The 2026 SEC Hoops season is here

SB Nation

Last season you could write an opus teasing the opening of the SEC Conference play. In the long history of college basketball, and the SEC in particular, no conference had ever been so good. At the top,

and the middle, and even the bottom of the league, everyone was quality.

Oklahoma finished 6-12 in the conference, but started the year 13-0 with wins over Providence, Arizona, Louisville, Georgia Tech, Oklahoma State, and Michigan. They played on the opening day of the SEC Tournament, and were easily into the NCAA Tournament on selection Sunday. They finished 14th in the league, but through the quality and depth of the league they coasted into the NCAA Tournament.

Florida and Auburn made the final four, the Gators won the National Title.

The league was elite from top to bottom.

A drop off was to be expected. But the SEC has gone from one of the best, without a doubt, to a league that still quality with it’s depth — no team is currently outside of the top 90 in KenPom.com — it doesn’t quite have the top end teams to contend for a title. Nor does it have the strength in the middle. Last year the median performance was a +22.09 efficiency rating over the average D1 team. Essentially that’s what it would take to go just 9-9 in the league. That was enough to rank 26th in KenPom’s ratings. This year that number has fallen to a hair under +19, or basically about 35th.

The Tigers finished 19th in KenPom and went 10-8 in the league. The finish (19th) was the third best in the KenPom era (behind the 2007 and 2012 teams). And the league was so good the Tigers only finished 7th overall.

If they finished 19th in KenPom this year that would be the 5th best finish. As it is they’re currently 65th, and that ranks 14th. But the Illinois loss is carrying a lot of weight in that rating. The Tigers were 50th going into that game, still not great but good for 11th. Or a lot closer to bubble territory than the current “fuggedaboutit”.

There’s still hope however, because Missouri isn’t facing last year’s SEC. They’re currently projected to go 6-12, but there are 8 games within a possession. There’s room to make up ground, and for the first time all year Missouri will have a guy we projected to be in the top 4 in minutes played… Trent Pierce. Plus they’ll have Jayden Stone for the first time against high major competition since they mollywhopped Minnesota.

Not all hope is lost.

Missouri has been disappointing for sure. But they headed to Auburn last year to open the season rated 52nd in KenPom and finished 19th. The margins may be a little more all over the place, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still make up a lot of ground if you play quality basketball.