As the Final Four tipped off Saturday without an SEC team, it represented a good chance to look back and see the historical playing field that the 2018 squads faced. Could any of the 8 SEC teams that made the NCAA Tournament be considered one of the best in SEC history?

Frankly, they had an uphill battle.

We at SDS broke down the 10 best SEC teams of all time. And yes, we know SEC teams have combined to win 11 NCAA titles. But it would be lazy to pretend that in the sudden-death competition of the NCAA Big Dance that only the fortunate few who won the title were worthy of consideration. So yes, three of our top 10 teams didn’t win the NCAA Tournament.

Meanwhile, we actually doubled up two teams, because schools won back-to-back titles with essentially the same teams. So we counted those teams as one, and moved along.

Anyway, the ground rules aside, here are top 10 SEC basketball teams of all-time.

10. 1981 LSU Tigers (31-5, Final Four, SEC regular-season champions)

In 1981, Dale Brown’s LSU Tigers featured star guards Ethan Martin and Howard Carter as well as All-American forward Rudy Macklin. The Tigers lost in their second game against future conference rival Arkansas, and then won 26 in a row, moving up to No. 2 in the nation. The Tigers lost their last regular season game to Kentucky, but still won the conference title. They entered NCAA Tournament play with a 28-3 mark, and armed with their second consecutive No. 1 seed, advanced to the Final Four before losing to eventual national champion Indiana and Isiah Thomas. The Tigers were an eyelash from the first perfect SEC slate in almost three decades, and were one of the toughest teams the SEC has ever seen.

9. 1951 Kentucky Wildcats (32-2, NCAA Champions, SEC regular-season champions)

This team is forgotten because of the Fabulous Five that came a few years before (see below), but they were a worthy champion. Led by all-everything center Bill Spivey, future Boston Celtics star Frank Ramsey, and fellow future NBA star Cliff Hagan, Kentucky destroyed everyone in its path. The Wildcats lost only two games all year — a one-point defeat to St. Louis is December and a four-point loss to Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament. After a tough semifinal win over Illinois, they mounted a second-half comeback to beat Kansas State for the NCAA title 68-58.

8. 2014 Florida Gators (36-3, Final Four, SEC regular-season champs, SEC Tournament champs, 21-0 vs. SEC)

The Gators didn’t win the title, stumbling in the Final Four against eventual champ UConn, but they did everything else. Fielding a balanced, veteran team with no future NBA stars, the Gators began their season a humble 6-2, but then reeled over 30 consecutive wins, running the SEC table, and ending it by beating Kentucky a third time to finish a perfect 21-0 SEC season. Florida was a no-name crew, but playing consistent team-first basketball they put together a regular season to remember.

7. 2015 Kentucky Wildcats (38-1, Final Four, SEC regular-season champions and SEC Tournament champs)

The Wildcats, with a future NBA squad full of talent, flirted with college basketball’s first perfect season in four decades before falling in the national semifinal to Wisconsin. Kentucky’s team, which included future NBA stars Karl-Anthony Towns, Devin Booker, as well as a half-dozen other players who have seen NBA minutes, blazed through college basketball with barely a scratch. In their third game, Kentucky blitzed No. 5 Kansas by 32 points, and set the tone for the season. Kentucky barreled through even the most talented competition, besting West Virginia by 39 points in the NCAA Sweet 16 before eventually falling to Bo Ryan’s Badgers team. Had they won out, this team could well be the greatest ever.

6. 1978 Kentucky Wildcats (30-2, NCAA Champions, SEC regular-season champions)

It was called “A Season Without Joy,” but a star-studded Kentucky team delivered plenty of joy by knocking off Duke 94-88 to win the NCAA Tournament and finish a superb season. National Player of the Year Jack Givens combined with smooth-shooting Kyle Macy and rugged forward Rick Robey to lead Kentucky to a memorable season in which they never slipped below third in the national polls.

Kentucky lost only twice — at Alabama and at LSU — but otherwise won out in style, besting Magic Johnson in the Elite Eight and future UK coach Eddie Sutton’s Arkansas squad in the national semifinals. It was Kentucky’s first title in 20 years and it would 18 more before the Wildcats would win again.

5. 1994 Arkansas Razorbacks (31-3, NCAA Champions, SEC regular-season champions)

Nolan Richardson’s great squad leaned heavily on a pair of talented forwards, shooter extraordinaire Scotty Thurman and post bruiser Corliss Williamson. The two were almost unbeatable in 1994, and the Razorbacks spent much of the season atop the polls, as they lost only by two at Alabama, by one at Mississippi State, and then in the SEC Tournament to Kentucky. The Hogs rolled through the NCAA Tournament, edging Grant Hill’s Duke team 76-72 to claim the school’s lone NCAA title.

4. 2012 Kentucky Wildcats (38-2, NCAA Champions, SEC regular-season champions)

John Calipari’s title team was a juggernaut, with Anthony Davis owning college basketball during his few months in Lexington. Kentucky’s top six players were all chosen in the top 46 picks of the NBA Draft after the season, and they played like a team of future pros. Kentucky stumbled only twice, on a buzzer-beater at Indiana and in an SEC Tournament final against Vanderbilt in which Calipari used the game to grab a complacent team’s attention. Weeks later, UK survived a semifinal matchup with Louisville and then outlasted Kansas 67-59 to win the school’s eighth NCAA title.

3. 1948-49 Kentucky Wildcats (Back-to-back NCAA Champions, back-to-back SEC regular-season champions and SEC Tournament champions)

How good were the Fabulous Five? Well, they lost two games each season, ran the table undefeated both times in the SEC, and cruised to the school’s first two NCAA titles. The same talented players led both teams, with point guard Ralph Beard and forward Alex Groza fronting the show. There are only two reasons this group isn’t numero uno on our list. First, the SEC wasn’t very good in the late 1940s, so the competitive value of all those wins is questionable. Second, some of the Wildcats were shaving points or throwing games (somehow), and that stain blemishes what was otherwise a phenomenal run of basketball.

2. 2006-2007 Florida Gators (Back-to-back NCAA Champions, back-to-back SEC Tournament champions, won SEC regular-season title in 2007)

These teams are the only other repeat winners on our list, and they won consecutive titles in an era when that was becoming unimaginable. Who did Billy Donovan sell his soul to in order to gain a squad of NBA-ready players like Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, and Al Horford? Or was the sale in exchange for getting those guys to come back to school after 2006 and win a second title? These Florida teams had occasional struggles with focus (they lost six games in 2006 and five in 2007), but when the chips were down, all they did was win. We may never see a team as talented as the 2006 team elect to come back to school for another season.

1. 1996 Kentucky Wildcats (34-2, NCAA Champions, SEC regular-season champions)

Sure, winning two titles is more impressive than winning one. You could even argue that the 2015 team’s near-undefeated season was more impressive than this group. But this Kentucky team (which rivaled Calipari’s squads for future pros included) didn’t just win, they demolished every team in their path. Kentucky lost twice — in their second game of the year against UMass and whippersnapper coach John Calipari and in the SEC Tournament final against a Mississippi State team that went to the Final Four.

But when they won, oh, how they won. Tony Delk, Antoine Walker, Walter McCarty, Derek Anderson, Ron Mercer and Co., didn’t just beat teams, they dismembered them.

Of UK’s 34 wins, only four were by fewer than 10 points — and two of those were in the Final Four. Kentucky beat opponents by 30 points on 11 occasions, including the NCAA Sweet 16. They scored 86 points in a half at LSU, and on another night, won a game by 64 points. This Kentucky team might not be the best team in SEC history, but it was definitely the most dominant, which goes a long way as a tiebreaker.