In the early days of the 12-team Southeastern Conference, the league was owned by two teams: Kentucky and Arkansas. Rick Pitino in the East. Nolan Richardson in the West. Pressure defense and national titles were the order of the day.

But after Nolan stopped rollin' at full force back in the mid-1990s, the SEC quickly tilted. It became an Eastern Division production. Despite Pitino's ill-advised skedaddle to the NBA, Kentucky remained at elite status. Florida became the rising power under Pitino protégé Billy Donovan. The teams that mattered all played on Eastern Standard Time.

SEC Projections

Here are ESPN.com's SEC projections and previews of each team: EAST DIVISION 1. Florida 2. Georgia 3. Kentucky 4. South Carolina 5. Tennessee 6. Vanderbilt WEST DIVISION 1. Alabama 2. Mississippi State 3. LSU 4. Ole Miss 5. Auburn 6. Arkansas All-SEC Team G: Mo Williams Alabama, Senior F: Jarvis Hayes Georgia, Junior F: Matt Bonner Florida, Senior F: Ronald DuPree LSU, Senior F: Erwin Dudley Alabama, Senior Most Valuable Player Erwin Dudley, Alabama Newcomer of the Year Antowain Barbour, Kentucky Freshman of the Year Christian Drejer, Florida

Until last year. Set your clocks back one hour, Dixie.

Alabama won the league regular-season title by two full games. Then Mississippi State came from off-radar to win the league tournament, beating the Crimson Tide in just the second all-West final since they expanded the league to 12 teams and two divisions in 1992. The Bama-State double also marked the first time that the West swept the conference hardware without ties, while the East had done it five times (much thanks to Kentucky, which has won eight of the 11 league tournaments since expansion).

Last year's theme? Gone West.

This year's theme? Staying there.

Alabama, led by defending league Player of the Year Erwin Dudley and explosive sophomore point guard Mo Williams, is the heavy favorite to repeat as league champ. The Crimson Tide received 20 votes as league champ at the preseason Media Days, with no other team getting more than four.

"They're the best, in my opinion," Kentucky coach Tubby Smith said. "They're loaded."

But they're not the only Western Division team that matters. After the Tide, Mississippi State is prominently positioned with Florida, Georgia and Kentucky in the pack of challengers. The Bulldogs' point guard/post man tandem of Mario Austin and Derrick Zimmerman is only slightly behind Alabama's.

LSU, poised for a breakout year, could be the best of the third flight, but will compete with serially underrated fellow westerner Mississippi. Arkansas has the hope that comes with a new coach -- who happened to win 30 games and advance to the Elite Eight last year in his first season as a Division I head man. Auburn returns six players who started at least 10 games a year ago.

Kentucky must prove itself anew after a turmoil-scarred 2002 and an accompanying roster shakeup. Georgia, which taxed its thin roster to the limit last year, must demonstrate the stamina to finish a season strongly. Florida has its usual onslaught of recruits, but Donovan wants no part of the favorite's role.

"How can you be ranked higher than where you ended last year when you lost your best player (Udonis Haslem)?" Donovan asked. "That make any sense to me. You finish 18th or 19th, you've lost your best player and now we're going to be in the Top 10?

"Alabama should be the highest ranked team in the SEC."

So the league is rising in the West. The next challenge for the new powers is staying prominent through March. There's still some proving to do when the stakes reach their highest.

Last year Alabama earned a No. 2 seed and wound up bum-rushed by No. 10 Kent State (coached by current Boss Hog Stan Heath) in the second round. Mississippi State was a No. 3 seed and got bounced by No. 6 Texas, also in the round of 32. The third West team in the Dance, Mississippi, took a 22-point whipping from UCLA in the first round.

Kentucky, after a miserably fractious regular season, once again found itself the last SEC team standing by reaching the Sweet Sixteen.

The two Western Division coaches with the best teams, Mark Gottfried of Alabama and Rick Stansbury of Mississippi State, have combined to win all of two NCAA games, triumphing over Florida Atlantic by eight points (Gottfried) and McNeese State by a dozen (Stansbury). It's fair to say that leaves some unfinished business for both men.

Fact is, now that Richardson is gone, not a single Western Division coach has been to a Final Four. Half of the Eastern Division coaches (Smith, Billy Donovan and Jim Harrick) have coached on the season's final weekend. Two (Smith and Harrick) have won it all.

In the final ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll, which comes out after the NCAA Tournament, an East team has rated highest of all SEC members the last seven years (since Arkansas last made the Final Four in 1995). Eight out of last 11 SEC teams to make the round of sixteen were from the East, and the last three Final Four teams were all from the East.

The lack of a finishing kick from the West might be what prompted a touch of feistiness last week from Smith when asked about kingpin Kentucky's seemingly perilous place in the SEC pecking order.

"All I know is that there's been a box that's shown up every year in my office from the SEC with some type of trophy, for the regular season or the tournament," Smith said. "They haven't really closed the lid on the coffin yet."

Maybe not yet. But Alabama, Mississippi State and the rest of the West has hammer and nails in hand this season.

Pat Forde of the Louisville Courier-Journal is a regular contributor to ESPN.com