Rapid Reaction: The SEC gets 10 teams in, Auburn and OU out

By Chris Marler

The NCAA Tournament teams have been announced. There were some shocks and some surprises, and that’s just the beginning of the chaos that we will inevitably get from the NCAA Tournament. Here’s a look at where SEC teams are seeded in the NCAA Tournament. 

SEC Teams in the field 

No. 1 Florida (South Region)

No. 4 Arkansas (West Region)

No. 4 Alabama (Midwest Region)

No. 5 Vanderbilt (South Region)

No. 6 Tennessee (Midwest Region)

No. 7 Kentucky (Midwest Region)

No. 8 Georgia (Midwest Region)

No. 10 Missouri (West Region)

No. 10 Texas A&M (South Region) 

No. 11 Texas (West Region)

Biggest Takeaways 

The biggest argument for over a week prior to the field being announced was whether or not Auburn should be in. The argument was specifically about whether they should be in over Miami (Ohio). Auburn’s metrics and resume were definitely impressive, and on paper they deserve to be in. They scheduled harder than anyone else in the conference and arguably the country. Here’s the thing, though, you can’t just play those games. You have to win some of those games too. In Auburn’s case, they failed to do that. They played 17 Quad 1 games this season, but they won just four of those games. 

Elsewhere there wasn’t a ton of controversy. It wasn’t necessarily a surprise to see only three teams ranked as 4 Seeds or higher, but it was a little surprising that Vanderbilt was unable to get to the 4 Seed line after making a run to the SEC Championship and beating No. 1 Seed Florida by 19 in the semifinals. It was also a little surprising that Alabama didn’t drop lower than the 4 Seed line solely because of the speculation around whether or not they would be punished for playing Charles Bediako from the G-League for five games in the middle of January. 

Missouri also catches a break by playing in St. Louis despite being a 10 seed.

The SEC once again has the most teams of any conference in the NCAA Tournament with 10.

They also had the first 2 teams out in Oklahoma and Auburn. pic.twitter.com/jm0bOd4f8T

— Chris Marler (@Vern_Funquist) March 15, 2026

In the end, the SEC had ten teams make the tournament which is once again the most of any conference in the country. They were an eyelash short of getting 12 teams in as well, as Oklahoma and Auburn were the first two teams out of the tournament. Tournament games start on Tuesday, and we’ll continue to break down everything to get your bracket ready.