In recent years, men’s college basketball has seen a new conference emerge as the flagship group to dominate March Madness: the SEC. Opposed to the historical dominance of conferences like the Big 12 and ACC, the past five years March Madness has been filled with an increasingly number of SEC teams, with ten in 2024 and an average of 7.75 teams making the cut the past eight years.
This year is no different.
The recent acquisitions of big-market teams such as the University of Texas and Oklahoma have further pushed the Southeastern Conference into the light which is shining brightly here in the 2024/25 season. Ten teams of the current AP-Top-25 Poll are in the SEC with four more receiving votes to be in the top 25. It’s no question that the SEC is the strongest conference in all of college basketball right now.
SEC On Top
Not only has the SEC consistently made its way into the rankings but they are the best of the best as well. The current No. 1 and No. 2 teams are in the Southeastern Conference(Tennessee and Auburn) with five more being ranked in the top 15.
No. 12 Oklahoma Sooners
No. 13 Texas A&M Aggies
These of course, are subject to change week to week but after the conclusion of week 9, none of these teams have taken a loss that will push them out of the top 15.
The Downside
However, having 15 high-level competitors filling up your conference is not necessarily a good thing. Each team has 18 conference matchups, playing two times twice and the rest of their conference once. That means even matchups against bottom feeder opponents are tight games- SEC’s worst team currently is the South Carolina Gamecocks who have a record of 10-4.
Because of this, some SEC teams have struggled to make a name for themselves despite having good seasons.
The Vanderbilt Commodores ae having one of their best starts in program history this year with a record of 13-1 but little attention has been given towards this team because of the pedigree of the Southeastern Conference. They have all of their conference games left still and people expect them to get blown out in all of these games, even though they have 13 wins.
Vanderbilt and others, like UT and the Georgia Bulldogs are stuck in a similar predicament- their potential is squandered due to their fierce competition.
The Bright Side
Playing good competition consistently does have its benefits though. The teams that manage to win a majority of their conference matchups will be entering March Madness with more experience playing high-level teams than other conferences.
The SEC’s best teams, right now it’s looking like Tennessee, Auburn and Alabama, will know the taste of nail biter games but more importantly, know how to win those games.
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