Last year, SEC basketball teams blitzed the ACC in their annual conference challenge. Alabama Basketball blew out North Carolina, winning by a 94-79 score. In the 16-game challenge, the SEC dominated with a 14-2 record.
This year, the ACC fared much better. The SEC still came out on top, but only by two wins, to finish 9-7. Even before all 16 games were played, national pundits began crowing about SEC basketball being way down for the 2025-26 season. While the ACC did improve, a close look shows that four of the SEC losses were by three or fewer points. Duke beat Florida 67-66. Virginia Tech beat South Carolina 86-83. Syracuse beat Tennessee 62-60, and North Carolina beat Kentucky 67-64.
There is an interesting counterpoint to ponder, provided by a solid college basketball expert, Jeff Goodman. The NCAA NET rankings are sketchy at this point in the season, but so far, the SEC has more teams in the NET Top 75 than any other conference. The difference is greater in the percentage of each conference's teams.
- SEC Basketball - 13 of 16 teams in Top 75 - 81.3%
- Big 12 Basketball - 11 of 16 teams - 68.8%
- Big Ten Basketball - 12 of 18 teams - 66.7%
- ACC Basketball - 11 of 18 teams - 61.1%
- Big East Basketball - 5 of 11 teams - 45.5%
SEC Basketball Power Rankings
A valid SEC Power Ranking requires at least a couple of SEC vs. SEC games. Until then, computer rankings suggest that up to 12 SEC basketball teams have the potential to be in the SEC's upper tier. The four that possibly do not are Texas, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and South Carolina.
SEC vs. ACC Challenge Results
SEC Wins: Oklahoma 86 - Wake Forest 68; Texas A&M 81 - Pitt 73; Georgia 107 - FSU 73; LSU 78 - Boston College 69; Alabama 90 - Clemson 84; Arkansas 89 - Louisville 80; Vanderbilt 89 - SMU 69; Mississippi State 85 - Georgia Tech 73; Auburn 83 - North Carolina State 73.
ACC Wins: Duke 67 - Florida 66; Syracuse 62 - Tennessee 60; North Carolina 67 - Kentucky 64; Virginia Tech 86 - South Carolina 83; Miami 75 - Ole Miss 66 - Notre Dame 76 - Missouri 71; Virginia 88 - Texas 69
Bart Torvik's conference rankings has the SEC as No.1 and the ACC as No. 4.