Five SEC teams got upset in NCAA Tournament 1st round, and folks are laughing at Greg Sankey

By ADAM ZAGORIA

The SEC made history in the first round of the NCAA Tournament — and not in a good way.

Five SEC teams lost their openers as higher seeds, marking just the second time that one conference has seen that many teams get upset that early since seeding began in 1979.

Greg Sankey’s conference is 1-5 entering the weekend, yet the SEC Commissioner just said the NCAA Tournament should consider getting rid of automatic bids for smaller conferences.

“We are giving away highly competitive opportunities for automatic qualifiers (from smaller leagues), and I think that pressure is going to rise as we have more competitive basketball leagues at the top end because of (conference) expansion,” Sankey told The Athletic.

This is just the 2nd time since seeding began in 1979 that a single conference has lost 5 NCAA openers as the higher seed pic.twitter.com/PDpb3iKwa4

— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) March 23, 2024

The biggest upset featured No. 3 Kentucky going down to Jack Gohlke and No. 14 Oakland, 80-76, on Thursday, focusing attention on John Calipari’s uncertain future and his $33 million buyout.

On Friday, No. 4 Auburn, the SEC Tournament champion, was stunned by No. 13 Yale, 78-76. Yale, which nearly lost to a 13-18 Brown team in the Ivy League championship game, won just its second NCAA Tournament game after upsetting No. 5 Baylor in 2016.

NO. 13 YALE UPSETS NO. 4 AUBURN IN THE 1ST ROUND 😱

THIS IS MARCH. pic.twitter.com/GDPK9RKPcx

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 22, 2024

Greg Sankey really just said the NCAA Tournament should get rid of auto bids right before 2 of the SEC's 3 best teams lost to Oakland & Yale: pic.twitter.com/WCssgVqD5I

— College Sports Only (@CollegeSportsO) March 22, 2024

John Calipari and Bruce Pearl seeing each other in Cancun next week pic.twitter.com/Yx4s5fwhhx

— Jeff Eisenband (@JeffEisenband) March 22, 2024

Also on Friday, No. 7 Florida lost a high-scoring 102-100 affair to No. 10 Colorado on a buzzer-beater by K.J. Simpson.

Entering the weekend, only three of eight original SEC teams remain: No. 2 Tennessee, No. 4 Alabama and No. 9 Texas A&M.

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