To raise its basketball profile, the Southeastern Conference needs ... James Earl Jones? Maybe so. The actor's commanding voice would be an ideal instrument to remind people of the SEC's storied basketball past and how its future can once more be thrilling.
Think of the movie Field of Dreams and Jones' ode to baseball.
"This game is a part of our past," he tells leading man Kevin Costner. "It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again."
William Sutton, who heads the sports marketing program at the University of South Florida, suggested that the SEC adopt this approach in the renewed effort to promote its men's basketball. Remind those who dismiss SEC basketball that Hall of Famers such as Charles Barkley, Bernard King, Bob Pettit and Pete Maravich played in the league. So did luminaries like Shaquille O'Neal and Dominique Wilkins.
Then envision the future stars to come.
"He talks about the past and future," Sutton said of Jones' speech in Field of Dreams. "That's what I'm talking about. You can't acknowledge the now. It has to be the past and leading into the future. You had a glorious past. Forget about where you are now. And we're going to be great again."
The now is the problem. Only three teams in three of the last four NCAA Tournaments. A 16-36 record last season against teams from the other four major conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac 12). Losing records against teams from those conferences in the last four seasons (78-118) and nine of the last 10 seasons.
Even though the SEC led all conferences with first-round picks (five) in the recent NBA draft, the league got little recognition for this.
"Because they didn't stay" in college, Sutton said. "How many of those draft picks were one-and-dones?" Two.
"That's the problem with one-and-dones," the sports marketing professor said. "You don't have continuity. You don't have conference rivalries. You don't have television interest.
"You turn on Kentucky because you know (UK has) the best players in the country. But are you going to turn on Alabama-Auburn? You don't know who the hell is playing. And that's the problem."
The SEC has signaled its intention to gain national recognition and respect for its basketball. This spring the league hired former Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese and former coach Dan Leibovitz to help blaze a trail to a glorious future.
Yes, Kentucky remains a national power. But UK's success is irrelevant to the rest of the SEC.
"They're so far above everybody else, they really function as an independent," Sutton said of Kentucky. (That's why we did not mention UK's many great players above. They are associated with Kentucky, not the SEC.)
Sutton suggested Kentucky is part of the problem. Perhaps forgetting the last wave of expansion, he said the SEC is perceived as "Kentucky and the 11 dwarfs."
UK's dominance inhibits other SEC programs in much the same way UConn's women's program obscures its American Athletic Conference sisters, he said.
A recruit might see other SEC schools offering only Kentucky's leftovers: second place, at best, in the standings, and only television slots that UK can't fill.
"What you need is a recruiting class," Sutton said. "You need five Ben Simmonses spread throughout the conference. Guys people can respect. Guys people want to go see. Guys people are going to pay attention to."
There's no quick fix. When asked whether he'd want the job of reviving SEC basketball, Sutton said, yes. Then he quickly added, "But I want five years."
On a teleconference last week, new SEC associate commissioner Dan Leibovitz suggested that all-encompassing football was a positive for the league's basketball programs. He said basketball recruits love seeing a big-time football game during a campus visit.
To which, Sutton said of these prospects, "They see that, and say, 'I wish I was a football player.'"
To explain the difference in fan devotion to SEC football and basketball, Sutton used a car analogy.
Football, he said, "is a Lamborghini, running on 16 cylinders. It purrs like a kitten. And it goes as fast as you want it to go. And it gets everybody's attention as it drives by."
And basketball?
"Uh, Chevy Impala," Sutton said. "It's sturdy. It gets there. Nobody cares."
Sports on 07/04/2016