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The SEC did not catch any breaks on Selection Sunday as only three teams made it into the NCAA Tournament.
The regular season champs Florida got a 3-seed as projected, and it's going to play in the South region. Its first round game is against 14-seed Northwestern State in Austin, Texas, and should it win, the second round game comes against the winner of 6-seed UCLA and 11-seed Minnesota. The top seed in the region is Kansas, and the 2-seed is Georgetown. The regional final is in Arlington, Texas, meaning that the Gators' first four rounds, should they make it that far, will all be in Texas.
Missouri enters the field as a 9-seed in the Midwest region. The Tigers will play in familiar territory as its pod is set for Lexington, Kentucky. If they take out 8-seed Colorado State, they'll get a chance to play the No. 1 overall seed Louisville. In its home state. Good luck with that, guys. The regional final is in Indianapolis.
SEC Tournament champ Ole Miss got rewarded for its efforts with only a 12-seed. It will play 5-seed Wisconsin in a tremendous contrast in styles in Kansas City. If the Rebels win, they'll face the winner out of 4-seed Kansas State and 13-seed play-in game winner La Salle or Boise State. Given that they're only one line above the First Four nonsense indicates that they needed every win they got in Nashville in order to make it in. They were in win or lose today according to the tournament chair, but not getting to the SEC finals could have easily left the league with only two teams.
This, of course, means that none of the bubble teams out of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama made it in. We all knew Bama was done when it lost to Florida, but there were still slight glimmers of hope for the other two. They each scored just 48 points in their bad SEC Tournament losses, and while those single games alone didn't push them out of the field, they were probably results that made the decision easier for the committee. They both lost too many games they shouldn't have, and when that's the case, you can only feel so bad for them.
So that's the initial bracket. We'll have more coverage on who has the best chances, who has the worst (sorry Mizzou), and what to watch for as the Big Dance commences.
UPDATE
The official 1-68 list is out. Florida is No. 10, Missouri is No. 33, and Ole Miss is No. 47.