SEC basketball is having a no good, very dangerous, rotten begin to the 2024 males’s NCAA event. As upsets have began to inflict the bracket in March Insanity, a standard theme is showing: SEC groups are most of the time on the incorrect facet of a Cinderella story.
Eight SEC groups made the sphere of 68: No. 2 seed Tennessee, No. 3 seed Kentucky, No. 4 seeds Auburn and Alabama, No. 6 seed South Carolina, No. 7 seed Florida, No. 8 seed Mississippi State, and No. 9 seed Texas A&M. Earlier than the primary spherical ends, 5 of these groups have already been eradicated.
The SEC’s struggles in March have grow to be much more magnified as followers and media members began to dig up assured quotes from among the league’s prime head coaches earlier than the event.
On Friday, Auburn grew to become the newest upset sufferer from the SEC by the hands of No. 13 seed Yale. The Tigers have been in management within the first half, however Yale placed on an unimaginable show of shot-making to get the sport shut, after which wrestled away the win within the ultimate seconds. Yale beat Auburn, 78-76, for one of many greatest upsets of the event to date. Additionally on Friday, No. 10 seed Colorado knocked off No. 7 seed Florida on K.J. Simpson’s incredible game-winner.
It was even worse for the SEC on Thursday. No. 3 seed Kentucky suffered a surprising upset to No. 14 seed Oakland, 80-76, in probably the most jarring results of March Insanity to date. Oakland reserve Jack Gohlke became an overnight legend by hitting 10 three-pointers within the win. Additionally on Friday, No. 11 seed Oregon beat No. 6 seed South Carolina, and No. 9 seed Michigan State beat No. 8 seed Mississippi State, 69-51.
The receipts have been being pulled up as quickly because the losses piled up for the SEC. Take this quote from Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl lower than per week earlier than the event began:
“Our league is ready to make a run in March,” Pearl said after an SEC tournament game. Positive doesn’t appear to be it!
Kentucky head coach John Calipari talked rather a lot about how his ‘Cats have been made for March. Now he would possibly simply be on the recent seat. It was all good just a month ago:
“I’ve received all my teaching buddies name, they usually say, ‘I like your crew.’ And I like this crew too. We’re constructed for March,” Calipari said. “Now, actual merely, we now have to get extra bodily. Now we have to get 50-50 balls, and that features rebounds which are free that we haven’t gotten. We’ve received to get, let’s say 10% higher defensively.”
Florida coach Todd Golden also got got:
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“It’s one among if not the perfect league in America,” Golden stated. “Each evening you’re going up in opposition to NBA gamers on the opposite facet. In case you don’t put your greatest foot ahead, in the event you’re not aggressive, bodily, able to go, you’re going to get popped.”
Okay, perhaps that one is truthful. The SEC was rated because the fourth greatest league in DI males’s basketball this yr by KenPom’s fashions, behind the Massive 12, Massive Ten, and Massive East.
Both approach, Kentucky and Auburn’s early exits are a black eye for the league. It’s possible you’ll discover this put up doesn’t contact on the league winner within the common season: Tennessee. The No. 2 Volunteers earned a blow win, 83-49, over Saint Peter’s. Is that this the yr Rick Barnes lastly breaks by once more in March? It appears like now or never with Dalton Knecht in the fold.
Barnes was pretty confident, too.
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The SEC’s story isn’t absolutely written but within the males’s NCAA event. It certain hasn’t been an excellent begin, although.