Forget those Washington politicians squabbling over the size and scope of the much-needed coronavirus relief checks.
My question: Will the SEC be the relief package Kentucky basketball needs?
It has happened before. UK's conference records in the John Calipari Era: 14-2, 10-6, 16-0, 12-6, 12-6, 18-0, 13-5, 16-2, 10-8, 15-3, 15-3. Total: 151-41. No matter what has happened to the Cats in the non-conference calendar, the SEC schedule has served as a get-well card.
And Kentucky basketball is currently in desperate need of a revival. In case you haven't heard, the Cats are 1-6. They've lost six straight. The latest L came Saturday at archrival Louisville. The score was 62-59. The difference was familiar. Kentucky shot 34.5 percent from the floor. It went 5-for-17 from three-point range. It missed eight of 22 free throws. Result: The program's worst start since 1916.
Now UK's SEC play begins Saturday at Mississippi State. Tuesday night in Rupp Arena was slated for the league opener, until South Carolina canceled because of COVID-19 concerns. It's the second game UK has had postponed in this pandemic — Detroit Mercy has twice activated that sequence — but it likely won't be the last.
So what's in store over the next two months-plus? After all, a few years back, the late commissioner Mike Slive pushed to prop up SEC basketball. The results have been mixed. The league has hired better coaches, expanded recruiting budgets, adopted more challenging schedules. There have been ups: Auburn's 2019 Final Four trip; Tennessee reached the top 10. There have been downs: Vanderbilt, Arkansas, Georgia and Missouri have all struggled.
This year, just two SEC teams reside in the AP Top 25. Undefeated Tennessee is ranked eighth. Undefeated Missouri is 14th. Two more teams have yet to lose. Arkansas is 8-0. Georgia is 7-0. Both have loaded up on cupcakes, however. Computer whiz Jeff Sagarin has Arkansas playing the nation's 283rd toughest schedule thus far. He puts Georgia's strength of schedule at 277.
Three SEC teams are 5-1. LSU's lone loss came at Saint Louis. (Travis Ford's Billikens are 7-1.) Ole Miss' lone loss came at Dayton. Texas A&M's lone loss came at TCU. Auburn is 6-2 with losses to No. 1-ranked Gonzaga and a UCF team that gave Florida State its only loss.
Many grades are incomplete. COVID has kept South Carolina on the sidelines since Dec. 5. Florida hasn't played a game since Gators star Keyontae Johnson collapsed against Florida State on Dec. 12. Thankfully, Johnson is now out of the hospital. The Gainesville Sun reported the junior has heart inflammation after testing positive for COVID-19 during the summer. The school has not confirmed that report.
Overall, Ken Pomeroy's analytics ranks the SEC as the nation's fourth-best league thus far, behind the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC. Pomeroy has Tennessee ranked ninth, followed by Florida at 22, Ole Miss at 32, Arkansas at 35, LSU at 36 and Missouri at 40. Kentucky is next in the conference line at No. 50.
Of course, the competition means little if Kentucky can't get itself turned around. Calipari has blamed his schedule-making, but the Cats have lost to four teams (Richmond, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame and Louisville) ranked outside the Top 25. The schedule excuse might carry more weight if the Cats were, say, 4-3. They're not.
And poor shooting remains the reason for the season. UK's offense remains in the land of the lost. Pomeroy ranks Kentucky 82nd in offensive efficiency, the lowest for a Calipari team since Pomeroy started crunching numbers in 2001-02. Calipari's 2004-05 Memphis team ranked 79th. Those Tigers ended up 22-16 and in the NIT. Currently, Pomeroy's projections has UK 2020-21 finishing 10-15.
Aside from Texas on Jan. 30 in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, it is conference play for Kentucky from here on out. At least it's a chance to hit the reset button and start anew. Is relief in sight? Maybe. Chances are, that will have more to do with the Cats than their opponents.
