League's coaches expect rebound

Like the great illusionist from the past, SEC basketball pulled a Houdini last season.

Slipping from the ranks of the nation's elite, the SEC stumbled to a forgettable 2008-09 season that saw top-25 rankings without a representative and just three members making the NCAA Tournament. Only LSU made it though the opening round, but then lost two days later.

Listening to the tone of the conference's coaches on Monday's summer teleconference, last season was an enigma, not the beginning of a trend.

SEC basketball has not disappeared for good, the consensus said.

"These things have a way of ebbing and flowing," Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl said.

Said Andy Kennedy, of Ole Miss: "Basketball in the Southeastern Conference is alive and well."

An infusion of youth combined with dependable veterans gives the coaches reason to believe next March will better for the SEC. Add new Kentucky coach John Calipari and his top-ranked recruiting class, and coaches such as Mississippi State's Rick Stansbury said the SEC could be home to the No. 1 preseason team.

Stansbury wasn't convinced the SEC suffered as much as the media suggested.

"The perception that the SEC was down was totally blown out of proportion last year," Stansbury said. "We were young and the league was a little different than it normally is, but it still doesn't mean it wasn't good. I mean LSU and Tennessee were as good as anybody."

Having a traditional power such as Kentucky climb back to its pedestal after missing the NCAA for the first time in 18 years will also rehab to conference's reputation, Pearl said. Having a leader in the arms race only forces the rest to reach higher.

There is also expected to be depth beyond the top tier.

Five starters return to programs including Arkansas, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt and Tennessee while Alabama brings back four.

Besides Calipari, two other new coaches - Alabama's Anthony Grant and Georgia's Mark Fox - are beginning restoration projects for programs that have tumbled in recent seasons.

A group of underclassmen and potential NBA Draft picks chose to return to campus including Kentucky's Patrick Patterson, South Carolina's Devan Downey, Tennessee's Tyler Smith and LSU's Tasmin Mitchell.

Those factors will help, but a handful of the coaches went back to the hiring of Kentucky's new slick-haired coach when talking of the expected resurgence.

"He's going to bring great credibility to the SEC and John being in our league is going to make us all better," Pearl said.

With Kentucky fighting through its recent fall from the top podium, Florida emerged as the class of the conference. The Gators capped their rise with consecutive national championship seasons in 2006 and 2007.

But they too have been closer to average than supreme in the past two seasons, and the loss of underclassman point guard Nick Calathes to the draft hurt Billy Donovan's chances of returning to the Final Four.