Sorry skeptics, SEC basketball is having a sweet NCAA Tournament. And it’s not done yet
You know skeptics were waiting to pounce. After listening all season to pronouncements the SEC was the strongest conference in college basketball history, skeptics were eager to see the “It Just Means More” league fall flat on its March Madness face.
Turns out “It Just Means More” means more teams in the regional semifinals of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Seven of this year’s so-called Sweet 16 teams are SEC members. That’s a tournament record, topping the ACC’s six in 2016.
The SEC’s Sweet Seven: No. 1 seed Auburn and No. 6 seed Ole Miss in Atlanta’s South Regional; No. 1 seed Florida and No. 10 seed Arkansas in San Francisco’s West Regional; No. 2 seed Alabama in Newark’s East Regional; No. 2 seed Tennessee and No. 3 seed Kentucky in Indianapolis’ Midwest Regional.
Five of the SEC seven held seeds. Two were outliers. Saturday, John Calipari and Arkansas stunned No. 2 seed St. John’s 75-66. Sunday, Chris Beard and Ole Miss knocked off No. 3 seed Iowa State 91-78.
Beard was asked last week if such a brutal conference season made league members better prepared for the NCAA Tournament, or were teams weakened by the gauntlet?
“A lot of it is yet to be determined,” the coach said. “If you’re going to write an article or a book about this, there’s a lot of chapters left.”
Conclusion from the tournament’s first weekend: Iron sharpens iron.
“We’re just battled tested,” Kentucky guard Lamont Butler said after the Wildcats’ 84-75 win against Illinois on Sunday. “Conference was a beast. We had a lot of good teams that we played, but we stayed resilient, stayed together.”
After Ole Miss lapped Iowa State, Beard’s Rebels agreed.
“Every game every night was a tough game,” forward Davon Barnes said. “It doesn’t surprise me at all that going into March Madness we have so many teams in the Sweet 16 because every team in the league was so good. And the results show.”
“It’s a dogfight every night, day in and day out. It’s two games a week,” teammate Matthew Murrell said. “Just the quick turnarounds, being able to do that in SEC play, it allows us to be able to do it here in the tournament.”
Experienced coaching doesn’t hurt. Calipari has coached six teams to the Final Four, including the 2012 Kentucky team that won the national title. Beard coached Texas Tech to the 2019 national title game. Bruce Pearl coached Auburn to the 2019 Final Four. Nate Oats coached Alabama to last season’s Final Four. Tennessee’s Rick Barnes coached Texas to the 2003 Final Four.
Meanwhile, Kentucky’s Mark Pope and Florida’s Todd Golden entered the 2025 tournament without a March Madness win. Florida outlasted two-time defending national UConn on Sunday to advance to the Sweet 16. A few hours later, a Kentucky team that has battled through injuries all season earned the program’s first Sweet 16 berth since 2019.
What are the odds the league can keep it up? In Thursday’s games, Alabama is a 4.5-point favorite over No. 6 seed BYU; Florida is a 6.5-point favorite over No. 4 seed Maryland; Arkansas is a 5.5-point underdog to No. 3 seed Texas Tech. On Friday, No. 1 seed Auburn is an 8.5-point favorite over No. 5 seed Michigan; Ole Miss is a 3.5-point underdog to No. 2 Michigan State; Tennessee is a 4.5-point favorite over Kentucky.
Ah, but Pope’s Cats swept Barnes’ Vols in their two regular-season meetings, winning in both Knoxville and Lexington. Then again, Tennessee finished with the better SEC record (12-6 to 10-8) and advanced two rounds farther in the league tournament.
And Tennessee is shooting much better now. The Vols were a combined 14-for-63 shooting from 3-point range for 22.2% against the Cats. In its two NCAA Tournament games at Rupp Arena, the Vols were 21-for-50 shooting on 3-pointers for 42%.
League teams can worry about all that this weekend. As of now, they can bask in the glow of knowing that they are upholding the conference’s lofty reputation while proving the skeptics wrong.
Or as SEC commissioner Greg Sankey told ESPN’s Pat McAfee on Monday, “It’s always nice to break records.”
This story was originally published March 25, 2025 at 3:00 AM with the headline "Sorry skeptics, SEC basketball is having a sweet NCAA Tournament. And it’s not done yet."
