So the field of 65 is set and I'm already reserving the couch and the remote control starting about 11:30 a.m. Thursday.

But looking at the selection of the field and reading between the lines provides a fascinating (and sobering) commentary on SEC basketball.

In short, the NCAA selection committee wasn't impressed. At all. And spoke -- through selections and seedings -- in unprecedented fashion. And as for Auburn's chances? The committee appeared to say, "What chances?"

Exactly what are we talking about? Well, check this out:

***Never had an SEC team, since the league went to a 16-game schedule in 1992, has a team with a 10-6 SEC record been left out. But this year, both Auburn and South Carolina are sitting at home with their 10-6 league marks.

***Never has the SEC sent just three teams to the NCAAs since the 16-game league schedule in 1992, yet that's what happened Sunday with LSU, Tennessee and Mississippi State. It's the fewest since the SEC sent three teams in 1990.

***LSU, seeded eighth in the South region, received the second-lowest seeding ever for an SEC regular season champ. Tennessee had the lowest as a nine-seed in 1982 when it shared the SEC regular season title with Kentucky. Seeding began in 1979.

***Mississippi State, seeded 13th in the West region, received the second-lowest seeding ever for an SEC team. The worst, of course, was Georgia last year -- which went 17-17 but got a spot as a 14th-seed after being perhaps the most stunning winner of the SEC Tournament ever (or at least since its renewal in 1979) on the heels of going 4-12 in SEC play.

***As for Auburn's claim to the NCAA tournament, the committee didn't appear to even give the Tigers a look. According to CollegeRPI.com, Auburn finished with an RPI of 64 (MSU was 63) and a SOS of 62 (MSU was 53). Auburn finished 10-6 in SEC play and 22-11 overall (MSU was 9-7 and 23-12). Auburn was 9-3 in its last 12 (MSU was 7-5). In other words, Auburn and MSU were almost identical.

Yet MSU's No. 13 seed was lower than any at-large teams (Arizona and Wisconsin were the lowest-seeded at-large teams, both 12 seeds). And MSU was seeded on the same line as fellow 13 seeds Cleveland State of the Horizon League, Akron of the Mid-American Conference and Portland State of the Big Sky Conference.

(Ouch! How does that look? Horizon League, Mid-American Conference, Big Sky Conference. ...SEC?!?).

Bottom line? SEC basketball hasn't been this irrelevant since expanding to 12 teams in 1992. And the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee -- chaired by SEC Commissioner Mike Slive --essentially said to the SEC, "You stink!"

What do you make of all this? And is the future as bleak as the present?