Greg Sankey shuts down Danny Kanell & KenPom for calling SEC basketball 'overrated'

Danny Kanell was once a championship-winning quarterback at Florida State before going on to the NFL. He’s now an all-time SEC hater as an employee of CBS Sports and really beat that drum this week by calling the league — widely considered the strongest in college basketball history, set to break the all-time record for NCAA Tournament bids on Selection Sunday — overrated.

It’d be easier for Kanell to say he fell for the satirical stat about the SEC being .500 since the start of conference play. Karl Ravech and Archie Miller took the bait, so he wouldn’t be the first. Unfortunately, though, he’s dead serious.

His statement was actually doubling down on KenPom.com‘s own Ken Pomeroy’s take on the matter, publishing an article with the following headline: “Why hasn’t anyone said ‘the SEC is overrated’?”

“The smartest man in basketball is saying out loud what I have been thinking for the past 3 months…thank you (Pomeroy),” Kanell said.

Ironically, Pomeroy’s article includes the line, “Before Greg Sankey throws a fit, it’s important to note I’m not disputing the SEC’s conference supremacy this season.”

Against KenPom’s wishes, the Commissioner of the SEC did, in fact, throw a fit. In response to Kanell’s post, Sankey stood up for the conference we all know and love by laying out the facts.

“Just helping explain why the SEC is ‘overrated,'” Sankey wrote. “30 Ws/4 Ls vs ACC (wow). 14 Ws/2 Ls vs Big 12 (oh my). 10 W/9 Ls vs Big Ten [thumbs up]. 185 Ws/23 Ls in non-conf games [sunglasses emoji]. I confess SEC teams have a .500 record in games after 1/4/25 [laughs]. Sure, let’s go with ‘overrated!'”

Just helping explain why the @SEC is “overrated:”
—30 Ws/4 Ls vs ACC (wow)
—14 Ws/2 Ls vs Big 12 (oh my)
—10 W/9 Ls vs Big Ten (👍)
—185 Ws/23 Ls in non-conf games (😎)

I confess @SEC teams have a .500 record in games after 1/4/25 (😂). Sure, let’s go with “overrated” (🏀)! https://t.co/LcxdSwbLMG

— Greg Sankey (@GregSankey) March 5, 2025

Digging into KenPom’s article trying to minimize the SEC’s historical greatness, he explains ‘I think there’s a strong non-data argument here about why a conference with extremely strong non-conference numbers is set up for tournament disappointment.’

“It’s not unusual for historically great conferences to fail in the tournament. So maybe it’s time to sell the SEC,” he wrote. “…  It’s likely the SEC’s tournament performance will not be entirely consistent with being the best conference of all-time.”

He takes historical data for the best conferences in college basketball history and their NCAA Tournament shortcomings as evidence for his take for this current SEC season. The ACC in 1997 went 90-14 in the non-conference, but underwhelmed in the postseason. The Big 12 in 2024 went 145-34 in the non-conference, but flamed out in March.

That’s the evidence.

“Among power conferences, the better the league, the more likely their rating will drop during the tournament,” KenPom said.

I’m biased, but I’ll take Sankey’s data over KenPom for this exercise — even if he is probably the smartest person in college basketball.