Windham Wrap-up: SEC Basketball Makes a Statement

For the second year in a row, the SEC took home the SEC/Big 12 Challenge highlighted by Alabama's win over Baylor and Kentucky's win over Kansas.

Thanks in large part to the contribution from the Crimson Tide, Southeastern Conference basketball made a big statement over the weekend with its performance in the annual SEC/Big 12 Challenge. 

For the second year in a row, the SEC took home the title with a 6-4 victory between the two best conferences in college basketball. The six wins came from Alabama, Auburn, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Florida and Kentucky. The most impressive wins of the day came from the Crimson Tide and Wildcats with both picking up top-five wins over the two best teams from the Big 12. 

Alabama defeated the defending national champions, No. 4 Baylor 87-78 in front of a packed Coleman Coliseum, and Kentucky went on the road to No. 5 Kansas and dismantled the Jayhawks 80-62, leading by double-digits for the majority of the game. 

With the release of the AP poll Monday morning, the Big 12 has five teams in the top 25 and the SEC has four (with Alabama receiving the most votes of any team not in the top 25.)

Even though the SEC is widely seen as a football conference, and rightfully so with 11 of the last 15 national champions, the conference continues to step on the national basketball stage and this past weekend further solidified it. Alabama has had some inexcusable losses over the last few weeks (see Missouri and Georgia), but because of the strength of their schedule and the conference overall, the Crimson Tide is still projected as a five-seed in the NCAA tournament. And many opportunities still lay in front of them including two top-five games this week against No. 1 Auburn and No. 5 Kentucky. 

Anything can happen in college basketball, but for now, the SEC has to be feeling pretty good.