‘SEC! SEC!’ Gators quiet haters with title, making this the best men’s basketball league ever

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SAN ANTONIO — The 16-team SEC dominated the other leagues in men’s college basketball in November and December like no conference had done since the eight-team ACC of 1983-84, the ACC of Michael Jordan and Len Bias and Mark Price.

That 88.9 percent success rate included wins in most of the big games on the schedule, and having 16 teams means a whole bunch of big games. As the postseason began, the SEC had an opportunity to author the greatest season one conference has ever had in this sport. That wasn’t a media narrative. That was data.

And now, thanks to Florida’s dramatic 65-63 comeback win over Houston on Monday at the Alamodome to give the SEC its first national champion since Kentucky in 2012, it is done. Behold the best league ever: the 2024-25 SEC of Johni Broome and Zakai Zeigler and NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player Walter Clayton Jr.

The data piled up in the past three weeks leaves no doubt. Sorry to those who hate the SEC and even to those who are just sick of hearing about it. I get it. I also get that some want to make this about the era of player compensation and movement and the SEC’s resources. But it would be naïve to think it just started being about resources.

Nine years after hitting rock bottom with three NCAA bids and a majority of programs in an aimless malaise, the SEC collected on a concerted effort to prioritize the sport. Commissioner Greg Sankey brought in proven basketball people, Mike Tranghese and Dan Leibovitz, to the league office in 2016. Smart coach hires and scheduling practices ensued. And, yes, investment increased.

Hoist that thang 🏆@GatorsMBK x @MFinalFour pic.twitter.com/QMwZqtmqgH

— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) April 8, 2025

It got better quickly. It’s been good. But massive tournament success has eluded the SEC — the last championship game participant was Kentucky in 2014. It all came together in one spectacular season defined by old, cohesive teams. It’s a season that isn’t likely to be touched any time soon, by the SEC or any other league.

Consider:

• The SEC got 14 of its 16 teams into the NCAA Tournament, a record — blowing away the Big East’s 11 in 2011. That’s 87.5 percent of its teams, also a record.

• Seven teams in the Sweet 16 was a record. Four teams in the Elite Eight tied the record.

• The SEC went 23-13 in the tournament, and the 23 wins was — you guessed it — a record.

• That means the SEC played 35 games before Monday’s final, and every game a league plays in the NCAA Tournament before the final earns a “unit” from the NCAA, or about $2 million. So that’s about $70 million in revenue earned by the SEC. And yes, that’s a record. The ACC had 25 units for 25 games played in 2016, which at the time earned a reported $39.9 million.

The only thing the SEC didn’t match or exceed this season was the Big East’s trio of St. John’s, Georgetown and Villanova in the 1985 Final Four (with Villanova upsetting Georgetown in the final). Sankey did say Monday night after celebrating the win with the Gators on the court: “I was looking at that Big East, three out of four.”

Sankey also said: “We just had such a great year. They were prepared for a moment, prepared by their coaches, prepared as players and prepared by the competition.”

That was the big question, right? Would the rigors of this league help or hurt? Let’s bring back some comments from a few weeks ago.

From Kentucky coach Mark Pope at the SEC tournament: “It’s either going to tear you to shreds or it’s going to make you better.”

From Ole Miss coach Chris Beard at the SEC tournament: “I think nobody will know until we see.”

From me after the SEC tournament: “Don’t blow it, SEC. Here’s how you avoid that: Get six in the Sweet 16, three in the Elite Eight, two in the Final Four and one team cutting nets on April 7 in San Antonio as the SEC’s first champion since Kentucky in 2012. That’s all.”

It made them better. We all saw it. And the SEC didn’t blow it. The SEC exceeded those objectives.

They were lofty enough to give the naysayers hope. Now they must wait until next year, when Broome, Zeigler, Clayton and many others are gone. The SEC will be great again. But it won’t be this.

Lindsay Schnell contributed reporting to this story.

(Photo of Walter Clayton Jr.: Sam Hodde / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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