Texas basketball coach Sean Miller is about to embark on his debut season in his third power conference, giving him experience in half of the high-major landscape. The SEC is the pinnacle, Miller said, of college basketball now and into the future. It is part of the allure of the Texas job, which pulled Miller away from Xavier after a strong three-year run that included a pair of NCAA Tournament bids and a Sweet 16 berth.
Last season’s SEC shattered the NCAA Tournament record when it secured 14 March Madness bids. All but two teams made the Big Dance. The 2011 Big East previously boasted the record with 11 postseason squads, and the SEC blew that mark out of the water.
“In 2025, I don’t know if there’s a better place to be than the Southeastern Conference,” Miller said to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports. “And it’s not just because of basketball. It’s because of the greatness in football. It’s about how they’ve embraced the future, maybe as well or before anybody else did. So I’m excited about it.”
The SEC proved deserving of its 14 tournament bids, too. Florida won the national championship, Auburn also reached the Final Four and the conference notched a combined 23-13 record in the postseason. It represented half of the Elite Eight, Final Four and national championship fields. That is a stark contrast from a decade ago, when the SEC struggled through a four-season span in which it earned just three bids in three different tournaments.
“There’s some amazing coaches in this league,” said Miller. “Florida won a national championship. There’s Hall of Fame coaches that are in the Hall of Fame, and there’s Hall of Fame coaches that are going to be in the Hall of Fame. To be able to go against them, when you want to be the best — if that’s how you’re wired, to compete for the top spot — you have to be able to embrace competition.”
The 2024-25 campaign was a dominant one from start to finish for a conference that continues to separate itself from the pack across all sports. The SEC obliterated the ACC in last season’s ACC-SEC Challenge with a 14-2 record, and it went 59-19 against high-major leagues in total.
“Coming here to Texas, there’s a lot of running to the competition, which includes the SEC,” Miller said. “No doubt, powerful conference. I think it will bring out the best in all of us, and excited about it.”
Miller has a chance to earn hardware in his third conference. He strung together three straight Atlantic 10 titles in his first stint at Xavier and dominated the Pac-12 for much of his tremendous Arizona tenure, racking up five regular-season titles and three conference tournament crowns.
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