Welcome to the SEC Basketball Renaissance

Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports When it comes to college athletics, the SEC is at the top when it comes to football but the same can’t be said about the conference when it comes to men’s basketball.

For years, Kentucky has had to carry the burden of an entire conference on its shoulders; sure Arkansas won a national title in 1994 and the Gators went back-to-back in 2006 and 2007, but generally speaking when people talk about SEC basketball, the conversation starts and stops with Kentucky.

Kentucky has eight of the SEC’s 11 championships in men’s basketball; they make up nearly half of the conference’s Final Fours (17 of 36) and about 20 percent of total NCAA Tournament bids (59 of 285).…