Bruce Pearl has transformed Auburn into a basketball powerhouse, reflecting significant progress in SEC men’s basketball. With the SEC tournament approaching, the league could send 13 teams to the NCAA tournament, breaking the Big East’s record. SEC teams have shown increased competitiveness, highlighted by notable upsets and a depth of talent. The league’s resurgence stems from strategic changes, improved resources, and substantial investment in basketball, led by Commissioner Greg Sankey. Coaches acknowledge the rigorous competition in the SEC, with teams striving for success in both regular-season play and the upcoming tournament, which could yield multiple Sweet 16 matchups featuring SEC teams.
Bruce Pearl has always been bold and willing to take risks. He’s not only an expert marketer but also an exceptional basketball coach.
Take a look at what he has achieved at Auburn during a remarkable regular season for the top-ranked Tigers — and for the entire SEC. As the SEC’s men’s basketball tournament is set to kick off this Wednesday in Nashville, Tennessee, the league is on track to send 13 teams to the NCAA tournament, a feat projected by ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi that would surpass the Big East’s record of 11 bids from 2011.
The top-tier results are due to Pearl, who has changed “The Loveliest Village on the Plains” into a community equally passionate about basketball as it is about football. Pearl offers unique insight into how formidable the SEC, which has traditionally been dominated by football, has become in basketball.
“I genuinely mean it. It will be fascinating to see how many coaches decide to stay in this league,” Pearl remarked. “We have some coaches performing excellently, elevating their programs, yet they remain in the league’s middle or lower tier because of its competitiveness.”
“Some might think, ‘You know what? You can have it,’ and move on.”
This is reminiscent of the long-standing grueling nature of SEC football. Notably, six different schools in the conference have claimed national championships since the inception of the BCS in 1998, with the league winning seven consecutive titles from 2006 to 2012.
But what about men’s basketball?
Aside from a handful of teams, the SEC struggled significantly during 2016 when Greg Sankey took over as commissioner. That year, only three SEC teams qualified for the NCAA tournament, one being an 11-seed Vanderbilt team that lost in the First Four. Texas A&M was the only team to reach beyond the second round.
Sankey described that Selection Sunday as “a bad day,” marking a period of poor performance on the court. From 2013 to 2016, the SEC had only three teams in the NCAA field in three separate instances.
The situation had reached a critical point needing intervention.
“There was some reluctance to openly state that we wanted to invest resources in basketball,” noted Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter, who played All-SEC basketball for the Rebels in 1999. “Football has historically been the primary revenue source, and there was a fear in this conference that focusing on basketball might undermine football. What we’ve come to understand is that we can excel in both.”
THE BIDS FOR this year’s NCAA tournament will be announced on Sunday, and six SEC teams — Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas A&M — are in contention for top-three seeds, with Auburn likely securing the No. 1 overall seed.
“That’s six out of the top 12. I mean, wow,” remarked Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams, whose teams have reached the NCAA tournament across three conferences. “I personally believe there will be an SEC vs. SEC matchup just to make it to the Sweet 16. For sure, an SEC vs. SEC matchup will happen in the Sweet 16.”
The last two weeks of the regular season demonstrated the league’s depth through surprises. Unranked Georgia took down No. 3 Florida, which then rebounded to beat Alabama a week later. Texas A&M, after losing four consecutive games, defeated No. 1 Auburn decisively on March 4. Meanwhile, unranked Ole Miss edged out No. 4 Tennessee, just days after Tennessee’s buzzer-beater victory over Alabama. Alabama finished strong by toppling Auburn in overtime on the final day of the regular season.
Vanderbilt exemplifies this balance within the league perfectly. Predicted to finish last in Mark Byington’s first coaching season, the Commodores have tallied 20 victories and are nearly assured of an NCAA tournament spot, just like Georgia, which hasn’t made an NCAA appearance since 2015.
“You can clearly see the league’s depth, especially with how many teams we expect to reach the [NCAA] tournament,” remarked Williams, who guided Marquette to the Sweet 16 in 2011 when the Big East previously set a record with 11 NCAA tournament teams. “Additionally, we are witnessing depth within the talent on each roster. We faced [Rueben Chinyelu] against Florida and got him in foul trouble. They substituted in [Micah Handlogten], who was even better. Not to mention [Alex Condon], who absolutely dominated Alabama.”
John Calipari, beginning his first season at Arkansas after 15 years at Kentucky, has witnessed the evolution firsthand. He once promoted the notion that the SEC wasn’t just about Kentucky and the rest. The Wildcats have reached the Final Four in seven of the last eight decades (with the exception of this one) since the 1940s.
While Kentucky remains the premier program in the SEC, it now has worthy competition.
“Just look at the investments, coaching talent in this league, the engaged fanbase, and the difficulty of securing wins on the road,” Calipari stated. “It’s an environment akin to the Sweet 16 every time you step onto the court.”
Seeing such a strong SEC from top to bottom would have seemed unimaginable to Tennessee’s Rick Barnes growing up immersed in ACC culture in Hickory, North Carolina. He coached under Wimp Sanderson at Alabama during the mid-1980s when the SEC featured some competitive teams and renowned players.
Yet a lingering stigma surrounded SEC basketball, viewed more as an accepted secondary sport by both the league’s officials and many schools beyond Kentucky.
“The running joke was there’s football season, followed by spring football, and everything else falls behind, with basketball somewhere in between,” Barnes recalled, having taken teams from four conferences to the NCAA tournament. “Leadership in the conference and schools had fostered this mentality. There simply wasn’t an emphasis on basketball throughout the league.”
Sankey aimed to alter this narrative. His predecessor, Mike Slive, had initiated efforts in 2013 to improve the league’s nonconference schedules by bringing in Greg Shaheen, who had previously overseen NCAA championships. In 2013, the SEC received a mere three NCAA bids, with Florida as the only team advancing past the first weekend.
One of Sankey’s first actions as SEC commissioner in 2016 was to consult with former Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese. Shortly thereafter, he appointed Tranghese as a consultant and a few months later brought in Dan Leibovitz as the associate commissioner for men’s basketball. Leibovitz had experience coaching at both the college and NBA levels.
“We needed someone with a basketball background who understood the challenges we coaches face,” noted Barnes. “We were struggling with scheduling and officiating issues. The SEC once had the best officials in the country under John Guthrie. We needed someone like Dan, a strong advocate for basketball in our league.”
When Leibovitz left for the Big East in 2023, Sankey replaced him with Garth Glissman, who had previously served as vice president of basketball operations for the NBA.
“We’ve continued to reinvest in basketball within our league, which has elevated the level of play, fan engagement, and talent depth … elevating it to a new standard,” shared Pearl, whose Tigers have notched either the SEC regular-season title or tournament championship five times across the past eight years.
Tranghese plays down his contributions to the SEC’s renewed focus on basketball, as one former league coach put it, “getting them off their chairs and into action.” However, he did not hold back during those early discussions with athletic directors and coaches in 2016.
“They appeared completely disheartened,” Tranghese recounted. “The coaches felt no one cared. I can’t say all the ADs in that meeting were convinced they could win. I found it ridiculous. I told the ADs, ‘This notion of not being able to succeed is utterly nonsensical.’ One AD even mentioned that winning in basketball wasn’t feasible because the league excelled in football.”
“My response was, ‘Why not? You have the resources, a dedicated fan base, and talented athletes nearby. Leverage football to your advantage.’ Most importantly, I urged them to stop complaining and to cease finding excuses.”
Tranghese assisted schools in their hiring processes for coaches without dictating choices.
“I guided them more on potential pitfalls in hiring,” he said, noting that nine of the current 16 coaches in the SEC have propelled teams to the Elite Eight.
Having been a part of the College Football Playoff selection committee in 2014-15, Tranghese sensed the uneasiness among coaches regarding basketball’s status within their athletic departments. He appreciated former Florida AD Jeremy Foley’s presence in those initial meetings. Foley showcased that success in both sports was entirely achievable. Florida earned football national championships in 2006 and 2008, and under Billy Donovan, the Gators claimed consecutive basketball titles in 2006 and 2007, a feat not replicated until UConn’s repeat in the past two seasons.
“I told the coaches, ‘No matter who your athletic director is, that shouldn’t be an excuse for not winning,'” Tranghese stated. “Perhaps they won’t handhold you or allocate significant attention to you like they do for football, but it shouldn’t matter as long as you have the necessary resources to succeed.”
THERE WERE INDICATIONS that this season’s triumphs could be on the horizon after the previous season, where the SEC tied its all-time high of eight NCAA bids (also achieved in 2023 and 2018). Last season’s four top-4 seeds were the most for the league since 2002, and Alabama made its first Final Four appearance. The Tide have reached the Sweet 16 in three of the last four years. Prior to Nate Oats’ arrival six seasons ago, Alabama had not reached the Sweet 16 since 2004.
“With the addition of Texas and Oklahoma,” remarked Mississippi State coach Chris Jans, “none of the teams in our league could doubt their roster’s potential to reach the NCAA tournament, and that’s been reflected in the results.”
Pearl mentioned that a significant factor in this success has been a strong commitment to NIL.
“Every school in the league is getting involved,” Pearl explained. “Institutions are investing. You know I’ve mentioned before that we can be more competitive at Auburn regarding NIL, though we are not the leaders.”
Pearl, like many in the SEC, has benefitted immensely from the transfer portal. Senior center Johni Broome is a prime candidate for national player of the year, having joined Auburn after beginning his college career at Morehead State.
Many stars in the SEC have previously played at mid-major colleges, such as Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr. (Iona), Alabama’s Sears (Ohio), Tennessee’s Chaz Lanier (North Florida), and Vanderbilt’s Jason Edwards (North Texas). Last season, Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht led the SEC in scoring after transferring from Northern Colorado.
“Every year, the competition intensifies, and I’d say this year is the toughest yet,” stated Tennessee senior point guard Zakai Zeigler, now in his fourth season. “It illustrates just how competitive our teams are. You’ve got top-ranked teams losing to those in the middle or lower in our league. It’s the same every game.”
“In conference play, there’s no slacking off or slackening of intensity. You must bring your best every time,” he added.
Zeigler is among many seniors holding pivotal roles within the SEC, offering experience that could be critical for postseason success. According to ESPN Research, 77 seniors in the SEC have started at least one game this season, with 58 of those starting double-digit games. Comparatively, the Big Ten and ACC have 68 seniors with starts, while the Big Ten and ACC have 50 and 48 seniors starting double-digit games, respectively. Auburn boasts six players in their fifth year or older (only four teams in the country have more), while their starting five averages 23.2 years. Alabama’s starting five averages 22 years, Tennessee’s is 21.8, and Florida’s is 21.6.
The nonconference segment of the schedule highlighted the league’s depth. The SEC’s nonconference winning percentage stood at an impressive .889 (185-23). The last time any conference achieved such a dominant performance in non-league play was the ACC in 2003-04 with an .882 percentage. The SEC went 30-4 against the ACC, 14-2 against the Big 12, and 10-9 against the Big Ten.
Last month, ESPN’s Jay Bilas, a member of Duke’s 1986 national runner-up team, declared the SEC “the most formidable basketball league, top to bottom, that has ever existed. I have not witnessed anything remotely close to what we are observing in the Southeastern Conference this year.”
2:42
ESPN’s Bilas: ‘SEC has the best league in the country, by far’
While discussing the significance of Auburn and Alabama being ranked No. 1 and 2, respectively, Jay Bilas explains why the SEC has the best men’s basketball league he’s ever seen.
However, that was February, and the true legacies in college basketball are forged in March. Declaring a conference as the strongest in history before the postseason commences is comparable to predicting the outcome of a 100-meter race before the final 20 meters.
Tranghese stood beside former Big East commissioner Dave Gavitt during the league’s inception and witnessed the formidable Big East of the 1980s. In 1985, Georgetown, St. John’s, and Villanova all reached the Final Four, with Villanova shocking Georgetown in the championship match. Boston College also reached the Sweet 16 during that season, with six out of the league’s nine teams qualifying for the NCAA tournament.
That remains the only instance of three teams from the same conference advancing to the Final Four.
“I don’t think anyone has dominated regular-season play as the SEC has this year,” Tranghese asserted. “The Big East had an undeniably exceptional postseason, but in terms of regular-season comparisons, the SEC boasts two No. 1 seeds, four of the top eight seeds, nine in the top 25. I’ve never encountered anything like this before.”
Since Kentucky’s national championship victory in 2012, no SEC team has claimed the title, so ending this drought will significantly impact the narrative of this season. In 2019, the ACC produced three No. 1 seeds, including Virginia, which ultimately won the national championship. Duke and North Carolina were also No. 1 seeds that year.
“It’s possible that competing in the SEC tournament might be more challenging than reaching the Final Four,” Pearl speculated about a season in which the SEC could tie the record for three No. 1 seeds from a single conference. “Facing higher-ranked teams than those you’d encounter in the Sweet 16 could be the norm.”
Zeigler, who aspires to lead Tennessee to its first Final Four, voiced that he wouldn’t be shocked if all four spots in the Final Four were filled by SEC teams.
“I understand the quality of the SEC,” he noted. “I compete against these teams every game. So if SEC teams end up in both sides of the bracket, I wouldn’t be surprised whatsoever.”
“You could probably ask anyone in our league; we’ve all experienced this.”
THERE ARE TWO perspectives regarding the impact of competing in such a rigorous league when transitioning to the one-and-done nature of the NCAA tournament. Some believe it prepares you by making you more battle-tested, while others think the toll of the regular season ultimately catches up to you.
“We’ll find out soon enough,” Pearl remarked. “The only way to ascertain this is to see what happens later in March. Balancing both mental and physical fatigue from a grueling season compared to teams from leagues with less competition produces distinct variations. While many power conferences are strong, the SEC stands apart in its dominance.”
Pearl stated that he has limited Auburn’s court time between games to minimize fatigue.
“We’ve got to reduce practice duration and intensity to remain fresh,” he acknowledged. “However, the relentless nature of our scheduling is taxing. Every team must deliver effort and energy each night to secure victories.”
Williams maintained that whatever transpires later this month won’t detract from the SEC’s dominance throughout the regular season.
“The true measure of your competitive character lies in what you achieve over the extended conference season, as you’re evaluated 18 times,” Williams said. “I don’t believe a single knockout game in the postseason should overshadow or diminish the significance of those ten weeks spent competing in what’s statistically the top league ever.”
For Barnes, who has now spent ten seasons at Tennessee, things have come full circle. The Vols are the only SEC team to have achieved 25 or more wins in each of the last four years. Barnes was once approached by Tennessee about the job when he was younger, initially while he was at Providence and then again at Clemson. He hesitated to accept due to doubts about the SEC’s commitment to basketball.
When Tennessee dismissed Don DeVoe after the 1989 season, Barnes met with then-Tennessee athletic director Doug Dickey regarding the position. He fondly recalls informing journalist and close friend John Feinstein and Gavitt, who remained a mentor to Barnes until his passing in 2011, about the meeting.
“Both urged me against taking the job, stating, ‘They don’t care about basketball. You are already in a basketball-focused league,'” Barnes recounted. “That was the prevailing sentiment; it had nothing to do with Dickey. It mirrored the overall landscape of the league, which prided itself on being the leading football conference.”
“Today, however, there’s a unified commitment in this league to excel across all sports, fostering immense pride. The transformation we’ve witnessed in basketball is unprecedented and would have been hard to envision during my upbringing in the Carolinas.”