Remember when UK beat FL in the SECT final in Catlanta in 2011. FL got the higher seed in the NCAAT. We had the flight home as the draw was coming out waiting for takeoff. No one could believe FL got seeded higher.
Based on how Florida (2011) & Tennessee (2024) were seeded in their respective tournaments,
winning the
regular season SEC Title seems to matter more to your
NCAA resume
than winning the SEC Conference Tournament!
That's why Tennessee is the highest seeded SEC Team this year.
Every year, the NCAA "committee" seems to have mailed it in well before the SEC Finals were decided on a Sunday.
I still believe that there is value, prestige & tradition when you can win your conference tournament.
As for my team Florida which made it to the SEC Finals after getting a couple of Quad1 wins (over Alabama & TexasAM), it sucks to have a #7 seed rather than 6 or 5 seed - at least that was what that ESPN Bracketology prognisticator said during the SEC Finals. Lol! Won't listen to him again!
Golden did a great job with this year's Florida team.
The loss to Vandy (last game of the year 73-74) really seem to have hurt Florida's perception - no matter what the Gators had done in the SEC Tournament.
Incidentally, both Kentucky & Florida have the exact same record in Q1-wins: 6-7.
Both of these two teams have more Q1 wins than either Auburn (2-7 in Q1) or Alabama (4-10).
Only the vols (8-7) have more Q1 wins than anyone in the SEC.
South Caroilna (6-5 in Q1 wins), Texas AM (7-7), and Miss St (4-9) round out the rest.
Also, based on the South bracket, the Gators & Wildcats could potentially meet up in a Sweet16 game if both teams get that far. I would rather that two conference opponents meet later(i.e, in the Elite8 game or later).
The NCAA committee could have placed Florida either in the East (UConn's bracket) or West (North Carolina's bracket). I would have loved to see UF face UConn this year but it looks like a very long shot, lol.
Anyways, good luck to both of our teams in the NCAA Tournament!
We had some very, good competition this year in the SEC; hopefully, that will be good preparation for these teams.