On Thursday afternoon, the annual Division I NCAA Tournament, also known as March Madness, got underway from several cities around the United States. Although March Madness has come to symbolize underdog teams knocking off their Goliath-like opponents in recent years, this year's NCAA tournament has perhaps been one of the wildest ones in recent memory, and it all seems to be coming at the expense of the SEC.

“Aside from No. 2 Tennessee, SEC teams are now a combined 0-5 so far in the NCAA tournament,” reported Matt Zenitz of 247 Sports and CBS Sports on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter. “All five lost as the higher seeded team, including No. 3 Kentucky to No. 14 Oakland, No. 4 Auburn to No. 13 Yale, No. 6 South Carolina to No. 11 Oregon & No. 7 Florida to No. 10 Colorado.”

Indeed, the Southeastern Conference has had an extraordinarily rough go of it so far this March, as so far only Tennessee, who shockingly lost in the first round vs Mississippi State in the SEC Tournament last week, has advanced. Mississippi State would ironically go on to lose their own first round game of the NCAA tournament in crushing fashion vs the Michigan State Spartans in a contest played from Charlotte, North Carolina.

SEC powerhouses continue to struggle

Perhaps the most surprising result of the NCAA tournament so far this year was the loss that Kentucky basketball endured against Oakland, in a game in which the Wildcats' star freshmen each showed their inexperience en route to the devastating defeat. Kentucky is now just 1-4 in their last five NCAA tournament games, with Thursday's loss evoking memories of John Calipiari's squad's 2022 loss to St. Peters in the first round despite being the number two seed.

Meanwhile, on Friday, the Auburn Tigers, who were a fourth seed in their matchup against number 13 Yale, also endured an upset defeat. The Tigers were leading comfortably late, but ultimately, a combination of missed free throws, untimely turnovers, and silly fouls on the other end forced Bruce Pearl's squad to suffer the loss.

While the SEC is of course generally known as a football conference, the conference was supposed to be making a comeback in the basketball realm in recent seasons, with Kentucky almost always being a powerhouse, and with squads like Auburn and Alabama both making a name for themselves nationally.

Despite this increased profile, the SEC still has not taken home a national championship victory since the 2012 season, in which Calipari's Wildcats achieved that honor. After Thursday's shocking defeat vs Oakland, some fans were vocal in their calls for Calipari to be relieved of his coaching duties, despite the nearly ten years left on his contract, as Kentucky has now come to be viewed as a pitstop on the way to the NBA Draft for high recruits as opposed to an organization looking to build a consistent winning foundation.

In any case, the SEC will have a few more chances to avenge their poor performance in the tournament so far, starting with Texas A&M, who is slated to play Nevada, as well as with Alabama, who will take on Charleston.