The short answer: not Ole Miss!
The longer answer, of course, comes with that sour note that, yet again, after a hopeful offseason, the Ole Miss roundball Rebels will miss out on the NCAA tournament, unless a highly unlikely SEC Tournament victory takes place. The Rebs are seemingly NIT bound yet again (I'm sure Chris Warren and Zach Graham are tired of New York by now, right? "Ugh, the Met is so blase." "Well, of course you'd suggest that, Christopher, with all of your Greenwich Village hobnobbery! Why don't you eat a cupcake or something and let me dive into my appreciation of Gaugin! GOOD DAY SIR!") as the eighth-ish best team in the Southeastern Conference.
But you're still a blind, arrogant, loud SEC homer, right? Of course you are! So you're going to need to know who you'll be cheering for over the next few weeks as March's alliterative Madness consumes your day and, likely, whittles your wallet thin (just in time for that tax refund, amirite?).
Here's who's in:
Florida - The SEC regular season champs are a likely three seed team and could, if they preform at their highest level, legitimately contend for an Elite Eight type of performance this offseason. Erving Walker and Chandler Parsons make up an excellent duo under the, frankly, elite coaching of Billy Donovan.
Kentucky - The Wildcats could lose every game they play and still get an NCAA bid. Don't believe us that OOC play matters (who wouldn't believe that)? The Wildcats are 10-6 in conference, three games better than the Rebs' 7-9. True, the SEC East is lightyears ahead of the West, really damaging the relavance of this fact. But from a purely numbers standpoint, the Wildcats showed out in their out of conference play and are reaping that reward.
Vanderbilt - Vandy put together a fine season this go-around, reaching a 9-7 SEC record and with marquee wins over North Carolina and Marquette out of conference.
Tennessee - Yeah, I don't get it either.
Here's who is on the bubble:
Georgia - That'd make five of the six SEC East teams. We knew the west was going to be bad, but not this bad. Georgia needs to win a game in the SEC tournament and they're likely to get a bid. They'll be a pretty low seed and a last-four in type if they do. Expect an easily-predicted loss out of a 12-seed team in these here Bulldogs.
Alabama - Anthony Grant's team, despite whipping up on the SEC West, will need to make it to the SEC Tournament finals to dance. They're almost as much of a longshot as the Rebels, despite having one of the better records in the whole conference.
Me? Well I'm picking Kansas to win the whole thing anyway. No, the brackets haven't even been drawn up yet, but did you actually watch them this season? Ohio State too. Oh, and Texas.