College basketball teams have eight weeks to polish their credentials before the NCAA Tournament selection committee starts filling out the brackets in permanent ink. For now, based on the projections in pencil, Saturday’s slate of games in the Big 12/Southeastern Conference Challenge poses high stakes for those involved, especially in the SEC.
After landing eight and seven teams in the NCAA bracket the last two years, respectively, the SEC might have cost itself multiple bids with a lackluster November and December. ESPN’s latest Bracketology projection of the NCAA field has just five SEC teams in the tournament — and only one as a top-four seed, Bruce Pearl’s Auburn Tigers as a No.