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Tom Crean shared some extended thoughts on why the SEC has been so dominant in 2025 in a recent interview.
The former Georgia, Indiana and Marquette head coach did a Q&A session with Awful Announcing this week and was asked why the league appears to be so far ahead of everyone else in college basketball this season. And for what it’s worth, the advanced metrics back up that perception — KenPom grades the SEC as a +21.9 rating as of Tuesday morning. That’s the best individual conference rating in the history of KenPom’s database, which goes back to 1997.
Crean pointed toward talent retention as the biggest reason why the SEC has soared above the other leagues. He pointed to Florida as a team with the talent, continuity and elite coaching to be a dominant force in 2025.
“Retention would be the biggest reason to me, and they have certainly the (NIL) money,” Crean told Awful Announcing. “It’s a destination league for kids to come from anywhere in the country because you know you’re playing against the best. You’re going have an opportunity to get whoever is the best in the portal and you can recruit McDonald’s All-Americans all day long. Then you’ve got developers in that league. You’ve got good coaches. Florida is a great example. They had retention. They brought in Alijah Martin, Rueben Chinyelu, and Sam Alexis to build their depth. They’ve done a great job at development when you look at Micah Handlogten, Denzel Aberdeen, Thomas Haugh, and Alex Condon. Look where they’re at. They’re extremely well coached with a great staff.”
Beyond Florida, it’s easy to see the other top teams in this league that have been built over multiple seasons. Auburn forward Johni Broome, Alabama guard Mark Sears and Tennessee guard Zakai Zeigler were all elite college players last season, but chose to return to campus rather than pursue professional opportunities.
Auburn is currently in the driver’s seat to take home the SEC’s regular-season title. The Tigers are the lone team in the league with 1 conference loss after they beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa over the weekend. However, it’s possible multiple SEC teams could earn No. 1 seeds when Selection Sunday rolls around in a few weeks. Four of the nation’s top 6 teams on KenPom currently reside in the SEC.
Conference play in the SEC will continue on Tuesday evening.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
