Adams: Past year a highlight reel for SEC sports

Each June, as part of the conference's spring meetings, the SEC recognizes outstanding achievements at a Thursday dinner. It's a feel-good affair, which spotlights all that has gone right for the conference and its student-athletes in the last year.

But even a conference as successful as this one rarely has had so much to feel good about. In fact, you could devote an entire evening just to honoring the Florida Gators, who have won back-to-back national championships in basketball and another national championship in football.

The SEC has never shied away from touting itself as the nation's best sports conference. After the last 12 months, the touting has never been easier.

How good has it been? Even Vanderbilt has won a national championship.

• Auburn's women won their first national championship in track and field last June in Sacramento. The Tigers accumulated 57 points, 18.5 more than runner-up Southern Cal.

• Former LSU All-American Shaquille O'Neal helped lead the Miami Heat to the NBA championship last June. The Heat's roster included three other former SEC players -- Jason Williams and Udonis Haslem of Florida, and Antoine Walker of Kentucky.

• A few months later, St. Louis Cardinals shortstop David Eckstein was named MVP of the 2006 World Series. SEC baseball fans remember Eckstein as the walk-on player who became a star for the Florida Gators in the mid-1990s.

• In January, the Gators commemorated their first national championship in football by winning another one in Phoenix. A seven-point underdog, Florida held favored Ohio State to 82 total yards in a 41-14 rout.

• In February, former UT quarterback Peyton Manning was named Super Bowl MVP after leading the Indianapolis Colts to a 29-17 victory over the Chicago Bears.

• Two months ago, Auburn's women won their second consecutive national championship in swimming and diving. Back-to-back national titles are nothing new for the Tigers, who have won five of the last six national championships in swimming and diving.

• The Auburn men matched the women's national title in swimming and diving with one of their own. The Tigers outscored second-place Stanford by 169 points, set five NCAA records and won their fifth consecutive national title.

• Last month, Florida became the first team since Duke in 1991-92 to win back-to back national championships in basketball by beating Ohio State in the Georgia Dome.

• The night after Florida's national championship, Tennessee won its seventh national title in women's basketball by defeating Rutgers 59-46. LSU, which lost to Rutgers in the semifinals, gave the SEC two teams in the Final Four.

• Last month, Alabama drew a crowd of 92,138 for its spring football game at Bryant Denny Stadium. That's believed to be a national record for spring-game attendance.

• I wasn't kidding about Vanderbilt's national title. On April 14, Vanderbilt made school history by winning its first NCAA championship. The Commodores beat Maryland Eastern Shore in women's bowling.

• Last weekend, Georgia won its third consecutive national championship and eighth overall in women's gymnastics.

• Also, last weekend, LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell was the No. 1 pick of the NFL draft. SEC players accounted for 11 of the first 30 picks.

After all of that success, there could be more to come. UT, LSU and Alabama are national championship contenders in women's softball. And Vanderbilt is ranked No. 1 in college baseball.

Not a bad school year.