When sports fans think of the Southeastern Conference, a 92-year-long tradition of football typically comes to mind.
In the 2024-25 athletic cycle, folks watching from home and broadcasters alike have seen the SEC become as big of a threat on the hardwood as it is on turf.
Blue-blood Kentucky leads the conference historically. However, some programs that are members of the SEC today dominated college hoops in other leagues before joining the conference that this season is deemed strongest in the country heading into March Madness.
With the SEC Tournament and March Madness upon us, we decided to find out. To determine where teams in the SEC stand among each other, The Tuscaloosa News created a points system that recognizes accomplishments for each member school.
The ranking criteria includes SEC success in addition to league titles in other conferences to fairly assess first-year members Oklahoma and Texas, as well schools like Arkansas and Missouri which haven't been around the SEC as long as Alabama , Auburn , Kentucky, Tennessee and other traditional conference members.
The rankings were calculated based on a points system using the following criteria: NCAA championships (10 points), Final Four appearances (5), regular-season SEC championships (2), other conference regular-season championships (2), SEC tournament championships (2), other conference tournament championships (2), NCAA Tournament appearances (2), NCAA Tournament wins (2), NIT championships (5), NIT wins (1), conference players of the year (1), consensus All-Americans (1), NBA and ABA draftees (1) and top-25 poll rankings at the end of a season (2).
Since the school embarked on its first season in 1903, Kentucky has gone on to make 17 appearances in the Final Four and win eight NCAA Tournament titles, cementing itself in history as a powerhouse. With two NIT championships as well, the Wildcats are the only program in the country with multiple NCAA Tournament and NIT titles – and there was a time when the NIT stood alongside the NCAA as a major event. The Wildcats became first to reach 1,000 program wins in 1968.
Joining the SEC for the 1991-92 season, Arkansas ranks second in the league historically. As a member of the Southwest Conference, the Razorbacks made 13 runs to the NCAA Tournament and reached the Final Four three times. Arkansas cut down the net after Hall of Fame coach Nolan Richardson led the team to the national title in 1994.
If not for Oklahoma and Texas joining the league ahead of the 2024-25 season, two-time basketball national champion Florida , which has seen the Final Four five times, would be third in SEC history. The Sooners ' stints across multiple conferences didn't stop the program's consistency on the court, claiming seven league tournament titles, 14 regular-season championships and five Final Fours from the Missouri Valley Conference to the Big 12.
More consensus All-Americans, draftees to the next level and weeks spent in the final polls position OU ahead of former Big 12 and SWC member Texas, which ranks fourth in the league historically by the points system with three Final Fours and 38 years in the NCAA Tournament.
The table below reflects historic basketball accomplishments of each current SEC school, followed by the points total from a ranking system created by The Tuscaloosa News. Example: Alabama has one Final Four appearance worth five points, while Arkansas has six for 30 points; Auburn has five regular-season championships for 10 points, while Alabama has 10 worth 20 points, and so forth.
Emilee Smarr covers Alabama basketball and Crimson Tide athletics for the Tuscaloosa News. She can be reached via email at esmarr@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: SEC basketball history: How all 16 schools rank against each other
