SEC Makes History with 7 Sweet 16 Teams

by:Nick Roush•03/23/25•

RoushKSR

The SEC logo at the SEC Tournament at Bridgestone Arena - Photo by Dr. Michael Huang, Kentucky Sports Radio

You know what they say, in the SEC, it just means more. This year, it means a record number of teams in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament.

Iowa State and Illinois brought the most fans to the round of 32 at Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum. They left disappointed. Kentucky scored the first ten points of the second half to run away with a win over the Fighting Illini. More surprisingly, No. 6 seed Ole Miss ran through the Cyclones. Chris Beard’s team led by 11 at halftime and never looked back in a 91-78 victory. It’s just the second-ever Sweet 16 appearance for Ole Miss.

Thanks to the Ole Miss upset, the SEC has seven teams in the Sweet 16, a new NCAA Tournament record. That surpasses the mark set by the ACC in 2016.

Two SEC teams will meet this weekend in Indianapolis, Kentucky and Tennessee. An Arkansas upset could put them against Florida in the West Regional final in San Francisco. Ole Miss and Auburn will play out of the South Region in Atlanta. Alabama is the only SEC team still alive in the East Region, which will be played in Newark.

The league already set a record on Selection Sunday with 14 teams in the NCAA Tournament. Five teams did not win at least one game, Vanderbilt, Georgia, Mississippi State, Missouri, and Oklahoma.

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The SEC was proclaimed as the greatest college basketball conference ever throughout the regular season. The haters, of which there were many, waited eagerly to pile on as teams fell by the wayside in the NCAA Tournament. They’re going to have to wait a little longer to get their shots in at Greg Sankey.

In the SEC, it just means more.

Other Sweet 16 Facts on the Field

Colorado State fell on a brutal buzzer-beater to Maryland. The loss by the No. 12 seed makes this the first NCAA Tournament since 2007 without a team seeded lower than No. 11 in the Sweet 16.

New Mexico had Michigan State on the ropes, but Sparty landed one too many late haymakers from three. That eliminated the last team from the Mountain West. Only four conferences will be represented in the Sweet 16, the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, and ACC. It’s the fewest in NCAA Tournament history.

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