The SEC won't graduate any top seeds into the NCAA tournament, but a lack of juggernauts only adds to the conference tournament's intrigue.
Other major conferences will churn out six or seven tournament contestants, but the selection committee could limit the crop of SEC representatives to as few as four. As LSU, Alabama and Florida teeter on the bubble, this 13-team tournament—Missouri is ineligible because of a self-imposed postseason ban—could force a March Madness bracket rewrite.
Even those harboring grander aspirations could use a conference crown to boost their seeding. With Kentucky no longer running roughshod over college hoops, the door is wide open for a new SEC champion to emerge.