Last season the SEC asserted itself as the strongest conference in college basketball in a number of ways and one of those was the complete domination of the ACC-SEC Challenge. Mind you, things were already looking rough for the ACC and the SEC was looking like a wagon so a strong SEC win was expected–though no one predicted the absolute landslide the event ended up being.
After 16 matchups, the SEC went 14-2.
Given how bad things were for the ACC last year on a number of fronts the only real way to go for the conference is up, but how will they compete in the 2025 iteration of the challenge? Here are some quick notes on each of the matchups:
Florida at Duke
What this game symbolizes more than anything is Florida’s return to elite status in the sport of college basketball. Sure, some will argue that Florida never lost relevance, but let’s be real here–the Gators were not getting these kinds of marquee matchups for the last number of years. Duke is expected to be extremely strong once again with the Boozer twins coming in from the high school ranks and this instantly becomes one of the top games of the non-conference portion of the season. Look for this to be the most anticipated game of the event in the eyes of national media.
North Carolina At Kentucky
North Carolina is coming off an extremely disappointing season and while they have added some talent it’s still not the kind of North Carolina team we are used to seeing. On the SEC side of things, Kentucky used a gargantuan warchest of NIL to build one of the deepest teams in the sport. On paper this one is going to lean heavily in Kentucky’s favor.
Tennessee At Syracuse
With 16 teams in each league and all kinds of possibilities for matchups, this is the most bizarre of all the pairings. Not only is this lopsided from a recent success standpoint with Tennessee having been at the top of the SEC and Syracuse being near the bottom of the ACC, but these teams have also played non-conference games the past two seasons and this will make three in a row. Add in that the Vols blasted Syracuse by 17 and 26, and this game doesn’t just make little sense, but it makes for little intrigue.
Texas A&M At Pittsburgh
Bucky McMillan taking over at Texas A&M is going to make them an interesting non-conference watch, particularly as the style of play is going to be very different from what we’re used to watching. Pittsburgh has some size and will try to play physically while the new-look Aggies will play much smaller and faster, so it could make for an interesting clash of styles.
Missouri At Notre Dame
When looking at a lot of these matchups they seem lopsided, but that just speaks to how good the SEC was last year and how poor the ACC was. It was a rough year for the Irish last season, but they did well to retain some of their quality talent. Still, you will see Missouri as the favorite here.
Georgia At Florida State
At this point of Mike White’s SEC tenure you know exactly what to expect from his teams, but Florida State is a bit of an unknown after Leonard Hamilton left and NBA assistant and Seminole alum Luke Loucks came in. For a decade and a half Florida State has been about length, athleticism, and defense, but Loucks is expected to bring a bit more free-flowing style. Without much NIL the Seminoles roster does not look intimidating, but this will be a chance to see exactly what Florida State is made of.
Oklahoma At Wake Forest
These will be two rosters that look very different from the year prior, which might be a good thing for Wake Forest who has seen their seasons take nose dives the last two years. Porter Moser has done well to make the most of his rosters recently and the Sooners are likely to be favored in this game, though these are the types of matchups the ACC will need to win if they want to be at all competitive in the challenge.
Miami At Ole Miss
Miami is another team that made a coaching change as Duke’s Jai Lucas took over for legend Jim Larranaga. Lucas is bringing a defensive approach to Coral Gables and will try to make this a low scoring game, but that will be tough to do against Ole Miss. As with some of the other matchups where there is a program with a new coach, there is some interest simply to see how the style of play changes with the coaching move.
Virginia Tech At South Carolina
The Hokies and Gamecocks both finished near the bottom of their leagues last year making this one of the more balanced matchups on the schedule. Virginia Tech’s talent on paper was pretty poor last year and they did improve in that area, but we’ll see just how much against a battle tested South Carolina team.
NC State At Auburn
Circle this one on the calendar as it will be two fiery teams with two fiery coaches going at it in what will certainly be a fascinating game. Will Wade taking over at State meant talent was going to follow closely behind and this rebuilt Wolfpack roster looks like a lot of fun. While the Tigers do have some returners from their tremendous team a year ago, it doesn’t seem like they were able to replace the impact of Johni Broome and Chad Baker-Mazara. Look for NC State to have a great chance at a marquee win here.
Louisville At Arkansas
Throughout the portal season it was fairly clear that Louisville was operating with an extreme amount of funding as they landed just about everyone they wanted, and they also supplemented that with high school and international talent that should contribute right away. It always seems to take John Calipari teams a little while to get their footing so they might not be at their best in this matchup and the Cardinals might have a good shot to steal a game on the road here.
SMU At Vanderbilt
With the ACC being so bad last year it was hard for any team to make much positive news outside of Duke, but SMU quietly finishing 5th in the conference despite them being picked much lower in the preseason was a good story for that program. With a few impact players returning they could be plucky, but Vanderbilt also completely loaded up in the portal in a way we are not used to seeing in recent years. This is a matchup that could sneakily be one of the best.
Clemson At Alabama
Both the Tigers and Crimson Tide had great seasons in 2024-25 and their clash of styles will make for an interesting matchup this upcoming year. Clemson is all about playing physically and rebounding the ball and, of course, Alabama is about playing at a breakneck pace, so this should be a good clash. If the ACC wants to be competitive in this challenge they’ll need their projected best teams to get some wins, so this is one they would love to have.
Mississippi State At Georgia Tech
Admittedly, we are now at the point of the slate where there are some games without obvious storylines or much intrigue. Mississippi State is going to be heavily favored in this one with a roster that could compete for an NCAA Tournament berth once again, while Georgia Tech is coming off a horrible year in some part due to injuries and there isn’t much looking up for them at the moment.
LSU At Boston College
Much like the previous matchup, there isn’t a lot to go off here. Boston College will likely be picked to finish last in the ACC this season, and LSU will be trying to get back into the NCAA Tournament with a roster that would be pretty solid in most years in the SEC but doesn’t look all that impressive relative to how loaded the league has become.
Virginia At Texas
The final matchup should be a great one as both the Cavaliers and Longhorns have made coaching changes that are considered to be positive ones by nearly all media observers. Ryan Odom, coming from VCU, largely went after portal targets that he believed fit well as opposed to ones that were heralded, while Texas went and got some more highly rated names. These are two rosters that are solid but not stunning, but it’s the coaching matchup that makes things fascinating.