As the college basketball regular season comes to a close, it’s time to take a look at the biggest storylines from the 2024-25 season as we prepare to fill out our March Madness brackets.
The SEC is good. Historically good.
Since 1985, there have only been two instances of a conference having three number-one seeds in the same season— the ACC in 2019 and the Big East in 2009. In those two seasons, both conferences sent seven teams to the NCAA Tournament. The most teams a conference has ever sent in one year is 11, the Big East in 2011.
This year, not only does the SEC have a chance to have three teams on the one-seed line, but as of today, they are currently projected to have 13 teams in the tournament per Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology. Never have we seen a conference have this combination of high-level contenders while simultaneously having this much depth.
The Auburn Tigers lead the way, having won the SEC regular-season title, and are currently Lunardi’s projected number one overall seed. At 27-4 with 16 Q1 wins, Bruce Pearl’s squad boasts one of the most impressive resumes in the last 10 seasons.
One team to keep an eye on, however, is the Texas Longhorns. At the time of this writing, they are one of the few SEC teams out of the field, but with a good week in the SEC Tournament, could play themselves into the field. With a player like Tre Johnson, who averages 20 points a night, the Longhorns are poised to be a scary matchup in a tournament setting.
Rick Pitino is back
When Rick Pitino was hired as the Head Coach at St. John’s University last season, it had been 40 years since the Red Storm had won a Big East regular season championship. It took Pitino just two seasons to end that drought.
Led by an experienced trio of Kadary Richmond, Zuby Ejiofor, and RJ Luis Jr., St. John’s cruised to a 27-4 record and an impressive 18-2 in Big East conference play. The Johnnies are currently a projected three seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Just like during Pitino’s days at Louisville, his team is centered around their defensive intensity. As a result, according to KenPom, the Johnnies have the second most efficient defense in the country. They also force the thirteenth-most turnovers of any team.
The only thing lacking for St. John’s this season has been their three-point shooting. On the season, they have shot 29.9% from behind the arc, the second-worst mark of any power conference program. Despite this, they have found ways to win all season. One of the most important aspects to winning in March is having a great head coach.
The Johnnies certainly have that.
The ACC’s fall from grace
It was just six years ago the ACC had three teams atop the one seed line. This year? They have just three teams currently projected to make the field: Duke, Clemson, and Louisville. This would mark their lowest total since the year 2000.
So what happened?
The departures of legendary coaches Tony Bennett, Jim Boeheim, Roy Williams, and Jim Larranaga have left programs that previously had been contenders for years, behind the 8-ball of the rest of the country. Of the four programs these coaches left, none are currently projected to make the field. Just one, North Carolina, is even on the bubble.
Only Duke, currently a projected one seed, has been able to keep its stride despite losing a coaching legend. Since Mike Krzyzewski retired in 2022, the Blue Devils have yet to miss the tournament.
This isn’t a one-off year, either. It’s been a downward trend for the ACC who haven’t fielded more than seven teams in the tournament since 2018. Even with the recent expansion from 15 teams to 18.
For the better part of the last 30 years, the ACC has been College Basketball’s premier conference. But with the SEC and Big 10 continuing to expand and improve, it’s the ACC that now has to play catch-up.
BYU is the hottest team in the country
In early February, the BYU Cougars lost to Cincinnati and fell to 15-8 on the season, with a ways to go to make the NCAA Tournament. Since then, the Cougars have rattled off nine consecutive wins and have played themselves into a projected top-seven seed.
Talk about controlling your own destiny.
This hasn’t been a run of beating a bunch of inferior teams either. On their win streak, the Cougars have knocked off West Virginia (twice), Kansas, Arizona, and Iowa State (twice)— all projected tournament teams.
Richie Saunders, a junior forward, has been the guy for the Cougars on this run. As a 16-point-per-game scorer who shoots 43.7 percent from three, he sets the tone for an offense that ranks ninth in the country in offensive efficiency.
All of this, considering the Cougars lost their head coach Mark Pope to Kentucky last season, makes their run all the more impressive. When Kevin Young was hired prior to the season, the Cougars were projected to finish ninth in the Big 12. They finished tied for third.
Don’t sleep on UConn
It may sound absurd to say “don’t sleep” on a team that has won back-to-back National Championships, but this isn’t the same team that hoisted the trophy the last two seasons.
It’s been an up and down season in Hartford. No doubt about it. After starting the year as the preseason number three ranked team, the Huskies dropped all three games at the Maui Invitational in shocking fashion. After rebounding with some quality wins over Baylor and Gonzaga, the Huskies lost a head-scratcher in conference play to Seton Hall, a team ranked in the 200’s on KenPom.
Despite their losses, they have still shown the ability to beat tournament-quality teams. Sweeping Marquette, a road win at Creighton, the earlier mentioned win over Gonzaga, it’s clear the Huskies have shown the ability to play at a high level.
One X-factor to watch out for is sophomore guard Solo Ball. Ball is one of the best three-point shooters in the country, 42.8 percent on just under seven attempts per game. When Ball is hot, the Huskies offense is one of the scariest in the country.
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