The SEC: Didn't you know that we're a basketball conference?

Back in the 1960s, a tobacco company ran an ad scheme with the theme “you’ve come a long way, baby!” Sixty-plus years later, the Southeastern Conference could use the same slogan about how the league has become an historically powerful basketball conference.  

Back in March of 2009, Matt Hayes, who was the national writer for a major online magazine, and I were in Tampa at the SEC Tournament discussing how many SEC teams would be invited to the NCAA field of 64 teams. I guessed four -- regular season champ LSU, Tennessee, Florida and either Auburn or South Carolina. Matt guessed three -- LSU, Tennessee and one other. South Carolina’s opportunity ended by losing to bottom feeder Georgia in the first round. Florida’s chances diminished severely when Gators lost their second round game to Auburn. Tennessee took care of Auburn in the semifinals. Mississippi State, which no one expected, got the automatic bid by winning the tournament.

When the NCAA chose its teams it picked LSU as a No. 8, Tennessee as a No. 9 and Mississippi State as a No. 13.

It’s worth bringing up the 2008-09 season because here we are in 2025 with Joe Lunardi of ESPN projecting the SEC to land a record 13 teams in the NCAA field. Here is how Lunardi breaks it down:

No. 1 seeds: Auburn (South); Tennessee (Midwest)

No. 2 seeds: FLORIDA (South); Kentucky (West); Alabama (East)

No. 3 seed: Texas A&M (Midwest)

No. 4 seed: Mississippi State (West)

No. 7 seeds: Oklahoma (West); Ole Miss (Midwest)

No. 9 seeds: Georgia (West); Arkansas (East)

No. 11 seeds: Texas (West); Vanderbilt (East)

That is five SEC teams among the top eight teams, six among the top 12 and seven among the top 16.

I believe there are four SEC teams with a legitimate shot at the Final Four: Auburn, Tennessee, Florida and Alabama. I don’t see Kentucky as a Final Four team because I don’t think the Wildcats have the defense nor do I think they have enough inside depth.

As for the Southeastern Conference, I believe there isn’t a team in the SEC that can make it through the league schedule with fewer than three losses. I think it is likely that the SEC regular season champ will have either a 14-4 or 13-5 record in league play. Any SEC team that is 10-8 or better in league play will be seeded six or above. The NCAA doesn’t like taking teams that finish with a sub-.500 record in league play but the SEC is so strong that this year will be an exception.

OBSERVATIONS OF THE GATORS SO FAR

The way the Gators dominated Tennessee Tuesday night opened a lot of eyes. Everybody knew the Gators have plenty of firepower and great rebounding. What nobody expected was such defensive intensity. There has been consensus that the Gators are a vastly improved defensive team, but there is improved and there is what the Gators did to Tennessee. Ten minutes into the game the Gators had already turned Tennessee into an indecisive, lead-footed bunch that couldn’t find the ocean from the end of the pier when it came to shooting the basketball.

Florida’s intensity and athleticism was on full display. The Gators rendered Tennessee’s Chaz Lanier, the SEC’s leading scorer, and Zakai Ziegler, one of the nation’s leaders in assists, useless. Lanier was a head case by halftime. He finished the game with 10 points, but 3-16 shooting overall and 1-9 from the 3-point line. Ziegler couldn’t get into the lane, which turned the Vols into a perimeter team that couldn’t get off clean shots. He finished with one assist and compounded that issue with a 1-6 night from the 3-point line. Then came the backboards where the Gators outrebounded the Vols by 18. Florida grabbed 55 rebounds -- 55. Not only does that not happen to the Tennessee Vols, that doesn’t happen in the SEC, but Florida did it.

One reason this Florida team has the potential to be so special is their ability to spread the wealth. Tennessee did a rather good job of neutralizing Walter Clayton Jr. as a scorer, holding him to seven points. No scoring from Walter? No problem. Denzel Aberdeen and Alijah Martin picked up the slack on the outside and Alex Condon was the go to guy on offense on the inside. Take one guy out against this team and someone else picks up the slack. When everyone is on their offensive game, the Gators can score big on anyone.

When everyone is clicking on the offensive end of the floor and the defense is Tennessee intense there might not be a team in the country that can beat the Gators.

WILL RICHARD HAS BECOME AN ELITE DEFENDER: The message from Todd Golden to Richard in the offseason was devote yourself to doing the things other than scoring that affect winning. He’s always had that beautiful shot that is so lethal when he goes into one of those famous shooting comas when everything he throws up at the rim goes in. In his previous two seasons there were too many games that if the shot wasn’t going in, Richard’s effectiveness was severely limited.

This season, Richard has turned into a pit bull of a defender on the perimeter. Tuesday night we got a good example of Richard’s effectiveness as a defender. His assignment was Chaz Lanier, the leading scorer in the Southeastern Conference, averaging more than 20 points per game. Constantly dogged by Richard, Lanier went 3-16 from the field overall, 1-9 from the 3-point line. It was clear that Richard got into Lanier’s head and made him second guess himself because he became hesitant to launch on those rare occasions he had a truly open shot.

Richard’s transformation along with the addition of Alijah Martin gives the Gators two elite defenders on the perimiter.

DENZEL ABERDEEN COULD BE A STRONG CANDIDATE FOR SIXTH MAN OF THE YEAR IN THE SEC: When whistle-happy Ron Groover slapped Walter Clayton Jr. with a couple of touch fouls in the first 5:01 of the game Tuesday, Denzel Aberdeen made the seamless transition from first perimeter guy off the bench to dominant offensive player in the game. Just like that. He scored 10 points in the first half, finished with 16. Not only did he show he can direct the Florida offense and be a viable scoring option, he also applied the pressure to Zakai Ziegler, helping to turn the Tennessee offense very pedestrian.

There is a reason Todd Golden keeps praising Aberdeen. He’s like a Swiss Army Knife on the perimeter. You need scoring? He can score. Pass the ball? He knows how to set up his teammates. Defend? Just ask Zakai Ziegler. If the Gators finish in the top 2-3 of the SEC then follow that up with a deep run in the NCAA Tournament, Denzel Aberdeen will have to play a very key role. He has to be consistent and he has to understand that he has to be the team amoeba -- constantly changing shape to fit whatever the Gators need to win the game.

THE GATORS HAVE A LEGITIMATE INTIMIDATOR: In the 1960s, the ever so weird but talented Frank Zappa and his band The Mothers of Invention did a 50s parody album called “Ruben and the Jets.” In thinking up an appropriate nickname for the 4-headed monster that is Florida’s big guys, the name Rueben and the Jets came to mind. You have Rueben Chinyelu, who is a legitimate intimidator at 6-10 and a rock solid 255 pounds, 6-11 Alex Condon, 6-9 Thomas Haugh and 6-9 Sam Alexis. They are all four very talented and each adds something different, but Chinyelu is the key for a long run in March.

As we saw early on at Kentucky and then against Tennessee, Rueben Chinyelu has the ability to complete dominate a game on the defensive end. His block of an attempted dunk by Tennessee’s Chaz Lanier essentially ended the game. From that point on, the Gators completely owned the inside and Lanier was a head case the rest of the way. Rueben yanked down 15 rebounds and he made the paint a no fly zone.

Alex Condon is growing into a scorer who rebounds and defends. Thomas Haugh is a Swiss Army Knife who can defend several positions and knock down threes when he’s open. Sam Alexis is a beast on the offensive backboards and he’s also a shot blocker.

But it is Chinyelu who holds the key to the inside defense that can give the Gators what they need to be the last team standing in March. It’s sort of like the football defensive philosophy of taking away the run to make the other team one-dimensional. When you take away the inside game you force opponents to beat you with jump shots. Nearly every coach in the country likes the odds of winning games when the other team is one-dimensional.

SEC BASKETBALL

Wednesday’s scores

No. 5 Alabama (13-2, 2-0) 88, South Carolina (10-5, 0-2 SEC) 68

No. 10 Texas A&M (13-2, 2-0 SEC), No. 17 Oklahoma (13-2, 0-2 SEC)

No. 23 Ole Miss (13-2, 2-0 SEC) 73, Arkansas (11-4, 0-2 SEC) 66

Saturday’s games

No. 8 FLORIDA (14-1, 1-1 SEC) at Arkansas (11-4, 0-2 SEC)

No. 1 Tennessee (14-1, 1-1 SEC) at Texas (11-4, 0-2 SEC)

No. 2 Auburn (14-1, 2-0 SEC) at South Carolina (10-5, 0-2 SEC)

No. 5 Alabama (13-2, 2-0 SEC) at No. 10 Texas A&M (13-2, 2-0 SEC)

No. 6 Kentucky (12-3, 1-1 SEC) at No. 14 Mississippi State (14-1, 2-0 SEC)

No. 17 Oklahoma (13-2, 0-2 SEC) at Georgia (13-2, 1-1 SEC)

LSU (11-4, 0-2 SEC) at No. 23 Ole Miss (13-2, 2-0 SEC)

Vanderbilt (13-2, 1-1 SEC) at Missouri (12-3, 1-1 SEC)