When the SEC meetings begin today in Destin, Fla., the first order of business should be: What happened?

The school year has defied both logic and tradition. For example, check the conference baseball standings. Kentucky was at the top. Florida was near the bottom.

Isn’t Kentucky too far north to be good in baseball? Isn’t Florida too far south to be bad?

Baseball hasn’t been the only topsy-turvy sport. The surprising school year began with football. Credit Steve Spurrier with leading the way.

Mr. Gator himself became the coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks. He didn’t just coach against the Gators; he beat them.

But South Carolina beating Florida wasn’t as surprising as Vanderbilt beating Tennessee.

The Vols were a consensus top-five team in 2005, favored to win the SEC and expected to contend for the national championship. They finished 5-6 and didn’t qualify for a bowl game for the first time in 17 years. They lost to Vanderbilt for the first time in 23 years.

Not all of UT’s surprises reeked of incompetence. The same team that couldn’t beat Vanderbilt overcame a 21-0 deficit in Tiger Stadium to upset LSU, which finished sixth nationally.

SEC statistics were odder than the scores. The four leading tacklers played on losing teams. Six of the top 10 rushers played on losing teams. So did five of the top six leaders in all-purpose yardage. So did three of the top five pass receivers. So did the leader in passing yardage, Vanderbilt quarterback Jay Cutler.

Cutler also was the SEC’s crown jewel of the NFL draft. Imagine that: a Vanderbilt quarterback was the 11th pick overall.

SEC basketball was more surprising than football. Throughout conference play, you kept hearing about a "down year" in the conference. But Florida and LSU made the Final Four, and the Gators won the national title.

Not bad for a down year. Not bad for a football conference.

SEC basketball had the No. 1 team and the national coach of the year. And they didn’t go together.

First-year UT coach Bruce Pearl was the national coach of the year after leading the Vols to the top of the SEC East and a second seed in the NCAA tournament. The Gentleman Vols were a No. 2 seed and so were the Lady Vols.

Kentucky basketball was just as out of whack. The men lost at home to UT, and the women won at home against the Lady Vols.

South Carolina was good enough to win two of three games against eventual national champion Florida. But it wasn’t good enough to make the NCAA tournament.

Florida went 0-2 against UT and 1-2 against South Carolina in its own division during the regular season but won 32 of its other 34 games. Go figure.

The SEC baseball season was even more perplexing. Granted, it’s the most volatile of conference sports, but it rarely has produced swings of this magnitude.

A year after playing Texas for the baseball national championship, Florida finished next-to-last in the conference. And a year after finishing last in the SEC with a 7-22 record, Kentucky was the best team in the East.

It has been that kind of year in the SEC.

Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knews.com.