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Having coached women’s basketball teams in the Big East and Mountain West conferences, Tom Collen sees the SEC in a broader context

Arkansas’ first-year coach said as much at the preseason media gathering last October in Birmingham, Ala.

“I think a lot of conferences have caught up with the SEC,’’ said Collen, who was coach at Colorado State and Louisville before Arkansas. “I think we’re going through a phase right now where it may be up to the SEC to prove that they are in fact still the best women’s basketball conference in the country.

“The coaches still understand how difficult it is to play in the SEC night in and night out.”

One ratings percentage index web site speaks to Collen’s view, indicating the league has some work to do on its stature as conference play begins. RealTimeRPI.com rates the SEC fifth this season, behind the Big East, Big 12, Big 10 and Atlantic Coast.

Despite having five conference teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25, just three (Tennessee, LSU and Georgia) make RealTimeRPI.com’s top 20.

The Lady Vols, with a .7690 rating and the top-rated schedule, are No. 1 by a decent margin over Connecticut (.7268).

Strength of schedule, or lack thereof, is dragging down other SEC teams. The Lady Razorbacks are 15-0 and ranked No. 20 by the AP. Yet a schedule ranked 265th has Arkansas’ RPI at 54.

Vanderbilt (55th) and Florida (64th) are among the top 64. South Carolina (65th) and Auburn (66th) are close.

On the other hand, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Alabama of the SEC carry triple-figure RPI ratings. Alabama is at 246. Despite a 12-3 record, Mississippi State is 118th, thanks to a schedule ranked 256.

“I think the SEC, top to bottom, is still the best,’’ Collen said. “But I think there are conferences out there that would have a legitimate claim to argue that that’s not the case.”

Not Created Equal: Auburn has Tennessee, Georgia and LSU as three of its first four conference games and Auburn coach Nell Fortner is not happy about it.

“I don’t think it’s fair; I don’t think it’s right,’’ she said. “It’s very tough on a team to play the three top teams in your league in the first four games. We’ve accepted it. We’re going to play hard and get after it.”

Auburn could have it worse. Vanderbilt will play LSU, Georgia and Tennessee in consecutive games this month.

The league’s rotating schedule has dealt a tough blow to Kentucky and Mississippi State, which have Tennessee and LSU as their home-and-home opponents.

Notebook: Georgia’s Tasha Humphrey is closing in on 2,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds. ... Mississippi State’s Alexis Rack has at least one 3-point basket in 29 consecutive games. ... South Carolina’s 11-4 non-conference record is its best since the 2002-03 season. ... Last Saturday against Princeton, Vanderbilt started two freshmen (Hannah Tuomi and Jence Rhoads) for the first time since the 2003-04 season. ... Led by first-year coach Amanda Butler, Florida has a seven-game winning streak, the second longest in program history. ... With 1,828 career points, LSU center Sylvia Fowles has moved past her former coach, Pokey Chatman, into sixth place on the school’s career scoring list.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.