SEC Basketball: Power rankings heading into the SEC season
By Kevin Miller
The 2023-2024 season might prove to be SEC basketball's deepest group ever. In Joe Lunardi's latest full update to his Bracketology (12/26), the league had 9 teams in the NCAA Tournament field, and that doesn't include Arkansas and Missouri as two teams who were expected play their way into the Tourney.
Outside of LSU. Vanderbilt, and Georgia, the entire Southeastern Conference should view themselves as potential March Madness participants this season.
The SEC slate is daunting, and there likely will be a couple of teams currently in the postseason discussion who won't be by the end of the year because the schedule is so difficult. However, both preseason choices of Arkansas and Missouri have a real shot to play their ways back into things.
The conference should be in line for anywhere from 6 to 10 NCAA Tournament berths when all is said and done, marking one of the best seasons ever in the SEC. The league has put 8 teams in the Big Dance multiple times, but receiving 9 or 10 bids after the 2023-2024 season would be a record.
But the SEC season doesn't conclude for another 2 1/2 months. For now, as out-of-conference play wraps up, let's take a look at the SEC Power Rankings before the league tips off intra-conference play later this week.