Busting Brackets
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SEC Basketball: Improving bottom teams of conference for 2019-20

By Jason Burgess

ATHENS, GA - FEBRUARY 17: Edwards
ATHENS, GA - FEBRUARY 17: Edwards /
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NEW ORLEANS, LA – MARCH 09: Bradley Beal #23 of the Florida Gators reaches for a rebound against Andrew Steele #22 and Levi Randolph #20 of the Alabama Crimson Tide during their quarterfinal game in the 2012 SEC Men’s Basketball Conference Tournament at New Orleans Arena on March 9, 2012 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LA – MARCH 09: Bradley Beal #23 of the Florida Gators reaches for a rebound against Andrew Steele #22 and Levi Randolph #20 of the Alabama Crimson Tide during their quarterfinal game in the 2012 SEC Men’s Basketball Conference Tournament at New Orleans Arena on March 9, 2012 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /

SEC Basketball could be the deepest conference in the country if the teams at the bottom bear the fruits of recent coaching changes.

SEC Basketball earned seven bids to the NCAA Tournament last season, with four teams reaching the Sweet Sixteen and Auburn and Kentucky reached the Midwest Regional final, with the Tigers reaching the Final Four. Two other teams, Arkansas and Alabama, received bids to the NIT, meaning nine of the conference’s teams were a part of the sport’s top two tournaments.

Even though some of the teams may change (outside of Kentucky, and more recently Tennessee and Auburn), the top of the conference is always consistently strong, but it would be the improvement at the bottom of the conference that would lift the SEC to the top of the college basketball conference pyramid.

Of the five teams that didn’t go to the postseason, five of them, Georgia, Vanderbilt, Arkansas, Alabama, and Texas A&M have made coaching changes in the last two seasons and Missouri’s Cuonzo Martin is entering the all-important third season. The SEC is already one of the most competitive conference’s in the game and these recent changes could push up the bottom of the conference, giving the league an argument as the best conference top-to-bottom.

Coaching changes are no guarantee of success, otherwise, there would be no coaching changes, but if any of these changes start to show signs of blossoming success, nights on the road in the SEC will become even tougher. Here is a look at those recent changes and what the four programs have done or hope to do with the choices they have made to lead their programs.

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