All Hogs

SEC lays claim to key marker in college baseball

Leaves question as to which type of conference Arkansas is in now
Kent Smith|
Arkansas Razorbacks' Nick Souza against the Missouri Tigers at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark.
Arkansas Razorbacks' Nick Souza against the Missouri Tigers at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark. | Nilsen Roman-Hogs on SI Images

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Arkansas RazorbacksLSU TigersMississippi State Bulldogs

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Opening up Twitter this morning obliterates the idea that the SEC might ever be a basketball league despite the massive success of the conference last season as it pertains to the NCAA Tournament.

The flood of "31 days until baseball season!" videos from a long list of SEC programs made it feel like this may not even be a football conference anymore. One thing there is zero doubt about is there is decidedly more anticipation for baseball season across the Southeastern portion of the United States than the rest of the country.

It can be argued that portions of the Big Ten love football as much or more than the SEC, and there is no case to be made that specific Big Ten programs care more about winning in football than any schools in the SEC because they're doing it at a higher clip when it comes to playing for and winning national championships lately.

Yet, there is zero dispute that a single league, including the ACC with perhaps the exception of Florida State, cares about baseball even half as much as the SEC. No other conference region got up this morning, felt how cold it is outside and immediately thought "Brrrrr . . . must be time for baseball."

But that's the case. There's Kuhio Aloy ripping shots in a tight fitting Razorbacks shirt on my screen continuing to represent the Hawaiian blood that has seemingly run through Arkansas baseball forever.

Not far behind Arkansas in terms of sheer prolific marketing of there only being a month left until first pitch is Mississippi State, which is absolutely losing its mind over the thought of another baseball season. There's also Texas claiming it's pitching staff has what it takes to bring another national championship to Austin with little doubt.

And Tennessee, South Carolina and Vanderbilt aren't far behind either in making sure everyone knows they're pumped for baseball, although it should be noted that Vandy is using some of the space others are using for baseball to promote that both its men's and women's teams are undefeated and the university just bought an entire college out in California to take over.

While seeing such heavy promotion of baseball would be a little stunning elsewhere, the only thing shocking here is how weak LSU and Florida are in promoting their traditional power teams.

Although, Texas A&M may be winning when it comes to getting fans hyped for the upcoming season while helping them get to know some of the new faces while getting excited about returning players. The Aggies are dropping the walk-up song for each player with a short video of that player coming to the plate.

As far as preseason polls go, some combination of Arkansas, Texas, LSU and Mississippi State is picked to make it to Omaha, meaning the SEC would have half the field making a run at the national championship. Of course, there are plenty of other SEC teams that will be in the tournament that will also have solid chances at advancing as well.

It should be noted the SEC has won the national championship every season since 2017 with one exception. That would be the year Arkansas dropped a pop-up that would have won Dave Van Horn his first national title, which eventually led to Oregon State storming back to take that game and the following game to snatch the championship from the SEC.

The Hogs will again attempt to atone for that series loss to give Van Horn his much deserved national title beginning with its season opener against Oklahoma State at Globe Life Field in Arlington Friday, Feb. 13. That weekend will also include TCU, Texas Tech and Tarleton State.

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Kent Smith
KENT SMITH

Kent Smith has been in the world of media and film for nearly 30 years. From Nolan Richardson's final seasons, former Razorback quarterback Clint Stoerner trying to throw to anyone and anything in the blazing heat of Cowboys training camp in Wichita Falls, the first high school and college games after 9/11, to Troy Aikman's retirement and Alex Rodriguez's signing of his quarter billion dollar contract, Smith has been there to report on some of the region's biggest moments. 

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