Could an unbalanced SEC basketball schedule give the regular season title to Alabama?
By Paul Jordan
As we mentioned earlier today, the ESPN/USA preseason college basketball poll was released and Kentucky is perched at the second position. To stay there by March, they will have their work cut out for them as this is proving to be a pretty challenging schedule. Hopefully that schedule will pay off and deliver a Wildcat’s team that is battle tested for the tournament.
But keep in mind that this is the first season that there will be “no divisions” in college basketball and the teams will be ranked 1-12 in seedings for the Tournament and regular season title. This presents an unbalanced schedule in the SEC this year and that could possibly lead to a team like Alabama taking advantage of a softer schedule to win the league title and top seeding in the tournament.
There are four SEC teams in the preseason top 25. Kentucky is at #2, Vanderbilt comes in at #7, and Florida is ranked #10. All three of these teams are from the Eastern conference and will play each other twice as the schedule was already finalized when the SEC made the decision to scrap the divisional standings. Only Alabama is ranked in the top 25 in the West and they come in at #17. So in all reality, this decision to eliminate the divisions can give the Crimson Tide a big scheduling advantage this year.
Both Kentucky, Florida, and Vanderbilt play home and home games this year versus each other while Alabama just plays the former Eastern teams once. So the Wildcats, Commodores, and Gators have four SEC games versus top ten teams while Alabama has just three. When you add Alabama to the former Eastern division team’s schedule, the trio have five games against top 25 teams while Alabama has just three. A difference of those two games could easily affect the regular season standings and/or the SEC tournament seedings.
No other teams in the West measure up to the SEC East trio either. Mississippi State is the only other team to receive votes and their votes would make them the 39th ranked team in the preseason, or a solid bubble team. Kentucky has the toughest schedule down the stretch in the SEC, having four games against Vandy and Florida in their last seven games. In comparison, Alabama has just one ranked opponent in their last seven games in the Gators.
Granted, my point is not to bemoan and complain abut Kentucky’s schedule this year. I actually kind of like the toughness down the stretch and feel that playing four games against top ten teams in their last seven will leave UK battle tested for the SEC and NCAA Tournaments. And I support fully the SEC decision to eliminate the division in ranking the teams.
I just wish the SEC has the foresight to make sure the schedule was fair and balanced for all the teams. Just prepare for more scheduling conflicts as the SEC goes to 14 teams and teams like Kentucky may have to give up high profile out of conference games to support a balanced SEC schedule. Apparently with growth comes great sacrifice. Hopefully this sacrifice gets shared by all the SEC teams.
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