Which SEC team left in March Madness has the best chance to be crowned champion?

It’s been one week since the March Madness tournament began, and the Sweet Sixteen matchups are already set. The tournament started with seven SEC teams, but has since had that dwindled down to four. That is the second biggest prominence of any conference left in the Sweet Sixteen, behind the ACC with five. So, of those four SEC teams that remain, which team has the best chance to win it all?

Let’s take a look at each SEC team that remains in the tournament:

Auburn: Auburn, a five seed, play their Sweet Sixteen game against North Carolina. While Auburn had some inconsistency throughout the year, losing to teams like Ole Miss and South Carolina early on in the season, they still seem to be peaking at the right time. They are on a 10-game win streak, including becoming SEC tournament champions against Tennessee. Auburn have been one of the more inconsistent SEC teams this year. They live and die by the three pointer, and are going to be going up against a North Carolina team that also shoots the three pointer well and plays defense just as well. It will be a tough matchup for Auburn, and if they win that, they would continue having to play seeds that are better than them.

LSU: LSU are the SEC regular season champions, and coming up against Michigan State in the Sweet Sixteen. LSU can only be described as a gritty team, who will be looking to take advantage of Michigan State’s recent struggles with turnovers. If LSU win this game, many expect them to be playing against Duke in the next round, who is arguably the best team in the tournament. That makes their road to a championship very difficult.

Tennessee: Many thought at the beginning of the season with the way Tennessee was playing, this was going to be their year. They went on a 19-game win streak during the middle of the season, but may have peaked a little too early. They lost four games in their final ten of the regular season and SEC tournament, including twice to Auburn. The ray of hope for Tennessee is that they are on one of the easier sides of the bracket. They would not have to play two of the best teams in the tournament, Duke and UNC, until the Final Four, and that gives them a big edge. However, it is hard to see them beating either of those teams to win a championship.

Kentucky: Kentucky is a team that has had some inconsistency throughout the year, but seems to be peaking at the right time as well. They got crushed by Duke in the early games of the season, but also managed to beat UNC. They fell to teams like Seton Hall and Alabama, and lost to Tennessee twice. However, Kentucky still has an edge over any SEC team: They’ve been here before. They have won a total of 12 National Championships in their time, with their most recent one coming in 2012 under the same coach the have now. If any SEC team has the ability to pull off a couple upsets to win a National Title, it’s Kentucky.

Sources:

Kentucky Basketball Schedule

Tennessee Basketball Schedule

LSU Basketball Schedule

Auburn Basketball Schedule