re: LSU Men's Track Favored to Win NCAA Title Based on Projected Scoring

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Not really. He'll be a contributor in SEC meets. Where LSU isn't any good at anyway due to a lack of debt.

Explain this. Why is the SEC different from the NCAA's

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Should have said "lack of depth."

a) NCAA meets are won with lower scores. It's like making all-conference team vs all-American. Somebody who makes 3rd team all-SEC will almost certainly be irrelevant to the count of all-Americans you have. And all-Americans are the only thing that matter for NCAA meets. Teams like Arkansas have a lot of guys who place 4-8 in SEC, but have no chance of scoring any meaningful points with a much bigger field(NCAA)

b) The SEC is a sprint and horizontal jumps conference. Definitely the premier conference in the country for that. Exactly what LSU specializes in. So their points transfer well. Their 4x1, 4x4, and 200 scored 30 points at SECs and is just as likely score 30 points at NCAAs. Teams like Ole Miss(distance) and Alabama(throws) specialize in things the SEC is relatively bad at. So they score points against a weak SEC field. Points that are irrelevant for NCAA meets. The 9th and 90th best person in the NCAA get 0 points. Even though the 9th would probably win the SEC in most distance events, earning the same 10 points as the winning 400 meter champion, who would probably be the favorite to score another 10 at nationals.

A team like Arkansas will score 120 points at SEC and 35 at NCAAs. LSU might score 80 at SECs and 55 at NCAAs. Guys like Braxton getting either 0 to 8 points at SECs is the difference between him being the 100th best in the country(0 points) and the 20th best in the country(still 0 points).