Mark Pope is proud to be part of SEC's record-breaking NCAA Tournament

The SEC did not just beat the all-time NCAA Tournament record for most schools punching a ticket, it destroyed it. Pummeled. Battered. Pulverized. The Big East set the record back in 2011 with 11 teams in the field — Pittsburgh won the league, but it was No. 9 seed UConn and the fighting Kemba Walkers winning five games in five days to win the Big East Tournament, followed by the historic national championship run. That was a good year. This was better, the SEC leading the way with 14 teams joining the Big Dance, 13 as at-large additions alongside SEC Tournament champion Florida.

Auburn is the No. 1 overall seed, followed by Florida at No. 4, Tennessee at No. 5, Alabama at No. 6, Kentucky at No. 11, Texas A&M at No. 13, Missouri at No. 23, Ole Miss at No. 24, Mississippi State at No. 32, Georgia at No. 34, Oklahoma at No. 36, Arkansas at No. 37, Vanderbilt at No. 39 and Texas at No. 41 in the overall seed list.

Those last couple had to fight their way in with the Sooners, Razorbacks, Commodores and Longhorns all trying to keep their head above water on the bubble before ultimately securing bids on Selection Sunday. It could have gone a number of different directions, but instead, the committee gave credit where it is due for the league being historically dominant.

Mark Pope is honored to be a part of that history and believes the NCAA made the right call putting 14 SEC teams in.

“I’m really grateful that the committee recognized — listen, there are so many ways that you can do this, there’s so many different criteria,” he said on Selection Sunday. “You can kind of cook the books however you want, but this is a season like no other. If you just take the freestanding non-conference success rate, there’s never been a league that’s performed at this level in non-conference competition.

“And so I’m glad that in this one-off, this one of forever (season), that the committee said, ‘Hey, this is a one time in forever, so let’s honor it and see what really happens with it.'”

The Longhorns were the true toss-up while the Commodores were right there, too. Instead of cutting out one or a few, the committee brought everyone in who even sniffed the bubble — sorry, LSU and South Carolina. They wanted to see just how strong the SEC really is against the best of the rest.

“I’m really glad. I was really glad to see Texas get in,” Pope continued. “I know some of the metrics were complicated, but it was great to see them get in. I think it’s great for the league. I think it’s great that we’re going to actually flesh this out and see what the SEC really was.”

The SEC ate itself alive all season long, and now, we’ll get to see how it stacks up against the other heavy hitters in college basketball.