As the SEC convenes in Nashville this week for the 2021 SEC Tournament, let’s take a moment to remember that it hasn’t been that long since the days of SEC Basketball Fever, when the league would normally go into the conference tournament with maybe two teams (one of them inevitably Kentucky) feeling good about their chances of making the NCAA Tournament, and a couple more teams on the bubble, while everyone else was just hoping to claim the automatic bid.
That is... not the case this year.
Joe Lunardi’s latest bracket (released Monday night) has six SEC teams in it, and the lowest-ranked teams (LSU, Missouri, and Florida) are all 8-seeds.