The SEC owned the men’s college basketball spotlight last season, with Florida cutting down the nets and bringing a national title back to Gainesville. But fast forward to this season, and the landscape has shifted - and not in the conference's favor.
Right now, no SEC team cracks the top 11 in either the AP Top 25 or the Coaches Poll. Vanderbilt leads the charge, sitting at No. 12 in the Coaches Poll and No. 13 in the AP.
It’s a respectable showing, but a far cry from the dominance the league displayed just a season ago. In total, six SEC programs made the Coaches Poll, while seven earned spots in the AP rankings - a sign of depth, but not necessarily top-tier power.
So where does the SEC stand among college basketball’s power conferences? According to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, the league is squarely in the middle of the pack. His latest conference rankings place the SEC behind the Big 12 and Big Ten, but ahead of the ACC and Big East.
From a bracketology standpoint, Lunardi currently has nine SEC teams projected to make the NCAA Tournament - that’s two fewer than he had in November. Still, nine bids is nothing to scoff at, and the average seeding for those teams sits at 5.3. Florida, fittingly, is pegged as a No. 5 seed in his latest update.
But here’s where things get interesting. Unlike last season, when the SEC felt like a near-lock to produce the national champion, this year’s group doesn’t have a clear-cut title contender. Lunardi describes the league as deep and dangerous, but without that one team that feels inevitable come March.
“Unlike a season ago, when the SEC would have been hard-pressed to not produce the national champion, there is no certain title contender in an otherwise deep and ferocious conference,” Lunardi said. “It boasts both quality and quantity, just not at the same elite level as 2024-25.”
That doesn’t mean the SEC is out of the national picture. In fact, Lunardi believes as many as six teams from the conference have Final Four potential - including a Vanderbilt squad that’s turning heads and making folks wonder why we didn’t see this coming sooner.
“There just isn’t a clear favorite or even a ‘probable’ to do the deed,” Lunardi added, comparing the SEC’s current situation to what the Big Ten has experienced in recent years - plenty of good teams, just no obvious alpha.
Looking ahead, Lunardi points to a marquee matchup on the calendar: Alabama vs. Vanderbilt in Nashville on January 7. He’s calling it the “game of the year” in the SEC, and it could go a long way in shaping the pecking order as we inch closer to March.
So, while the SEC might not have a dominant juggernaut this season, it’s still loaded with teams that can make noise in the tournament. The top tier may be missing that one elite squad, but the depth?
Still very real. And as we’ve seen time and again, March is less about dominance and more about who gets hot at the right time.
The SEC may not be leading the charge right now, but don’t count it out when the brackets drop.