The tournament results indicate that the entire league wasn't exactly dominant. Only A&M and USC had winning tournament records, with the Pigs losing in the first round to Wright State. But then they also beat UCONN - go figure.
The lack of normal non-conference games made seeding between leagues difficult, IMO. The teams also tend to build teams that compete within the conference. Given how big USC is, that's what our teams tend to look like. I think most of the SEC teams got beat by smaller, quicker teams.