Jay Bilas knows all about elite college basketball action. After all, ESPN’s popular broadcaster and analyst was once himself a star player at Duke.
But even Bilas, someone who played in the 80s and has been a member of ESPN’s coverage since the 90s, has not seen anything like what the SEC is compiling this season. He appeared on “The Paul Finebaum Show” on Tuesday and said he hasn’t seen “anything remotely” like what the league is doing this year.
“I have never seen anything remotely like what we’re seeing in the Southeastern Conference this year. The nonconference success has not been seen since the ACC in the mid 1980s. That’s so long ago, I played in the league back then,” said Bilas. “But the biggest difference in comparing those two is that the ACC was 8 teams then. It’s a lot easier to have 8 really good teams than it is to have 16 really good teams.”
The season of historic play from the SEC will include a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup this Saturday when Auburn and Alabama face off. That will be the first-ever No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup in league history, but the league is so deep, it might just be the first of multiple such showdowns this season.
Bilas went on to describe this year’s SEC as the most powerful league “there has ever been” in college basketball. He explained why it will cause some issues come Selection Sunday, pointing to a South Carolina team who is winless in the SEC but has a win over Clemson, the 2nd place team in the ACC.
“It’s gonna cause the (NCAA) Tournament selection a problem because you’re going to have teams with losing records in conference play that are going to be significantly better than some teams finishing in the top 3 or 4 in a couple of other power leagues… every game in this league is Quad 1,” explained Bilas. “It’s absurd… This is the most powerful basketball league top to bottom that there has ever been.”
As for the latest SEC Championship odds, Auburn continues to lead the way at bet365 at -250. Alabama (+220) is also in the mix while Florida (+2200) and Texas A&M (+7500) lag behind. Use the sports betting app that best suites you to get in on the latest odds.
As for the latest NCAA Tournament bracketology projections from ESPN, Joe Lunardi includes a whopping 13 SEC teams getting in. We’ll see if that comes to fruition as we head toward March Madness.