The SEC did not just beat the all-time NCAA Tournament record for most schools punching a ticket, it destroyed it. Pummeled. Battered. Pulverized. The Big East set the record back in 2011 with 11 teams in the field — Pittsburgh won the league, but it was No. 9 seed UConn and the fighting Kemba Walkers winning five games in five days to win the Big East Tournament, followed by the historic national championship run. That was a good year. This was better, the SEC leading the way with 14 teams joining the Big Dance, 13 as at-large additions alongside SEC Tournament champion Florida.
Auburn is the No. 1 overall seed, followed by Florida at No. 4, Tennessee at No. 5, Alabama at No. 6, Kentucky at No. 11, Texas A&M at No. 13, Missouri at No. 23, Ole Miss at No. 24, Mississippi State at No. 32, Georgia at No. 34, Oklahoma at No. 36, Arkansas at No. 37, Vanderbilt at No. 39 and Texas at No. 41 in the overall seed list.
Those last couple had to fight their way in with the Sooners, Razorbacks, Commodores and Longhorns all trying to keep their head above water on the bubble before ultimately securing bids on Selection Sunday. It could have gone a number of different directions, but instead, the committee gave credit where it is due for the league being historically dominant.
Mark Pope is honored to be a part of that history and believes the NCAA made the right call putting 14 SEC teams in.
“I’m really grateful that the committee recognized — listen, there are so many ways that you can do this, there’s so many different criteria,” he said on Selection Sunday. “You can kind of cook the books however you want, but this is a season like no other. If you just take the freestanding non-conference success rate, there’s never been a league that’s performed at this level in non-conference competition.
