The South Eastern Conference was established in 1932. It is a sports organization that has its head quarters in Birmingham, Alabama. It represents the whole southern United States region. It participates in the national collegiate Athletics association. The original members of this organization included the university of Alabama, university of Kentucky, university of Georgia, university of Florida, Louisiana state university among others. In the beginning of the nineties Sec expanded the number of members and included: university of Arkansas and university of South Carolina. There are other games that are hosted by this sports organization but the point of focus here is the SEC basketball tournament history.
Development:
Basketball was among the first games to be hosted by SEC when it was established. The SEC championship basketball game was usually held at various sites like the Louisville gardens, the pyramid among others. The Sec champion is usually determined by the championship. In the fifties, the round robin had a total of fourteen games which was later to be expanded to sixteen and then eighteen games. At the beginning of the nineties, sec split into two divisions, the eastern and the western division.
Throughout the SEC basketball tournament history, the University of Kentucky dominated the basketball championship. They have won over forty tournaments in total which is way above the second and third teams. The other teams who have had exceptional performance include the university of Tennessee and Louisiana state university. The SEC has also been a participant in national basketball championships. The University of Kentucky has won the NCAA tournament a total of seven times. Arkansas and Alabama have each won the tournament once.
Famous SEC players:
SEC has nurtured the talent of some of the most popular basketball players in the region. Some of these names include John Wall, Pete Maravich, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’neal. Pete Maravich for instance was born in 1948. He joined the team of Louisiana state university as a player between 166 and 1970. He proceeded to be picked by the Atlanta hawks and also played for Boston Celtics and Utah jazz. He won countless awards and accolades throughout his basketball career and passed away in 1988. He is just an example of the many talented players that were brought to the attention of professional teams by SEC.
