(06-10-2022 05:09 AM)XLance Wrote: (06-07-2022 08:03 AM)quo vadis Wrote: (06-07-2022 08:00 AM)bill dazzle Wrote: (06-07-2022 07:45 AM)quo vadis Wrote: (06-06-2022 10:43 PM)bullet Wrote: IF they win all their super-regionals, the SEC could have 5 members and 2 future members in the CWS with only the UConn/Stanford or Texas St. winner guaranteed not to be an SEC or future SEC team.
It was actually a pretty brutal Monday for the SEC. Yes, they got 5 teams in the SR's, but three other teams - Florida, LSU and Vandy - lost heartbreakers late by one run in deciding games.
Could have had 6 or 7 in.
True. But that was softened a little bit by the fact that two future SEC programs (UT and OU) advanced.
Not to me. I do not yet think of TX and OU as "SEC" programs.
Believe it or not, I think there is still a chance they remain in the Big 12, or even go to the B1G. A tiny chance, but a chance.
When they are actually on board, then the SEC fan in me will cheer them. But not now.
Just MO. :)
If they do end up going to the SEC, that pair will alter the dynamic of that conference (not in a good way if you are a SEC traditionalist).
I agree. Especially when combined with the presence of Arkansas, Missouri and Texas AM, there is a risk that the SEC's core-essence as a "southeastern" conference could be destabilized. No danger of a "takeover", as what happened in the Big 12 to the Big 8 when it thought it was absorbing the SWC, but in fact the opposite happened, but that is a lot of old SWC/Big 12 content the SEC has swallowed. And if it doesn't manage that carefully, do things to integrate west and east, it might end up choking on it.
For sure, if the SEC ever does expand again, it should not "go west", but rather look to the southeast, which basically means ACC schools like FSU, Clemson, Duke, UNC, etc.
I support the SEC more often than not, and when TX and OU were announced, I was happy but also had trepidation. IMO, it is one of those situations where you *had* to say "yes", even with the risks.
Really, the main benefit to the SEC of acquiring TX and OU isn't what they do for the SEC, though with their huge value they do bring a lot, it's that by taking them in, they *don't* go to the B1G or ACC, which if either of those conferences had gotten them, would be much, much more formidable opponents in the battle for conference supremacy. So the SEC had to say yes, if for no other reason than to keep them out of the ACC or B1G.