The Southeastern Conference has proven to be a college basketball battleground in the past decade. Virtually every SEC program began to take the sport more seriously in the early-to-mid 2010s, prompting schools to hire big-name coaches, recruit at a higher level and overall pour more money into the programs themselves.
It’s created a monster. The SEC projects to have seven teams in the NCAA Tournament this year according to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, ranking second in the nation. It’s become one of the deeper leagues in the country, which is a great “problem” to have.
However, when you have a down year in a loaded conference like this, that means that you get beaten into a pulp.