jwbigcreek said:
However, you have shown a tendency to swoon during the SEC schedule (after a fast pre-SEC start, during the AK regime). So, I'll reserve judgement until after the first 1/2 of the SEC season (but Rebels look pretty good so far).
You mean 2007-08?
It happened one season. Not saying it can't happen again, but we have been 8-8, 7-9 teams in the SEC in AK's 3 seasons.
In 06-07, we went 11-3 pre-SEC with a loss to Saint Louis and our best win probably against Illinois-Chicago. We went 8-8 and shared the West with you, with an NIT berth. We didn't exactly start strong, and even after OOC play, no one expected us to be in the mix in the SEC West, and we weren't expected to finish 8-8, even after OOC play.
07-08 was our 13-0 pre-SEC start that ended with a 7-9 SEC record and an NIT bid. That's the year you are talking about.
Last year, 08-09, we were 9-5 pre-SEC in the year of the knee injury. We lost badly to teams like USM and New Mexico. We were lucky to go 7-9 in SEC play. In fact, most of us were going into SEC play expecting 3 or 4 SEC wins.
So, in AK's 3 years, once have we started fast and stumbled to the finish. In 2 of the 3 years, we finished better in SEC play than people expected we would, even after OOC play was finished.