The SEC conducted a basketball coaches teleconference earlier today. Here’s what some of the coaches had to say about the perception of the league last year and in moving forward. More on this topic in tomorrow’s print edition.

Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl: “Last year the league was down. That was fair. But that doesn’t mean SEC basketball was down. When the league had Florida winning two national championships I don’t recall everyone saying how down the SEC was. These things have a way of ebbing and flowing.”

MSU coach Rick Stansbury: “That was totally blown out of proportion. It wasn’t the reality even though it was the perception.”

Arkansas coach John Pelphrey: “I don’t think the perception going into last year was what it ended up being. At the end of November and early December the media started talking about the league being down. We never really got that off us, and we weren’t able to shake it with our play either.”

Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy: “This year a number of our top players are returning, a lot of them after going through the draft process. As a result our league will be stronger from top to bottom.”