NCAAB
Tuesday, February 25
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SEC becoming most 'unbettable' conference in college basketball
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When someone says college football, the first thing that comes to mind is the SEC.
Now, do the same with college basketball. Not the same reaction, is it?
While programs like Kentucky and Florida continue to find themselves among the country’s basketball elite, the rest of the SEC has suffered a major downgrade in quality this season. A quick look at the SEC standings reveals that beyond the Wildcats and Gators, the remaining programs have barely kept their heads above water.
Georgia is third in the conference, putting together a 9-5 SU SEC record but is anything but a shoo-in to hear its name called on Selection Sunday. Below the Bulldogs is a variable Purgatory of ho-hum basketball teams, with seven programs locked at 7-7 SU in SEC play heading into Monday night. Outside of Florida's 19-game winning streak, the longest string of victories in the SEC currently is Arkansas' three-game run (1-2 ATS).
Things are even bleaker in the SEC when your factor in the pointspread. The breadwinner of the conference just so happens to be its worst team. South Carolina sits in the basement of the SEC with a 10-17 record and a 3-11 mark in conference play but is 13-9-2 ATS. And that’s about as good as it gets betting inside the SEC, which is quickly becoming an unbettable conference.
Top teams like Florida, Kentucky and Missouri are all sitting around .500 ATS and the only other programs covering more often than not are Tennessee (14-11 ATS) and Vanderbilt (13-10-2 ATS) – not exactly bursting with betting value. Trying to get a tight grasp on the SEC odds from night to night is like pulling a mid-tantrum child who has gone limp off the floor - a lot harder than it looks and extremely frustrating.
The SEC currently ranks sixth out of the seven major conferences in college basketball – ACC, AAC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, Pac-12 – in RPI, ahead of the mutant American Athletic Conference. The Atlantic 10, which is still considered a mid-major league, sits higher than the SEC in RPI at 0.5618. CBSSports.com’s Jerry Palm predicts just three bids from the SEC in his latest mock NCAA tournament bracket.
One take on the downfall of SEC hoops is that the conference’s members are focusing all their time and resources on the football teams – college sports’ true cash cow.
Jacob Kornhauser, a writer for Rant Sports, believes football-focused programs like Alabama and Texas A&M could really care less about their basketball records, pointing to the Aggies’ new 111,000-seat renovations to their football stadium. Those two football powers are a combined 12-16 SU in SEC play with a collective 22-24-3 ATS record on the year.
Jon Solomon, a writer with AL.com, has done a series of articles exploring the downfall of SEC basketball, looking at the overall lack of top-tier talent in the league as well as dwindling interest from fans. His most recent piece debates that SEC basketball coaches aren’t on the same level as their football counterparts, comparing winning percentage and salaries. His two exceptions - Florida's Billy Donovan and UK's John Calipari - have a combined NCAA record of 69-24. The rest of the coaches in the SEC boast a unimpressive 35-34 mark.
When comparing the SEC football teams’ ATS success to that of its basketball teams, the pigskin profits piled up thanks to programs like Auburn (12-2 ATS) and Missouri (11-2-1 ATS) which ranked among the best bets in college football.
Perhaps SEC bettors should hibernate for the remaining weeks of the college hoops season, and set the alarm for Week 1 of college football. Or just accept that your conference is in the crapper. You can always bet the Over/Under...
Tuesday, February 25
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SEC becoming most 'unbettable' conference in college basketball
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When someone says college football, the first thing that comes to mind is the SEC.
Now, do the same with college basketball. Not the same reaction, is it?
While programs like Kentucky and Florida continue to find themselves among the country’s basketball elite, the rest of the SEC has suffered a major downgrade in quality this season. A quick look at the SEC standings reveals that beyond the Wildcats and Gators, the remaining programs have barely kept their heads above water.
Georgia is third in the conference, putting together a 9-5 SU SEC record but is anything but a shoo-in to hear its name called on Selection Sunday. Below the Bulldogs is a variable Purgatory of ho-hum basketball teams, with seven programs locked at 7-7 SU in SEC play heading into Monday night. Outside of Florida's 19-game winning streak, the longest string of victories in the SEC currently is Arkansas' three-game run (1-2 ATS).
Things are even bleaker in the SEC when your factor in the pointspread. The breadwinner of the conference just so happens to be its worst team. South Carolina sits in the basement of the SEC with a 10-17 record and a 3-11 mark in conference play but is 13-9-2 ATS. And that’s about as good as it gets betting inside the SEC, which is quickly becoming an unbettable conference.
Top teams like Florida, Kentucky and Missouri are all sitting around .500 ATS and the only other programs covering more often than not are Tennessee (14-11 ATS) and Vanderbilt (13-10-2 ATS) – not exactly bursting with betting value. Trying to get a tight grasp on the SEC odds from night to night is like pulling a mid-tantrum child who has gone limp off the floor - a lot harder than it looks and extremely frustrating.
The SEC currently ranks sixth out of the seven major conferences in college basketball – ACC, AAC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, Pac-12 – in RPI, ahead of the mutant American Athletic Conference. The Atlantic 10, which is still considered a mid-major league, sits higher than the SEC in RPI at 0.5618. CBSSports.com’s Jerry Palm predicts just three bids from the SEC in his latest mock NCAA tournament bracket.
One take on the downfall of SEC hoops is that the conference’s members are focusing all their time and resources on the football teams – college sports’ true cash cow.
Jacob Kornhauser, a writer for Rant Sports, believes football-focused programs like Alabama and Texas A&M could really care less about their basketball records, pointing to the Aggies’ new 111,000-seat renovations to their football stadium. Those two football powers are a combined 12-16 SU in SEC play with a collective 22-24-3 ATS record on the year.
Jon Solomon, a writer with AL.com, has done a series of articles exploring the downfall of SEC basketball, looking at the overall lack of top-tier talent in the league as well as dwindling interest from fans. His most recent piece debates that SEC basketball coaches aren’t on the same level as their football counterparts, comparing winning percentage and salaries. His two exceptions - Florida's Billy Donovan and UK's John Calipari - have a combined NCAA record of 69-24. The rest of the coaches in the SEC boast a unimpressive 35-34 mark.
When comparing the SEC football teams’ ATS success to that of its basketball teams, the pigskin profits piled up thanks to programs like Auburn (12-2 ATS) and Missouri (11-2-1 ATS) which ranked among the best bets in college football.
Perhaps SEC bettors should hibernate for the remaining weeks of the college hoops season, and set the alarm for Week 1 of college football. Or just accept that your conference is in the crapper. You can always bet the Over/Under...
