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Vols, SEC way past due for deeper NCAA tournament runs

Tennessee Athletics photo / Tennessee forward Jonas Aidoo goes up for a shot during last year's upset loss to Florida Atlantic in the Sweet 16. The Volunteers are 3-3 in NCAA tournament games the past three seasons, while Southeastern Conference teams are 21-20.
Tennessee Athletics photo / Tennessee forward Jonas Aidoo goes up for a shot during last year's upset loss to Florida Atlantic in the Sweet 16. The Volunteers are 3-3 in NCAA tournament games the past three seasons, while Southeastern Conference teams are 21-20. Tennessee Athletics photo / Tennessee forward Jonas Aidoo goes up for a shot during last year's upset loss to Florida Atlantic in the Sweet 16. The Volunteers are 3-3 in NCAA tournament games the past three seasons, while Southeastern Conference teams are 21-20.

By David Paschall 4 min read

Based off the freshly-revealed 2024 NCAA men’s basketball tournament bracket, this was the Southeastern Conference’s greatest regular season.

The SEC has eight representatives in the 68-team field for the third time, but this is the first occasion in which four of the eight are seeded fourth or higher in their respective regions. Tennessee is the second seed in the Midwest Region, while Kentucky is seeded third in the South, Alabama fourth in the West and Auburn fourth in the East.

Auburn coach Bruce Pearl spoke to the league’s strength Sunday afternoon after the Tigers routed Florida 86-67 in Nashville to provide his program a second SEC tournament title to go along with a pair of regular-season crowns during the past seven seasons.

“Winning the championship this year means even more because the league was so good,” Pearl said in a news conference. “We’ve won a few of these, and I think this was the most special. This league was that good.”

So is this the year SEC teams finally go from talking the talk to walking the walk in NCAA postseason play?