DESTIN, Fla. — You would think after placing two teams in the Final Four in the same year for the third time since the mid 1990s, that SEC men’s basketball is lacking respect.

But league coaches have complained for years the conference hasn’t promoted basketball as hard as football. That changed somewhat last year when the SEC promoted throwback jerseys all season and hired former Alabama basketball coach and Kentucky athletic director as a basketball consultant.

The coaches want more. Besides working on possibly playing outside the Wednesday-Saturday conference schedule (with one Tuesday night ESPN game), the league is talking about moving some games to Thursday and Sunday to have a more attractive inventory for TV.

Also, there’s a good chance that starting in the 2007-08 season, that the league will possibly open the year with a series of games against another conference.

"We’re getting very close," SEC commissioner Mike Slive said. "We’ve had the concept in place for a number of years, but it takes a lot of time and energy to put it all together. There are a few pieces of the puzzle left, but I’m optimistic we’ll have it in 2007.

Slive said the SEC has always played great basketball, but regions outside the south always viewed the league as a football conference.

"This past season of exposure in the end helps in a sense," Slive said. "But the people in our region know we’ve had good basketball before."

Beating APR: Several football coaches here this week talked openly about the best way to improve their program’s Academic Progress Rate score, which accounts for graduation and academic progress among athletes. The NCAA started the APR two years ago and subtracts scholarships from schools that don’t maintain the minimum required APR score.

"What you do is find a senior walk-on who’s going to graduate and you put him on scholarship for his senior year," South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said.

Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer said he’s done that and will continue to do so.

"We all have to do that, it’s a bookkeeping measure as much as anything," Fulmer said. "If you have a solid guy who can help you a bit academically or help you a bit on the field from an attitude standpoint, you’ll sign him. I’ve got three I’ll put on scholarship."