Heading to the NCAA Tournament, SEC Basketball Is Average at Best

March Madness is on the horizon and the SEC is proving to be an average conference at best.

This might be a shock to the system or to feelings of some, but the reality is that SEC men's basketball, from top to bottom, is just an average league.  

While the conference might have the best collection of big-name coaches in the country, the on-court product as of this writing is less than the best ever in the conference as a whole. 

Tuesday was a perfect example of this and stands as proof.

Just hours after deadly storms ripped through the heart of Tennessee, the state's two SEC teams went on the road and whipped their opponents. 

The Tennessee Vols went into Lexington, home of the regular-season conference champs, and overcame a 17-point second-half deficit to upset Kentucky in Rupp Arena. 

It's not like the Big Blue didn't have anything to play for either. They have been on a steady climb since some early-season losses, with only a defeat in Auburn at the hands of the Tigers as their only negative before last night. 

The Wildcats were even starting to generate talk of potentially earning a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the Big Dance. That was until Tuesday night. 

Vanderbilt, winner of just one conference basketball game in the last two seasons, made it a clean sweep for the state when it marched into Tuscaloosa and doubled its conference win total, almost assuredly knocking the Crimson Tide's last hope of making the dance out from under them in the process.         

Despite the loss, Kentucky—along with Auburn—is the cream of the crop in the SEC. Others like LSU and Florida are a notch below, and then you have the rest of the pack.  

But if we are being honest with ourselves, this league is a collection of very average teams who are capable of beating each other up or capable of losing to Evansville.  

While anything is possible and someone could make a run through the coming SEC tournament and steal an at-large berth, there are only three teams who should consider themselves locks for March Madness. 

Kentucky (24-6), Auburn (24-5) and LSU (20-9) will all be dancing in two weeks; the rest of the conference is just hoping to get their chance. 

Florida, Mississippi State, South Carolina and Tennessee all have double-digit losses on the season and all are on the bubble. 

Tennessee helped its cause with a win in Lexington, but Carolina suffered a blow after losing to Alabama on Saturday only to have the Tide fall to Vanderbilt. 

The Gators and Bulldogs are already planning their run in Nashville as the only surefire way to guarantee a place in the dance, but neither looks to have what it takes to win it all next week at Bridgestone Arena. 

It would be a shock to see anyone not named Kentucky or Auburn walk away from 501 Broadway with the tournament belt, and even then it is highly unlikely that either of those two teams is good enough to win it all in Atlanta. 

Let's face it, the SEC is just an average league in 2020, whether you want to admit it or not. 

Follow Greg on Twitter @GregAriasSports and @SIVanderbilt or on Facebook at Vanderbilt Commodores-Maven