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ESPN’s preseason bracketology has SEC leading all conferences with 10 teams in NCAA Tournament
By Andrew Olson
Published:
College basketball season is almost here. Ahead of 2024-25 season’s tipoff, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi revealed his preseason bracketology.
The SEC leads all conferences with 10 teams making the NCAA Tournament in Lunardi’s September forecast.
Lunardi has Kansas as the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed. He doesn’t project a lot of SEC drama, with Ole Miss the only conference squad mentioned on the bubble. The Rebels are projected to be one of the last 4 teams to earn a bye and avoid a play-in game.
Here are the 10 SEC teams Lunardi has making the Big Dance:
Alabama
No. 1-seed South vs. 16-seed winner of Southern/Morehead State
Arkansas
No. 4-seed West vs. UC Irvine
Auburn
No. 2-seed Midwest vs. 15-seed Lipscomb
Florida
No. 9-seed Midwest vs. 8-seed Wake Forest
Kentucky
No. 6-seed South vs. 11-seed VCU
Mississippi State
No. 7-seed West vs. 10-seed Oregon
Ole Miss
No. 9-seed West vs. 8-seed Clemson
Tennessee
No. 4-seed East vs. 13-seed Louisiana Tech
Texas
No. 5-seed Midwest vs. 12-seed McNeese State
Texas A&M
No. 5-seed South vs. 12-seed Princeton
The SEC sent 8 teams to the 2024 NCAA Tournament. South Carolina is the only team to make the ’24 Dance that is not projected to make the field of 68 in 2025 by Lunardi. Ole Miss and Arkansas did not make the tourney last season. Texas basketball is entering its first season as a member of the SEC.
Men’s Bracketology: 2025 NCAA Tournament https://t.co/146SOUuyXo. By the time the 2025 national champion is determined, it will have been a quarter-century since a Big Ten team won the NCAA title. It is one of those hard-to-believe streaks that’s even crazier when you…
— Joe Lunardi (@ESPNLunardi) September 24, 2024
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
