Livescore
When Bruce Pearl described Auburn as an “everything school” last season, his point was more or less that there’s really no reason every sport can’t flourish at an SEC institution with what amounts to unlimited resources. Hire the right people, invest, and good things can happen in football, basketball, baseball, soccer, gymnastics … you name it.
BP was right, of course. His rival 160 miles west is the latest reminder of that.
Alabama beat Florida 97-69 on Wednesday to improve 21-3 overall, 11-0 in the SEC. This represents the best league start for the Crimson Tide since the 1955-56 season.
“I don’t even know who was in the SEC back in 55-56,” said Alabama coach Nate Oats. “But it’s a good league now.”
Indeed, it is.
That’s why it’s super-impressive the way Alabama is running through the SEC with one double-digit victory after another. Eleven conference games, 10 double-digit wins. The Crimson Tide’s average margin of victory in league contests is 24.5 points. They’re dominating opponents the way the best football teams coached by Nick Saban typically dominate opponents, establishing Alabama as the undeniable top football-basketball combo in the country.
The second-best basketball team in the SEC is widely considered to be Tennessee, which lost to Vanderbilt late Wednesday. Alabama beat Vanderbilt by 57 points last week.
“We’re just trying to play good basketball,” Oats said.
Alabama remains No. 2 in Thursday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings, where Purdue is No. 1 for the 18th consecutive day. The Crimson Tide will take a two-game lead in the SEC standings into Saturday’s game at Auburn. For what it’s worth, KenPom is now projecting Alabama to win the SEC by four games. If it goes down that way, it’ll be the most lopsided SEC race since Kentucky won the league by five games in 2015 before losing to Wisconsin in the Final Four.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
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