After dominant performances in the regular season by the Southeastern Conference and the Big Ten, both combined to tally 13 teams in the final Associated Press Top 25 Poll — including a resounding four appearances in the top 10 by the SEC.
Fast forward to the bid for the Big Dance, and the SEC broke the record for the most teams from the league to make it in, with 14 of 16 teams qualifying. It also occupied several top seeds, as Auburn and Florida locked up the No. 1 spot in its respective regions while Tennessee and Alabama landed second.
The Big Ten also shoveled in eight teams of its own, and after a strenuous first two rounds that left no perfect bracket remaining, half of the conference remains. However, the SEC remains rumbling as it set another NCAA record with seven teams unscathed into the Sweet 16 with perhaps the biggest surprise school surviving —10-seed Arkansas.
Just a month ago, the Razorbacks were in a rough spot, on the verge of losing out on a tournament bid with a loss to Texas A&M that hit coach John Calipari with a much-needed reality check.
“I wanted to make sure [the players] weren’t happy,” Calipari said. “‘We’re going to be ok.’ No, if we won [against A&M or Alabama], we’re in the tournament. So it’s not okay to say we’ll be alright! I didn’t want to put that on them because I got some guys that are a little bit fragile.”
In the present, his players have answered the call: first, beating out rival Kansas and its 7-foot-2 giant graduate center Hunter Dickinson, then upsetting Calipari’s longtime coaching rival, coach Rick Pitino and his 2-seed Saint John’s Red Storm.
Besides Arkansas’s Cinderella Dance, the usual top dogs made their way through the first round relatively easy, shooting down the idea of a true underdog run, much to the dismay of some on social media. The Big Ten even set its own record, going an undefeated 8-0.
However, it’s been a different story in the Round of 32.
Surviving teams from both conferences have found themselves in tightly contested ball games. Florida hung on to defeat the back-to-back NCAA Tournament champs UConn, to set itself up against Maryland, who scored the tournament’s first buzzer-beater off a tightly-contested floater from freshman C Derik Queen. Michigan dug deep to come back late in the second half against a tough SEC opponent in A&M, and now has a chance to upset one of the favorites out of the conference, Auburn. The Wolverines also have a chance to matchup with in-state rival Michigan State if the Spartans handle their SEC opponent Ole Miss.
With elite matchups in store, both conferences also boast top players. Though his shooting has been wayward, Auburn senior C Johni Broome has been hauling down every board in sight, and the battle down low against Michigan graduate C Vladislav Goldin will dictate which school comes out on top.
Queen has a chance to continue his terrific campaign against a stacked Florida team led by senior G Walter Clayton Jr, who’s crossed the 20-point mark in both tournament games. Then there’s the Midwest, where Houston and Purdue face off and right with them are SEC titans Kentucky and Tennessee.
While some complaints have been that the start of March Madness has been lackluster with the absence of upsets and showings of blowouts instead as top seeds handled business, it’s just set up premier games. The best of the best will face off from here on out, and we’ve already got a taste of that in the second round.
