Dennis Gates makes case for SEC teams in NCAA Tournament

Missouri head coach Dennis Gates has been watching SEC basketball all season long. He knows how good the conference is, and he believes it is worthy of nine teams in the NCAA Tournament.

The Tigers bowed out to Alabama at the SEC Tournament on Saturday, Gates discussed what makes the conference worthy of such a number.

“I do hope one thing: I hope our conference has eight or nine teams in the tournament,” Gates said. “I do hope that. I think there are several teams that deserve to be in the tournament. You look at from top to bottom, there are bubble talks and all that. I’m not an expert at it. But I do know what I see consistently. I said it before, we’re the No. 1 conference in the country. When it comes down to coaches, players, we have several teams.”

As of Sunday morning, ESPN’s Bracketology has eight team making the NCAA Tournament from the SEC.

The team missing out that Gates hopes will make it is red-hot Vanderbilt. The Commodores are 10-2 since the start of February, including a run to the semifinals of the SEC Tournament.

“I would say nine teams that should make it,” Gates said. “They’re deserving. What Coach Stackhouse has done at Vanderbilt, he’s one of the hottest teams in the country. I hope he’s in the tournament. Chris Jans at Mississippi State, I hope he’s in the tournament. They’ve been leading in analytical data for a long time throughout this season. I hope Arkansas is in the tournament. They’re deserving to be in the tournament. They have the talent. They have the pieces to make a run, in addition to those that have been significantly measured by, yes, these are tournament teams.”

Gates also discussed the potential seeding of some of the conference top programs, including potential top overall seed Alabama.

“I hope Alabama gets the No. 1 seed,” Gates said. “I hope Tennessee gets the No. 2 seed. I hope several things happen. Kentucky. Who am I missing? Guys, help me out. Texas A&M. C’mon, now, they shouldn’t be nothing less. They held the No. 2 spot in our conference regular season for a long time. I think they’re deserving of a No. 2 or 3 seed. There is no doubt about it.”

Dennis Gates is a ‘champion of the SEC’

This year is Dennis Gates’ first one coaching at Missouri and in the SEC. He played basketball at California, spent many years as an assistant at Florida State and other places, and started his head coaching career at Cleveland State.

“I want everybody to win in our conference except when they play us,” Gates said. “Outside of that, I’m a champion of the SEC. I love this conference. I love what our conference stands for. I love the level of competition that’s in it. There is no doubt in my mind — I’ll say it again — we should have nine teams in there. I hope we do.”