Alabama leads the new-look SEC with John Calipari, Texas and Oklahoma

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Alabama is the Southeastern Conference favorite in basketball, not football. John Calipari leads a team with high expectations, just not at Kentucky.

And Texas and Oklahoma are now also part of the game. The SEC tied its record of eight NCAA Tournament teams each of the last two years and has good reason to expect more now that the league now has 16 members.

It just looks different.

No. 2 Alabama leads nine SEC teams in the preseason AP Top 25 after reaching the program's first Final Four. Like most years recently, SEC coaches are confidently touting their league as the top contender in college basketball, not just football.

“We are the best league in college basketball. That’s just who we are,” said Georgia coach Mike White, who believes double-digit NCAA bids are possible. “The SEC is now officially the best league in college basketball.”

SEC ranked teams include: Alabama, No. 11 Auburn, No. 12 Tennessee, No. 13 Texas A&M, No. 16 Arkansas, No. 19 Texas, No. 21 Florida, No. 23 Kentucky and No. 24 Mississippi.

Alabama coach Nate Oats is embracing the high expectations after being picked fifth in the SEC over the past two seasons, just days after the school raised the Final Four banner at Coleman Coliseum.

“Our roster isn't one that anyone would pick us fifth, so people have asked me if we'd rather stay under the radar and surprise people or… be picked to win,” Oats said. “I would say I would much rather have the squad I have at the moment and care about where we get picked.

“We have to create other motivating factors because we won’t mind if we finish fifth or whatever.”

It's rare for Alabama to be ranked higher in basketball than it is in football (No. 7). But guard Mark Sears points out that a former Tide football coach's philosophy of looking at outside distractions is rat poison.

“As Nick Saban said, you can’t let rat poison affect you,” said Sears, the preseason SEC Player of the Year. “If you let it sink in now, you feel like you’ve arrived and in reality we haven’t done anything yet.”

The SEC landscape changed in the offseason, even beyond the addition of Texas and Oklahoma.

Calipari went to Arkansas after 15 seasons with the league's traditional headliner, Kentucky, and several top players accompanied him.

“He's one of the greatest coaches of all time, and he's going to make Arkansas even more difficult to play in than ever before,” said defending champion Tennessee coach Rick Barnes, a longtime friend of Calipari's. “I’m happy for him because I think he’s happy.”

Calipari inherits a program where Eric Musselman reached two Sweet 16s and an Elite Eight during his five-year run before transferring to USC. He brought with him a number of his players and recruits from Kentucky, Florida Atlantic transfer Johnell Davis and five-star recruits – according to the 247Sports composite rankings – Billy Richmond III, Karter Knox and Boogie Fland.

Calipari's first question was about when he thought it was time to leave Kentucky.

“I talked about why I did what I did. I spoke about it at length,” he said. “What I want to do today is talk about the SEC. This league has become incredibly tough. I want to talk about my team and my squad.”

Former BYU coach and Kentucky player Mark Pope took his place at the school, where he was captain of the 1996 national championship team. Pope had to rebuild the roster from the ground up, bringing in nine transfers and three newcomers with no returning scholarship players.

At least he won't have to face players saying Calipari did it that way.

“I don’t have a lot of people who are desperate to hold on to how they’ve done it somewhere else or how they’ve done it before,” Pope said.

Calipari believes Pope's close ties to the school and understanding of expectations work in his favor.

“I think they hired the perfect guy for the job,” Calipari said, noting he would still play for Kentucky except against his new team.

But the all-time favorites Wildcats are picked to finish eighth. This is the lowest media day forecast for Kentucky since the elimination of SEC divisions for basketball beginning in the 2012-13 season.

“How much better is the league with John Calipari at Arkansas and now Coach Pope at Kentucky?” said Auburn coach Bruce Peal.

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