People will often talk about the style of play or trends in college basketball, but it’s always a bit reductive to talk about a sport with 360 teams as one entity. Within this ecosystem there are a lot of changes, largely from conference to conference–but even budget to budget. As teams look to build their rosters and develop style of play it’s important to note the trends of their particular league and know what they need to be ready for, or find some ways they can be different and find advantages in different ways.
Because of the importance of trends, checking in on the style of play of SEC basketball has become a yearly tradition here at Gator Country. With each category, you will see where the SEC ranks, and then we’ll talk about what that means functionally. As a reminder, there are 31 conferences in the NCAA as context for these rankings.
Here are the current trends of SEC basketball.
Offensive Efficiency: 1st
This is a fascinating ranking in an interesting category. On one hand–efficiency is everything in college basketball, and being 1st suggests the SEC might have the highest powered offenses in the country. However, this number can’t be viewed in isolation, as it is also tied to the conference’s defense. The defenses were way, way down in the SEC with 11 teams finishing 45th or lower–something that would have been unbelievable even five years ago where the SEC was known for their defense. Part of the reason the Gators had so much success in the SEC last season was the fact that their defense was strong in a conference where so many other teams struggled, and that’s something to monitor going into next year.
Tempo: 4th
This probably won’t come as too much of a surprise, but the SEC has turned into an extremely up and down league. What I’m monitoring here is how teams go from the SEC, which is very fast, to the NCAA Tournament where the style of play is often much slower. We saw this in an exaggerated fashion when the Gators went up against Iowa, one of the slowest teams in the country.
Turnover Percentage: 2nd
Once again, it’s a bit hard to uncouple this from what is the impact of great offense, or what is the impact of bad defense. It’s certainly a bit of both–but the SEC had some of the least disruptive defenses in the country.
Steal Percentage: 24th
Feeling somewhat tied to the turnover percentage, this further supports to me that the SEC defenses just aren’t that disruptive. Florida contributes to this narrative, as they play a fairly conservative style and don’t try to generate many turnovers.
Offensive Rebounding: 2nd
It’s almost a bit surprising this number isn’t first, but once again you need to factor in both sides of the ball here. Yes the SEC had some of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country, but that also means those teams probably had pretty good defensive rebounding infrastructure that could keep opponents off the glass. Needless to say–the general rebounding in this league is elite.
Block Percentage: 3rd
Another number that speaks to the size and athleticism of the league. Getting anything easy around the rim is a major challenge.
Three-Point Attempt Rate: 18th
Three-Point Percentage: 14th
If there was any number that was surprising, it was this one. It felt like a lot of SEC teams struggled to shoot, and of course Florida really brought down the average, but the numbers show that the league was a bit better than average while taking about an average number of threes.
Assist Rate: 23rd
I am open to theories on why you think the SEC ranks low in assist rate, but I have a few ideas. The SEC had a lot of talented isolation scorers on the perimeter and inside, and those players going to work and getting buckets often didn’t generate assists. Also, the league scored a ton on the offensive glass which doesn’t allow for assists.
Zone Usage: 26th
A lot of coaches in this league are worried about using a zone, thinking they might get rained down with threes or struggle on the offensive glass.
Home Win Percentage: 26th
Perhaps this was one of the most interesting pieces of data, because home court doesn’t mean what it used to in the SEC. Personally, I don’t think this has as much to do with home environments as it does with just how good the league has gotten and how much parity there is. You look across the leagues and there just aren’t the layup home wins that there once were, or that there are elsewhere in the country.
Those are some of the trends of SEC basketball, and it should give you some different areas to watch for in the 2027 season.