The exact moment the SEC became a basketball conference is still up for debate. What Rick Barnes can tell you is when his league was barely known for basketball. It was 1987, the beginning of what will someday be a hall of fame career for Tennessee's current coach.

How many SEC teams will make the Final Four? That's the leading question heading into the Elite Eight. The SEC - which sent a record 14 teams to the 2025 NCAA men's basketball tournament - has a chance to tie the all-time record for most Final Four teams from one conference.

The SEC’s surprise Sweet 16 team is Arkansas, which only two months ago was 0-5 in league play and firmly outside the NCAA tournament picture. John Calipari’s Razorbacks have since won 12 of 17 games, culminating with Saturday’s thrilling upset of the best St. John’s team in at least two decades.

Twenty-five years after his lone national title, Tom Izzo has come up short of a second. Michigan State fell behind by 15 points in the opening minutes and never could fight all the way back.

Florida was the first team to reach the Final Four with an 84-79 win over Texas Tech in the West Region final on Saturday. Duke followed by shutting down high-flying Alabama for an 85-65 win in the East Region final. That sets up an all-Southeastern Conference national semifinal between Florida and Auburn, with Houston facing Duke in the other.

Seven SEC teams qualified for the Sweet 16, a new NCAA Tournament record. Here's how the conference has performed in 2025 March Madness.

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The Athletic's Stewart Mandel pointed out on X that Auburn's win caused something to happen for the first time since the 2008 NCAA Tournament. With Auburn's win, only No. 1 seeds made the Final Four.

South Carolina kept its repeat championship hopes alive and reached its fifth straight Final Four with a grinding 54-50 win over Duke on Sunday. The Gamecocks will face the winner between top-seeded Texas and TCU on Monday in their bid to become the first repeat NCAA champion since UConn’s run of four straight from 2013-16.