SEC lands 8 teams in NCAA tourney

It’s the most ever for the conference known more for football.

NASHVILLE, TENN. — The Southeastern Conference’s push to improve in men’s basketball finally paid off in record fashion.

The conference best known for cranking out national champions in football landed a league-record eight teams in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday. That easily topped the six teams the SEC has put into the tournament nine times, most recently in 2008.

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey quickly took to Twitter to

remind everyone of the league’s record haul.

“We are proud to have an @SEC record 8 teams in the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament,” Sankey wrote. “This achievement is a reflection of the commitment our universities have made to support men’s basketball. Good luck student-athletes, coaches & fans during #March Madness. #ItJust MeansMore.”

Tennessee, which split the regular-season title with Auburn, is the SEC’s topseeded team at No. 3 in the South. Kentucky, which beat Tennessee 77-72 on Sunday for the SEC Tournament title, wound up seeded fifth in the same region. Auburn wound up seeded No. 4 in the Midwest Region.

Kentucky coach John Calipari said Sunday that he loved the SEC getting eight teams into the tournament, proof the league finally is past the point of a loss costing programs dear ly. Calipari said the SEC helped itself by recruiting good players andwith improved strength of schedules, something coaches and offials worked on across the league.

Calipari also cautioned against taking the SEC lightly a year after South Carolina was one of the biggest surprises of the tournament. The Game cocks reached the Final Four for the first time in school history last year.

“This league will do damage,” Calipari said. “It’s been Kentucky head coach John Calipari (left) and his players accept their trophies after beating Tennessee in the SEC championship game Sunday in St. Louis.

doing damage.”

The SEC’s other teams include ninth-seeded Alabama, No. 7 seed Arkansas, sixth-seeded Florida, No. 8 seed Missouri and No. 7 seed Texas A&M.

The Atlantic Coast Conference led all conferences by tying its own record with nine teams in the tournament, and the ACC needed Syracuse squeezing in as the last team to matcht hatmark.

The Big East landed two

of the four No. 1 seeds with Villanova and Xavier among the conference’s six teams.

The Big 12 thought the league would get nine teams in aswell but wound upwith seven, with Baylor among the fifirst four teams out. Oklahoma State also missed out — despite two wins over No. 1 seed Kansas — after losing to the Jayhawks in the Big 12 Tournament.

The Pac-12 tied the American Athletic Conference

and the Atlantic 10with only three teams in the tournament but could wind up with only one team left standing among the fifinal 64. UCLA is playing St. Bonaventure in the First Four in Dayton for a No. 11 seed a year after reaching the Sweet 16, while Arizona State plays Syracuse in Dayton after squeezing into the tourney. USC was among the fifirst four teams out of the bracket.

JEFF ROBERSON / AP