The exact moment the SEC became a basketball conference is still up for debate. What Rick Barnes can tell you is when his league was barely known for basketball. It was 1987, the beginning of what will someday be a hall of fame career for Tennessee's current coach.

Houston, Michigan State and Auburn came up clutch, while Tennessee was a bully from the start in Sweet 16 action Friday night.

The Gators Wire crew gives their respective predictions for the NCAA Tournament Elite 8 matchup between the Florida Gators and Texas Tech Red Raiders

The possibility of an all-SEC Final Four in the NCAA Tournament is alive, with SEC teams playing in every Elite Eight game this weekend.

The SEC’s surprise Sweet 16 team is Arkansas, which only two months ago was 0-5 in league play and firmly outside the NCAA tournament picture. John Calipari’s Razorbacks have since won 12 of 17 games, culminating with Saturday’s thrilling upset of the best St. John’s team in at least two decades.

The Southeastern Conference’s memorable March continued into the second weekend of the men’s NCAA Tournament as it became the third conference to place a record four teams in the Elite Eight and kept alive the possibility of an all-SEC Final Four.

Raegan Beers has been here before, sort of. A year ago, the dominant 6-foot-4 forward led Oregon State to the Elite Eight. But following conference realignment, Beers transferred to Oklahoma. She has the Sooners into the Sweet 16, where might Connecticut awaits on Saturday.