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- The NCAA Tournament is quickly approaching with conference tournaments beginning next week
- UK head coach John Calipari believes the SEC is the nation’s top conference and it should be reflected in the postseason
- Read more COLLEGE BASKETBALL news here
March Madness is nearly upon us.
Major college basketball tournaments are set to begin next week, meaning selection Sunday is just around the corner.
While the ACC is experiencing a bit of a down year, a number of notable leagues rank near the top of the standings in terms of conference strength. The Big XII, Big Ten and Big East all boast uber-competitive leagues that are bound to make some noise come tournament time.
But one SEC coach is going out on a limb to say he believes his conference is the best in the nation.
Any team in the SEC that’s 9-9 should be in the NCAA Tournament.
The top four teams in our league went 35-1 at home. Crazy!
We are the best league and our teams deserve that respect!!
— John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) March 6, 2022
Calipari does have a point. The SEC has been an extraordinarily tough league this year.
There are four teams currently ranked in the top 15, and as Calipari states in his tweet, they’ve combined to go 35-1 at home this season. Those four are the Kentucky Wildcats, Arkansas Razorbacks, Auburn Tigers, and Tennesse Volunteers.
Also destined to make the tournament are LSU and Alabama, with Florida possibly sneaking in with a run in the conference tournament.
If the selection committee went by Coach Cal’s recommendation of putting all SEC teams with at least a .500 record in league play into the tournament, though, we’d also see South Carolina and Texas A&M added to the mix. Those teams fared well in conference action but may not have the overall resume to land an invite to the Big Dance.
There’s absolutely no way the SEC, or any league for that matter, will get nine teams into the NCAA Tournament this year. It’s a feat that’s been accomplished just four times in the history of the Big Dance. The Big East sent 11 teams to the postseason field in 2011. The ACC sent nine in both 2017 and 2018, while the Big East did the same in 2012.
Still, Calipari’s opinion that the SEC is the best conference in the country does hold water. They currently have the most “locks” in Joe Lunardi’s bracketology, with six teams guaranteed to make the field.
We’ll have to wait until next Sunday to see if any other schools are able to sneak their way in. We can evaluate the status of the league’s strength throughout its performance in the NCAA Tournament.