On Saturday the NCAA Tournament committee will release the top 16 seeds for the Big Dance, through games of Feb. 14. SEC basketball teams will heavily populate the 16. The SEC's dominance at the top is unprecedented with three of the 1-seeds expected to be SEC teams. Almost more stunning is the SEC's depth. If Arkansas works out of the bubble and into the final field on Selection Sunday, the SEC could have 14 of its 16 teams in the tournament. The record for the most teams from one conference is the Big East with 11 in 2011.
On Wednesday Joe Lunardi published an interesting analysis of the strength of college basketball's 'Power Conferences' and where each stands in NCAA Tournament projections. It is behind a paywall, so no links are provided. I can say that Lunardi is very bullish on an SEC team winning it all.
Numbers wizard Evan Miyakawa recently tweeted that based on team efficiency numbers, only five teams are true NCAA Tournament "Title Favorites." Three of the five are Auburn, Florida, and Alabama Basketball. The other two teams are Duke and Houston. According to Miyakawa "The last nine national champs have been in the 'Title Favorites' group on Selection Sunday." He has 11 more teams rated as Final Four contenders. Two of them are Tennessee and Texas A&M.
The SEC's strength based on NCAA NET Quad 1 wins is undeniable. The top eight SEC basketball most often projected as NCAA Tournament 6-seeds or higher (Auburn, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Missouri, Kentucky, and Ole Miss have a combined Quad 1 record of 58-36. Twenty-six of the 36 losses have come against SEC teams.
College Basketball Experts and the 2025 SEC
Many college basketball experts who have followed the game for decades state that such strength by one basketball conference has never before been reached. It is not a stretch to claim that at least the NCAA Tournament First and Second Rounds will feel like breathers for most SEC teams.
In the history of SEC basketball only one program, the Kentucky Wildcats had reason to feel the SEC regular season and the SEC Tournament were just preludes to the competition that mattered most. That is where Alabama Basketball and Auburn are now. And for most SEC basketball fans ahead is a March like never before.