Slightly OT:Is the SEC really that good at hoop this year?

Submitted by KennyHiggins on

That time of year where one tries to bone up on various schools to prep for brackets in March.  Have watched a ton of games the last 10 days, and I just totally don't get the hard-on for the SEC.

Lunardi has 8, and possibly 9 programs going to the Tourney.  That includes 7 teams with 7+ conference losses.  The lead dog of the conference is Auburn, who just got taken down by 17-11 Florida.  Tennessee is second best in the conference.  I don't get it.  Enlighten me.  Seems like a bunch of junk programs, propped up by the SEC propaganda machine.

Jordan2323

February 24th, 2018 at 10:35 PM ^

They have been trying to hype them in basketball too. It’s all BS! I honestly don’t think any conference should have 8-10 teams in a tourney. Basketball has too much parity these days to have that many from any conference imo.

Jordan2323

February 24th, 2018 at 10:43 PM ^

The parity stems all across the country. For example, conferences that used to have 1 team every year can now legitimately have 2-3. You see more of those now. If you look at the last several years, the at large selections are getting more difficult. I’d rather see a top end team from a decent conference in there as opposed to the 8-9th place team in a power 5 that is 8-10 in their conference. Look at Nebraska, prob won’t make it in and they are a good team. Perception has been that the SEC is great across the board and the Bigten is down.

Human Torpedo

February 24th, 2018 at 10:37 PM ^

The bottom of their conference would kick the living shit out of our bottom. LSU beating us seemed like a shock and awe bad loss at the time. But they're not even sub-100 RPI anymore. But I have more faith in our Big Boys going deep in the tourney compared to Auburn and Tennessee. Lots of okay teams in the SEC, no great ones

BleedThatBlue

February 24th, 2018 at 10:41 PM ^

UK and UM fan here. SEC, in my opinion, is one of the best leagues for ball right now. The transition offense and overall D appears to be the best. Top tier, BIG has the best. But if you’re comparing conference to conference it’s SEC. They have really beaten up each other with their D.

SHub'68

February 24th, 2018 at 10:41 PM ^

a conference that would be shy about throwing around enough cash to get the best players, so I'd say they're drastic underachievers if they aren't 3/4 of the Final Four regularly.
But you still have to coach and game plan, and there aren't 3 teams that would scare me if Michigan draws them.

bronxblue

February 24th, 2018 at 10:47 PM ^

It's a little like the Big 12 to me.  They are all moderately good teams who beat each other up, so it's a circle-jerk of RPIs in which everyone gets "good" wins and losses and nobody really stands out as a result.  It's telling of the 8 teams BracketMatrix lists as being in the tourney from the SEC, 5 are 7+ seeds.  

ThatTCGuy

February 24th, 2018 at 10:50 PM ^

It's second behind the ACC for me. The ACC is still loaded at the top, but I think the middle/bottom of the SEC are better than the middle/bottom of the other conferences.

jsquigg

February 25th, 2018 at 12:16 AM ^

The SEC in basketball is an over hyped garbage heap.  They did well in the OOC schedule before a lot of teams found themselves, but I don't think any SEC team will make it beyond 16.  I think the number of teams that get in from the SEC make it likely that at least one SEC team gets lucky, but that won't be because they field any excellent teams.  Try watching SEC basketball.  It's not pretty. 

MGoBlue7523

February 25th, 2018 at 6:19 AM ^

The SEC is better than usual but that's not saying much. The Big XII is LOADED though - Kansas, Texas Tech, West Virginia, Oklahoma, TCU, Baylor...Even Kansas State and Texas are solid. The Big XII could cause some problems next month.

MGlobules

February 25th, 2018 at 7:29 AM ^

through ESPN-colored eyes. And they pimp that league increasingly, looks like to me. I have resolutely refused to pay for internet content for a long time, but if the Athletic or some sports news sources emerges as rival, I will plump for it. The internet itself is drowning in garbage and about to get worse; I think that one really needs to look ahead.

Perkis-Size Me

February 25th, 2018 at 7:38 AM ^

No. Don’t be surprised by ESPN over-hyping the SEC yet again. I think the main issue is that 8-9 of the teams are all at least in the 18-21 win region currently and so are technically in bubble territory. They’re just assuming all of those teams make it past the bubble.



I don’t even think Auburn is as good as advertised. I’d love to end up in the same bracket as them.

DoubleB

February 25th, 2018 at 11:16 AM ^

There isn't a top 10 team in the conference. But the middle and bottom of the conference are better than they have been in decades and better than any conference outside of the ACC--they are deeper than the Big XII this year.

ralphgoblue

February 25th, 2018 at 1:13 PM ^

Sucks but the SEC football spotlight has 100% helped the SEC basketball in recruiting .

Ive seen a few minutes here and there of a few games,id say the SEC has 5-6 legit teams

All you need to know is Kentucky is a middle of the road SEC team and Kentucky still has a pretty good roster

SEC is a very physical league,they could do well in the Touny