The 2025 NCAA Tournament hasn’t been favorable to the SEC. The conference with the most teams is quite literally putting up some of the worst numbers, considering 14 teams were awarded a shot at a national championship.
While, yes, they have won four games through a day-and-a-half of the NCAA Tournament, there’s more to it than what meets the eye.
Let’s look at those four wins.
Texas A&M defeated Yale, Tennessee defeated Wofford, Alabama struggled against Robert Morris, Arkansas beat a miserable Kansas team and Auburn beat Alabama State. Ah yes, the mark of a strong start to the tournament right?
No. Especially when you look at the conference’s losses so far: Xavier in the play-in, Mississippi State lost to Baylor in the first game on Friday and Missouri lost to Drake. Because the team that was touted as the strongest conference in college basketball can’t win against teams that “wouldn’t stand a chance in the SEC”.
That’s why that phrase is truly a pointless phrase, because even the teams that do play in the SEC can hardly keep pace. And the ones that did and made it to the tournament, have had underwhelming performances through the first round.
This year is proof no conference deserves nearly every team to have a bid in the NCAA Tournament
What the selection committee and the SEC needs to understand is that the NCAA Tournament needs to keep its exclusivity. The NCAA Tournament should be a reward for good seasons, not a reward for playing in a tough conference. This season showed the regular season means nothing when it comes to the NCAA Tournament.
Because if we looked past the fact that Vanderbilt and Texas were two of the worst teams in the conference, it would prove that means nothing when it comes to showing up on game day.
The NCAA Tournament is all about which teams show up on game day. Not which teams are the best in the field. That’s why upsets exist, mismatches happen and teams end up going on runs that we’ve never heard of.
The SEC doesn’t get a pass just because it’s a tough conference. There is no reason why 14 teams should have gotten in, stealing a spot from a more deserving team and still underperforming. With 14 teams in the field, I’m expecting SEC dominance.
It’s been everything but that, and had the conference not had six teams seeded within the first four seeds, they probably have a few more losses.
Once upon a time, I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have that many SEC teams in the field because the conference was really good. But regular season success shouldn’t carry the weight it does.
Just like a regular season title doesn’t give you an automatic bid into the field, neither should regular season success. Prove you’re tournament worthy by winning in the conference tournament.
That’s what all the smaller schools had to do and some of them still were omitted over a more inferior SEC team. What’s the point of the conference tournament if losing doesn’t hinder you?