Paul Finebaum reveals which SEC coaches are under the most pressure in the NCAA Tournament

The Southeastern Conference has 14 teams, with several being title favorites in the field, in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. With that, there’s weight on several coaches across the league to advance in the bracket, let alone to win a championship in San Antonio.

On ‘McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning’ on Monday, Paul Finebaum named four coaches from the SEC with pressure on them in March Madness. That started with the one who’s coaching the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament in Auburn’s Bruce Pearl. He has had the top team in the nation for the duration of the year and, coming off an upset last year, has to make up for it with this opportunity this postseason according to Finebaum.

“I think the highest pressure is on Bruce Pearl for a lot of reasons,” said Finebaum. “Been number one most of the year, you know, he had arguably the best team as, as the season developed. And I think that, I think a year ago, on that first weekend of the tournament when he got knocked out by Yale? It still haunts a lot of people. And, if that were to happen, not in the first round but early in the tournament, I think it really would (disappoint). I mean, I saw some headline from one of your locals today about, you know, ‘Regular Season Bruce’. I mean, that’s not fair but, but you get those raps.”

Finebaum also included the other basketball coach in the state after that in Alabama’s Nate Oats. However, he doesn’t have as much considering how they’re entering the tournament and considering they were in the Final Four for the first time ever just last year.

“I think Alabama is in a little bit of a different – I mean, maybe a month ago, I think the expectations were probably higher. They’ve come down considerably,” said Finebaum. “I think a good run for Alabama? It won’t equal last year if they don’t make it back to the Final Four but I think, I think Nate Oats has done enough.”

Another coach that Finebaum noted was Florida’s Todd Golden. That’s after the Gators, who secured the last of the No. 1 seeds after winning the SEC Tournament, have quickly become many people’s picks to win the national title.

“Then Todd Golden really does have pressure because they look like the best team in the country right now,” said Finebaum. “It’s kind of hitting people late but I think it was that game at Alabama a few weeks ago that finally got everybody coalescing around them.”

Pearl, Oats, and Golden all have a similar type of pressure upon them. The Tigers, Crimson Tide, and Gators, who finished as the top-three in the Southeastern Conference and are three of the top-six overall seeds in the NCAA Tournament, combined to be 83-17 overall. So, if the SEC is going to win a title as is an expectation coming out of their season as a league, it’s likely to come from one of those three considering the odds, with Tennessee being just behind them, as they all expect to at least be in the Final Four.

One other coach with pressure on him for Finebaum, though, is Arkansas’ John Calipari. Getting the Razorbacks in, especially after their start in league play, during his debut season is an accomplishment in itself. His is just of a different kind than those other three considering how his final postseasons went over his final five seasons at Kentucky.

“There’s one other thing that a lot of people are going to be paying attention to and that is can John Calipari win his first game?” Finebaum asked. “If he can’t then a lot of the pundits out there already have the tweets ready to roll.”

Several coaches did incredible jobs this season all across the SEC. It’s now whether the ones that made the tournament, specifically these four per Finebaum, can continue that in March.