The 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament was not kind to the SEC. Not at all. The SEC had 6 teams in the tournament. Only one (Tennessee) made it to the "Sweet 16" and 0 made it to the "Great 8." Overall, the SEC went 4-6 in the tournament.
We haven't crunched the numbers yet, but after March Madness 2008, we obviously can no longer make an argument that the SEC is currently the top college basketball conference in the nation.
I'm not sure which conference is #1 (you can post your opinion at the bottom of this page) -- but it is not the SEC.
I should note, though, that Florida and Ole Miss both made it to the NIT semi-finals ("Final Four").
Also, of course, the SEC again dominated the Women's version of March Madness, with the Tennessee Lady Vols winning it all again. To read more about that, go to SEC Women's Basketball.
Prior Discussion:
Here's how we rank the major Div. 1 Men's NCAA College Basketball Conferences:
1. SEC (Not any more; see comments above. But the question now is -- which conference is now #1 in NCAA basketball? Let us know what you think by using the form at the bottom of the page. More updates to come here.)
The Southeastern Conference is the top college basketball conference in America right now. Part of the reason is that the top three conferences are all pretty even. But, in the end it comes down to NCAA Championships and Final Four appearances. The SEC dominates both of those categories over the past two years. [See Best College Basketball Conference.]
We've received lots of comments from ACC fans that they are #1 right now. And, right now they do have 3 top-10 teams -- UNC, Duke and Clemson. But, the ACC has done poorly the past couple NCAA tournaments. So, all the major b-ball conferences look pretty even at this point. We'll see what happens in the Tournament and re-evalute after that.
Further support for this idea that the conferences are all very competitive (overall) can be found by looking at the number of teams that were selected (by conference) for the 2008 NCAA Basketball Tournament:
Big East (8)(but remember they have 16 teams in the conference)
SEC -- 6
Big 12 -- 6
Pac-10 -- 6
ACC -- 4
Big Ten -- 4
Atlantic 10 -- 3
West Coast -- 3
Sun Belt -- 2
Mountain West -- 2
It will be fun to watch which conference holds up best in March Madness!
Oh, and here's a link to a UNC blog (sent to us by an SEC Sports Fan visitor) that supports the notion that the SEC (along with the ACC) are at the top when comparing conference Rating Percentage Indexes (RPI's) over the past decade.
Now, back to our prior discussion.
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The 2007-2008 preseason college b-ball polls had the SEC with 5 teams in most preseason "Top 25" polls (more than anyone else) and a legitimate National Championship contender in Tennessee. Historically, football, not basketball, has not been the SEC's strong suit. But, that has changed a bit. Certainly football is still King in the SEC. But, SEC basketball is great too.
Thanks to ukathletics.com for these photos. All rights are reserved for these photos.
2. Big East
The Big East is truly a great basketball conference, both historically and currently. Schools like Syracuse, Boston College, Connecticut, Villanova, Georgetown and Louisville are some of the biggest names in college basketball.
In the end, it comes down to weighing history and tradition versus current performance. So, it is a very close call between SEC and Big East, but the Big East had no one in the final 4 in 2006 and only one team (Georgetown) last year.
3. ACC
We've downgraded the ACC to the #3 spot because it has had no teams even reach the Final Four in either 2006 or 2007 NCAA Championship Tournaments.
The ACC still has a tremendous basketball tradition and history, but over-all, right now, the conference just doesn't match up to the SEC or Big East.
4. Big Ten
Good history; O.K. currently. Ohio State had it's shot last year but lost to Florida in the NCAA championship game. Then, the Buckeyes lost their big gun (Greg Oden) to the NBA. No one else in the Big Ten looks to be a top-5 team this year (maybe Michigan State). Hence, the #4 ranking.
For SEC Basketball rankings we rank based on current strength on the court only. So, at this point, they are simply listed based on predicted order of finish in the 2007-2008 season. These rankings can change from week to week. Click on the team name to go to its homepage.
1. Tennessee Volunteers Congrats to the Vols -- for winning the SEC regular season title. Other than that, the season ended on a sour note. You can read more about that at the Tennessee B-ball link above.
8. Georgia Bulldogs Congrats to the Bulldogs for winning the 2008 SEC Basketball Tournament. Amazing! And, what a tournament it was -- tornadoes, venue change, delays, and an unprecedented "double-header"! You can read more about Georgia's amazing SEC tournament run by clicking on the link above.
The relative weakness of the SEC West in comparison to the SEC East is notable again. 5 of the 6 SEC teams to make the NCAA tournament last year were from the SEC East.
If you want more information about the men's basketball program of any SEC school, click on the team listed above to go to its home page. You'll find a summary of the teams prospects this year as well as schedules, rosters and other information.
Since this web site is really all about the fans -- click here for the Top SEC Basketball Fan Attendance School. That page also compares the major college basketball conferences in fan attendance.
Finally, you can get lots more good information about SEC basketball at the links below -- including NEW SEC B-ball Biographies.
We'd love to hear your comments and/or opinions. If you submit them here, other visitors can read them, rate them and comment on them. An e-mail address is not required.
are you on drugs?
Not rated yet
sec basketball the best conference? You had 6 teams in the tournament and 1 made it to the sweet sixteen and got murdered by Louisville. You use preseason ...
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