ben howland ucla net 2007.jpg
Then-UCLA coach Ben Howland cuts down a net March 24, 2007, in San Jose, Calif., after beating Kansas in a regional final to advance to the 2007 Final Four. (San Diego Union-Tribune photo)
Kentucky's in the Final Four, Ben Howland's on the job in Starkville, Rick Barnes looks like he's heading to Knoxville and Bill Battle is visiting face-to-face with Gregg Marshall.
Could the postseason be going any better for SEC basketball?
Oh, sure, UK was the only one of the league's five NCAA Tournament teams to reach the Sweet 16, and even the unbeaten 'Cats needed a last-second miss to survive Notre Dame in the Elite Eight, but the rest of the conference has put on its big boy basketball shoes.
It started with Mississippi State hiring Howland. A program that's been to one Final Four in its entire existence landed a coach who took UCLA to three straight from 2006-08. Nothing against the promising Rick Ray, but State AD Scott Stricklin pulled off the coup of the year with that move.
Ray doesn't have Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love on speed dial.
Sure, State wouldn't have gotten Howland if he were still at UCLA, but who cares? Do you think it bothered Auburn that it wouldn't have lured Bruce Pearl directly away from Tennessee when the Tigers were winning three SEC Tournament games in three days?
Now comes the news that Barnes is about to swap one shade of orange for another. The day after his official dismissal at UT West, it appears Barnes will bring the kind of stability and credibility to UT East the Vols have desperately lacked.
Adding Howland and Barnes to the league increases the number of SEC coaches who've taken a team to the Final Four from 2-4, joining John Calipari and Billy Donovan. It increases the number of SEC coaches who've reached the Elite Eight from 5-7, including Pearl, Mike Anderson and Frank Martin.
That's a serious jump in head coaching star power.
If Battle can close the deal with Marshall, that would bring one more Final Four coach to the conference.
The SEC's still a long way from housing Mike Krzyzewski, Rick Pitino, Roy Williams and Jim Boeheim under the same roof, but these recent developments are guaranteed to make the conference better.
Since 1999, only one coach not named Calipari or Donovan has taken an SEC team to the Final Four. John Brady did it with LSU in 2006. He's now at Arkansas State.
It's about time for another SEC coach to crash the party. The odds of that happening are a lot better today than they were three weeks ago.