NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- When talking to SEC coaches, the list of reasons why the league hasnt had a bigger presence recently in the NCAA Tournament is long:Weak scheduling. Backlash for football dominance. Poor recruiting. Coaching turnover.Now, coaches say theyve addressed all those hurdles but have one more to conquer -- perception.Only three teams reached the tournament in March for the third time in four years and even worse, only one team reached the regional semifinals. The dismal showing reinforced the idea that the SEC just cant compete on the court as well as the league does on the football field.Respect can earn more NCAA Tournament berths, and more tournament teams boost a conferences identity. SEC coaches have been working to toughen up scheduling, recruiting and play on the court, but Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said theyre also fighting something else.Its not the perception. Its the reality, Pearl said Wednesday at the SEC Tipoff media days event. The reality is that we have not been able to get enough teams into the NCAA Tournament.This league has a pretty proud basketball tradition that doesnt hang completely on Kentucky.The SEC earned six NCAA Tournament bids in 1987 when it was still a 10-team league. Since 1992, Arkansas, Florida and Kentucky have won at least one national title each, while LSU and Mississippi State reached a Final Four. Alabama and Tennessee have played in regional finals during that stretch with three others advancing to regional semifinals. The SEC sent six teams to the NCAA Tournament every year between 1999 and 2004.But the reality of the SECs tradition differs from the perception of its current state. Add it up and the numbers show the SEC hasnt earned as many as six NCAA bids in a year since 2008.SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey took steps to correct this problem by hiring former Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese as a special adviser on mens basketball and hired Dan Leibovitz as an associate commissioner. Tranghese attended the leagues spring meeting in May in Florida, and Kentucky coach John Calipari said its good for the league to have extra sets of eyes focused on mens basketball.But Calipari defended the SEC, noting Kentucky and Florida played in the 2014 Final Four with Tennessee reaching a regional semifinal that same year. Texas A&M reached a regional semifinal last spring.A lot of this is the perception of it, Calipari said. I dont know how you fight that.South Carolina coach Frank Martin says having Tranghese and Leibovitz will help with how the league is perceived. A school-record 25 wins last season didnt help Martins Gamecocks earn an NCAA berth in March.Georgia coach Mark Fox would like to see the selection committee be more transparent about what teams should target. His Bulldogs hoped to pick up a top-50 win against South Carolina late last season only to be told that a win would knock the Gamecocks out of the top 50 in the RPI.It cant be a moving target, Fox said.Florida coach Mike White says luck plays a role. He believes as many as three teams missed out last season by a missed free throw, missed block-out for a rebound or a half-court shot at the buzzer falling.Andy Kennedy, now the dean of SEC coaches at Mississippi following Kevin Stallings departure from Vanderbilt, said the SEC has beefed up its non-conference schedules and is starting to see dividends. Each SEC team has at least one nonconference game against a Power Five opponent with Michigan visiting South Carolina on Nov. 23 in just one of the big games.The league also had up to seven teams contending for NCAA berths in recent years until the SEC tournament. Kennedy said being unable to finish in the league tournament dropped the final numbers.Then theres SEC fatigue.I think people get so overwhelmed with the dominance that is SEC football they all want to take a pause from the SEC, Kennedy said. They happen to want to pause when were in the midst of our conference schedule. We have to do our jobs ... This should be a five-, six-, seven-bid league every year, and my hope is we can get back soon.Leibovitz has been reaching out to each SEC school to see what the league can do to support promoting programs on campus and recruiting. The league also is reaching out to event promoters pitching SEC teams and other leagues for possible matchups that can boost the RPI.I think were just at a time where weve planted some good seed and we just have to let them grow, Leibovitz said.Results may come sooner than some expect. Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said leagues go through cycles, and the message from Tranghese has been that the SEC is close.I think were in position where we can turn that this year, and Ill be shocked if we dont, Barnes said.---Online:AP College Basketball website: http://collegebasketball.ap.org/ and AP-Top 25 Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/AP-Top25---Follow Teresa M. Walker at www.twitter.com/teresamwalker Under Armour Basketball Shoes For Sale . It was just business as usual for the Thunder at home. Durant scored 32 points and the Thunder beat the Bulls 107-95 on Thursday night for their eighth straight win. Under Armour Basketball Shoes USA . -- Matt Ryan needed one of the best games of his career to lead the Falcons and their depleted offence out of their three-game losing streak last week. http://www.mikebrault.com/ . Now, with Game 6 set for Fenway Park and an 8:07 p.m. ET first pitch, the Detroit Tigers face the unenviable task of having to beat the Boston Red Sox twice, on the road, to advance to the World Series. Under Armour Womens Shoes Sale . Q: Team Canada announces their Olympic roster three weeks from today. Who is general manager Steve Yzerman watching? LeBrun: Over the last 48 hours, hes taken in the home-and-home between the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche with Jamie Benn and Matt Duchene being the obvious targets. Under Armour Basketball Shoes Womens . On Mar. 16, coming off a "fight of the year" performance at UFC 154 the previous November, St-Pierre faced Nick Diaz at UFC 158 in what would be his eighth defence of the welterweight title. Using his superior athleticism, St-Pierre cruised to a five round, unanimous decision victory setting up a much-anticipated title defence against number one contender Johny Hendricks. Disaster again struck for Jamie Whincup as Holdens Will Davison claimed his second Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama on Sunday.Four-time champion Whincup crossed the line first but he had already been hit with a 15 second post-race penalty for a controversial incident with 11 laps left, relegating him to 11th on the timesheets.It set up a final dog fight for the Great Race between 2009 winner Davison and Kiwi van Gisbergen.And it didnt disappoint.Trying to conserve fuel, Davison somehow held out a fast finishing van Gisbergen by 0.14 of a second - the closest competitive finish in the races 56 year history.Holdens Nick Percat was third.It ran out of fuel as I crossed the finish line, Davison said.I cant believe the way it panned out.Neither could Whincup.He copped the time penalty after trying to snatch second spot from Volvos Scott McLaughlin on lap 150.He tried to overtake on the inside of McLaughlin at The Chase, forcing the Volvo driver off the track.McLaughlin weaved back onto the track, spectacularly crashing with Holdens Garth Tander prompting yet another safety car.Whincup started all that, said Tander, whose Holden was written off by the incident.Jamie was being pretty desperate, its not on.Six-time Bathurst winner Whincup was apologetic.I dont know what to say. I feel sorry about that, he said.I will apologise but I felt the move was on.Whincup was looking for a reversal of fortuness after his last two disastrous Bathurst campaigns.ddddddddddddLast year he sensationally ignored team orders to pit before passing a safety car, relegating him from second to 18th.And in 2014 the Holden gun also defied a team directive and ran out of fuel on the 161st and final lap while leading.As usual, there were no shortage of hard luck stories.In the end, eight of the 27 cars failed to finish, prompting six safety cars.The biggest name scalp was Fords Mark Winterbottom whose Supercars title defence appears in tatters after his brakes failed on lap 135.There was also no luck for sentimental favourite and defending champion Craig Lowndes.The Holden veteran had hoped to claim a seventh Bathurst to honour Peter Brock on the 10th anniversary of his mentors death.He finished fourth last after his campaign was sabotaged by early gear issues.Female driver Simona de Silvestre - who will compete in the Supercars full-time next year - finished 14th.Brocks anniversary attracted a four day attendance of 204,512 - the second biggest Bathurst 1000 crowd.Bathurst champions of the last decade honoured Brock in a pre-race parade driving some of the late greats most famous race cars.The crowd also gave a standing ovation on lap five, honouring Brocks famous 05 racing number. 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