Florida coach Todd Golden claims SEC 'is down a little bit' this basketball season

Florida head coach Todd Golden knows how difficult it is to win in the SEC to ultimately lead a team to their ultimate goals. The Gators won the national title last year coming out of an absurd SEC but it’s not like that this year, according to the coach.

Golden and the Gators are currently ranked No. 19 in the country and coming off a 96-79 win over Oklahoma on the road. As it stands, there are six ranked teams in the conference right now, but none are higher in the SEC than leader and 10th ranked Vanderbilt.

“It’s a fair statement to say the league’s down a little bit. And I don’t think that’s an insult,” Golden said on SEC This Morning. “Because last year’s league was so good, you know, with four top eight teams, you know, four teams in the Elite Eight, two in the Final Four. Like it was going to be really hard to back up last season with another equal performance from the conference, you know, and so not as top heavy. But you look across in terms of the depth, like, we still have a lot of really, really good freaking teams. 

“And you know, you’re looking at going on the road, you’re always going to be playing a top 15 or top 25, maybe, top 40 team. Like those games are really, really difficult to win, especially when you get into league play.” 

As it stands now, Florida is 12-5 on the season, 3-1 in the SEC and ranked third in the conference. Only Vanderbilt and Texas A&M are ahead. But at the bottom, LSU is 0-3 in league play and still 12-4 on the season!

“The similar thing, you know from last year’s perspective, is the bottom of the league is a lot better,” Golden said. “We only have two teams below 70. Whereas, you know, I think, my second year in the league two years ago, we had two teams outside of the top 100 you know? So that depth in the back is absurd. 

“We go on the road to Missouri last week, and, you know, people expect us to win. They’re really freaking good … and they go on the road and win in Kentucky like there’s no nights off in this league. And Oklahoma is another game where, you know, I assume we’re going to be, you know, small favorites going into that ball game. But the message to our team is, listen like we have to play as good as we did against Tennessee or better, you know, for us to have a really good shot to get this thing done.”

Got it done they did. Golden and Florida are good again and will compete for the SEC title and national title. Is the league as good as last year? No, but maybe it’s not necessarily a bad thing.