Getty Images
The SEC set an NCAA Tournament record Sunday with seven teams punching their tickets to this year’s Sweet 16, one-upping the previous record of six set by the ACC in the 2016 NCAA Tournament.
Ole Miss‘ 91-78 win over Iowa State pushed the league past the finish line after a banner first weekend on the heels of a banner regular season. The Rebels joined Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida as the Sweet 16-bound SEC teams. Those teams range from two No. 1 seeds to a No. 10 seed.
It’s just the second time in NCAA Tournament history the Sweet 16 is comprised of six or more teams from the same conference and first time in nine years.
Conferences with at least six teams in Sweet 16
This isn’t new for the SEC, which has made a habit of breaking records this postseason; 14 teams from the league earned NCAA Tournament bids, the most ever.
The results have been good, if not better, than expected. The top four teams in the SEC regular-season standings (Auburn, Florida, Alabama Tennessee) are 8-0 in the NCAA Tournament.
Combined, the top nine SEC teams are 15-2.
The last five in the SEC standings who got in (Mississippi State, Georgia, Vanderbilt, Oklahoma and Texas) finished 0-5.
In other words: The best teams in the SEC are rolling, the middle of the SEC is largely doing quite well and the bottom of the SEC fell out.
The SEC can set more records this March depending on how the next couple of weeks unfold. In 2016, four ACC teams made the Elite Eight and two made the Final Four, but the league did not claim a championship.
That may be how the SEC can separate. It has two No. 1 seeds still in the hunt, two No. 2 seeds and a No. 3 seed still standing. A tournament that wraps in a title might put a bow on one of the best seasons for a conference in college basketball history.