If you've given even a passing glance to men's college basketball this year, you've doubtlessly become familiar with the dominance of the SEC.
After muddling through (ironically) a down year on the football field, the hoops version of the conference has confidently dispatched all comers in 2025. All 16 of its teams are in KenPom's top 78, while half the conference is in its top 23. The league's collective winning percentage of .752 is on track to break an SEC record set in 1944.
In contrast to '44—which ended with no SEC teams in a small NCAA tournament field—the league seems poised to send a massive delegation to this year's event. ESPN analyst Jay Bilas posited Monday on WJOX-FM's McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning that winning the SEC tournament could be a more difficult feat than winning its national counterpart.
“Winning the SEC tournament is going to be harder than winning the national championship because you’re doing it day after day after day... and playing better teams throughout the course of it than you would play in the course of the NCAA tournament,” Bilas said.
This year's tournament will involve all 16 league members—14 of which have been ranked at some point this season.
"I tend to think that the gauntlet (SEC teams are) going through is going to make them tougher than some of the other conferences are going to be when they get to the tournament," Bilas said.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as ESPN's Jay Bilas Suggests SEC Tournament Could Be Tougher Sledding Than NCAAs.
