re: Is the SEC an extremely tough basketball conference this year?

Kentucky is down in relative terms. Arkansas and A&M are have significantly underachieved. Bama has played somewhat of a soft in conference schedule. I would guess some benefit from this, UGA and OM may be examples. FL is actually really good and I think they could make a dark horse run at the E8 and beyond. TN is very strong and should be expected to do just that. SC is a wild card to me as they continue to take care of business in the face of expectations from prognosticators. MS St can play up, there’s visible talent at times that make you think on any given day they could beat anyone. To summarize I would suggest that the conference is not even close to tough compared to more recent seasons. I do think one or TN, KY, and AUB make the FF. There is an argument for FL given the right draw. The SEC is as tough of a conference as any save B12 and probably the Big East too. However compared to prior years applying to the SEC only I would say hard pass on being tough this season.