Busting Brackets Podcast: NCAA Tournament contenders from the SEC and AAC

The SEC and AAC take the spotlight in our latest podcast. How many Final Four contenders are from these two leagues?

Welcome to episode No. 6 of the Busting Brackets Podcast! Our hosts Connor Hope and Brian Rauf are joined by SEC analyst Dakota Cox along with Pan Karalis, who covers Big 5 Basketball along with other leagues along the east coast.

To start off, the guys take a quick look at the biggest results from the weekend, particularly from the SEC and Big 12. Pan also talks about the craziness from the MAAC and why it’s a league to watch once the conference tournaments start.

We then take a deep dive into the bottom of the SEC (7:25), where Dakota (currently a student at the University of Alabama) explains the inconsistencies of the Alabama Crimson Tide and whether Avery Johnson is the man for the job going forward. But he and the team is doing better than Vanderbilt, who’s still without an SEC win. Will anyone predict a Commodores win soon?

Moving up the ladder, the guys dissect the Kentucky beatdown of Tennessee and the Wildcats ceiling in March. But Brian has his eyes on another team in the SEC. Who could they be? And finally, the middle of the league (Auburn, Mississippi State, and Ole Miss) is examined, with the fellas picking which they like more going forward.

Pan starts out first with the AAC conversation (31:30), talking about the top team in the league Houston. How good are the Cougars and should they be considered a top-10 team at the moment? Cincinnati is the second-best team in the conference but find out why the guys view them as overrated headed into the Big Dance. Not a glowing review from Brian and Connor for the Bearcats.

The AAC also has a pair of bubble teams in UCF and Temple. Can the Golden Knights get enough wins down the stretch to hold onto a bid? And can Fran Dunphy retire as the Owls Head Coach with an NCAA Tournament appearance on the way out? Temple star Shizz Alston Jr. also gets a mention for Conference Player of the Year candidacy but is he the current favorite?

The guys then go to the middle of the AAC and look at a couple of sleepers in South Florida and Memphis. Couth either of them make a real run at the auto-bid in March?

To round things up, the guys focus on three teams currently having a down season. Between SMU, UConn, and Wichita State, which are most likely to bounce back? And which program does Pan believe will need to start over with a new coach in the future?

Thanks for tuning into this longer episode with multiple leagues being covered. There will be even more topics for the next episode, with the entire west coast (Pac-12, WCC, and Mountain West) getting a look. Enjoy the games until then, as Selection Sunday is now a month away!