SEC woes

Now that the opening rounds of the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament is complete, the Southeastern Conference didn’t live up to the hype in this year’s tournament.

Only two of the eight teams who heard their name called on Selection Sunday will advance to the Sweet 16 (Alabama Crimson Tide, Tennessee Volunteers). You can divide each performance of the teams by the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good teams like Bama, Tennessee, and Texas A&M, though they would lose a nail bitter to number 1 seeded Houston, the Aggies were so close to advancing.

The bad goes to Mississippi State, Florida, and South Carolina. These three teams entered the tournament and quickly made an exit after the first day, most notably the Florida Gators, who were runner-ups in the 2024 SEC tournament.

And finally, we have the ugly Auburn and Kentucky. Both teams had such promising seasons, but a few teams from the mid-major conferences would have a different say. The SEC champs Auburn Tigers, the number four seed, fell to the Bulldogs of Yale in the round of 64. The Kentucky Wildcats, a threeseed, fell to the Oakland Golden Grizzlies also in the round of 64. For decades, the SEC has been a focal point strictly on football and baseball.

Basketball has its season once in a while; the Kentucky Wildcats are among the few “Blue Bloods.” This was one of the best seasons from the SEC and arguably could have seen more teams make it to the tournament out of the conference. However, the opening weekend shows how much the SEC has to close its gap to become a predominant conference. There’s still hope for this season; Tennessee is playing great basketball. Alabama is Alabama, but one thing that isn’t ruled a national championship coming to the conference is a beautiful finish for an ugly start.