"I am old enough to remember when the SEC managed only three NCAA bids three times in a four-year span (2013-2016). Old enough to remember it being the No. 7 conference, just decimal points ahead of the Atlantic 10, in 2012-13. Even old enough to remember when Missouri and Texas A&M, not to mention Texas and Oklahoma, were in the Big 12. So while last season's monumental 14 bids were a bit of a perfect storm, the SEC's basketball fortunes had been trending upward for some time. It's why the league's bid average has climbed above even the 18-team Big Ten since the COVID interruption of 2020. The hoops have gotten so good in the SEC that its gridiron performance is an afterthought (wink, wink ...)."
"What the conference can't possibly repeat, however, are its double 1-seeds, double 2-seeds and twin Final Four entries (Auburn and national champion Florida) of 2025. That kind of dominance is unsustainable, leaving us with an SEC that is simply excellent instead of generational. It's also not a bad place to land the plane. The SEC begins conference play on Jan. 3."
SEC basketball has risen from a lower-tier conference to an excellent league, with bid averages climbing above the Big Ten since 2020. The conference reached a peak of 14 NCAA bids in 2025 driven by favorable circumstances, but that level of dominance is unlikely to recur. Projections place minimum NCAA bids at six and maximum at ten this season, with a four-tournament average seed of 6.86 and a strong aggregate NCAA record (42-26). Vanderbilt and Alabama are highlighted as the leading Final Four contenders, while Tennessee, Arkansas, Florida, Auburn and Kentucky are likely tournament teams. Conference play begins Jan. 3.
Read at ESPN.com
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