The last time an SEC team won the national title in men's basketball, the conference contained only 12 schools and there was no SEC Network. It was 2012 and Kentucky ran the football-crazed league with an iron fist.
The 2011-12 Wildcats finished 16-0 in the league (38-2 overall) and capped John Calipari's third season as coach with a dominant NCAA Tournament run. Just three other SEC teams made the Big Dance that season, and the best seed among them was No. 5 Vanderbilt.
Fast forward to 2025 and the conference is almost unrecognizable. A whopping 12 SEC teams were in the most-recent projected 2025 NCAA Tournament field of CBS Sports Bracketology expert Jerry Palm. Now at 16 teams with first-year additions Oklahoma and Texas, the league has evolved into a basketball mega-power. Six of the top 10 in this week's AP poll are from the SEC. But will the dominant start translate to NCAA Tournament success? When the nets are cut inside San Antonio's Alamodome on April 7, will it be an SEC team on the ladder? Or will the other leagues emerge to put the old football conference in its place?
Our writers debated the topic for this week's Dribble Handoff with the following prompt: Are you taking the SEC or the field to win the 2025 national championship?
The Field
The SEC is the best conference in the country. Not only that, but this year's lineup deserves consideration for the best of all-time, considering it currently projects to send more teams to the NCAA Tournament than any other league in history. But I'd still take the field over the SEC. Not only because I'd get, say, 56 entries instead of just 12 but also because I'd get three of the top four favorites to win the 2025 NCAA Tournament, according to current odds at FanDuel Sportsbook.
Yes, Auburn is the favorite at +550 (and also now ranked No.1 in the Top 25 And 1). But after that, it's an ACC school at +600 (Duke), a Big 12 school at +1000 (Iowa State) and another Big 12 school at +1200 (Houston). Plus, I'd have the reigning and back-to-back champs (UConn), the preseason No. 1 (Kansas) and the only program that's made nine straight appearances in the Sweet 16 (Gonzaga).
Could I see a SEC school winning it all?
Yes, easily.
But the smart play, I think, remains the field. -- Gary Parrish
SEC
It feels like we're building to something memorable in 2025. The SEC is putting up never-before-seen numbers: its 185-23 nonconference record amounted to the best winning percentage (.889) in men's D-I history for a league with at least 10 teams. From Auburn to Alabama to Tennessee to Florida to Kentucky to Texas A&M, it's valid to assert six national title contenders from this league. The field is always the smart pick, but this is the one and only time I'd pick a single conference against the rest of the sport. That's in part because said conference is going to set the record for most teams in the tournament as well, incrementally increasing its chances along the way.
The NCAA bracket is a demon for most teams (UConn excluded) with heavy title aspirations, but I think we're going to remember this SEC campaign for decades. I think 12 SEC teams make the Big Dance, at least five of them break through to the Sweet 16 and then at least three of the Elite Eight will be represented by the league -- if not four. Auburn, Alabama, Florida and Kentucky have four of the top nine offenses in the sport. One of them will win out, cut down the nets and complete the most dominant season for any conference ever. -- Matt Norlander
Auburn
I'll take the SEC as my answer here, but I'm going to toss a curveball and take this one step further by taking SEC member Auburn -- specifically -- over the rest of the college basketball field.
Auburn (14-1, 2-0 SEC) has a current KenPom net rating above last year's title-winning UConn team -- which is viewed as one of the best teams of the modern era. Using that metric, the Tigers are on pace for one of the most dominant seasons of the last few decades among title-winners and non-title-winners (which includes that great 1998-99 Duke team and the 2014-15 Kentucky squad that went 38-1).
It's not a fluke. The SEC has established itself as the superior conference, which should be applauded given how good the Big Ten looks and how long the Big 12 held a stronghold to that claim. But Auburn is in its own tier at the top among the league members. This is a special team anchored by a special player (Johni Broome) with a special mix of youngsters and vets. The Tigers have the talent to win the title, they navigated a brutal first two months with only one loss and are -- deservedly -- the betting favorite to win it all.
We're seeing a team in put together a legendary season in real time, and my bet is it ends with Bruce Pearl and his Tigers cutting down the nets in San Antonio on the first Monday night in April. -- Kyle Boone
SEC
Non-SEC teams ranked among the top 10 at KenPom as of Wednesday are a combined 1-8 against SEC teams. Even mid-tier SEC schools such as Arkansas and Oklahoma have wins over Michigan, and Missouri took down Kansas. None of those three teams are expected to challenge for the conference title, yet they've each taken down stalwarts from the other top leagues.
That's just one way to illustrate the dominance of an SEC that has been climbing to this point for over a decade. The league's transformation from a Kentucky-dominated basketball afterthought into a national juggernaut is the result of investment from the conference and its members. The league's collection of talent -- both in terms of coaches and players -- is unmatched. That was on display throughout November and December as the league dominated in head-to-head meetings with other power leagues. The group of legitimate national-title contenders in the SEC is at least seven deep, and this will be the season the conference breaks through to cut down the nets. -- David Cobb
The Field
The SEC has been simply dominant. My co-workers have already laid out the arguments for why the SEC has been the best conference in college basketball this season (and I agree with them!), but I'm still picking someone else to win the title. My preseason bold prediction was the Big Ten would end its 25-year title drought.
Picking the field also allows me to select Duke, Iowa State, Marquette, Kansas, Houston, Gonzaga or -- a team you might've heard of -- UConn. Would it surprise me if a team like Alabama or Auburn won the national title? Absolutely not. Playing the percentages of the field is the safer bet given the hectic nature of the NCAA Tournament. -- Cameron Salerno