As part of its 2022–23 men’s basketball preseason coverage, Sports Illustrated is rolling out previews for each of the top 10 conferences. Last up is the SEC.
Last season looked poised to be a breakout year for the SEC, long regarded as a notch below the truly elite college basketball conferences. Four member schools made up the NCAA tournament’s top-16 seeds and the SEC cracked the top three on KenPom’s conference rankings for the first time in a decade, achievements soured by dreadful performances in March Madness. Kentucky, Alabama, and LSU all suffered embarrassing first-round defeats and Arkansas was the only SEC squad to advance into the second weekend.
With eight of the top 25 classes in this year’s recruiting cycle and four top-15 teams in the inaugural AP Poll, however, the conference is still flush with talent and should enjoy an excellent opportunity to redeem itself come March.
