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One of the most exciting weekends on the college basketball calendar has come and gone. The NCAA gave fans a sneak peek of what the NCAA Tournament bracket could look like when it revealed its top 16 seeds, with six of the top 10 teams on the seed list coming from the SEC.
Auburn, Alabama, and Florida were on the No. 1 seed line alongside Duke. The last time three teams from the same conference received a No. 1 seed was 2019, when Duke, Virginia and North Carolina accomplished the feat en route to the Cavaliers winning the national title.
While Alabama, Auburn and Florida are stone-cold locks to make the NCAA Tournament, other members of the SEC will have to sweat out the next few weeks. Among them are Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma. The Sooners lost a heartbreaker to LSU, the Razorbacks couldn't overcome a deficit against Texas A&M and Texas picked up a critical win over a shorthanded Kentucky squad thanks to a 32-point outing from freshman Tre Johnson, the leading scorer in the SEC.
With Selection Sunday less than four weeks away, CBS Sports' Isaac Trotter and Cameron Salerno dive into various topics in the sport they're buying or selling.
1. Buy or sell: The SEC gets three or more No. 1 seeds
Salerno: Sell. I'm confident the SEC would get two teams in as a No. 1 seed if the season ended today: Auburn and Alabama. Florida certainly has a strong case, as does Tennessee, but when the bracket is released next month, I believe only Auburn and Alabama will earn a No. 1 seed. The other two No. 1 seeds? Duke and Houston. Duke will get a No. 1 seed, assuming it closes the season strong and wins the ACC. That leaves one more No. 1 seed up for grabs. Houston has looked like a different team since early losses to Alabama, Auburn and San Diego State. The Cougars are underrated. Case in point? The committee made them the final No. 2 seed in the early reveal despite being ranked No. 6 in the latest polls.
Trotter: Sell. Duke and Houston are humming along in the chase for No. 1 seeds. I don't see many pitfalls left for those two squads. Meanwhile in the SEC, 40 minutes of hell are waiting every night. This league will cannibalize itself on the chase for three No. 1 seeds, down the stretch of the regular season and again in the SEC Tournament. That's OK. I believe the SEC will get more teams to the Final Four than to the No. 1 line.
2. Buy or sell: Michigan will win the Big Ten regular season title
Salerno: Buy. I've been a pretty big believer in Michigan since the season started. I tabbed the Wolverines as one of my underrated teams in our overrated/underrated Big Ten breakdown and picked them to finish third behind Indiana and UCLA in our preseason expert picks. But even then, if you told me Michigan would be in the thick of the Big Ten title race right now, I would've been (sort of) surprised. The Big Ten was wide open coming into the season, so the door was going to be open for a surprise team. Michigan is the best team in the Big Ten, in my opinion. He might not win the award, but Dusty May deserves some serious recognition for National Coach of the Year. He has changed that program for the better.
Trotter: Buy ... kinda? Michigan has reeled off a six-game winning streak and now stands alone atop the Big Ten standings with six games to go, despite actually not playing all that well. The first-place team in the Big Ten has the seventh-best offense and seventh-best defense during league play. I have no idea what to make of that. May has leaned heavily on two-way rim dominance as the best formula for grinding out wins, but the late-game good fortune has certainly swung its way lately after some terrible luck early in the season. I think Michigan gets a share of the Big Ten title, but I don't think it will win it outright. Still, a banner is very likely going up in Ann Arbor in Year 1. Pretty, pretty good. Just wait until this team actually starts to click. It could get scary.
3. Buy or sell: SEC in danger of these three sliding off bubble
Salerno: Buy. Oklahoma suffered an inexcusable loss (more on that later) to LSU last weekend. Georgia has been sliding since SEC play started. Arkansas is on the bubble but I still doubt John Calipari's squad without Boogie Fland in the lineup. The win over Kentucky certainly was season-changing, but there is still work to get off the bubble for good. Again, if I had to predict one of these teams to make the NCAA Tournament, it would be Arkansas. Still, that's a low bar to clear after all the preseason hype generated by Coach Cal's arrival.
Trotter: Buy. And the case is simple. We have plenty of proof that Georgia is ... not great. We have plenty of proof that Oklahoma is ... not great. And Arkansas, which also might not be very good, is running out of time to bolster its once-left-for-dead resume. This league is just too much of a bear. If you have warts, they will be exposed. All three of these teams could easily finish 6-12, or worse, in the SEC. Luckily for them, conference records are not on the team sheet for the committee.
4. Buy or sell: AU's Broome has closed gap in NPOY race
Salerno: Sell. Let me start by saying Broome is an amazing player. Broome and Duke's Cooper Flagg have been the two best players in the sport this season, and either would deserve the nod. But the NPOY race is over, barring something drastic happening in the next few weeks. The award was Flagg's to lose once Broome missed time with an unfortunate ankle injury. Flagg has been on a tear lately and has exceeded the preseason hype generated when he enrolled at Duke as a 17-year-old freshman. We saw Flagg and Broome face off earlier this season at Cameron Indoor Stadium. College basketball fans should hope for a rematch between these players and teams sometime in April.
Trotter: Buy. Broome has certainly closed the gap and it's reflected in both the betting markets and KenPom's National Player of the Year projections. Flagg would be the deserving pick if the season ended today -- thankfully, it does not -- but if Broome keeps balling for an all-time Auburn team that finds a way to win the strongest conference in the history of the sport, the momentum will continue to grow. Flagg is still No. 1 now, but it's getting closer and closer.
5. Buy or sell: Texas' Tre Johnson is CBB's second-best frosh
Salerno: Sell. But ... you could maybe make an argument for it. Cooper Flagg is a tier above everyone else in his class, but after that, it's fair game. I would probably lean toward Dylan Harper because he has been ranked No. 2 in our CBS Sports Freshman Rankings pretty much the entire season, but Johnson's ability as a shot-maker is eye-popping. If Texas gets into the NCAA Tournament, Johnson has all the makings to become a March Madness legend. He can single-handedly take over a game (like he did against Kentucky last weekend) and is one of the best microwave scorers in the sport regardless of class.
Trotter: Sell. Flagg is No. 1 but if you wanted to say that Johnson has had the second-best 2024-25 campaign, I wouldn't argue. Johnson has been awesome. He's carrying a heavy load for a Texas team that needs everything and then some from him. The shot-making is nuts. He has flashed much more playmaking lately. He clearly cares defensively and has shown real fight. Johnson wants to win desperately every single night. But even with the gaudy numbers, winning has to matter, right? His counting stats aren't in the same stratosphere, but I do think Auburn's Tahaad Pettiford would edge Johnson in the SEC Freshman of the Year race.
6. Buy or Sell: Oklahoma coach Porter Moser is on a red-hot seat
Salerno: Buy. This was/is a make-or-break season for Moser at Oklahoma. A perennial winner at Loyola-Chicago, it just has not quite clicked in Norman for Moser. The Sooners missed the NCAA Tournament the first three years of his tenure at the school and could be heading toward a fourth. Oklahoma was up by five points in the final 40 seconds against LSU and lost the game in regulation. That's an inexcusable loss for a team trying to make the NCAA Tournament. Anything short of an NCAA Tournament for Oklahoma might result in the newest member of the SEC looking elsewhere for a coach next month. However, my colleague makes an excellent point below on why Moser might return during the 2025-26 season.
Trotter: Sell. The fact that Moser has Oklahoma even flirting with an NCAA Tournament appearance in the middle of February in this league is remarkable. Remember, Oklahoma was gouged in the portal, losing starting point guard Milos Uzan to Houston, starting 2-guard Javian McCollum to Georgia Tech and starting wing Otega Oweh to Kentucky. Oklahoma desperately needs to make changes to its basketball program, but firing Moser would be a real mistake. OU, which is believed to be near the bottom of NIL spending in the SEC, should be more focused on keeping Moser and investing more resources into hoops if it wants to seriously compete in the best league in the country.
