with teams sidelined at varying times this season. A combination of positive COVID-19 tests, contract tracing and quarantining kept Kentucky from playing No. 5 Texas, which might’ve led to a second consecutive tie and third in five seasons in the challenge.
“Everybody thinks that our league is down,” Barnes said. “I do not know what league is up and what league is down. I really don’t. I just know that the Big 12 has some terrific teams. I know that we’ve got some terrific teams. There’s so much balance right now in college basketball.”
With the calendar about to flip to February and the stretch run in conference play, the SEC is showing signs of strengthening.
Florida could join Alabama, Missouri and Tennessee in The Associated Press rankings Monday after turning in the biggest upset of the Big 12/SEC Challenge. The Gators knocked off No. 11 West Virginia, 85-80, and are now 7-3 since losing Johnson.