A champion, a Cinderella, everybody’s All-American, and hometown heroes set up SEC Semifinal Saturday
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NASHVILLE — College basketball in the month of March is about stories.
It’s about upsets, madness, and the controlled chaos of brackets but above all, a compelling tournament is measured by the number of lasting memories it leaves behind.
As quarterfinal Friday bled into semifinal Saturday, it was clear the 2026 SEC Tournament is shaping up to be one we’ll long remember.
The quarterfinals delivered, doling out 4 games all decided by single digits and a total of 19 points. In their wake, every semifinalist has a different story to tell, each powerful in its own way, none standing out above the other. It’s the rare championship pursuit where your favorite basketball bard can’t lose.
There’s Cinderella, which is essential in March, as you know.
Ole Miss is the first 15-seed to play on Saturday, and just the third double-digit Power 5/6 (ACC, Big East, Big 12, B1G, SEC, and now defunct Pac-12) semifinalist this decade. The last, NC State, not only won the 2024 ACC Tournament, but advanced to the Final Four.
Chris Beard’s roster construction was plagued with errors. Beard failed to bring in pieces that would complement his best player, Malik Dia — an undersized, skilled big who can pass, finish inside, and shoot well enough to space a defense. Instead, the Rebels spent ample NIL on a group that lacked post physicality and size and was missing playmakers who could break down defenses off the dribble when the halfcourt offense sputtered. The result was a team that struggled to score at the rim and was functionally toast if reclamation projects like AJ Storr, playing for school 4 in 4 years after a failed stint at Kansas, missed jump shots on any given night. The Rebels played like a band of misfit toys all season, finishing 4-14 in the SEC and losing 12 of their last 13 games.
Then Chris Beard and the team were visited by their fairy godmother, the goddess of Music City, who gave them new life upon their arrival in Nashville.
Suddenly, the Rebels look like one of the best teams in the country. They’ve led wire-to-wire in each of their 3 wins, all coming over likely (Texas) or lock NCAA Tournament teams (Georgia, Alabama).
Better yet, they’ve won in different ways. Against Texas, they couldn’t shoot, making just one 3 all evening. No big deal, though, when you score 50 points in the paint, force 13 turnovers and score 13 points off those turnovers. Against Georgia, the Rebels won with the suffocating defense Chris Beard’s built a living coaching better than most anyone. Ole Miss limited Georgia’s top 20 offense to just 72 points, its third-lowest output in SEC action, and held a Dawgs team that was shooting 50% from 3 over its past 5 games to 9-38 from deep (23%). On Friday, Beard’s team finally won a game with offense, burying 8-19 3-pointers (42%) and using the space the shooting created to get outstanding looks at the rim, which wing Ilias Kamardine cashed in for 4 layups. Storr, playing more like the All-Big East player he was at St. John’s, was aggressive and excellent, refusing to settle for long jump shots and consistently scoring in the paint.
From January to last week, Ole Miss was a team that found ways to lose. Chris Beard’s team is now one winning games in multiple ways, precisely the type of club that is dangerous in March.
On semifinal Saturday, the upstart Rebels will face Arkansas, led by SEC Player of the Year and everybody’s All-American, Darius Acuff Jr.
The sensational Razorbacks freshman dazzled in his first appearance under the bright Broadway lights of March, scoring 37 points and dishing out 5 assists in an 82-79 win over Oklahoma late Friday night. Only 1 other Arkansas player (Trevon Brazile, 12 points, 11 rebounds) scored in double figures, the type of imbalance that often dooms teams in the month of March.
Those doomed teams don’t have Darius Acuff Jr., who can score at all 3 levels, through contact, over length, and from long range. He’s the kind of guard we’ve seen carry a team through the gritty, don’t-let-your-season-die close games that define March, and it was difficult not to think of March legends like Kemba Walker of UConn or Walter Clayton Jr. of Florida watching his 37-point introduction to the SEC Tournament against the bubble-desperate Sooners. John Calipari has coached some of the best guards in a generation in his tenures at Memphis and Kentucky. Now reborn at Arkansas, Cal may have his best guard yet in Acuff, whose March story is just beginning to be written.
If Acuff, a 5-star recruit who has made good on his talent and promise, is everybody’s All-American, then Vanderbilt, the third SEC semifinalist, is the plucky underdog that’s earned respect from everyone.
Mark Byington’s team are hometown heroes, aiming to become the first Commodores team to cut down the nets at the SEC Tournament since John Jenkins, Jeffrey Taylor, and another band of sharpshooting underdogs upended a dominant Kentucky to claim glory in 2012.
Why not Vanderbilt?
Sure, only a few writers in America (coughs, proudly looks in mirror) tabbed the Commodores as a top 5 SEC team in the preseason. No matter. They are one of the last 4 playing in Nashville after upending rival Tennessee for the second tine in a week on Friday afternoon. This time, the Commodores did it with Tennessee freshman star Nate Ament on the floor, too, leaving no doubt as to which program claims in-state bragging rights until next year.
Tyler Tanner, the first-team All-SEC guard who continues to fly under the national radar, was outstanding, scoring 19 points, grabbing 6 rebounds, dishing out 4 assists and never turning the ball over in the Vanderbilt win.
But the real sight to see for Byington’s team was the 30 points it got from Duke Miles, who shot a staggering 11-14 from the floor and simply could not be guarded by the Volunteers on Friday afternoon. Miles missed a lengthy stretch of SEC play with an injury, but has scored in double figures and shot 42% (13-31) from beyond the arc since his return. Vanderbilt’s weaknesses (a lack of height, rebounding difficulties) are well-documented. When Tanner and Miles play well and the Commodores’ offense, which ranks 8th in the country in efficiency, per KenPom, is humming, those deficiencies dissipate and you get a team capable of cutting down the nets on Sunday afternoon.
Of course, the program used to cutting down nets of late is Vanderbilt’s opponent in Saturday’s first semifinal.
Florida, the reigning national and SEC champion, opened quarterfinal Friday by beating Kentucky for the third time in less than a month. In 120 minutes of basketball against Kentucky since February 14, the Gators led Kentucky for 117 minutes and 48 seconds. Kentucky, the bluest of the bluebloods, led for 0 minutes and 0 seconds.
That’s the type of dominance Kentucky used to impose on upstart opponents hoping to knock the king from the throne.
Now it’s Todd Golden and Florida imposing their will on Kentucky. In truth, the “script flip” dates back to the beginning of the 21st century. Since 2000, Florida leads the SEC in NCAA Tournament win percentage, Elite 8 appearances, Final Fours, national championship game appearances, and national championships. Kentucky’s still first in wins (narrowly over Florida) and NCAA Tournament wins (48-45), but the Gators take a backseat to no one and play like it, no matter what the blue-blood gatekeepers think.
Florida’s championship credentials come with a swagger and self-assured confidence, a cultural belief that come net-cutting time, the Gators will make more plays than the other guys.
Even on an afternoon when Florida was hardly at its best, committing a gnarly 19 turnovers and shooting 3-20 from deep, the Gators find a way.
The Gators have answers to every question. Take Alex Condon, a champion who knows how to win, playing the role of best basketball player in the building against Kentucky, scoring 22 points, grabbing 10 rebounds, and blocking 2 shots on an afternoon when Florida’s other offensive options were frustrated.
The Gators also refuse to dwell on negative play, convinced they’ll make the next one.
How else do you explain All-American Thomas Haugh, struggling from the field all afternoon, burying a turnaround jumper in a 2-possession game with under 2 minutes to play? What other explanation for Xaivian Lee, written off as a failed portal pull in November and December, making a step-back dagger triple when Kentucky crept within 5 with 1 minute to play, and punctuating the triple by stealing the ball from former Gator Denzel Aberdeen on the following possession?
Florida plays with a championship mentality buoyed by championship results. If you want the belt, you better beat the king.
Four teams. Four stories. A special March Saturday in Nashville is on deck.
Neil Blackmon covers SEC football and basketball for SaturdayDownSouth.com. An attorney, he is also a member of the Football and Basketball Writers Associations of America. He also coaches basketball.
