NCAA: SEC may only send one or two teams to the NCAAs

In early January, Southeastern Conference football enjoyed its seventh straight BCS national championship however, the basketball part of its conference has not enjoyed the same success.

Not only is the SEC the least regarded of the power conferences this season, but it might get bypassed by the NCAA selection committee with the exception of the Florida Gators who are in first place and vying for a possible No. 1 seed in the NCAA’s and the Missouri Tigers. However, after the Gators and Tigers it is slim pickings in the SEC.

In 1985, the NCAA tournament was expanded to a field of 64 teams and no power conference since that time has sent just one member to the NCAA tournament. If Missouri can play out the season well, then they probably will get a bid, but that is still uncertain as well as for any of the other SEC teams hoping to be selected.

Defending national champion Kentucky was playing well until Nerlens Noel their superstar freshman, who had been a projected lottery pick in the NBA draft was lost for the season after tearing his ACL at Florida Tuesday night.

Not only did Kentucky lose big to Florida the night Noel went down, but needing to prove themselves without Noel, the Wildcats went to Tennessee Saturday and lost by 30 points. Coach John Calipari said after the game that Tennessee deserved to beat the Wildcats by 50 points and some of his players have become un-coachable.

However, Calipari backpedaled on Sunday from his comments on the internet by writing that he does not believe his players are not coachable and his faith is strong in his players, as long as they battle and compete, which they are capable of.

Without Noel, the Wildcats are a long shot to make the NCAAs and the same goes for the rest of the SEC with the exception of Florida and Missouri. The Tigers nevertheless lost on Saturday to Arkansas and are just 7-5 when playing teams in the top 100.

The Tigers cannot play on the road, as evidenced by their true road record of 1-6 and three of their last six games during the regular season are road games. Missouri must also face Florida Tuesday night at home.

Mississippi is also fading, even though they held on Saturday night to beat Georgia. The Rebels have lost four of their past six games and cling to hopes of finishing the SEC strong and being selected.

Mississippi however does not have anyone on their remaining schedule in the top 50 RPI therefore they will get no opportunities to earn quality victories.

However, regardless of the way the SEC appears to be this season and the thought that only Florida and Missouri might get bids to the NCAA, one thing is certain the conference has won three of the last seven men’s national basketball titles and no one can take that away from the SEC.

With Florida playing the way they are and their tough defense dominating games, the SEC might not have depth, but it has one of the favorites at this point of the season to win it all.