It’s a foreign concept for the Southeastern Conference to focus on anything but football during the dog days of summer.But it’s an idea SEC fans may have to get used to with John Calipari taking the open job at Kentucky and bringing his No. 1 recruiting class with him.The Bluegrass State is in a hoops-induced furor with four months until the start of basketball season, as the Wildcats return first team All-SEC forward Patrick Patterson as well and add two of the nation’s top 10 recruits in point guard John Wall and center DeMarcus Cousins. Journalists and fans alike consider Kentucky a preseason top-5 team after missing the NCAA tournament for the first time in 18 years.As a testament to the big, blue shadow that now looms over the conference, all 12 SEC coaches fielded questions about Kentucky during a coaches teleconference Monday.”You’re asking me questions about [Kentucky] in June, so that says everything about what people expect,” said Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury.But between the NBA draft and the upcoming title defenses by LSU and Mississppi State, there’s plenty of SEC basketball to consider aside from the re-emergence of Kentucky.
NEW COACHESThe SEC is welcoming three new coaches into the fold this season, and each comes in with a storyline.Alabama hired former Virginia Commonwealth coach Anthony Grant after firing Mark Gottfried midway through the 2008 season. Grant worked at Florida as an assistant to Billy Donovan and was considered a candidate for nearly every opening in college basketball until the Tide snatched him up.”I don’t really know the team from a basketball-playing standpoint, but we’ve got some quality character guys,” Grant said. The Georgia Bulldogs bring in Nevada’s Mark Fox following a 3-13 conference record. Fox worked with LSU coach Trent Johnson at Nevada and took the head coaching job when Johnson departed from Nevada.”Oh Mark? I just met him a few weeks ago,” joked Johnson when asked about Fox.There’s obviously Calipari, not that he needs any introduction.The new highest-paid coach in NCAA basketball said he hopes to schedule games with the likes of Memphis and Ohio State for the upcoming season, as well as Kentucky’s home dates against Louisville and North Carolina.”The only days more important than your first 90 days in charge of a program are the home games,” Calipari said. “It’s been a whirlwind … there’s been a lot of growing going on.”
RETURNING STARSDespite losing the likes of Jodie Meeks, Marcus Thornton and Nick Calathes, the SEC returns plenty of star power in 2009, a lot of it in the form of elite big men.In addition to Patterson’s return to Kentucky, Mississippi State returns forward Jarvis Varnado to lead last season’s SEC tournament champions. Varnado averaged 12.9 points and 8.8 rebounds per game while leading the Bulldogs to the NCAA tournament.LSU fans may remember Vanderbilt center A.J. Ogilvy’s dominating 33-point, 10-rebound performance against the Tigers last season.Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said he expects even more from Ogilvy after a summer of training.”Last summer A.J. tried to make the Australian Olympic team and didn’t quite make it,” Stallings said. “So last year was essentially a lost summer because we couldn’t get him on campus after that.”There’s also plenty of fire power returning, as the SEC’s No. 3 and No. 8 scorers return in South Carolina guard Devan Downey and local favorite Tasmin Mitchell.”Even if you could replace the talent, you can’t replace two fifth-year seniors that have been through the wars,” said South Carolina coach Darrin Horn of Downey and fellow senior Dominique Archie.SALVAGING THE REPUTATIONLast season will go down as a forgettable year for nearly every SEC basketball program with the exception of LSU and Mississippi State — the regular season and tournament champions.Calipari and the revamped Wildcat lineup will undoubtedly also bring back the scrutiny and prestige that were lacking from Kentucky basketball last season.Seniors Wayne Chism and Tyler Smith return to lead Tennessee and should restore the Volunteers to the level of success they’ve grown accustomed to under Bruce Pearl.Although LSU sustains heavy losses this season, the rest of the SEC West returns plenty of experience.Mississippi State returns all five starters to defend its tournament crown, as do Arkansas and Ole Miss.The Rebels lost four starters to injury last season, while the Razorbacks won just two games. Ole Miss returns No. 4 scorer David Huertas and SEC All-Freshman guard Terrico White, while four of Arkansas’ returning starters are among the conference’s top 30 scorers, including senior Michael Washington who led the conference with 9.8 rebounds per game, and finished No. 9 in scoring with 15.5 points per game.”These things have a way of ebbing and flowing,” Pearl said. “Last year the league was down, but we’ve had the national champion two of my four years. The league was down, but now we’re on the way back up.”—-Contact David Helman at [email protected]