Wiedmer: Alabama, UK still SEC's best

Times have changed in college athletics, right? History and tradition just don't mean what they once did. You can't just spend $4 million a year on a football or basketball coach and expect to dominate your sport the way you did in the good ol' days.

Well, don't try selling that to the two most decorated programs in the 77-year-old Southeastern Conference -- Alabama football and Kentucky basketball.

Especially after the Crimson Tide humbled defending national champion Florida 32-13 in Saturday evening's SEC title game roughly five hours after UK nipped defending national champ North Carolina 68-66.

Within an SEC that has been getting in its collective licks on the Tide and Cats for more than a decade now, this was eye-opening stuff. And maybe, just maybe, a lesson that history not only repeats and the rich do get richer, but also that tradition still counts for something.

At least in the South.

Don't misunderstand. This is not to lift Big Blue's early-season homecourt victory over Baby Blue to the level of the Crimson Tide's league-leading 22nd SEC championship.

Undfeated Bama (13-0) is now one victory away from the school's 13th national championship. Undefeated Kentucky (8-0) is still more than three months away from the only games that really matter to the nation's elite -- the NCAA Tournament.

But there is a common thread running through these two triumphs that can't be enjoyable for the rest of the SEC. Alabama and Kentucky both appear to be back on the top of their games. And in the past, those rolls have usually lasted for a bit.

Coaching is clearly at the center of these comebacks. Weary of no national championships since 1992 and no SEC crown since 1999, Bama hired Nick Saban away from the NFL's Miami Dolphins at the dawn of 2007 for $4 million a year.

After going 7-6 his first season, Saint Nick has now filled Crimson Tide stockings with back-to-back 12-0 regular seasons and, of course, this year's SEC title, which brought a No. 1 ranking on Sunday.

Then there is Kentucky. After missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 18 years last spring, after going 11 years since they won their seventh national title in 1998, the Wildcats lured John Calipari away from Memphis for $3.75 million a year.

Eight games does not a season make, but much as Saban quickly began winning recruiting wars and rebuilding the Tide's talent pool to a level not seen since "Bear" Bryant ruled the sport, Calipari immediately brought a No. 1 recruiting class to the Bluegrass.

Those facts alone do not completely explain Saban taking the Tide from 6-7 the year before he arrived to 13-0 three years later. Nor do they make perfect sense of Calipari's Cats ripping off a 19-point first-half lead against the Tar Heels before its freshman guards hit five of six free throws down the stretch to ice the win.

However, these quotes might help.

Asked the significance of holding up two fingers during the trophy ceremony Saturday evening, Tide quarterback Greg McElroy said, "The two fingers signify 22; this is our 22nd SEC Championship for the University of Alabama. It's a big reason why a lot of people come here, to play for the tradition."

Said UK's Chuck Hayes -- now a member of the NBA's Houston Rockets -- a few years ago when asked about playing for a program that's won 43 SEC crowns (the rest of the league has combined for 45): "You look up at all those banners at Rupp (Arena) and you know you're always playing for something bigger than you."

That's clearly too simplistic a reason for why the Crimson Tide and Big Blue dwarf the rest of the SEC in championships. Coaches and players matter more. It may also have something to do with the South's obsession with collegiate sports.

For as the great Southern writer William Faulkner wrote long ago: "The past is never dead. In fact, it's not even past."

Especially as it pertains to Alabama football and Kentucky basketball within the SEC.