Southeastern Conference
From Hoopedia
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a college athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It participates in NCAA Division I. The current commissioner of the Southeastern Conference is Michael Slive.
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History
The SEC was established in December 1932, when the 13 members of the Southern Conference located west and south of the Appalachian Mountains left to form their own conference. Ten of the thirteen charter members have remained in the conference since its inception: the University of Alabama, University of Florida, University of Georgia, University of Kentucky, University of Mississippi, University of Tennessee, Auburn University, Louisiana State University, Mississippi State University, and Vanderbilt University. The University of Arkansas and the University of South Carolina later joined in the early 1990s. The other charter members were:
- Sewanee, The University of the South: Left the SEC in 1940. The school has since deemphasized varsity athletics, and is currently a member of the NCAA Division III Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.
- Georgia Tech: Left the SEC in 1964. In 1975, it became a founding member of the Metro Conference, one of the predecessors to today's Conference USA. Georgia Tech competed in the Metro for basketball. In 1978, Georgia Tech joined the Atlantic Coast Conference for all sports, where it has remained.
- Tulane: Left the SEC in 1966. Along with Georgia Tech, it was a charter member of the Metro Conference. Unlike Tech, however, Tulane remained in the Metro until the Metro Conference merged into the new Conference USA in 1995. Tulane remained an independent in football until the formation of Conference USA.
The SEC expanded from 10 to 12 members in 1991 with the addition of the University of Arkansas from the Southwest Conference and the University of South Carolina from the Metro Conference in basketball. In 1992, the SEC adopted the divisional setup that exists today.
Member Schools
The SEC currently has twelve member institutions in nine Southern United States|Southeastern states. The geographic domain of the conference stretches from Arkansas to South Carolina and from Kentucky to Florida. One or both of the flagship universities in each state in the geographic domain of the SEC is a member of the conference, along with one of the preeminent private universities in the nation.
The conference is divided into two geographic divisions: the East Division and the West Division. The twelve current members of the Southeastern Conference are:
| Institution | Location (Population) | Founded | Affiliation | Enrollment* | Year Joined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Florida | Gainesville, Florida (108,856) | 1853 | Public | 48,000 | 1932 |
| University of Georgia | Athens, Georgia (100,266) | 1785 | Public | 32,200 | 1932 |
| University of Kentucky | Lexington, Kentucky (266,358) | 1865 | Public | 24,317 | 1932 |
| University of South Carolina | Columbia, South Carolina (116,278) | 1801 | Public | 27,065 | 1991 |
| University of Tennessee | Knoxville, Tennessee (173,890) | 1794 | Public | 27,281 | 1932 |
| Vanderbilt University | Nashville, Tennessee (561,891) | 1873 | Private/Non-sectarian | 11,500 | 1932 |
| Institution | Location (Population) | Founded | Affiliation | Enrollment* | Year Joined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Alabama | Tuscaloosa, Alabama (79,294) | 1831 | Public | 21,750 | 1932 |
| University of Arkansas | Fayetteville, Arkansas (67,158) | 1871 | Public | 17,938 | 1991 |
| Auburn University | Auburn, Alabama (48,348) | 1856 | Public | 22,928 | 1932 |
| Louisiana State University | Baton Rouge, Louisiana (224,097) | 1860 | Public | 31,561 | 1932 |
| University of Mississippi | Oxford, Mississippi (11,756) | 1848 | Public | 16,500 | 1932 |
| Mississippi State University | Starkville, Mississippi (21,869) | 1878 | Public | 15,934 | 1932 |
- Enrollment figures include both undergraduate and graduate students.
Men's Basketball
Teams play a 16-game conference schedule, facing each team from its own division twice and each team from the opposite division once. Prior to expansion, teams played a double round-robin, leading to an exhausting 18-game conference schedule. Not surprisingly, no team ever ran the table when the conference schedule featured 18 games; three teams went 17-1 (Kentucky in 1970 and 1986, LSU in 1981). Since the league slate was trimmed to 16 games, Kentucky has gone undefeated in SEC play in 1996 and 2003.
SEC Rivalries
- The dominance of these two teams in the '90s over everyone else in the SEC led to quite a rivalry, mostly by default, being the best two teams in the conference. The rivalry has cooled in recent years as the Razorbacks have slipped toward the middle of the pack in the SEC West and the Wildcats have slipped toward the middle of the pack in the SEC East.
- This conference matchup has become a major rivalry in recent years with the rise of the Florida basketball program under Billy Donovan.
- A historic "border war" between two of the sport's historic giants. This rivalry is traditionally played at neutral sites, the RCA Dome (Lucas Oil Stadium beginning in 2009) in Indianapolis and Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky|Louisville, rather than in Bloomington, Indiana and Lexington, Kentucky.
- This rivalry, unlike most that involve SEC schools, is relatively recent. For nearly 60 years, UK refused to schedule U of L in the regular season in either basketball or football. After a pulsating U of L victory over UK in the Mideast Regional final in the 1983 NCAA basketball tournament, pressure mounted on UK to schedule U of L; Cardinals supporters went so far as to propose a law mandating that the two schools schedule one another. The bill was never introduced, as a basketball series began in the 1983-84 season. The rivalry added a new edge in 2001 when the Cardinals hired former Kentucky coach Rick Pitino (although he was not hired directly from UK). Current UK head coach Tubby Smith is a former UK assistant under Pitino, and reportedly recommended Pitino to Louisville.
- This rivalry is also a "border war.", and the schools are located just three hours apart on Interstate 75. The two teams have played over 200 times in their history. When the two teams play at Knoxville, Thompson-Boling Arena is almost always sold out, one of the few games to sell out in the Volunteers' 24,535-seat arena.
- Not only are these two schools the closest to one another geographically within the SEC - a mere 95 miles separate them - but their respective head coaches, Mark Gottfried and Rick Stansbury, often battle each other for the same recruits.
- What had been a recent football rivalry has become a basketball rivalry as well, as the Volunteers under Bruce Pearl (and even previously under Buzz Peterson) have had recent success against new basketball superpower Florida.
Women's Basketball
- The Lady Vols have historically been one of the nation's dominant programs in that sport. Starting in the mid-1990s, UConn has emerged as Tennessee's main rival for national prominence. The Huskies won four national titles between 2000 and 2004; in three of those years, their victim in the NCAA final was Tennessee. Connecticut also defeated Tennessee in the 1995 Championhip game, the Huskies' first-ever title. For more information, see UConn-Tennessee rivalry.
