On Selection Sunday the SEC appeared as the undercard of the six major conferences, a mere afterthought in the world of college basketball.

Regular season champion Louisiana State University, ranked for most of the season, validated this notion, receiving an 8-seed in the West Regional.

That basically asserts that 28 teams were considered better than the best SEC team.

In all, only three SEC teams received bids to the Big Dance, one of those being Mississippi State, who qualified after completing an improbable four-day run through the tournament.

Prior to the conference tournament Georgia interim coach Pete Herrmann expressed his belief in the conference, despite the no-love media slant.

“I think that a lot of our teams have a good chance to go to the NCAA Tournament,” he said. “I’m not talking one or two. I’m talking like five or six. So I’m a big believer that the SEC should be very representative when we go to the national tournament.”

Herrmann’s estimate may have fallen short, but the potential was there.

Auburn, Florida, South Carolina and Kentucky should have made the Tournament, but each played its way out of national competition in March.

“I guess what I’m basing it on is every time I prepare our team to try to play one of the teams in the SEC, I see, you know, how they compare to, let’s say, some of the teams we played in the non-conference schedule, such as Virginia Tech and Illinois and Missouri,” Herrmann said. “You know, I see teams that are very capable of winning two and three games in the national tournament based on playing other teams from other leagues.”

Kentucky had perhaps the best combo in the SEC with guard Jodie Meeks and forward Patrick Patterson. But the Wildcats will likely be in the NIT thanks to a 6-8 record down the stretch.

Florida was thought to be a contender for the league crown preseason. A lackluster 9-7 league record killed all chances when combined with a weak out-of-conference slate.

South Carolina was SEC Eastern Division co-champs with Tennessee and was still left on the sidelines.

The Gamecocks’ 21-9 record looks good, but with six losses coming in the SEC, the resume was slid into the trash.

Lastly Auburn was left out but probably gave the selection committee the most to think about.

The Tigers won 10 of their last 12 but lost to Tennessee in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament, missing a sure-fire chance to lock up a berth.