Mizzou Moves To The SEC: Alabama's Other Sports Are Mostly Strong

Monday: Alabama Is Good At Football
Tuesday: Alabama Basketball Has Had Its Moments
Wednesday: The Closers Talk Alabama, Part I
Wednesday: Rock M Roundtable
Thursday: The Closers Talk Alabama, Part II

We continue to roll through our first "SEC Week" review of Alabama by taking some time to step back from the money makers and take a closer look at the Olympic Sports. In the past few years, the national prominence of many of these sports has been increased by TV deals (thanks ESPNU) and other factors, and the stage in the SEC will be extremely bright for all sports. Today, we will take a look at how bright the spotlight shines on the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Because I have 12 of these to do, I am going to resort to bullet formatting. I will review the last three years of records for each of the sports which Mizzou will be bringing to the SEC starting in July. If Mizzou does not have the sport (like rowing or men's tennis), it will get skipped. I will do my best to give you as much info about the sport as I can, but it will typically depend on their respective athletic website and what they offer. Let's get to it, starting with the fall sports (season listed is year in which the sport completed so fall sports will be a calendar year behind):

{Edit - Thanks to some feedback below, I am going to try to integrate Mizzou's finish in each sport as a comparison. The info will be in bold and italics after each year. It may be a bit unwieldy, but it is what it is.)

Overall Learfield Cup Standings: 2009-10 (49th) - 23rd, 2010-11 (41st) - 25th, 2011-12 (54th) - 26th (as of May 31st release)

Women's Soccer:

• 2009 (13-6-3/7-1-2, B12 Regular Season Champs (1st) - 6-11-2 overall, 2-8-1 in SEC
• 2010 (7-10-2/5-5) - 8-8-2 overall, 3-6-2 in SEC
• 2011 (12-8-1/3-5-0) - 10-9-3 overall, 4-5-2 in SEC. Made SEC Semis (only top 8 go to tourney). Made 2nd ever NCAA tourney

Women's Cross Country:

• 2009 (7th in B12, 7th in NCAA Midwest Regional) - 5th in SEC (dont know about NCAA South Regional)
• 2010 (11th in B12, 12th in NCAA Midwest Regional) - 6th in SEC (dont know about NCAA South Regional)
• 2011 (4th in B12, 7th in NCAA Midwest Regional) - 6th in SEC, 6th in NCAA South Regional

Men's Cross Country:

• 2009 (T-8th in B12, 11th in NCAA Midwest Regional) - SEC Champions, 3rd in NCAA Championships
• 2010 (11th in B12, 18th in NCAA Midwest Regional) - 2nd in SEC, t-10th in NCAA Championships
• 2011 (6th in B12, 7th in NCAA Midwest Regional) - 5th in SEC, 18th in NCAA South Regional

Women's Volleyball:

• 2009 (18-14 overall, 9-11 in B12) - 8-22 overall, 6-14 in SEC
• 2010 (22-11 overall, 12-8 in B12, eliminated in NCAA Sweet 16) - 11-19 overall, 3-17 in SEC (coaching change after season completed)
• 2011 (21-13 overall, 7-9 in B12, eliminated in NCAA 1st round) - 11-20 overall, 4-16 in SEC

Women's Indoor Track:

• 2010 (10th in B12) - 8th in SEC, t-60th in NCAA Championships
• 2011 (12th in B12) - 9th in SEC, t-50th in NCAA Championships
• 2012 (10th in B12) - 9th in SEC, t-28th in NCAA Championships

Men's Indoor Track:

• 2010 (9th in B12, 25th in NCAA Championships) - 7th in SEC, t-26th in NCAA Championships
• 2011 (9th in B12, t-26th in NCAA Championships) - 4th in SEC, t-22nd in NCAA Championships
• 2012 (8th in B12, t-61st in NCAA Championships) - 10th in SEC

Women's Gymnastics:

• 2010 (3rd in B12, 12th in NCAA Championships) - 2nd in SEC, 3rd in NCAA Championships
• 2011 (4th in B12, 6th in NCAA Regional Championships) - SEC Champions (7th), NCAA Champions (5th)
• 2012 (t-2nd in B12, 4th in NCAA Regional Championships) - 2nd in SEC, NCAA Champions (6th)

Women's Basketball:

• 2010 (12-18 overall, 2-14 in B12) - 12-18 overall, 4-12 in SEC
• 2011 (13-18 overall, 5-11 in B12) - 18-15 overall, 5-11 in SEC, WNIT Sweet 16
• 2012 (13-18 overall, 2-14 in B12) - 12-19 overall, 2-14 in SEC

Women's Swimming and Diving:

• 2010 (3rd in B12, t-42nd in NCAA Championships) - 5th in SEC, 32nd in NCAA Championships
• 2011 (3rd in B12, 23rd in NCAA Championships) - 9th in SEC, t-41st in NCAA Championships
• 2012 (3rd in B12, 14th in NCAA Championships) - 7th in SEC, 42nd in NCAA Championships

Men's Swimming and Diving:

• 2010 (3rd in B12, 27th in NCAA Championships) - 6th in SEC, 26th in NCAA Championships
• 2011 (3rd in B12, 22nd in NCAA Championships) - 6th in SEC, 29th in NCAA Championships
• 2012 (3rd in B12, 19th in NCAA Championships) - 6th in SEC, 25th in NCAA Championships

Women's Outdoor Track:

• 2010 (10th in B12) - 6th in SEC, t-20th in NCAA Championships
• 2011 (11th in B12) - 11th in SEC
• 2012 (7th, t-40th in NCAA Championships) - 8th in SEC, t-40th in NCAA Championships

Men's Outdoor Track:

• 2010 (10th in B12, t-21st in NCAA Championships) - 11th in SEC, t-23rd in NCAA Championships
• 2011 (9th in B12, t-41st in NCAA Championships) - 10th in SEC, t-25th in NCAA Championships
• 2012 (10th, t-56th in NCAA Championships) - 11th in SEC, t-66th in NCAA Championships

Women's Tennis:

• 2010 (6-17 overall, 1-10 in B12) - 10-12 overall, 3-8 in SEC (#64 in country entering SEC Tourney)
• 2011 (11-9 overall, 4-6 in B12) - 16-7 overall, 8-3 in SEC, SEC West Champs, lost in 2nd round of NCAA Tournament (#26 entering NCAA's)
• 2012 (11-12 overall, 2-7 in B12, ranked #47 at last match) - 18-5 overall, 10-1 in SEC, SEC West Champs, lost in 2nd round of NCAA Tournament (#8 entering NCAA's)

Women's Golf:

• 2010 (7th in B12) - SEC Champions (first title), 3rd in NCAA Championships
• 2011 (3rd in B12) - 2nd in SEC Championships, t-8th in NCAA Championships
• 2012 (9th in B12) - 3rd in SEC Championships, NCAA Champions (first title)

Men's Golf:

• 2010 (11th in B12, 10th in NCAA Regionals) - 12th in SEC Championships, 10th in NCAA Regoinals
• 2011 (5th in B12, 6th in NCAA Regionals) - 2nd in SEC Championships, 14th in NCAA Championships
• 2012 (8th in B12) - SEC Champions (third title), NCAA Runner-Up (lost match play final to Texas)

Softball:

• 2010 (51-13 overall, 11-7 in B12, eliminated in WCWS) - 52-11 overall, 23-4 in SEC, SEC Regular Season Champions (2nd title), SEC Tournament Champions (4th title), Eliminated in NCAA Super Regionals
• 2011 (53-10 overall, 13-2 in B12, B12 Regular Season Champions (1st), eliminated in WCWS) - 52-11 overall, 19-6 in SEC, SEC Regular Season Champions (3rd title), Eliminated in WCWS
• 2012 (47-14 overall, 17-7 in B12, eliminated in NCAA Super Regionals) - 55-7 overall, 23-5 in SEC, SEC Regular Season Champions (4th title), SEC Tournament Champions (5th title), 8th WCWS trip, NCAA Champions (1st title)

Baseball:

• 2010 (29-26 overall, 10-16 in B12) - 42-25 overall, 15-15 in SEC, SEC Tournament runner-up, Eliminated in NCAA Super Regionals
• 2011 (27-32 overall, 12-15 in B12) - 35-28 overall, 14-16 in SEC, eliminated in NCAA Regionals
• 2012 (32-28 overall, 9-14 in B12, B12 Tournament Champions (first), eliminated in NCAA Regionals) - 21-34 overall, 9-21 in SEC

Summary:

I just started to scratch the surface here about how good and deep the SEC is on a national level (thanks to the SEC Digital Network website for some really solid archival information), but I think what you will start to see over the coming weeks and months are programs who excel nationally in a few of these sports. For Alabama, clearly we were already aware of their strength and prominence in softball, but they are even better in gymnastics. Women's golf is on the rise, as is Men's golf and Women's tennis to some extent. I suppose this series will also help break down preconceived notions about overall athletic programs, as I found myself almost surprised to see sports where Alabama was not good. Hey ... the more you know. That being said, I have to believe they are among the true giants in the league, and it will be interesting to see how other schools in subsequent weeks stack up to this sort of resume.