SEC Basketball: Missing in Action

Over the last few years, the SEC has felt right at home in the NCAA Tournament.  Last season, in 2007, Florida cut down the nets for the second time in as many years.  Tennessee and Vanderbilt joined them in the Sweet 16—and if the refs didn’t swallow their whistles on a Jeff Green travel, Vandy would have gone on to the Elite 8, and perhaps further.     In 2006, two SEC teams made it all the way to the Final Four:  Florida, who shocked the tourney field by winning their first National Championship as a three seed, and LSU, who fell one win short of an all SEC Championship game.  This season, two SEC teams are back in the Final Four—except it’s in the NIT.  And those two school—Florida and Ole Miss—are the only SEC teams still alive.    That’s how bad the SEC was this year.     For some inexplicable reason, the selection committee handed out six invitations to SEC teams, ... (link)