2025 All-SEC men's basketball teams revealed, awards announced

On Monday, the SEC released its 2025 Men’s Basketball Awards. As one of the strongest conferences in college basketball history this season, the SEC had no shortage of talent to choose from.

Auburn made its presence felt, with star center Johni Broome taking home the Player of the Year Award while head man Bruce Pearl was named the Coach of the Year. The Tigers’ dominance in the awards only made sense after they also took home the regular-season title.

Alas, the Tigers weren’t the only ones who hauled in some hardware. To see the complete list of awards, look below.

Coach of the Year: Bruce Pearl, Auburn
Player of the Year: Johni Broome, Auburn
Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk, South Carolina
Newcomer of the Year: Chaz Lanier, Tennessee
Freshman of the Year: Tre Johnson, Texas
Sixth-Man of the Year: Caleb Grill, Missouri
Defensive Player of the Year: Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee

All-SEC First Team
Johni Broome, Auburn
Walter Clayton Jr., Florida
Mark Sears, Alabama
Wade Taylor IV, Texas A&M
Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee

All-SEC Second Team
Josh Hubbard, Mississippi State
Tre Johnson, Texas
Chaz Lanier, Tennessee
Collin Murray-Boyles, South Carolina
Otega Oweh, Kentucky

All-SEC Third Team
Chad Baker-Mazara, Auburn
Alex Condon, Florida
Jason Edwards, Vanderbilt
Mark Mitchell, Missouri
Sean Pedulla, Ole Miss

SEC All-Defensive Team
Denver Jones, Auburn
Jahmai Mashack, Tennessee
Cameron Matthews, Mississippi State
Anthony Robinson II, Missouri
Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee

SEC All-Freshman Team
Jeremiah Fears, Oklahoma
Tre Johnson, Texas
Asa Newell, Georgia
Tahaad Pettiford, Auburn
Labaron Philon, Alabama

Any teams that felt like they were snubbed in the awards won’t have to wait long to prove their doubters wrong. On Wednesday, the SEC Tournament will kick off inside Bridgestone Arena at 1 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.

Seeds 5-8 will receive a single bye and face off against the winners of the first round games on March 13. The top four seeds will receive double byes and immediately advance to the quarterfinals of the tournament.

With a record 13 SEC teams projected to earn bids in the NCAA Tournament, there should be fireworks in Nashville. During an appearance on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning on Monday, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum provided a unique take on the highly-anticipated tournament.

“It’s one of the most unusual SEC tournaments ever. It’s the most anticipated. It’s the most publicized,” Finebaum said. “You’re very likely to have 13 schools, maybe more, going to the tournament. But I don’t know if there is an urgency to win it … Alabama played poorly [last year] down the stretch, went to the Final Four. Auburn played brilliantly and got nowhere.

“I think coaches just want to — No. 1 — they want to have their players experience the buzz of the tournament. It is valuable to go to a hotel, get on a bus, go into an arena that is packed, that isn’t your home arena, or even the away arena, just to simulate what all these schools will go through the following week.”