Just A Minute: Welcome to the New Age of SEC Basketball
As March Madness begins to unfold around the country, we're seeing the latest example of just how far the SEC has come as a conference.
This year, six teams saw their names on Selection Sunday, with the Crimson Tide receiving the worst seeding at No. 6 in the West. Auburn's been No. 1 this season, Tennessee won the SEC Tournament and Kentucky, is, well, Kentucky.
Arkansas is a No. 4 seed; LSU a No. 6 seed; and a lot of people think Texas A&M deserved a spot in the field of 68.
Last year, Alabama made a run to the Sweet 16, and Arkansas the Elite Eight.
In 2019, seven SEC teams made the field with Auburn reaching its first Final Four.
But that's not the strongest the indicator of just how ruthless the SEC has become in basketball.
Georgia showed Tom Crean, a former Final Four coach, the door.
Cuonzo Martin gone from Missouri.
LSU finally fired Will Wade, who will probably never coach in college basketball again.
Mike White didn't wait around at Florida and took off for Georgia.
South Carolina said so long to Frank Martin, another Final Four coach.
And now Ben Howland is out after seven years at Mississippi State.
Kermit Davis appears to be barely hanging on at Ole Miss.
We're used to this kind of thing in football.
Even when LSU recently hired away Brian Kelly from Notre Dame, it wasn't all that surprising considering the context. It needed a big-name hire and he had pretty worn out his welcome in South Bend. Granted, he's probably having second thoughts considering that the NCAA is on the verge of dropping a giant anvil on the Tigers, but getting $95 million over 10 years will ease that angst.
What we're seeing is a changing of the guard in college basketball. How many people would start filling out their NCAA Tournament brackets by looking for the ACC powers like Duke and North Carolina, and work their way down?
No more.
An SEC team may not win the tournament this year, but top to bottom there wasn't a tougher league in college basketball this season. Considering the commitment the league has made to the sport, which dates back to Mike Slive, and the pressure to win only growing, this is the future of college hoops.
