Streaking Auburn vs. Kentucky with P.J. Washington? It’s a dream Elite Eight matchup for the SEC

An all-SEC regional final? Yes, please.

It’s only the second time in the past 30 years that a pair of SEC teams will face off in the Elite Eight or later in the NCAA Tournament.

So yeah, I’m going to be parked in front of my TV, locked in for every second of Auburn and Kentucky on Sunday afternoon.

Of course in a year in which the football-crazed SEC showed the world “we do this basketball thing pretty well, too,” the traditional SEC blue blood will face a program with vastly more history with the pigskin than on the hardwood.

In football, the SEC is considered the power conference in part because its conference champion made it to the Playoff in every year of its existence so far. Now, a pair of SEC teams will battle to get to what’s the basketball equivalent of the Playoff. It’s a signature accomplishment that has a way of defining whether a conference had a successful season.

It’s an ideal way for the SEC to close the 2018-19 season. It’s been an important, brand-changing year for the SEC, and that won’t change even if it’s Kentucky that once again is the conference’s last team standing.

And to be clear, the matchup has a lot to do with it. Auburn isn’t a Cinderella team like South Carolina was a couple years ago. Dominating blue bloods like Kansas and UNC are proof of that. The Tigers entered the season with high expectations. It just took until March to reach them. Then exceed them.

Honestly, it was somewhat surprising to see Auburn — winners of 11 in a row — as a roughly 4.5-point underdog. I tend to think a lot of that has to do with P.J. Washington.

Getting him back and healthy was the difference in that Houston game. Without him returning for the Sweet 16, the Cats are sitting at home right now. The Cats’ leading scorer looked like he was at 100 percent, and the expectation is that he will be even on a quick turnaround.

And the other part of that line could be the fact that Auburn’s Chuma Okeke is out after suffering a torn ACL at the end of that UNC game. Okeke was in the midst of a career game. While Bryce Brown and Jared Harper have been the headliners, Okeke’s emergence down the stretch was an integral part on Auburn getting to this point.

Let’s make history. Together.#WarEagle x #UnfinishedBusiness pic.twitter.com/8W70d5vQV1

— Auburn Basketball (@AuburnMBB) March 30, 2019

Speaking of Auburn getting to this point, now is the part wherein I examine each program’s history and point out just how one-sided it really is (not that it will matter when the ball is tipped Sunday):

Are we sure these schools actually play in the same conference? That’s incredible.

(I realize that I could make a graphic like this for football that would make Auburn look like a juggernaut and Kentucky look like an FCS school.)

Subconsciously or not, that chart factored into the line from the oddsmakers, which actually began at Kentucky -2.5. But does that matter? No. It’s actually pretty amazing that despite how different each program is from a historical perspective, the oddsmakers have it pegged as only a 2 possession game. I’m not sure you’d see something like that happen in college football.

Therein lies the beauty of March. It won’t matter that Kentucky has far more history or talent than Auburn. Anything can happen inside that 40-minute window. The same people who think this will be a cakewalk for Kentucky probably thought the same would be true for Kansas and UNC when they took on streaking Auburn.

And sure, Kentucky getting to the Final Four wouldn’t be earth-shattering news. But for a program that fell short of that standard each of the past 3 seasons, perhaps an achievement like that wouldn’t be taken for granted.

Whoever emerges, the SEC will have a chance to earn its first national championship berth in 5 years. That’s significant, too. What’s to say Auburn or Kentucky can’t win it all? Even though Auburn would be billed as the “happy to be there” team if it reached the Final Four, the Tigers beat too many quality opponents during this streak not to believe they can be the last ones standing.

On Sunday, one SEC team will be the last one standing. The SEC association is about the only thing both teams share. And, well, both northeast natives John Calipari and Bruce Pearl took 3 different programs to the Sweet 16.

The contrast in program style and history couldn’t be greater, though. The SEC will showcase a pair of teams in completely different places who are both after the same thing.

I’m here for it.

Connor O'Gara

Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.