As March beckons, 6 SEC programs are within 2 games of the conference lead, currently held by No. 13 Alabama, which sits at 10-2 overall in league play ahead of Wednesday night’s home tilt against No. 24 Florida.

The fact 6 different programs could hoist the SEC crown this season is a testament to the league’s incredibly deep roster of coaches, a reflection of the recent increase in resources and administrative commitment to basketball by SEC institutions that has helped raise the league’s competitive profile nationally.

The SEC boasts a Basketball Hall of Famer in Kentucky’s John Calipari, a Hall of Fame nominee in Tennessee’s Rick Barnes, additional Final Four coaches in Ole Miss’ Chris Beard and Auburn’s Bruce Pearl, and a slate of the sport’s up and coming stars, headlined by Alabama’s Nate Oats, who has won 2 SEC regular-season titles in 4 full seasons at Alabama along with 2 SEC Tournament crowns and a No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament (2023).

If you made the argument that in the wake of Nick Saban’s retirement, the SEC as of today (meaning no Texas or Oklahoma) has a deeper, more accomplished list of basketball coaches than it does football coaches, you’d likely be on the right side of the debate. The SEC features 4 basketball coaches who have taken programs to the Final Four (the number will be at least 5 when Oklahoma’s Porter Moser joins the league next season), 7 coaches who have advanced to the Elite 8, and an absurd 13 coaches who have won at least 1 conference coach of the year award.

Put all that coaching talent in the same league and well, you get mayhem, and potentially 9 bids to March Madness. You also end up with some elite coaches struggling to win games, because someone has to lose. Take, for example, Jerry Stackhouse. The 2023 SEC Coach of the Year co-winner might end up fired by season’s end, with the Commodores 7-18 and reeling overall. That’s how brutal a league this has become on the hardwood.

Below, SDS takes a trip through the carnage to grade all 14 of the SEC coaches in 2023-24, from the cat bird’s seat (Oats), to the hot seat (Stackhouse), and everywhere in between.

Alabama: Nate Oats

Grade: A

Oats had to replace 70% of his production offensively from last season, along with 2 first-round NBA Draft picks, and every single assistant coach on his staff. The Crimson Tide are in the driver’s seat to win their 3rd conference title under Oats in 5 seasons (Bama had just 1 this century before Oats arrived) and last weekend, the NCAA Selection Committee handed Alabama the highest 3 seed in their pre-tournament rankings. Oats is a high-level recruiter, both from the high school ranks and the transfer portal, and a splendid offensive tactician, the rare young head coach who checks all those boxes. The result has been the most successful half-decade of Alabama hoops since the Wimp Sanderson era. With Mark Sears, my current pick for SEC Player of the Year, leading a lethal group of guards, the Crimson Tide might make the program’s first Final Four next month.

Arkansas: Eric Musselman

Grade: F

Eric Musselman is the OG of the portal, the man who flipped an afterthought at Nevada into a perennial NCAA Tournament program with transfer after transfer and perfected the recipe in Fayetteville, where he’s led Arkansas to 2 Elite 8s and a Sweet 16 in 4 full seasons.

Year 5, however, has been an unmitigated disaster.

The Hogs were ranked in the top 15 in preseason polls, but have just 3 SEC wins thanks a steady diet of portal misfires, from Louisville transfer EJ Ellis (17.7 ppg at Louisville to just 6 at Arkansas) to Keyon Menifield Jr. (10 ppg at Washington to 7 at Arkansas) to Chandler Lawson (4.2 ppg, lower than prior stops at Oregon and Memphis). The portal giveth, and the portal taketh away, and this season, with only Houston transfer Tramon Mark a genuine hit — the OG of the portal has had to keep his shirt on and watch his team crawl to a bottom of the league finish.

Auburn: Bruce Pearl

Grade: A- 

Pearl’s team is built differently from the 2019 group that advanced to Auburn’s first Final Four, but the Tigers are capable of another deep March run thanks to do-everything big man Johni Broome and his frontcourt mate Jaylin Williams, who should return to the court this season after an injury scare in last Saturday’s loss to Kentucky. You tend to think of a Bruce Pearl team as a 3-point bombing, high-tempo monster, but this Auburn team wins with defense (1st nationally in 2 point FG% defense, 4th nationally in KenPom Defensive Efficiency) and strong dribble penetration and post play (54.4% 2 point FG%). That’s a credit to Pearl’s ability to develop — and retain — players, a lost art in the world of the transfer portal.

If there is one criticism of Pearl this year, it’s that Auburn’s guards aren’t up to the usual program standard. With 5-star freshman (Pearl can still recruit better than about anyone) Aden Holloway struggling in league play, more limited guards Tre Donaldson and Denver Jones (a transfer from FIU) haven’t been able to pick up the slack. When the Tigers have faced elite guards this year (see Florida, Kentucky), they have struggled. Pearl has found ways to win despite these deficiencies, which is what the best coaches tend to do.

Florida: Todd Golden

Grade: B+ (and rising)

Did you know Todd Golden likes analytics? You’ll hear about this at least 3 times a broadcast, but the Gators lacked much of an identity outside of All-SEC big man Colin Castleton’s brilliance in Golden’s frustrating first campaign in Gainesville. Golden, though, also stuck to his core beliefs, hitting the portal for the players the numbers said the Gators desperately needed. The result is a squad that is one of the best rebounding teams in the country (2nd on the offensive glass) a year removed from being one of the worst (320th!), and a team with 4 of the most physical, athletic guards in the SEC (Walter Clayton Jr., Zyon Pullin, Will Richard, Riley Kugel) a year after having a massive athleticism deficit in the backcourt. The switch has helped the Gators flip their offense from one of the least efficient in the SEC (12th in 2022-23) to one of the most efficient in the country (9th nationally entering Wednesday night’s game at Alabama).

Florida’s disinterest in defending at times (90th in KenPom defense) has resulted in a propensity to squander huge leads. That has cost Florida games at Texas A&M, where they lost after holding a 13-point 2nd-half lead, and Kentucky, where they led by 11 at home, and nearly cost the Gators home tilts against Georgia (led by 21, won in overtime) and LSU (led by 20, won by 2). But as Golden, the SEC’s youngest head coach at 38, learns through these games, he also deserves credit for masterfully constructing a roster that will have Florida, the SEC’s second-winningest program this century, back in the NCAA Tournament after a 2-year absence, just the program’s second such 2 year absence in 30 years.

Georgia: Mike White

Grade: C- 

Since arriving from Florida, White has done all the things Tom Crean didn’t do. Georgia has played defense (a nearly 200 spot jump in KenPom Defensive Efficiency from Crean’s last season in Athens), won some Quad 1 games (Kentucky and Auburn last season, South Carolina this season), and made Stegeman Coliseum full again (3 sellouts in league play).

Georgia also started 14-5, its best start since 2003. Unfortunately, White’s flaws have shown up, too. Consistently criticized for lacking an offensive identity despite 5 NCAA Tournament teams at Florida, White’s offenses suffer long scoring droughts (4 this year of 8 minutes or more). The impact has been that Georgia has a 14-0 first-half record at Stegeman, but a 10-4 home record overall, as the Dawgs have blown double-digit leads against Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama at home. Win those games, and this is a NCAA Tournament team. But White didn’t win those games, and until he acknowledges this problem and hires an offensive coordinator type assistant to fix that side of the ball, his teams will compete for 16 to 20 wins, but not championships.

Kentucky: John Calipari

Grade: Incomplete

Why incomplete?

Because what happens with Cal this year will almost exclusively be judged on what happens next month, and the head coach knows it.

“We’re built for March,” the much maligned Hall of Famer told the media after Kentucky dropped a record 3rd consecutive game at Rupp Arena earlier this month. Since that fateful night and loss to Gonzaga, the Wildcats have turned the tide, soundly manhandling bubble team Ole Miss in Rupp and imposing their will on Auburn at Neville Arena last weekend.

Suddenly, it looks like Kentucky might be able to play defense after all, a welcome development for Kentucky fans who were dreaming big after a marvelous November and December, when a tweaked offense and brilliant guard play helped Big Blue play a tight game with preseason national champion favorite Kansas and defeat blueblood North Carolina on neutral floors. Sports bettors in Kentucky might want to hop on board.

Thanks to Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham, one of the SEC’s best guard duos, the Wildcats rank 7th in offensive efficiency. If they continue to guard, Calipari’s promise of being “built for March” will come true.

LSU: Matt McMahon

Grade: C

The Tigers are much improved over McMahon’s first LSU team, which won just twice in league play before stealing another win at the SEC Tournament last season. LSU is 5-7 through 12 league games and were within 5 points of a win in 3 other games. A play here or there and this team is 8-4 in the league and squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble.

The problem for McMahon, once again, has been roster construction. Will Baker, a 7-footer who can face you up and score at 3 levels, is a nice piece, as is Jalen Cook, the rare boomerang transfer who has thrived in his return to LSU.  But beyond them, who frightens you? Jordan Wright was an inconsistent SEC player at Vanderbilt, and a change of scenery hasn’t altered that. Derek Fountain is a long big who can protect the rim but doesn’t rebound well. Jalen Reed was a top 50 recruit but gets lost defensively and is too tentative on offense, limiting his natural ability as a scorer. McMahon also doesn’t get much offensively from the likes of Mwani Wilkinson, a defend only wing, or Trae Hannibal, a defensive stopper McMahon brought with him from Murray State.

There just aren’t enough complementary pieces and while McMahon can coach on gameday, roster building is a huge part of the gig in the portal era and thus far, McMahon hasn’t built a team ready to compete for the NCAA Tournament.

Mississippi State: Chris Jans

Grade: B-

Jans has won everywhere he’s coached, including New Mexico State, where he nearly knocked Final Four-bound Auburn out of the NCAA Tournament in the first round in 2019. That Aggies team, though, was built on what this Bulldogs team lacks, offensive firepower. This Bulldogs team plays great defense, like most Jans teams, but outside of big man Tolu Smith, a foul-shot generating machine, and freshman guard Josh Hubbard (35% from deep on a staggering 33% of State’s shot attempts), there’s no one who frightens you offensively.

Jans whiffed in the portal, as coveted JUCO transfer Trey Fort has disappointed, and hasn’t been able to coax much offensively out of the physically gifted wing DJ Jeffries, one of the league’s best defenders. The result is a season on the bubble, but unlike his predecessor Ben Howland, Jans appears to be getting enough out of this offensively-challenged group to return to the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season. If that happens, it will mark State’s first back-to-back March Madness trips since 2008-2009.

Missouri: Dennis Gates

Grade: D

The Tigers were a delightful fraud a season ago, and SDS means that in the best way.

Despite ranking an abysmal 180th in defensive efficiency and outside the top 50 in KenPom, the Tigers had a fun up-tempo attack that won them 25 games, including 1 in the NCAA Tournament against a great, veteran Utah State team. This was great news in CoMo and in the SEC at large, because a fun Mizzou, playing stylish offense in a packed Mizzou Arena, is good for the league and college basketball. At a minimum, another fun product was expected in 2023-24.

Needless to say, this season has been a disastrous one for Gates, as Mizzou remains winless in league play on the edge of March (0-13 after Tuesday’s narrow loss to Tennessee). Injuries have been a significant part of why, though, and save Gates from an “F.”

Kaleb Brown, expected to provide this team a mismatch at wing, has been out since the 3rd game of the season. Caleb Grill, a veteran NCAA Tournament good guard who would have been the team’s best perimeter defender and passer, has been out since December. Scoring guard Sean East, along with talented freshman Trent Pierce, have also missed multiple games with injuries.

It’s tough to lose that type of production and win anyway, and Mizzou has too often been shorthanded and looked the part of the walking wounded in league play. With a top 5 recruiting class on the way, better days are ahead in CoMo.

Ole Miss: Chris Beard

Grade: B+

Beard, who was dismissed from Texas after picking up felony domestic violence charges a season ago (the charges were ultimately dismissed), was given a chance by the administration at Ole Miss and he’s responded with an exciting season and team that could get the Rebels to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019.

Beard, who advanced to the national championship game at Texas Tech, is one of the game’s best teachers, and he hit the portal strong to instantly fix an offense that was one of the league’s worst a season ago. While this Ole Miss team doesn’t yet have the talent or wings to defend at the level that Beard expects culturally, the Rebels can shoot you out of the gym (38.6% from deep) and Beard is a master at optimizing his team’s strengths, using slower tempo to maximize the value of possessions for a team that is one of the best shooting teams in the sport. As one year turnarounds go, taking a 12-win team to the cusp of the NCAA Tournament warrants a high grade.

South Carolina: Lamont Paris

Grade: A+

The best coaching job in the sport this season, with a tip of the hat to Washington State’s Kyle Smith and USF’s Amir Abdur-Rahim. Paris won just 11 games in his first season in Columbia but vowed to “stick to our core principles and beliefs about program-building, even through defeat,” when he spoke to SDS at SEC Media Days.

The Gamecocks, picked last in the SEC (SDS slotted them 12th on our ballot, a terrible misfire), have a chance to win their 3rd SEC title (1997, 2009) down the stretch. Paris used the last-place finish to motivate, telling his players “that’s a last-place effort” or  “that is a last-place turnover” when they make poor plays, while imposing his steady personality on the team and coaching staff. Paris never gets too high or too low, and his team doesn’t flinch, which is how they’ve won at Tennessee and at Arkansas (where Duke lost this season), among other venues.

Paris’ commitment to “program values” has also meant a nod to his mentor, the great Bo Ryan at Wisconsin. Paris plays a Wisconsin-like tempo (355th in college basketball), and his teams stay in front of you defensively, forcing contested twos and deep threes. The result should be, at a minimum, a trip to the NCAA Tournament next month.

Tennessee: Rick Barnes

Grade: A

The Volunteers are in position to earn a No. 1 seed for the first time in program history and even if they fail short of that goal, Barnes has a team capable of finally taking the SEC’s 2nd-winningest program since integration (Kentucky) to their first Final Four. Tennessee sportsbooks are gearing up for a deep run.

To do it, Barnes showed an understanding of the evolution of the modern game, going to the portal and landing Dalton Knecht, an All-American and SEC Player of the Year candidate who currently ranks second in the SEC in scoring at 20.1 ppg (behind Alabama’s Sears) and who has helped the always defensively stout Vols become one of only 4 teams (Houston, UConn, Arizona) in the country ranked in the top 20 nationally in both offensive and defensive efficiency, per KenPom.

Texas A&M: Buzz Williams

Grade: C-

The Aggies were among the favorites to win the league in the preseason, returning multiple starters, including preseason SEC Player of the Year Wade Taylor IV, from a team that won 25 games last season. At present, the Aggies remain in the NCAA Tournament field, a 10 seed and 1 of the last 4 invites, per BracketMatrix.com, but an NCAA Tournament bid was the bare minimum anticipated from Williams’ 5th team in College Station.

The problem has been Williams’ roster construction: While Taylor IV (19.4 ppg) remains one of the league’s best guards, the Aggies can’t shoot. A&M is shooting just 27.3% from deep, the worst percentage in the Power 6. Thanks to a frontcourt full of rebounders, the Aggies are the nation’s best offensive rebounding group, collecting 43% of their misses. But unless Taylor and his backcourt mate Boots Radford (15.5 ppg) score in bunches, the Aggies offensive woes make a solid defense and dominant rebounding afterthoughts. Williams knows this too, which is why he’s made the unfortunate decision to allow Radford, who previously had a DUI at Virginia Tech, to continue to play while facing felony fleeing and eluding police charges stemming from an arrest in early February. More was expected from Williams, both on and off the court.

Vanderbilt: Jerry Stackhouse

Grade: F

Yes, Vanderbilt is a hard place to win, especially in the NIL era.

Yes, Vanderbilt deserved to be safely in the NCAA Tournament a season ago, winners of 10 of their last 11 before Selection Sunday, including multiple Quad 1 wins.

No, Vanderbilt shouldn’t fire the 2023 SEC co-coach of the year. But there’s no question 2023-24 has been unacceptable, as Stackhouse’s team has dropped off markedly in every category and has just 7 wins.

A brilliant tactician, Stackhouse can X and O you to death, but like Matt McMahon at LSU, roster construction is part of the job and Stackhouse has not recruited at the level of Bryce Drew did at Vanderbilt. That means he has to lean into portal acquisitions to fix the issues, but the Commodores haven’t landed impact transfers, either. Couple those realities with a disappointing senior campaign from preseason All-SEC guard Tyrin Lawrence, and you get a team that is 2-10 in the league and a coach on the hottest of hot seats a year removed from being honored by the SEC for coaching excellence.