One year ago today, Vanderbilt was routed by Wichita State in an NCAA tournament "First Four" game, leaving the Southeastern Conference with a measly two representatives among the event's remaining 64 teams.
The SEC never had produced so few NCAA teams since the field expanded to 64 in 1985, but this is a happier time for the league after five members were selected for this year's extravaganza. Only three SEC teams received NCAA invitations in three of the previous four tournaments.
"It's what the league deserves," South Carolina coach Frank Martin said this week. "The coaches in this league are really good, and they've worked their tails off in recruiting and in getting their kids to play hard. I'm very proud of our conference and how difficult it is.
"It's prepared our team for this moment."
This is normally a time for bellyaching among SEC hoop coaches, but there is silence on that front. Not only did five conference teams receive bids, but all five surprisingly were single-digit seeds, marking a first for the league since 2005.
South Carolina received a 7 seed in the East Region even after winning only three of its last nine games, while Vanderbilt is the 9 seed in the West despite setting an NCAA tournament standard with 15 overall losses for an at-large team.
"I think the SEC had a great year, and I think we as a conference will only continue to develop and progress," Florida coach Mike White said. "Not only did we get five in, but we got five solidly in. I was pretty pleased with all of our seeds, and I think they were all very well-deserved.
"We had another two or three teams that, given another win here or a different bounce of the ball there, could have been right there as well."
Georgia had the best chance of giving the SEC six NCAA participants, which would have been the 10th occasion that has happened but the first since 2008. The Bulldogs, however, went 0-7 against Florida, Kentucky and South Carolina and had to settle for a 2 seed in the NIT despite having the best RPI of any power conference program in that tournament.
The SEC did not fare overly well two years ago when sending five teams to NCAA play. Kentucky entered the overwhelming favorite with a 34-0 record and reached the Final Four, where the Wildcats were stunned by Wisconsin.
Nobody else from the SEC got to the Sweet 16, with Georgia, LSU and Ole Miss failing to reach the round of 32.
"I think we're glad to get out of the family now," Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said. "They're tired of beating up on each other. We need to go and do it on the national scene, because that's also a chance to go out and put your brand out there.
"We need to show that it's more than just Kentucky in our league, and I think we have an opportunity to do that."
The late-season play of Arkansas and Vanderbilt enabled the SEC to produce five NCAA representatives a year after late-season slides by Alabama, Florida, LSU and South Carolina resulted in the league having only three. Five NCAA bids is cause for celebration given the recent struggles of the SEC, but some league coaches are viewing this as just the start.
"I think it's an excellent league, and I definitely think that we're trending up," Vanderbilt's Bryce Drew said. "Hopefully we'll continue to do so. It's a great step getting five teams and almost doubling the number of teams we had last year. When you look at all the successful coaches in this league and the recruits that they're bringing in, I can't help but think that we'll have even more in the future."
Said Kentucky's John Calipari: "Out of the 32 leagues, we're the youngest in the country. If we stay on this path, we're going to end up having seven, eight or maybe even nine teams in the NCAA tournament."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.