Well, that was simple enough. Kentucky ran the table on the 2012 SEC regular season, capping things off with a 74-59 victory at Florida today. While that statement sounds innocent enough, let’s remember how it happened.There were 16 games in the SEC slate, and the Cats were only truly challenged in a couple of them, as they managed double-digit wins in 12 conference games. Two more were nine-point wins. Ten games were won by 15 or more. To say that Kentucky won the SEC would be a misnomer; rather, they knocked out the SEC with a chloroform-soaked towel, drug its unconscious body to the local tattoo shop, and paid the artist to tattoo the UK logo all over the SEC’s face, and backwards, so that when the SEC looks in the mirror, it has a sorrowful reminder of just how much it is Kentucky’s pimp, and if it steps out of line, Kentucky is going to run roughshod over its head with a 2×4. Though, to be honest, it’s really no different than it’s ever been. Outside of a few years here and there, the SEC has always been Kentucky’s playtoy, it was just a matter of ironing out the details. But this year, aside from a couple come-from-behind wins, the conference was no match. So that got me wondering: how does this edition of table-running Cats compare to the teams that did the same in 1996 and 2003?Let’s start with this year. The 2012 SEC champions won 16 games by 262 points, for an average of 16.4 points a game. The biggest win was 34, against South Carolina. Kentucky played two ranked teams in conference (meaning the teams were ranked when they played). The Cats only had one game that was decided by five points or less, and they won 12 by double digits. Not too shabby.The 2003 SEC champs won 16 games by 255 points, for an average of 15.9 per game, with the biggest win being a 62(!) point drubbing of Vanderbilt. They also had two games decided by five or less, and played six ranked teams in conference. They, too, won 12 games by double digits. While the 2012 version has a slightly higher victory margin, the 2003 version curb-stomped Vanderbilt, and played more ranked teams, so let’s give a slight edge to Tubby’s guys.As for the 1996 team…Egads. Tony Delk & Company won 16 games by a total of 387 points, for an average victory margin of [I]24.2 points a game.[/I] Let that sink in. The biggest win was by 40 points, over Tennessee, but they also won seven games by 30 or more. Their closest game was five points, the rest were double digits. They played one ranked team in conference, and that team was the Final Four edition of Mississippi State. Kentucky won by 18. If this year’s team ran roughshod, the 1996 team drove the SEC out to the middle of the desert, broke both its kneecaps with a lead pipe, poured honey all over the SEC’s prone body, and left it there to be dealt with by scorpions, snakes and whatever other creepy crawly things are out there.I think it’s safe to say that the 1996 group did the most damage, but it’s also safe to say that, as a whole, the league has better coaches in 2012 than it did 16 years ago. Still, none of these teams are anything to sneeze at, and the next few weeks will tell where this year’s edition stacks up all time.[TABLE=”class: outer_border, width: 500, align: left”][TR][TD][B]1996 NCAA champions[/B][/TD][TD][B]2003 Elite Eight[/B][/TD][TD][B]2012[/B][/TD][/TR][TR][TD]24.2/ppg margin of victory[/TD][TD]15.9/ppg MoV[/TD][TD]16.4/ppg MoV[/TD][/TR][TR][TD]Biggest win- 40[/TD][TD]Biggest win- 62[/TD][TD]Biggest win- 34[/TD][/TR][TR][TD]Defeated 1 ranked team[/TD][TD]Def. 6 ranked teams[/TD][TD]Def. 2 ranked teams[/TD][/TR][TR][TD]1 game decided by 5 points or less[/TD][TD]2 games decided by 5 or less[/TD][TD]1 game decided by 5 or less[/TD][/TR][TR][TD]15 double digit wins[/TD][TD]12 double digit wins[/TD][TD]12 double digit wins[/TD][/TR][TR][TD]SEC tournament runner-up[/TD][TD]Won SEC tournament[/TD][TD]???[/TD][/TR][/TABLE]
