Where Does Kentucky Belong?

Warning: Before you read, this post is not at all a knock on the Cats, but just something that seems more convenient for Kentucky.  It just makes sense. 

Q: When the you think about the Southeastern Conference, what is the first thing that comes to mind?  

Football. Football filled with freakish athletes and NFL-worthy coaches. The Worlds Largest Cocktail Party in Jacksonville and the Grove in Oxford.  Pig Sooie and Geaux Tigers. Rocky Top and Roll Tide.  There is a reason each Uga that passes away is honored with a bronzed bulldog statue infront of their tomb at Samford Stadium and not wherever the hell Georgia plays basketball.  You think Auburn coeds roll Toomer's Corner after beating Alabama in a game of hoops? Hell no.  

Q: My point?

There is not one college football fan outside of the SEC that would look at that paragraph and say, "Yeah, but you left out Kentucky."

It is a wonder to me why Kentucky has never taken serious consideration in joining the Big Ten (Eleven, really).  It seems as if it would just make more sense, and if you deny it, its only because you think Big Ten school logos wouldn't look half as cool as the ones on your SEC needle point belts. 

The Big Ten is more of a balanced conference in terms of football to basketball ratio, while the SEC is a football prominent league with a basketball problem (yeah, I know UF won two straight national titles, yada yada yada).  Besides that argument, there are multiple others.

Travel (driving distance)

Big Ten 

Ann Arbor (MU)- 325 miles

Bloomington (IU)- 176 

Champaign (UI)- 301 

Columbus (OSU)- 190 

East Lansing (MSU)- 390 

Evanston (NU)- 380 

Iowa City (Iowa)- 540

Madison (WU)- 518 

Tubby Land- 700 

State College (PSU)- 507

West Lafayette (PU)- 210 

Avg of 385.18 (repeating, of course) miles

SEC

Athens (UGA)- 385 miles

Baton Rouge (LSU)- 797

Auburn (AU)- 501

Columbia (USC)- 441

Fayetteville (U of Ark)- 797

Gainesville (UF)- 714

Knoxville (UT)- 180

Nashville (VU)- 214

Oxford (Ole Miss)- 504

Starkville (MSU)- 493

Tuscaloosa (UA)- 457

Avg. of 498 miles

Less Travel for team/fans, everybody wins. 

Recruiting

This would impact basketball recruiting due to better competition and giving players a chance to visit fun, exciting environments when on the road instead of half empty, dull SEC crowds.  When a recruit comes on a visit to watch his potential team play a home game at Rupp, would they rather see the Cats beat Ole Miss by 7 points with the crowd never getting into the game, or would they be impressed by a raucous crowd of 24,000+ on their feet until the final buzzer, seeing the Cats pull out a close one against Tom Izzo and the perennial top 10 ranked Spartans.  

Still not convinced?

Overall Competition 

Obviously Kentucky is not very competitive when it comes to conference football.  Yes, they have their years of knocking off some of the big boys once in a while, but with Rich Brooks' life expectancy being only 3-4 more years, how do you know they won't get Kragthorped when Joker Phillips takes over.  

Who do you like your chances against in conference play; Penn State, OSU, Michigan and Iowa, or SEC foes Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee (20+ game losing streak)?  I'd take the Big Ten every time.  If your argument is that you would rather play the absolute best competition, well, that only gets you moral victories and invites to the Flagstaff Scottish Terrier Bowl.  In college football it is about quantity, not quality of wins, just ask Ohio State. 

Basketball is the sport that Kentucky worships.  Winning more SEC titles than all teams combined, the Cats are still the juggernaut of the league.  since 2000, where has that gotten them?  A couple of #1 seeds, only to be bowed out of the NCAA's earlier than expected.  Perhaps a stronger conference gets them better prepared for a big tourney run.  What better conference to do that in than the Big Ten, which continuously puts 7+ teams in the tournament year after year.  Even in a down year like this one, a .500 conference record probably gets them  on the 'bubble'.

Call me crazy and tell me it will never happen, sure.  But if you take off your SEC shades and think about the big picture without bias, it just makes more sense and would overall better the athletics program.  It's not that I don't think they BELONG in the SEC, but that they would FIT IN to a more balanced league like the Big Ten. 

P.S. Kentucky is one of the only schools in the SEC to field a soccer team, which plays in the MAC.  More food for thought.