The Southeastern Conference potentially got a lot tougher this week with the hiring of Anthony Grant and John Calipari as men’s basketball coaches at Alabama and Kentucky, respectively.Grant comes from Virginia Commonwealth and inherits an Alabama team that was picked to win the SEC West before last season but underachieved. Calipari comes from Memphis, where he directed the Tigers to four straight 30-win seasons and takes over a team that missed the NCAA tournament for the first time in 17 seasons.These coaches could cause trouble for LSU, which won the SEC regular season championship this season.Some LSU students were unfamiliar with Grant but felt he and Calipari will make the Tigers’ SEC foes better.  “Kentucky is going all the way if you ask me,” said Dwane Hughes, management junior.Everette Talbot, biology freshman, said he believes Calipari can turn Kentucky around quickly.   “It didn’t take him long at Memphis,” Talbot said. “They’ve got a lot more talent that will want to go to Kentucky. I think they’ll be pretty good in at least a couple of years.”Recruiting is where most students feel Calipari will have an immediate impact.”I’m pretty sure that a lot of his recruits that were going to Memphis are probably going to Kentucky now,” said Sean Somers, petroleum engineering senior. “It is probably going to increase the competitiveness of SEC basketball.”Calipari had one of the nation’s best recruiting classes this season with two of the top-5 recruits in the Rivals150 on Rivals.com already committing to Memphis.Rivals.com’s top-ranked recruit, point guard John Wall, was also reported to be leaning toward Memphis.  “What I would hope is all the players that signed at Memphis will go to Memphis,” Calipari said at his introductory press conference at Kentucky.Speculation also arose that some of Calipari’s current players would follow him to Kentucky.”When I talked to every player on the Memphis team, … [I said] ‘let [Memphis] hire a coach, then look at things, but you’re going to be fine,'” Calipari said. “I told two of them, ‘You’ll be the best player on the team. Why would you think about anything else? You got to sit out.'”Calipari also said he plans to evaluate the recruits committed to Kentucky.”I will watch every one of those kids play, and then I’ll be honest with them,” Calipari said. “If they’re good enough to play here and help us win national titles, I want you here. If they’re not, I’m going to tell them. I’m just going to be honest.”Students still feel LSU has a legitimate chance at success despite the coaching hires and losing five seniors. “I feel like we still have a pretty strong team,” Hughes said. Talbot said he feels LSU will recoup the loss of the seniors through recruiting. “They’re going to be hurting, but I think they’ll fill up the gaps pretty soon,” Talbot said.Grant enters his fourth year as a head coach and leaves a program that has won at least 24 games and a conference championship every year he was there.While LSU students didn’t seem familiar with him, they believe he can also turn The Tide. “He should have a positive impact on them,” Hughes said. “But I don’t think we should be worried.”—-Contact Amos Morale at [email protected]