With less than three weeks remaining until the NCAA basketball tournament brackets are revealed, six Southeastern Conference representatives are projected in the 68-team men's field.
Given that the SEC sent just three teams to March Madness in 2013 and again last year, there is a great sense of pride among the league coaches. There may be a greater sense of justification.
"I think our league is very good, and I could care less what the popular opinion is," South Carolina coach Frank Martin said. "I get this great sense of comedy when I listen to the national media and they say that Kentucky is not playing well. Maybe the league is playing well, because when I last checked, Kentucky played the leaders of every other conference around the country and beat them like rag dolls.
"I'm tired of the whole song and dance about the SEC. Our coaches have done an unbelievable job, and our schedules are unbelievable. We've won at a high level out of conference, and it's an old boring story that I get tired of hearing."
Kentucky is 27-0 and on track to give the SEC the top overall seed in the NCAA tournament for a second straight year, with Florida having earned the honor last season with a 32-2 record. Arkansas, Ole Miss, Georgia, LSU and Texas A&M also are projected to make the 2015 field, which would match the highest number of NCAA representatives the league has produced.
All six of those teams won Saturday, and none of them are pegged for a "first-four game" according to ESPN's Joe Lunardi. Tennessee beat Iowa in a first-four game last year before whipping Massachusetts and Mercer to reach the Sweet 16.
Last year's three league representatives combined to go 12-3 in NCAA play, with Florida and Kentucky giving the SEC half of the Final Four for the first time since Florida and LSU got there in 2006.
"Our league is deeper and better than it's been in some time, and I think that will translate in the end into more teams in the NCAA tournament," Vanderbilt's Kevin Stallings said. "I think when our teams get to the tournament that we'll see a repeat of last year to where the teams that get there will do very well."
The SEC went into a tailspin following the 2012 season, when Kentucky won the national championship and the league provided the top three NBA draft picks (Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Bradley Beal). Vanderbilt produced three of the first 31 draft selections, but it has taken more than a recycling of talent to give the league more NCAA hopefuls.
SEC commissioner Mike Slive challenged the league to beef up its nonconference schedule, and that has been reflected this season. The SEC has four of the toughest 25 schedules, according to CBS analyst Jerry Palm, and eight of the top 50.
"This conference has unbelievable depth," Georgia's Mark Fox said. "South Carolina defeated Iowa State and Oklahoma State and started out 1-6 in our league. Vanderbilt is as hard to play against as anybody and beat Purdue earlier in the year. I think it's the strongest it's been in the last several years, and hopefully we'll see this depth rewarded come March."
Said LSU's Johnny Jones: "There is no doubt the schedule initiative has played a huge role into this. Look at what Kentucky did out of conference and how their battles in conference have been their toughest challenges. It's been good to see our teams get recognized."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.