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SEC teams converging on Nashville one year after historic run

Tennessee Athletics photo by Andrew Ferguson / Florida's Ruben Chinyelu and Tennessee's Felix Okpara battle during the 91-67 win by the Gators in early January.
Tennessee Athletics photo by Andrew Ferguson / Florida's Ruben Chinyelu and Tennessee's Felix Okpara battle during the 91-67 win by the Gators in early January. Tennessee Athletics photo by Andrew Ferguson / Florida's Ruben Chinyelu and Tennessee's Felix Okpara battle during the 91-67 win by the Gators in early January.

By David Paschall 4 min read

KNOXVILLE — The Southeastern Conference is on the verge of producing double-digit bids to next week’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

Yet it won’t compare to last season.

One year after setting a record by placing 14 members into the 68-team field, the SEC came back down to earth somewhat during the 2025-26 season that continues Wednesday with the conference tournament in Nashville. The league entered this week with 11 projected NCAA tournament teams — though Auburn is the definition of hanging by a thread — according to longtime ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi.

The SEC had never provided double-digit NCAA tournament teams before last season, when the league expanded to 16 members with the additions of Oklahoma and Texas.

“It’s one of those things that when the league is historic and it’s the best ever, it’s kind of hard to top that,” Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington said following Saturday’s 86-82 win at Tennessee. “I still think right now that it’s ranked by KenPom as the No. 1 league in the country. It’s difficult, because there are really good coaches and really good players.