SEC stacked with bubble teams

The SEC has three teams that should be locks for the NCAA Tournament.

The rest of the conference may have some work to do.

No. 11 Auburn (22-3) climbed as high as No. 5 in The AP Top 25 and was among the top 16 seeds in the NCAA’s preliminary rankings earlier this month. The Tigers have lost just three times in their followup to the 2019 Final Four run.

No. 12 Kentucky (205) was No. 1 early in the season, among the initial NCAA top 16 and has won eight of nine.

No. 25 LSU (18-7) has slipped up lately with three losses in four games, but still should be in the field of 68, barring a late-season collapse.

Then things get interesting.

Florida (16-9) bounced back from losing four of six by beating Texas A&M and Vanderbilt last week. The Gators have a tough road ahead, though, with Arkansas, Kentucky (twice) and LSU still left on the schedule.

A fourth straight NCAA Tournament appearance under Mike White will likely depend on those games.

“Their team is so good,” Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams said after a 78-61 loss to the Gators on Feb. 12. “They put stress on you in every possible way.”

South Carolina (16-9) has a strange resume with wins over Kentucky and Virginia offset by home losses to Boston University and Stetson. Six wins in seven games and a winning SEC record (8-4) should help the Gamecocks’ chances.

Arkansas (16-9) has gone from appearing to be safely in the bracket in coach Eric Musselman’s first season to being on the bubble.

The reason: Isaiah Joe’s knee injury.

The sophomore guard was the SEC’s sixth-leading scorer before undergoing knee surgery on Feb. 4. The Razorbacks have played four games since then and lost every one.

Arkansas has a couple of resume-building opportunities coming up, with games against Florida and LSU before the SEC Tournament.

Mississippi State’s lastsecond win over Arkansas on Feb. 15 was a huge boost to the Bulldogs’ NCAA Tournament chances. The win was Mississippi State’s second against a Quad 1 opponent and gives the Bulldogs (16-9) a chance at a 20win regular season with no games left on the schedule against the SEC’s top 3 teams.

Alabama’s waning NCAA Tournament chances got a huge boost with wins over Auburn and LSU this week. Still some work to do, but those are huge on the resume.