It’s that blessed time of year when anything is possible. The month of madness is upon us.

Historic feats? You bet.

For today, let’s stick with historic feats that are on the table for SEC teams who have legitimate NCAA Tournament chances. That would exclude teams like Texas A&M, Mississippi State and South Carolina, all of whom would seemingly need to reach the SEC Championship just to make the field. If that time comes, sure, we can include them in this discussion.

In the meantime, here’s a 21st century feat that’s realistic for each SEC team with NCAA Tournament hopes:

Alabama — Win an NCAA Tournament game in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1994-95

Shoutout to Antonio McDyess and Jason Caffey. Those guys were part of the last Alabama team to win NCAA Tournament games in consecutive years. Could Jaden Shackelford and Jahvon Quinerly be the 21st century version of that? It’s possible.

Shoot, anything seems possible for this Alabama team. It could lose by 20 in an 8-9 matchup, or it could take down a 1-seed in the Sweet 16. Of course, Nate Oats’ squad hasn’t exactly been known for stringing together several quality showings. The Crimson Tide only have 1 3-game winning streak since Dec. 11. But with victories against Gonzaga, Houston, Arkansas, Baylor and Tennessee, Alabama is a scary team if it can somehow find a way out of Round 1.

That is, assuming the Tide aren’t taken down in that ever-popular 5-12 upset … which seems totally realistic.

Arkansas — Win an NCAA Tournament game in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1998-99

Ok, that’s basically a repeat of the Alabama stat. I get it. But that also just shows you how rough the 21st century was with the Hogs in terms of year-to-year consistency. Even those 3 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances from 2006-08 netted a total of 1 victory. And fittingly, that was with 2 different coaching staffs. Eric Musselman can do something that no Arkansas coach has accomplished since Nolan Richardson (again).

As great as Arkansas’ run to the Elite Eight was in 2021, one thing Musselman didn’t do was take down a top-5 seed. In fact, Arkansas hasn’t beaten a top-5 seed since Richardson’s squad took down 4-seed Marquette in 1996.

Could this year’s team, which took down the likes of Auburn, Kentucky and Tennessee in the midst of a 7-week tear, accomplish that feat? It’s possible, though if Arkansas gets a top-3 seed again, that won’t be possible until at least the Sweet 16. No matter who is up next, JD Notae seems plenty capable of a Kemba Walker-like run in March.

Auburn — Play in an NCAA Tournament National Championship for the first time since … ever

I mean, it should’ve happened in 2019.

Sorry. That was salt in the wound.

Lord knows that wound would heal a whole lot if this year’s squad could right the wrong of 2019. It certainly has the ability to get there even though the last few weeks have been a bit of a roller coaster after such a blistering start. But does nail-biter road losses make Auburn an incapable team? Nope.

That 2018-19 Texas Tech team that lost to Virginia in the title game had a 3-game losing streak in January. Remember the 2018 Villanova team that won it all in dominant fashion? It lost 3 games in February.

Auburn losing 3 games on the road to quality opponents is by no means a death sentence. The beauty of college basketball is it now gets a chance to adjust to certain situations, like how to get Jabari Smith looks late in the game and how to continue to defend around the rim when Walker Kessler is in foul trouble.

History is still very much on the table for this 2021-22 Auburn squad.

Florida — Beat a top-3 seed to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1987

Gonna be honest. I had to get a little creative here. It’s hard to envision a world in which Mike White does something that Billy Donovan didn’t.

Obviously Florida has been to a Sweet 16 in the 21st century. Eight, to be exact. To Donovan’s credit (and partially luck), Florida never faced a top-3 seed in the first 2 rounds while he was the coach. With White, that already happened twice (2018 and 2019), and it should’ve happened a third time in 2021 if not for Ohio State losing to 15-seed Oral Roberts … who then stunned Florida in the Round of 32.

Why bring this up? Well, it seems inevitable that if Florida makes the field, it’ll be looking at somewhere between that 8-11 range. In other words, a matchup with a 1- or 3-seed in the Round of 32 seems like it’s on the table if the Gators can get an opening round victory. Is Florida a likely team to make the Sweet 16? Probably not.

To be fair, Florida did beat Auburn and Ohio State, both of whom could wind up with top 3 seeds. Winning a game like that in a potential Round of 32 matchup would certainly conflict the “fire Mike White” crowd.

Kentucky — Clinch program’s largest year-to-year win improvement since … ever

Oh wait. That happened on Tuesday night.

Here’s something that’ll blow your mind. Kentucky already clinched a bigger year-to-year win improvement (+15) than it had going from the final year of the Billy Gillespie era to Year 1 with John Calipari (+13). Obviously it doesn’t feel like it because Kentucky went from being an NIT team to an Elite Eight qualifier. Still, though. That’s telling.

That’s how night and day this year’s team is compared to last year’s. Call it a COVID year if you will, but we shouldn’t take that kind of a turnaround for granted.

Want to know another wild stat? The last time a team made the national championship after missing the tournament the previous season was … 2013-14 Kentucky (if we’re excluding 2020). In other words, Calipari is trying to one-up himself with the most drastic year-to-year improvements in recent memory.

LSU — Best 4-year stretch (in terms of NCAA Tournament success) since 1981

Will Wade is Mr. Stability. You heard it here first.

If LSU can win an NCAA Tournament game, it’ll mark the third time it did that in the last 4 years. And that’s even counting 2020 as a normal year, which it wasn’t. That 2019-20 LSU team would’ve been favored to win a first round game. The Tigers haven’t had a 4-year stretch like that since 1978-81 with Dale Brown. Of course, that run culminated with the school’s second Final Four berth in program history (at the time).

This version of LSU doesn’t appear to be on the brink of a Final Four, nor has it been at any point during this 4-year stretch. Still, though. There’s value in at least being relevant. Wade did that with a variety of different stars, too. Cam Thomas, Trendon Watford, Skylar Mays, Darius Days, Javonte Smart, Naz Reid, Tremont Waters … that’s a ton of talent in the door.

Some would say that only having a lone Sweet 16 appearance to show for all that talent would be a tough look for the LSU coach. But this is a positive space.

Tennessee — Earn first Final Four appearance ever

Crazy. That 2008 team should’ve made it. That 2019 squad with Grant Williams and Admiral Schofield had that type of upside, too. But alas, a Final Four has never happened for the Vols. At least not on the men’s side.

Rick Barnes has been to 25 NCAA Tournaments, yet he only coached in 1 Final Four (2003 at Texas). His NCAA Tournament shortcomings are well documented. Is that all on him? Probably not. The NCAA Tournament is a tricky beast. One bounce can make or break that.

Sorry. Again, that was mean.

Sooner or later, one would have to think that Barnes is bound to make a deep NCAA Tournament run and reach an Elite Eight for the first time since 2008. Maybe this year, with a team who has 8 wins in its last 9 games including 2 against Kentucky and Auburn, could get hot at the right time.

Is it possible that this is his best team yet? I’d say it’s not impossible even after that brutal offensive start to the season. The Vols entered the week as a top-10 team in KenPom. And it’s worth remembering that from 2013-21, at least 1 team seeded No. 5 or worse made the Final Four. And the last time we saw a Final Four with nothing but top-3 seeds was 2009.

Maybe it’s finally Tennessee’s time to dance a little longer.