A case study in college basketball played out before our eyes this week as the SEC and the ACC faced off in a basketball challenge. Each conference took eight of their teams and sent them to eight of the other conference's arenas to take on the other half of each conference. That was a confusing way to say that each conference got to host eight games. This challenge revealed something surprising about 2024-2025 college basketball. The SEC looks to be loaded from top to bottom.
The SEC won the challenge 14-2. Last year, it was an even split of 7-7 (back when each conference only had 14 teams). The SEC dominated, and there was only one SEC loss each night. The surprising part of it all is that those two losses happened to two of the top-ranked SEC teams. Auburn, ranked #2 in the nation, lost to Duke, and Kentucky, ranked #4 in the nation, lost to Clemson. So what happened? I see two major reasons.
-The ACC is top heavy-
The ACC is not a very deep conference this season; it drops off after the first few teams. The conference was weighing heavily on Duke, Pitt, Louisville, North Carolina, and Clemson to help prop them up. Pitt was demolished by Mississippi State in this challenge 90-57. Louisville suffered two major injuries before this game, and that may derail their season. The Cardinals got smoked 86-63. North Carolina just does not look like a great team this year. They will be good but not great and couldn't pull it off against Alabama. They have four losses on the season.
That leaves only Duke and Clemson to hold things up, and they were able to do it. Some other ACC teams may come together throughout the season, like NC State, Miami, or even Florida State, but that remains to be seen.
Clemson and Duke are both really good and will be NCAA tournament teams. They both will be in the conversation for the ACC conference champion conversation.
-Hostile Environments-
Auburn and Kentucky both had to play in a raucous environment. Cameron Indoor is famous for its insanity, but Clemson did a great job on its own. They had students waiting for over 5 hours to get into the game in the cold. They were loud and annoying and caused problems for the Wildcats and energy for the Tigers.
It was Auburn and Kentucky's first true road game. They had played tough competition on neutral sites but never in a hostile road game. For both teams, this was their first of the season, and that matters as each team settles into the season.
Verdict: Taking on two of the best ACC teams in hostile environments for both team's first true road games was more than Kentucky and Auburn could overcome this early in the season. Ultimately, though, both Auburn and Kentucky will be fine, and neither loss will hurt them ultimately on the resume as both will be Quad 1 losses. It's an opportunity to grow and get ready for their own conference-hostile road games.