Normally, when college basketball analyst Jay Bilas speaks, the inclination to turn away becomes overpowering. Bilas offers up the occasional odd praise and equally befuddling criticism regarding all manners of basketball and adjacent subjects. 

Yet, when he sat down with Paul Finebaum to discuss SEC basketball, nothing he said, upon deep reflection, didn’t make sense. In fact, for the first time in memory, Bilas’ thoughts match historical analysis in concert with relevant statistics. 

This particularly applies to Auburn basketball.

What Happened?

Bilas sat down with Finebaum, himself not exactly a font of rationality, and posed this notion that apparently sent ripples through college basketball. 

“I have never seen anything remotely like what we’re seeing in the Southeastern Conference this year,” Bilas told Finebaum. “The non-conference success has not been seen since the ACC in the mid-1980s. That’s so long ago, I played in the league back then,” said Bilas. “But the biggest difference in comparing those two is that the ACC was 8 teams then. It’s a lot easier to have 8 really good teams than it is to have 16 really good teams.”

Context

With many of us old enough to turn the radio down while looking at street signs as we drive, the thought initially took a blasphemous tone. Madison Square Garden during the 1980s came alive with Big East basketball. 

Legends like Patrick Ewing and Chris Mullin put on showcases that made conference tournament week what it eventually became. Bilas is actually correct in his assertion. The SEC helmed by Auburn, enjoys the most competitive season in basketball history.

Evidentiary Support

Five of the Associated Press Top 10 teams call the SEC home. Deeper than that, nine teams in the overall Top 25. Auburn sits atop the polls, even after a loss. Top-ranked teams rarely, if ever stay in number one after a loss. The Tigers head to Tuscaloosa to battle the Crimson Tide in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 battle. 

Saturday’s game will mark the 22nd time that the top-two teams face off in the regular season since 1951. That day, December 17, 1951, second-ranked Kentucky defeated No. 1 St. John’s, 81-40. Of those, Saturday’s tilt at Coleman Coliseum marks just the ninth-time conference rivals face each other as No. 1 vs. No. 2, and it’s the first time in SEC history. 

SEC football can be an echo chamber at times with a bunch of subjectively-high ranked teams playing each other but rarely venturing outside of their comfort zone.

Auburn basketball blew that up this season and has certainly done its part to back Bilas’s non-conference narrative. The Tigers have wins over No. 6 Houston, No. 7 Purdue, No. 10 Iowa State, and No. 14 Memphis to go along with wins over UNC and Ohio State. Their lone blemish came on the road vs. No. 3 Duke.  

Golden era indeed.

Overview

The basketball revolution was televised. Auburn and the rest of the SEC lead the way. The Big East, once a powerhouse conference, withered and fell back to earth. The ACC, while still strong, pales in comparison. The Pac-12 does not exist and the Big Ten is too top heavy. 

They possess more fluff and cannon fodder than just about anyone else, Meanwhile, the SEC can legitimately claim that about a dozen teams will make the playoffs, while a half-dozen can fall into championship contender status. 

While football tries to find its way again on the Plains, basketball firmly sits at the head table.