The college basketball season is less than two weeks away and with it comes a sense of optimism for basketball fans across the country.   At this point everyone is still undefeated, poised to make a run at a conference championship, and go dancing in the NCAA tournament.   Unfortunately for the vast majority of teams and their fans, the early optimism of the pre-season doesn’t translate when the ball is tipped and the rubber meets the hardwood in regular season action.

Many fans and coaches are asking what separates the good teams from the bad? Simple answer:  Recruiting. Make no mistake, coaching plays a big key especially when it comes to getting the most out of players, formulating game plans, and in-game coaching strategy but normally the team with the best players wins.    

What may be a more important question fans and coaches are asking this time of year is what separates the good teams from the championship teams? Simple answer: All-Conference Players.  

The college game has evolved, parity has become the norm, and there are a lot of good players spread out through all levels of college basketball. A championship team separates itself from the rest of their conference foes by the amount of elite players (All-Conference) on their roster. These are the players who consistently step up their games when the lights come on and fans pack the stands.    

In this day and age of college basketball it takes at least two All-Conference players (sometimes three) combined with a good supporting cast to win a championship.   Ex: Florida who finished the year as the No. 1 team in the country – a deep and talented roster with 3 All-Conference players (Patric Young, Casey Prather and Scottie Wilbekin) leading the way. 

College recruiters are constantly signing talented players but it’s the elite recruiters who are able to evaluate, recruit, and sign players that are All-Conference caliber and who can elevate their teams to a championship level. Two of the most important breeding grounds for elite talent in college basketball are Florida and Georgia.  It has become the norm for championship caliber programs to have at least one and more times than not two experienced assistant coaches with recruiting ties to both states pounding the pavement for players.  Here is a breakdown by conference of the players from Florida and Georgia named to their respective conference’s Preseason All-Conference teams. 

Atlantic Sun – Seven of the top 10 players in the conference (70%) hail from either the Sunshine State (Brett Comer, Beau Beech, & Dallas Moore) or the Peach State (*Pre-Season POY – Bernard Thompson, Chris Davenport, Jamail Jones and JC Hampton). Moral of the story, in the A-Sun if you want to win a conference championship you better have multiple assistants with recruiting ties to Florida and Georgia to get the job done. 

Big South – Even though there isn’t a single team in the Big South located in Florida or Georgia these schools rely heavily on recruiting both states for their talent. Four of the top 10 players in the conference (40%) hail from both states including Preseason POY John Brown (FL). 

Ohio Valley – Another conference that doesn’t have a single school located in either Florida or Georgia has consistently shown that to win the OVC conference title the coaches must recruit and sign players from both states.  The OVC POY last season, JJ Mann (Belmont), is a Georgia native and it’s no surprise that this year 50% of the OVC Preseason All-Conference selections come from Florida (Angelo Warner, TJ Sapp, Corey Walden) and Georgia (Jarvis Williams, Chris Horton).    

SoCon – The league added schools this past offseason that has resulted in a very talented and deep pool of players in the conference.   No shock four of the top 10 players in the conference (40%) hail from Florida (Rashawn Rembert) and Georgia (Stephen Croone, Karl Cochran and James Sinclair).  Expect this trend to continue upward as many of the highly regarded players coming into the SoCon this year call either Florida or Georgia home.  

American Conference – The conference that stretches all over the country and is home of the reigning National Champions has a history of recruiting Florida and Georgia for their top players.  This year should be more of the same as four of the top 10 players (40%) on the American Conference Preseason All-Conference team are from Florida (Chris Perry, Will Cummings, Amida Brimah) and Georgia (Shaq Goodwin). 

SEC – Last year there were 5 SEC All-Conference selections from the Florida/Georgia area. SEC schools are known to fill their rosters with Florida and Georgia players so it’s no surprise that two of the top 10 players (20%) named to the SEC Preseason All-Conference team are from the two southern states (Charles Mann - GA, Michael Frazier - FL). 

Conference USA – The conference that is known for knocking off the HM schools makes it a point to recruit the states of Florida and Georgia. Three of the top 10 players in Conference USA (30%) this year are Florida/Georgia kids (CJ Washington – GA, Alex Hamilton and Kenneth Smith – FL).   

Sun Belt – Another conference that has added more schools, the Sun Belt is known for having talented players.   This year four players from Florida/Georgia were named to the Sunbelt Pre-Season All-Conference Team (Jelani Hewitt - FL, Trent Wiedeman, James White, and Ryan Harrow - GA). 

Other Florida/Georgia players named to Preseason All-Conference Teams are:  ACC – Malcolm Brogdon (UVA), Missouri Valley – Tekele Cotton (Wichita State), Colonial – Quincy Ford (Northeastern) & Andre Nation (James Madison).