by BY TOM MURPHY ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE , Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

"It's going to be more difficult to win the championship. It's going to be more difficult to finish ahead of Kentucky." Speaking to reporters on a midsummer teleconference Monday, league coaches addressed the widely held assumption - validated by the inclusion of just three SEC teams in the NCAA Tournament and a record of 1-3 in the tournament - that the conference suffered through a significant downturn in 2008-2009.

Their reactions ran from acceptance - "Last year, whatever the perception was of the league, it was fair and accurate," Pearl said - to rationalizing it and to what sounded like denial.

"That was totally blown out of proportion last year," Mississippi State Coach Rick Stansbury said. "That's not the reality. It was the perception." Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey, who has played or coached in the conference for much of his adult life, took this approach: "I really didn't think the perception of the Southeastern Conference going into the year last year was what it ended up being," Pelphrey said. "The media really started talking about the league being down, and we never really got that off of us at all. We weren't able to shake it off with our play, either." The SEC will welcome three new coaches next season: Calipari, Alabama's Anthony Grant and Georgia's Mark Fox. While Grant and Fox are seen as bright up-and-comers in the business, Calipari has already made a mark, leading Massachusetts and Memphis to Final Fours. His .761 winning percentage on a career record of 455-140 ranks third among active coaches with at least 10 years experience on the NCAA Division I level.

Grant and Fox talked Monday of feeling their way around their new rosters, while Calipari spoke about his first 90 days on the job.

"The first 90 are vital that you get off running and you do so many things," Calipari said. "They've been hectic, but exciting. I've had a lot of fun with it, but it's been an absolute whirlwind." Calipari said the Twitter page the program started seven weeks ago has 300,000 followers and he expects to have about one million by the time the season rolls around.

"I can tell you that what I have found out about this program is the fans are raving fans - in a good way," Calipari said.

Pelphrey's Razorbacks will begin the 2009-2010 season like many other league schools - with a bunch of returning players who logged significant action last season.

Arkansas also brings back all five starters, as does Mississippi State, Tennessee and Vanderbilt. Ole Miss also will be an experienced team.

The Razorbacks got good news last week when forward signee Marshawn Powell was cleared to play by the NCAA.

"It's something we had anticipated," Pelphrey said. "It wasn't something that we had too much anxiety about. We believed he would meet those standards. I think he has a chance to be a very good player for us." SEC coaches said the return of star players such as big men Michael Washington of Arkansas, Patrick Patterson of Kentucky and Jarvis Varnado of Mississippi State, guards Devan Downey of South Carolina and swing players like LSU's Tasmin Mitchell and Tennessee's Tyler Smith should boost the league back near the top next year.

"A lot of our programs were just very young last year, and I think you'll see the exact opposite of that this year," Vanderbilt Coach Kevin Stallings said.

"The league is way up on the upswing this year," Florida assistant coach Larry Shyatt said. "We return a ton of our top-tier talent." South Carolina second-year Coach Darrin Horn was happy to welcome back Downey and forward Dominique Archie, who both checked on their NBA prospects before returning.

"You have two guys back that can really play, two talented players that you absolutely have to have in a league like this," Horn said. "We have to prepare ourselves for what we feel will be the best league in the country next year."

This article was published 06/30/2009

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