By JOHN ADAMS, Scripps Howard News Service

The Tennessee football team never got a thank-you note from the Georgia Bulldogs last season. UT coach Phillip Fulmer didn't get a fruit basket with "best wishes" before the Vols' SEC championship game against LSU.

Promoting football has never been difficult for the Southeastern Conference. But an easy job will be even easier this season.

Georgia and Florida each has been ranked No. 1 in more than one preseason poll. Defending national champion LSU, Auburn and Tennessee all have top-10 potential.

Florida football coach Urban Meyer might need a larger notepad this fall.

His pre-game ritual as a head coach includes a listing of playmakers. He jots the names down just before he boards the team bus on game day.

The SEC spring meetings, which begin this week, always bring out the constructive critic in me.

Today's target: the SEC football schedule.

The SEC could improve its method of determining division champions.

That would mean putting an end to non-divisional rivalries on an annual basis.

The Florida Gators have won back-to-back national championships in basketball. They also have won back-to-back SEC Tournaments.

That's not an aberration.

A Tennessee basketball program that has been climbing for three consecutive years couldn't hold its ground Tuesday night at Memorial Gym in Nashville, Tenn.

The No. 1-ranked Vols needed two comebacks against Vanderbilt. They only made one.

You can't argue that the Southeastern Conference has more successful football coaches than any other conference in the country. Five of the league's coaches have won national titles, and a sixth -- Auburn's Tommy Tuberville -- coached his team to a 13-0 season in 2004.

SEC basketball coaches can't come close to matching that. But as a group, they're underrated.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The University of Tennessee football program desperately needs new leadership. And I'm not suggesting that the next quarterback needs to be more vocal or the team captains need to be more demonstrative.

UT's leadership problem is at the top.

The Southeastern Conference East Division won't be as balanced in football as it was in 2007. But it will be better.

The top four teams -- Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina -- have the large majority of their starters returning. Kentucky and Vanderbilt, the weakest programs in the division, suffered the most losses. Here's how it shapes up:

With only a couple of days left in 2007, it's time to look ahead to what will happen around the sports world in 2008:

JANUARY