What is Kentucky’s place in the SEC? A closer look at the best league in basketball.
It’s time for SEC basketball, whether those involved like it or not.
The league schedule tips off Saturday morning — with Kentucky and Florida set for a battle of top-10 teams in Rupp Arena at 11 a.m. — and that will begin several weeks of carnage, the 16 teams in the conference beating up on each other before the NCAA Tournament in March.
This edition of the SEC might be the best ever, with a whopping 10 teams from the league in the final AP Top 25 poll of the nonconference season and three more in the latest ESPN Bracketology projections.
For now, the 2011 version of the Big East is the record-holder with 11 teams from a single conference in a March Madness field. The SEC might break that mark on Selection Sunday.
So, who are the favorites to win the league this season? And who are the biggest underdogs in this stacked conference? Here’s a rundown of the SEC hierarchy going into opening weekend.
SEC championship contenders
These are the six teams most likely to compete for the SEC regular-season title, all of them ranked in the top 13 nationally in the latest Associated Press poll.
Auburn
Record: 12-1.
Ratings: No. 2 AP, No. 1 KenPom, No. 1 Torvik, No. 1 NET.
Coach: Bruce Pearl (11th season).
Player to watch: 6-10 F Johni Broome (18.2 ppg, SEC-best 11.5 rpg, 3.4 apg, SEC-best 2.6 bpg).
Biggest wins: Houston, Iowa State, Ohio State, North Carolina, Purdue, Memphis.
Need to know: No. 2 in the national rankings but No. 1 just about everywhere else, Auburn certainly looks like the team to beat as league play begins.
The Tigers go into the SEC schedule with six Quad 1 victories — a major separator for NCAA Tournament seeding — and no other team in the country has more than four such wins.
Broome — a fifth-year collegian and former Morehead State standout — is the odds-on favorite to win 2025 national player of the year honors, and his supporting cast features fellow seniors Chad Baker-Mazara, Dylan Cardwell, Chaney Johnson and Denver Jones, plus freshman guard Tahaad Pettiford, among other impact contributors.
KenPom rates Auburn’s offense No. 1 nationally, and the Tigers’ only loss came at Duke. This is looking like Pearl’s best team ever, and that’s saying quite a bit.
The Kentucky game: March 1 in Rupp Arena.
Tennessee
Record: 13-0.
Ratings: No. 1 AP, No. 4 KenPom, No. 4 Torvik, No. 2 NET.
Coach: Rick Barnes (10th season).
Player to watch: 5-9 G Zakai Zeigler (11.7 ppg, SEC-best 8.1 apg, 1.8 spg).
Biggest wins: at Illinois, Baylor, at Louisville.
Need to know: The reigning SEC champions are No. 1 in the national polls and boast the country’s No. 2 defense (behind Duke), according to the KenPom efficiency numbers. Barnes lost last season’s SEC player of the year (Dalton Knecht) plus several other key contributors, but the Vols are still going to be a force within the conference.
Zeigler is back and one of the best backcourt players in all of college basketball. Incoming guard Chaz Lanier — one of the few transfers to say no to Mark Pope and Kentucky last offseason — is second in the SEC in scoring (19.6 points per game) and shooting 45.9% from 3-point range while making the most long-range shots in the league this season. Upperclassmen Jahmai Mashack and Felix Okpara are among the best defenders in the conference.
No SEC team has won back-to-back regular-season titles since Florida did it in 2014, when Billy Donovan was still the Gators’ head coach. This Tennessee bunch could end that streak.
The Kentucky games: Jan. 28 in Knoxville; Feb. 11 in Rupp Arena.
Alabama
Record: 11-2.
Ratings: No. 5 AP, No. 9 KenPom, No. 8 Torvik, No. 9 NET.
Coach: Nate Oats (sixth season).
Player to watch: 6-1 G Mark Sears (18.0 ppg, 4.0 apg, preseason first-team All-American).
Biggest wins: Houston, Illinois, at North Carolina.
Need to know: Don’t forget about these guys. Bama is coming off its first Final Four in school history, and some national outlets had the Crimson Tide ranked No. 1 in the country to start the season. They’re still a national title contender.
Alabama’s only two losses came at Purdue and by just two points on a neutral court against Oregon, which is now the No. 9 team in the country. Oats’ team is again considered one of the nation’s best offensive squads, and the defense is better than it was a season ago.
Key returnee Latrell Wrightsell Jr. has been lost for the season due to injury, but Bama is still a deep team, with Sears leading the way, versatile forward Grant Nelson back for another run, and freshman Labaron Philon looking like one of the best young newcomers in the league.
The Kentucky games: Jan. 18 in Rupp Arena; Feb. 22 in Tuscaloosa.
Kentucky
Record: 11-2.
Ratings: No. 10 AP, No. 24 KenPom, No. 17 Torvik, No. 19 NET.
Coach: Mark Pope (first season).
Player to watch: 6-2 G Lamont Butler (13.3 ppg, 4.1 apg, 1.6 spg, 41.9% 3s).
Biggest wins: Duke, Gonzaga.
Need to know: The Cats’ last big game of the calendar year was a clunker — that 20-point loss to Ohio State in New York — but there was a lot to like before that. Those gritty come-from-behind wins over Duke and Gonzaga will look great on Kentucky’s final résumé, and Pope’s first UK team has shown that several different players can step up on any given night.
The offense is in the top 10ish range nationally — according to the major analytics websites — despite 3-point numbers that should improve over the course of the season. Kentucky’s team defense remains a work in progress, and the Cats will need to pick it up on that end of the floor to have a shot at the SEC regular-season title.
Florida
Record: 13-0.
Ratings: No. 6 AP, No. 6 KenPom, No. 7 Torvik, No. 4 NET.
Coach: Todd Golden (third season).
Player to watch: 6-3 G Walter Clayton Jr. (17.2 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 3.8 apg).
Biggest wins: North Carolina.
Need to know: You can’t argue with perfection, but the undefeated Gators haven’t played the toughest of schedules, ranking seventh in that category in the SEC and just outside the top 200 nationally, according to KenPom. They’re only 1-0 in Quad 1 games, a victory over North Carolina in Charlotte.
With a visit to Rupp Arena this weekend and a home game against top-ranked Tennessee after that, we should know soon enough just how good Golden’s team really is. And these Gators might be great. They’re top 15 in both offensive and defensive efficiency, with Clayton and fellow senior guards Alijah Martin and Will Richard in the backcourt, bolstered by forwards Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh — all five among the top 25 players in the league, according to individual efficiency ratings. Kentucky’s first SEC test will be a stiff one.
The Kentucky game: Saturday in Rupp Arena.
Texas A&M
Record: 11-2.
Ratings: No. 13 AP, No. 14 KenPom, No. 19 Torvik, No. 21 NET.
Coach: Buzz Williams (sixth season).
Player to watch: 6-0 G Wade Taylor IV (15.9 ppg, 5.0 apg, 1.4 spg).
Biggest wins: Texas Tech, Ohio State, Purdue.
Need to know: Taylor — the SEC’s preseason player of the year in 2023 — is back, as are A&M veterans Manny Obaseki, Henry Coleman, Solomon Washington and Andersson Garcia, a group that knows Williams’ style of play and are once again excelling with it.
The Aggies have a top-10 defense nationally and boast the nation’s best offensive rebounding rate. As usual, they’re not great shooting from the field, but they’re making up for it with multiple opportunities per trip, a deliberate pace and that smothering defense.
Two seasons ago, Texas A&M finished within a game of Alabama — the NCAA Tournament’s top overall seed — in the SEC standings, and many of those same players are still with the program. The Aggies could be well-positioned for a similar run in 2025.
The Kentucky game: Jan. 14 in Rupp Arena.
In good shape … for now
If Selection Sunday was happening now, each of these four teams would safely be in the NCAA Tournament field — they’re all ranked in the Top 25, after all — but each has at least a little more to prove than the aforementioned SEC title contenders, and the rough-and-tumble nature of what’s coming in league play could very well knock one or two from this group out of the March Madness picture a couple of months from now.
Mississippi State
Record: 12-1.
Ratings: No. 17 AP, No. 22 KenPom, No. 23 Torvik, No. 18 NET.
Coach: Chris Jans (third season).
Player to watch: 5-11 G Josh Hubbard (17.5 ppg, 3.2 apg, 38.0% 3s).
Biggest wins: Pittsburgh, at SMU, at Memphis.
Need to know: Mississippi State’s only loss was an 87-77 defeat to Butler on a neutral court, and Jans’ Bulldogs are well-balanced, boasting both an offense and defense rated among the top 35 nationally.
Kentucky fans should be familiar with Hubbard, who dropped 34 points on the Cats late last season — with Reed Sheppard winning it for UK on a buzzer-beater in Starkville — and the shifty sophomore has solidified himself as one of the best players in the SEC in year two. Senior forward Cameron Matthews — one of the league’s top defenders — is also back, and Mississippi State will have the relatively easy, one-two start of South Carolina and Vanderbilt before UK comes to town next weekend.
The Kentucky game: Jan. 11 in Starkville.
Oklahoma
Record: 13-0.
Ratings: No. 12 AP, No. 41 KenPom, No. 47 Torvik, No. 44 NET.
Coach: Porter Moser (fourth season).
Player to watch: 6-4 G Jeremiah Fears (18.1 ppg, 4.5 apg, 2.2 spg).
Biggest wins: Michigan, Arizona.
Need to know: The undefeated SEC team with the most questions heading into league play, Oklahoma has one of the lowest-rated strength of schedules among major-conference teams to this point. The Torvik ratings actually have the Sooners pegged as the SEC’s 13th-best team, just barely inside the top 50 nationally.
So, there’s a lot for Oklahoma still to prove, despite that perfect record.
Fears — a freshman rated No. 65 nationally in the 2024 recruiting class — is No. 5 in the league in scoring, and veteran guards Kobe Elvis (Dayton) and Duke Miles (High Point) have been key players for the Sooners, who will get their toughest test by far when they play at Alabama this weekend.
The Kentucky game: Feb. 26 in Norman.
Ole Miss
Record: 11-2.
Ratings: No. 24 AP, No. 33 KenPom, No. 38 Torvik, No. 39 NET.
Coach: Chris Beard (second season).
Player to watch: 6-1 G Sean Pedulla (14.7 ppg, 3.8 apg, 2.5 spg, 40.8% 3s).
Biggest wins: BYU, at Louisville.
Need to know: OIe Miss enters SEC play on a sour note — losing 87-70 at Memphis last weekend — but Beard once again has a Top 25 team. Longtime Rebels Jaemyn Brakefield and Matthew Murrell are both back for their fifth years of college, though Pedulla (a Virginia Tech transfer) has been the standout, leading Ole Miss in scoring while rating among the league’s leaders in steals.
The Rebels are the most experienced team in the SEC and third nationally in that category — ranking just ahead of Kentucky, to put their veteran status in perspective — and while still rated in the middle of the conference defensively, this Ole Miss squad is greatly improved on that end of the court compared to last season, which was Beard’s first in Oxford. (Beard’s Texas Tech teams were often rated among the best defenses nationally.)
The Kentucky game: Feb. 4 in Oxford.
Arkansas
Record: 11-2.
Ratings: No. 23 AP, No. 38 KenPom, No. 37 Torvik, No. 40 NET.
Coach: John Calipari (first season).
Player to watch: 6-2 G Boogie Fland (15.9 ppg, 6.2 apg, 1.7 spg, 40.3% 3s).
Biggest win: Michigan.
Need to know: Calipari’s first season in Fayetteville has been a bit of a letdown — with early losses to Baylor and Illinois in high-profile matchups — and the metrics say the Hogs aren’t great at anything just yet. The efficiency numbers have them outside the top 50 offensively and outside the top 25 on defense.
Still, this team looks to have plenty of upside, a hallmark of Calipari’s rosters at this stage in the season. Former UK players Adou Thiero (leading scorer at 17.6 points per game), D.J. Wagner (10.1 ppg in a team-high 33.9 minutes per game) and Zvonimir Ivisic (9.7 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.1 bpg and a 46.5% shooter from 3-point range) have all been key players, alongside Fland, who is second in the SEC in assists and was committed to Kentucky before Calipari’s departure.
The Razorbacks will need some key wins in the conference to solidify their standing as an NCAA Tournament team. Like everyone else, they’ll have plenty of opportunities.
The Kentucky game: Feb. 1 in Rupp Arena.
On the bubble
All of these teams are in the NCAA Tournament — or right on the cut line — according to the latest ESPN Bracketology projections, but a lot is going to happen over the course of the SEC schedule, and wins are going to be difficult to come by. A .500 record in the league should be a free pass to March Madness but might be a heavy lift for each of these teams, despite their impressive potential. (Luckily for some in the conference, a losing SEC record with some key wins along the way will also probably be a formula for an NCAA Tournament bid this season.)
Texas
Record: 11-2.
Ratings: Not ranked in AP poll, No. 35 KenPom, No. 32 Torvik, No. 34 NET.
Coach: Rodney Terry (third season).
Player to watch: 6-6 G Tre Johnson (SEC-best 19.7 ppg, 44.6% 3s, 83.9% FTs).
Biggest wins: No Quad 1 wins.
Need to know: SEC newcomer Texas was ranked 19th in the preseason AP Top 25 poll but dropped out after an opening night loss to Ohio State and hasn’t received any votes in the last two editions of the poll. The Longhorns’ other loss came by 11 points and at home to UConn, and they have no wins against teams in the KenPom top 75.
Still, they’re a top-50 team nationally in both offensive and defensive efficiency, and they’re also top five in the country with a 41.5% hit rate from 3-point range, making them a dangerous team on any given night.
Johnson — the No. 6 recruit in the 2024 class and a major UK target during the Calipari era — leads the SEC in scoring, while star transfer Arthur Kaluma is averaging 13.8 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.
The Kentucky game: Feb. 15 in Austin.
Georgia
Record: 12-1.
Ratings: Not ranked in AP poll, No. 47 KenPom, No. 33 Torvik, No. 27 NET.
Coach: Mike White (third season).
Player to watch: 6-11 F Asa Newell (15.5 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 59.0% FGs).
Biggest win: St. John’s.
Need to know: The Bulldogs’ only loss came against No. 8 Marquette on a neutral court in November, and they beat St. John’s the following night. Georgia has a top-40 defense nationally and is hitting nearly 60% of its 2-point shots, ranking among the nation’s best in that stat.
Mount St. Mary’s transfer De’Shayne Montgomery — a 6-5 sophomore guard — was not eligible to play the first nine games of the season but now leads the team with an average of 16.0 points through three games (while shooting 73.1% from the field). Four other Bulldogs are in double digits scoring, with Newell — the No. 19 recruit in 2024 — excelling as a freshman.
Is Georgia for real? It won’t take long to find out. The Bulldogs’ first seven SEC games will be a gauntlet: at Ole Miss, vs. Kentucky, vs. Oklahoma, at Tennessee, vs. Auburn, then back-to-back road games at Arkansas and Florida.
The Kentucky game: Jan. 7 in Athens.
Missouri
Record: 11-2.
Ratings: Not ranked in AP poll, No. 53 KenPom, No. 53 Torvik, No. 50 NET.
Coach: Dennis Gates (third season).
Player to watch: 6-9 F Mark Mitchell (13.8 ppg, 5.0 rpg).
Biggest wins: Kansas.
Need to know: One of the best wins for the SEC this season belongs to Missouri, which knocked off then-No. 1 Kansas 76-67 in Columbia on Dec. 8. The Tigers’ only other games against KenPom top 100 teams were losses, albeit close ones to top 25 teams (83-75 at Memphis on opening night and 80-77 to Illinois a couple of weeks ago).
Mizzou has a top-40 offense nationally and it gets to the free-throw line at a rate higher than any other major-conference team. Mitchell, who played his first two college seasons at Duke, leads the Tigers in scoring and rebounding, and EvanMiya.com rates he and sophomore guard Anthony Robinson II (10.7 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 3.8 apg and 2.5 spg) among the top 10 players in the league.
Missouri was 0-18 in the SEC last season. Right now, the Tigers are the last team out of the NCAA Tournament field, according to the new ESPN Bracketology board. Other projections have them on the right side of the bubble.
The Kentucky game: March 8 in Columbia.
Vanderbilt
Record: 12-1.
Ratings: Not ranked in AP poll, No. 48 KenPom, No. 44 Torvik, No. 31 NET.
Coach: Mark Byington (first season).
Player to watch: 6-7 F Devin McGlockton (11.9 ppg, 8.2 rpg, SEC-best 68.1% FGs).
Biggest wins: No Quad 1 wins.
Need to know: Other than Mark Pope and the leaders of the two programs entering the league this season, Byington is the only head coach new to SEC basketball. He spent the past four seasons at James Madison and has the Commodores — picked to finish last in the preseason SEC poll — off to a better-than-expected start.
Vandy is a top-50 team nationally, according to the KenPom and Torvik ratings, with a borderline top 25 offense in the country. The Dores play at a fast pace, and North Texas transfer guard Jason Edwards is third in the SEC with 18.8 points per game, with fellow transfers McGlockton (Boston College), Tyler Nickel (Virginia Tech) and AJ Hoggard (Michigan State) also in double figures scoring.
ESPN’s latest projections have Vandy as the last team in the NCAA Tournament field, but the Dores will need to prove they belong during conference play.
The Kentucky games: Jan. 25 in Nashville; Feb. 19 in Rupp Arena.
A tough road ahead
These are the only two SEC teams that aren’t currently in the NCAA Tournament picture, and — while there is plenty of basketball yet to be played — the path to March Madness looks daunting for this duo.
LSU
Record: 11-2.
Ratings: Not ranked in AP poll, No. 55 KenPom, No. 67 Torvik, No. 51 NET.
Coach: Matt McMahon (third season).
Player to watch: 5-11 G Jordan Sears (14.6 ppg, 1.6 spg).
Biggest wins: No Quad 1 wins.
Need to know: The Tigers were a surprise at 9-9 in the league last season — after going 2-16 in McMahon’s first year as coach — but the road to .500 looks especially tough this time around. LSU has a 3-2 record against teams in the KenPom top 100, but none of the wins came against top-50 opponents. The Tigers’ defense is certainly respectable, but they might have the worst offense in the league, despite their 84.2 points per game average.
Kansas State transfer Cam Carter leads the team in scoring at 16.9 points per game, Corey Chest (8.3 rpg) is among the league’s best on the boards, and former UK post player Daimion Collins is contributing (8.0 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 1.9 bpg) after appearing in only six games due to injury last season.
League play could be a rude awakening for a team that feasted on a nonconference strength of schedule rated outside the top 300 nationally.
The Kentucky game: March 4 in Rupp Arena.
South Carolina
Record: 10-3.
Ratings: Not ranked in AP poll, No. 65 KenPom, No. 78 Torvik, No. 86 NET.
Coach: Lamont Paris (third season).
Player to watch: 6-7 F Collin Murray-Boyles (16.6 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 64.6% FGs).
Biggest wins: No Quad 1 wins.
Need to know: The Gamecocks probably won’t be repeating last season’s surprise run, when they were picked to finish last in the SEC and ended up tied for second place — just one game behind champion Tennessee — instead.
Paris, the reigning SEC coach of the year, doesn’t have a bad team — his squad did manage to beat Clemson in overtime in Columbia — but South Carolina’s standing at 16th and last in the SEC, according to the KenPom, Torvik and NET ratings, demonstrates the top-to-bottom strength of the league.
Murray-Boyles is projected as a first-round NBA draft pick this year and former Alabama big man Nick Pringle has been a good addition, but this will be an uphill battle for the Gamecocks.
The Kentucky game: Feb. 8 in Rupp Arena.
(Note: All ratings and stats are as of Jan. 1.)
Saturday
No. 6 Florida at No. 10 Kentucky
When: 11 a.m.
TV: ESPN
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Florida 13-0 (0-0 SEC), Kentucky 11-2 (0-0)
Series: Kentucky leads 110-42
Last meeting: Florida won 94-91 in overtime on Jan. 31, 2024, in Lexington
