Arkansas men’s basketball coach John Calipari was asked recently what it will feel like when Feb. 1 finally rolls around.
“What’s February 1st?” he replied with mock innocence. “That’s my dad’s birthday.”
It’s also the day Calipari, who will be about three months into his first season leading the Razorbacks, walks back into Rupp Arena, where he spent the past 15 seasons coaching Kentucky. Few other games in the Southeastern Conference this season will have a brighter spotlight on them than the Wildcats hosting the Hogs in Lexington, especially given both of the teams are ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 poll.
“Come on, man, 15 years,” Calipari said. “I gave my heart and soul. I want them to do well except — what date? OK, that date.”
The SEC looked a whole lot different when Calipari took over the Wildcats ahead of the 2009-10 season. The league had just 12 teams back then, and only four made the NCAA tournament in Coach Cal’s first season at Kentucky. Football has long been king in the conference, with basketball basically an afterthought.
Not anymore. The league, now having grown to 16 members with the addition of former Big 12 members Oklahoma and Texas this year, will enter the season with nine teams ranked. Alabama, which reached the NCAA Final Four last season, leads the way at No. 2 behind guard Mark Sears, a preseason first-team All-American, while No. 11 Auburn, No. 12 Tennessee and No. 13 Texas A&M give the league three more teams knocking on the door of the top 10.
Arkansas is No. 16 despite Calipari having to rebuild the entire roster in Fayetteville. Kentucky is at No. 23 under Mark Pope, who played for the Wildcats in the 1990s before leaving BYU after last season for what was always his dream job.
“It actually reminds me of when I played here 30 years ago. This league was just so dominant, and it seems like that’s where it’s posturing to be right now,” Pope said. “It is a gauntlet that is to be respected and probably feared a little bit, and all of that feeds exactly into what we love with this game. We’re incredibly blessed to be here in this league when it’s so powerful.”
Pope should know something about going through a conference meatgrinder. BYU resides in the Big 12 these days, a league that is regularly stacked with ranked teams, including five in the top 10 of the preseason poll this year.
“Yeah, so we walked into the Big 12 last year for the first time and the toughest league in the country, and as things go, we get to walk into the toughest league in the country now in the SEC a year later,” Pope said. “It’s pretty remarkable.”
Alabama sixth-year coach Nate Oats not only got Sears back from the Final Four run but forward Grant Nelson, too. Throw in a highly regarded group of transfers headlined by Auburn’s Aden Holloway and South Florida’s Chris Youngblood, along with one of the nation’s top freshman classes, and there is a reason why the Crimson Tide are a trendy pick to win the national title.
One of the reasons the SEC is packed with Top 25 teams is the number of experienced stars. Sears is the headliner at Alabama, but preseason All-American Johni Broome at Auburn and Wade Taylor IV at Texas A&M — who also received All-America votes — are the big names on teams that have expectations of challenging for the SEC title.
Some of the top stars, though, could be players who were in other conferences last season. Calipari brought in Florida Atlantic star Johnell Davis as part of his rebuild at Arkansas, and Pope countered by bringing along Jaxson Robinson from BYU to Kentucky.
Still, while so much is made of veteran transfers, it’s easy to forget freshmen can still make an impact. Texas landed Tre Johnson to help replace Max Abmas and Tyrese Hunter in the backcourt; Boogie Fland was once committed to Kentucky but wound up with Calipari at Arkansas; Asa Newell is the highest-rated recruit to land at Georgia in a while; and Derrion Reid and Aiden Sherrell give Arkansas a couple of prized youngsters to back up its experienced playmakers.
As for the big games, they start early in the SEC. Arkansas faces No. 8 Baylor on Nov. 9, the same night that Auburn faces No. 4 Houston; Auburn also has another notable nonconference game against No. 5 Iowa State on Nov. 25. Kentucky plays No. 7 Duke in the Champions Classic on Nov. 12. Alabama has a true road game against No. 14 Purdue on Nov. 15, then faces Houston 11 days later in Las Vegas.
That’s all before Thanksgiving, mind you. There are more big games in December before league play even begins.