Greg Sankey calls out Danny Kanell, Ken Pomeroy over claims SEC is ‘overrated’

In his newsletter Tuesday, basketball analyst Ken Pomeroy questioned whether the SEC is “overrated” this season despite emerging as the top conference in the country. CBS Sports’ Danny Kanell posted a screenshot agreeing with the column – and it led to a response from SEC commissioner Greg Sankey.

Sankey brought numbers to social media to respond to the idea the SEC is “overrated” ahead of the conference tournament. He pointed out league teams’ records against their counterparts in the ACC, Big 12 and Big Ten.

SEC teams are 30-4 against the ACC, 14-2 vs. the Big 12 and 10-9 against the Big Ten. In non-conference play, the conference went 185-25, and Sankey also got in on the joke about the SEC being .500 in conference play this year. But those numbers, he argued, are why the SEC isn’t “overrated.”

Just helping explain why the @SEC is “overrated:”
—30 Ws/4 Ls vs ACC (wow)
—14 Ws/2 Ls vs Big 12 (oh my)
—10 W/9 Ls vs Big Ten ()
—185 Ws/23 Ls in non-conf games ()

I confess @SEC teams have a .500 record in games after 1/4/25 (). Sure, let’s go with “overrated” ()! https://t.co/LcxdSwbLMG

— Greg Sankey (@GregSankey) March 5, 2025

The SEC is currently in line to have the most NCAA Tournament bids of any conference this year. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi currently has 12 teams from the league in the field in his latest Bracketology, including projected No. 1 seeds Auburn and Tennessee. Oklahoma is also just on the outside of Lunardi’s projected Field of 68.

The KenPom rankings also show the strength the SEC has this year. The conference has a net efficiency rating of +22.07, which is more than four full points ahead of the Big Ten – the second-most efficient league.

In his column, though, Pomeroy noted his point wasn’t about the SEC’s strength this season. After all, the conference’s non-conference record and margin of victory both rank alongside the 1997 ACC, which had six teams in the field.

Instead, Pomeroy argued, the regular-season strength might not necessarily translate to success in the NCAA Tournament. He cited both the 1997 ACC and 2024 Big 12, which both had historic non-conference winning percentages, as examples. Neither conference had a team make the national championship in those respective NCAA Tournaments.

“One takeaway is that it’s not unusual for historically great conferences to fail in the tournament. So maybe it’s time to sell the SEC,” Pomeroy wrote. “Before Greg Sankey throws a fit, it’s important to note I’m not disputing the SEC’s conference supremacy this season. Just that it’s likely the SEC’s tournament performance will not be entirely consistent with being the best conference of all-time.”

Only a couple games remain in the regular season before the SEC Tournament gets underway in Nashville next week. From there, it’s off to Selection Sunday, which is when we’ll find out just how many teams from the league are going dancing.

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