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Southeastern Conference

Association	NCAA
Founded	1932; 93 years ago (1932)[1]
Commissioner	Greg Sankey (since 2015)
Sports fielded	22[2] men's: 9 women's: 13
Division	Division I
Subdivision	FBS
No. of teams	16
Headquarters	Roy F. Kramer Building 2201 Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd. Birmingham, Alabama United States
Region	South South Atlantic East South Central West South Central Midwest West North Central
Official website	secsports.com
Locations

TheSoutheastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiateathletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in theSouth Central andSoutheastern United States. Its 16 members include theflagship public universities of 12 states, 3 additional publicland-grant universities, and 1 private research university. The conference is headquartered inBirmingham, Alabama. The SEC participates in theNational Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)Division I in sports competitions. Infootball, it is part of theFootball Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A.

The SEC was established in 1932 by 13 members of theSouthern Conference. Three charter members left by the late 1960s, but additions in 1990 and 2012 grew the conference to 14 member institutions. The conference expanded to 16 members with the addition of theUniversity of Oklahoma and theUniversity of Texas in 2024.^[3]

In1992, the SEC was the first NCAA Division I conference to have achampionship game for football and was one of the founding member conferences of theBowl Championship Series (BCS). The conference sponsors team championships in nine men's sports and 13 women's sports. The conference distributed $721.8 million to its 14 schools in 2022.^[4]

The SEC consists of 16 member institutions located in the U.S. states ofAlabama,Arkansas,Florida,Georgia,Kentucky,Louisiana,Mississippi,Missouri,Oklahoma,South Carolina,Tennessee, andTexas. The SEC was formerly divided into East and West Divisions, although the divisional alignment was not strictly geographic, with Missouri in the East Division while being farther west than several West Division schools, and Auburn in the West Division despite being located farther east than East Division schools Missouri and Vanderbilt.^[5] These divisional groupings were applied only in football, baseball, and women's soccer, for both scheduling and standings purposes. In football, the two division winners met in theSEC Championship Game.

The SEC eliminated its baseball and football divisions once Oklahoma and Texas joined in 2024.^[6][7]

Notes

Southeastern Conference Members

240km
149miles

Vanderbilt

Texas A&M

Texas

Tennessee

South Carolina

Oklahoma

Missouri

Ole Miss

Mississippi State

LSU

Kentucky

Georgia

Florida

Auburn

Arkansas

Alabama

   

Three schools have left the SEC, all charter members:

• The University of the South ("Sewanee") developed an elite college football program around the turn of the 20th century, with some observers^[who?] opining that the1899 "Iron Tigers" were the most dominant squad in history.^[11] However, after helping to establish the SEC in the early 1930s, it became clear that the small private institution's athletic teams could no longer compete with those from large state universities.Sewanee Tigers football squads never won a conference game, going 0–36 in league play over eight seasons while enjoying much more success against non-conference foes from comparably-sized institutions.^[12] As such, Sewanee opted to leave the SEC after the 1940 season and transitioned its athletic programs to the lower divisions of intercollegiate play.^[13] The school is currently a member of theSouthern Athletic Association.^[a]
• Georgia Tech left the SEC in 1964 due to controversy over the conference's regulation ofrecruiting andscholarships. Georgia Tech athletic director and head football coachBobby Dodd had lobbied the league to establish rules prohibiting several practices, particularly the oversigning of players by Alabama coachBear Bryant and others.^[14] When league members voted against tightening the rules, Dodd withdrew the Yellow Jackets from the SEC. The school played as anindependent for several years, and in 1978, Georgia Tech joined another Southern Conference offshoot, theAtlantic Coast Conference.^[12]
• Tulane left the SEC in 1966. The school's athletic squads were competitive in the early days of the conference, but much like Sewanee, the private institution's programs found it difficult to compete against large state universities. This was particularly true in football; theGreen Wave were SEC champs in1949 but never again posted a winning record in conference play. Tulane left the SEC in 1966 and subsequently considered dropping to lower levels of NCAA competition or even ending its football program altogether to focus on academics.^[15] However, the school has remained in Division I and joined theAmerican Athletic Conference in 2014.^[12]

Notes

The SEC was established December 8 and 9, 1932, in Knoxville, Tennessee, at the Farragut Hotel, when the thirteen members of the largeSouthern Conference located west and south of theAppalachian Mountains left to form their own conference. Ten of the thirteen founding members have remained in the conference since its inception: theUniversity of Alabama,Auburn University, theUniversity of Florida, theUniversity of Georgia, theUniversity of Kentucky,Louisiana State University ("LSU"), theUniversity of Mississippi ("Ole Miss"),Mississippi State University, theUniversity of Tennessee, andVanderbilt University. The SEC had no formal headquarters during its first eight years of existence, but in 1940, formerGovernor of MississippiMartin "Mike" Conner was named the conference's first president, with the league establishing its first corporate headquarters on the 13th floor of theStandard Life Building in downtownJackson, Mississippi. The SEC office remained there until 1948, when it moved toBirmingham, Alabama, where it remains.^[16] The three founding members that have since left the conference areSewanee, who left after the 1940 season to drop all athletic scholarships and become aD-III Independent;Georgia Tech, who left after the 1963 season and became a D-I Independent; andTulane, who left after the 1965 season and became a D-I Independent.

In 1935, the SEC became the first conference to legalizeathletic scholarships.^[17]

White southerners committed to maintaining segregation created controversy preceding the1956 Sugar Bowl, when thePitt Panthers, with African-American fullbackBobby Grier on the roster, met theGeorgia Tech Yellow Jackets.^[18] White southern segregationists created controversy by claiming that Grier should be barred from the game due to his race, and whether Georgia Tech should even play at all due to Georgia'sGovernorMarvin Griffin's opposition to racial integration.^[19][20][21] After Griffin publicly sent a telegram to the state's Board of Regents requesting Georgia Tech not to engage in racially integrated events, Georgia Tech's presidentBlake R. Van Leer rejected the request and threatened to resign. The game went on as planned.^[22]

The 1959 Mississippi State men's basketball team, led by all-AmericanBailey Howell, finished its season 24–1, winning the conference title. They did not participate in the NCAA tournament as school and state officials would not permit the team to play against Black players from northern schools. Four years later, in 1963,Loyola, with four black starters, played Mississippi State in the "Game of Change".^[23]

It was not until 1966 that African Americans first participated in an SEC athletic contest, and the first black scholarship athletes did not play in the SEC until the 1967–68 school year.

The first African American to compete in the SEC was Stephen Martin, whowalked on to theTulane baseball team in that school's final SEC season of 1966.^[24] In August of that same year, Kentucky enrolledNate Northington and Greg Page on football scholarships,^[25] and Vanderbilt enrolled Godfrey Dillard andPerry Wallace on basketball scholarships.^[26] At the time, the NCAA did not allow freshmen to compete on varsity teams, which meant that these pioneers could not play until 1967. Page died from complications of a spinal cord injury suffered during a football practice before ever playing a game,^[25] while Dillard suffered a career-altering injury before getting a chance to play for Vanderbilt's varsity and transferred toEastern Michigan.^[26] The remaining two both played in the 1967–68 school year. Northington made his overall debut againstIndiana on September 23, 1967^[27][28] and his SEC debut against Ole Miss the following week on September 30 (the day after Page's death^[25]), while Wallace made his varsity debut later that year.^[29]

In 1990, the SEC expanded from ten to twelve member universities with the addition of theArkansas Razorbacks and theSouth Carolina Gamecocks. The two new members began SEC competition with the 1991–1992 basketball season.

At the same time, the SEC organized competition for some sports into two divisions. The Western Division comprised six of the seven member schools in theCentral Time Zone, while the Eastern Division comprised the five member schools in theEastern Time Zone plus Vanderbilt, which is in the Central Time Zone but was placed in the Eastern Division to preserve its rivalry with Tennessee. Initially, the divisional format was used in football, baseball, and men's basketball. The divisional format was dropped for men's basketball following the 2011–2012 season.

Following expansion, the SEC was the first conference to receive permission from the NCAA to sponsor an annualfootball championship game that did not count against NCAA limits on regular-season contests, featuring the winners of the conference's Eastern and Western divisions.^[30] The1992 and1993 championship games were held atLegion Field in Birmingham, and all championship games from1994 onward have been held inAtlanta—first at theGeorgia Dome until its closure and demolition after the 2016 season, and since 2017 atMercedes-Benz Stadium.^[30]

On September 25, 2011, the SEC Presidents and Chancellors, acting unanimously, announced thatTexas A&M University would join the SEC effective July 1, 2012, to begin competition in nineteen of the twenty sports sponsored by the SEC during the 2012–13 academic year.^[31] On November 6, 2011, the SEC commissioner announced that theUniversity of Missouri would also join the SEC on July 1, 2012.^[32] For football, Texas A&M was scheduled to compete in the Western Division, and Missouri in the Eastern Division.^{[33][34][35][36]} Texas A&M and Missouri both left theBig 12 Conference.

On July 27, 2021,Oklahoma andTexas formally notified the SEC they were seeking "an invitation for membership". In a joint letter, Texas president Jay Hartzell and Oklahoma president Joseph Harroz Jr. wrote, "We believe that there would be mutual benefit to the Universities on the one hand, and the SEC on the other hand, for the Universities to become members of the SEC."^[37] On July 29, 2021, the presidents of the current 14 schools of the SEC voted unanimously to extend an offer of admission to Oklahoma and Texas.^[38] The boards of regents for both institutions on July 30, 2021, accepted conference membership, and the schools were tentatively scheduled to join the league in 2025.

On February 9, 2023, the Big 12, Texas, and Oklahoma announced they had reached a buyout agreement that allowed the schools to join the SEC in 2024. TheTexas Longhorns andOklahoma Sooners athletic teams thus began league play during the 2024–25 academic year.^[39]

Full members Full members (non-football) Other Conference Other Conference 

The office of Commissioner was created in 1940.^[40]

In 2005, the member institutions of the Southeastern Conference formed the SEC Academic Consortium (SECAC), a collaborative endeavor designed to promote research, scholarship, and achievement amongst the universities.^[41]

In 2011, the SEC Academic Consortium was relocated to the SEC headquarters inBirmingham, Alabama, from its original home on the campus of theUniversity of Arkansas inFayetteville, Arkansas, and was renamed SECU. The SECU rebranded its mission to better serve as a means through which the collaborative academic endeavors and achievements of Southeastern Conference universities would be promoted and advanced. The SECU's goals included highlighting the endeavors and achievements of SECfaculty, students, and its universities; advancing the academic reputation of SEC universities; identifying and preparing future leaders for high-level service inacademia; increasing the amount and type ofstudy abroad opportunities available for students; and providing opportunities for collaboration among SEC university personnel.^[42][43] TheBig Ten Conference, since 1958, has had a similar program, now called theBig Ten Academic Alliance.

The SEC Symposium component of SECU was crafted byVanderbilt University ChancellorNicholas S. Zeppos, who at the time was the Vice President of the SEC Executive Committee and liaison to SECU.^[44] In an interview with Dr. Zeppos about the formation of the SECU he noted, "that the member institutions of the Southeastern Conference are committed to a shared mission of fostering research, scholarship, and achievement. The SEC Symposium represents a platform to connect, collaborate and promote a productive dialogue that will span disciplinary and institutional boundaries and allow us to work together for the betterment of society."^[45]

The SEC Academic Network was created in 2009 in partnership withESPN. The SEC Academic Network was an online library of institutionally produced videos featuring academic initiatives and stories from all Southeastern Conference institutions. The SEC Academic Network was officially merged into the SECU operation.^[46]

The following table shows National University rank byU.S. News & World Report as of 2024.^[47]

Also indicated is membership in theAssociation of American Universities.^[48]

Total revenue includes ticket sales, contributions and donations, rights and licensing, student fees, school funds and all other sources including TV income, camp income, concessions, and novelties.

Total expenses includes coach and staff salaries, scholarships, buildings and grounds, maintenance, utilities and rental fees, recruiting, team travel, equipment and uniforms, conference dues, and insurance.

The following table shows institutional reporting to theUnited States Department of Education as shown on the DOE Equity in Athletics website for the 2021–22 academic year.^[49]

The following table shows revenue specifically from NCAA / Conference Distributions, Media Rights, and Post-Season Football reported by theKnight Commission for the 2021–22 academic year.^[50]

The Southeastern Conference sponsors championship competition in nine men's and thirteen women's NCAA sanctioned sports.^[91][92] Under SEC conference rules reflecting the large number of male scholarship participants in football and attempting to addressgender equity concerns (see alsoTitle IX), each member institution is required to provide two more women's varsity sports than men's. A similar rule was recently adopted by the NCAA for all of Division I.^[93][94]

Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Southeastern Conference which are played by SEC schools:

Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the Southeastern Conference which are played by SEC schools:

• In addition to the above, Kentucky lists its coeducationalcheerleading squad and its all-female dance team as varsity teams on its athletics website.

TheSoutheastern Conference sponsors nine men's sports and 13 women's sports, and awards aconference championship in every one of them.

• (RS) indicates regular-season champion
• (T) indicates tournament champion
• Champions from the previous academic year are indicated with the year of their title.

Source: SECSports.com.^[97]

For the current season, see2024 Southeastern Conference football season.

SEC teams did not play a uniform number of conference games until 1974. Prior to that, the number of conference games teams played ranged from four to eight, but most played a 6- or 7- game schedule. The league adopted a uniform 6-game schedule from 1974 to 1987, and added a seventh conference game from 1988 to 1991. Through this period and through the earlier years each SEC school had five permanent opponents, developing some traditional rivalries between schools, and the other games rotated around the other members of the conference.

After expansion to twelve programs in 1992, the SEC went to an 8-game conference schedule, with each team playing the five other teams in their division and three opponents from the other division. The winners of the two divisions would then meet in theSEC Championship Game.

From 1992 through 2002, each team had two permanent inter-divisional opponents, allowing many traditional rivalries from the pre-expansion era (such as Florida vs. Auburn, Kentucky vs. LSU, and Vanderbilt vs. Alabama) to continue. However, complaints from some league athletic directors about imbalance in the schedule (for instance, Auburn's two permanent opponents from the East were Florida and Georgia – two of the SEC's stronger football programs at the time – while Mississippi State played Kentucky and South Carolina every year) led to the SEC reducing the number of permanent inter-division opponents to one starting in the 2003 season. The TV networks televising SEC games were also pressuring for the change so attractive match-ups between non-traditional opponents would happen twice every five years instead of twice every eight years. With the subsequent expansion to 14 members in 2012, non-permanent cross-division opponents face each other in the regular season twice in a span of twelve years.

Under the format used from 2012 to 2023, each school played a total of eight conference games, consisting of the other six teams in its division, one school from the other division on a rotating basis, and one school from the other division that it plays each year. The permanent cross-division matchups were:Alabama–Tennessee;Arkansas–Missouri;Auburn–Georgia;LSU–Florida; Mississippi State–Kentucky;Ole Miss–Vanderbilt; Texas A&M–South Carolina.

The then-current scheduling arrangement was originally set to expire after the 2015 season, but the SEC presidents voted 10–4^[98] in April 2014 to keep the current format for an additional six to eight seasons beyond 2015.^[99] Additionally, since 2016, SEC teams have been required to schedule at least one opponent each season from the other so-called"Power Five" conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, or Pac-12); games against selectfootball independent schools also qualify, includingArmy (which no longer counts as of 2024 due to it joining theAmerican Athletic Conference, aGroup of Five conference),BYU (before it joined the Big 12 in 2023), andNotre Dame.^{[99][100][101]}

In 2023, the SEC announced the divisional split would be scrapped when Oklahoma and Texas join in 2024. The conference schedule will remain at 8 games in the 2024 and 2025 seasons while the SEC determines its long-term football scheduling format. Teams will play the same opponents in both seasons on a home-and-home basis. Each of the 14 members in the conference in 2023 will play either Oklahoma or Texas in 2024 and '25, but not both. Whether the conference schedule stays at 8 games or expands to 9 after 2025, each team will be guaranteed of playing all other conference teams home and away in a four-year cycle. The requirement of scheduling at least one Power Four (the Pac-12 lost all but two of its members,Oregon State andWashington State, before the 2024 season; the Beavers have meetings with Ole Miss scheduled in 2027 and 2030, while the Cougars are slated to face Mississippi State in 2030 and '31) team or Notre Dame remains in place. The championship game will feature the top two teams in the conference standings, with tiebreakers as needed.^[102]

Through end of the 2023 season including SEC Championship Game. Records reflect official NCAA results, including any forfeits or win vacating.^[103]

Notes:

• Alabama's record reflects 21 wins being vacated (2005–2007) and eight wins and one tie forfeited (1993).
• Kentucky's record reflects 10 vacated wins from 2021.
• LSU's record reflects 37 wins being vacated (2012–2015) for major level-1 rule violations and playing with ineligible players.
• Mississippi State's record reflects 18 wins and one tie being forfeited (1975–1977).
• Ole Miss's record reflects 33 wins being vacated (2010–2016).
• Tennessee's record reflects 11 wins being vacated (2019–2020) for 18 Level -1 violations encompassing more than 200 individual infractions and an additional four (4) Level-1 unethical conduct violations along with playing 16 ineligible players.
• Two former members have also won conference titles,Georgia Tech five andTulane three.

From its establishment in 1992 through 2023, theSEC Championship Game pitted the SEC West Division representative against the East Division representative in a game held after the regular season has been completed. Starting in 2024, when the SEC eliminates its football divisions, the game will feature the top two teams in the conference standings. The first two SEC Championship football games were held atLegion Field inBirmingham, Alabama. Since 1994, it has been played inAtlanta—first at theGeorgia Dome through 2016, and since 2017 at its replacement,Mercedes-Benz Stadium, with the current hosting contract running through 2027.^[104] The "home team" designation alternated between the division champions during the divisional era, going to the East champion in even-numbered years and the West champion in odd-numbered years. The West led19-13 in overall wins in the championship game against the East during the divisional era. As of 2023, the only pre-2024 members without a Championship Game appearance are Kentucky, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and Vanderbilt.^[105]

The post-seasonbowl game tie-ins for the SEC for the 2014–2019 seasons are:^[106]

Payout is per team for the 2014 season; if different for opposing conference, payout for the SEC team is shown. Each conference member, irrespective of bowl participation, also receives an equal split of a payout to the SEC conference.^{[107][108][109]}

^ The Sugar Bowl is contractually obligated to select the SEC champion if that team is not participating in the College Football Playoff. In years where the champion is unavailable the Playoff Committee will assign another SEC team to participate in the Sugar. Alternatively, in years where the Sugar hosts a playoff game the SEC Champion will be sent to the Fiesta, Cotton, or Peach Bowl if not selected for the playoff.

† The Big Ten and SEC will be eligible to face the ACC representative in the Orange Bowl at least three out of the eight seasons that it does not host a semifinal for the Playoff over a 12-year span. Notre Dame may be chosen the other two years if eligible.

° In years when the Big Ten places a team in the Orange Bowl, the Citrus Bowl will select from ACC teams remaining after the Playoff Committee and Orange Bowl make their selections.

‡ The Big Ten and ACC will switch between the Music City and Gator bowls on alternating years.

¤ For the 2020 through 2025 seasons, the Big Ten and SEC will alternate which conference sends a team to the Duke's Mayo Bowl or the Las Vegas Bowl. SEC will be in the Las Vegas Bowl during the even years and Duke's Mayo Bowl during the odd years.

The total pay of head coaches includes university and non-university compensation including base salary, income from contracts, foundation supplements, bonuses and media and radio pay as of the most recent2024 season.

Each year, the conference selects variousindividual awards. In 1994, the conference began honoring former players from each school annually with theSEC Football Legends program.

In 1982, the SEC Skywriters, a group of media covering the Southeastern Conference, selected members of their All-Time SEC Team for the first fifty years (1933–82) of the SEC.^[112]

The members of the SEC have longstanding rivalries with each other, especially on the football field. The following is a list of active rivalries in the Southeastern Conference with totals & records through the completion of the2024 season.

For the most recent season, see2024–25 Southeastern Conference men's basketball season.

Since the 2012–13 season, SEC teams have played an 18-game conference schedule, which includes two games (home and away) against each of three permanent rivals and single games against the remaining ten teams in the conference. Men's basketball formerly used the East/West divisional alignment for regular-season scheduling and seeding the conference tournament, but it no longer does.

Before expansion to 14 teams, the conference schedule was 16 games. Although the divisions were eliminated beginning with the 2011–12 season, that season's schedule was still set according to the divisional alignments, with each team facing each team from its own division twice and each team from the opposite division once. As part of the proposal by SEC head coaches that led to the scrapping of the divisional structure, a task force of four coaches and four athletic directors was set to discuss future conference scheduling. At that time, options included a revamped 16-game schedule, an 18-game schedule, or a full double round-robin of 22 conference games.^[113] However, these discussions came before Texas A&M and Missouri were announced in late 2011 as incoming members for the 2012–13 season, which required a format that could support 14 teams rather than twelve.

At the 2012 SEC spring meetings, league athletic directors adopted an 18-game conference schedule. Each school had one permanent opponent that it played home and away every season, and faced four other opponents in a home-and-home series during a given season, and then the remaining teams one each (four home, four away). The permanent opponents were Alabama–Auburn, Arkansas–Missouri, Florida–Kentucky, Georgia–South Carolina, LSU–Texas A&M, Ole Miss–Mississippi State, and Tennessee–Vanderbilt. The home-and-home opponents, apart from the permanent opponent, rotated each season.^[114]

The 2014 SEC spring meetings saw a further change to the scheduling format. While the athletic directors voted to stay with an 18-game conference schedule, they increased the number of permanent opponents for each school from one to three. Each school retained its permanent opponent from the 2012–2014 period while adding two others.^[115]

From 1966 to 1967, following Tulane's departure, through 1990–91, the year prior to the addition of Arkansas and South Carolina, teams played a double round-robin, 18-game conference schedule. No team was undefeated in this period, though three teams went 17–1 (Kentucky in 1970 and 1986, LSU in 1981; ironically, a loss to the Wildcats at Lexington in the regular season finale prevented the1980–81 Tigers from an 18–0 conference record). During the period from 1992 to 2012 when the league slate was 16 games, Kentucky went undefeated in SEC play in 1996, 2003, and 2012 (although only the 2003 team went on to win the conference tournament).

Since the return to an 18-game conference schedule following the 2012 conference expansion, two teams have gone undefeated in SEC play: Florida in 2013–14 and Kentucky in 2014–15.

The scheduling format will change again with the arrival of Oklahoma and Texas in 2024. The conference schedule will remain at 18 games, but each team will play three opponents home and away—two permanent and one rotating. The remaining 12 games will be single games against all other conference members, evenly divided between home and away games.^[7]

The table below lists each school's permanent men's basketball-only scheduling partners from 2014–15 through 2023–24.

Southeastern Conference basketball programs have combined to win 12 NCAA men's basketball championships as SEC member. Kentucky has won eight, Florida has won three, and Arkansas has won one national championship each as SEC members. Eleven teams have advanced to the Final Four at least once in their history. Nine SEC schools (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, LSU, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas) are among the national top 50 in all-time NCAA tournament appearances.

Seasons are listed by the calendar years in which they ended.Italics indicate honors earned before the school competed in the SEC.

TheSEC men's basketball tournament (also known simply as theSEC tournament) is the competition that determines the SEC's automatic bid to theNCAA men's basketball tournament. Notably, it does not determine the SEC conference champion in men's basketball—the conference has awarded its championship to the team(s) with the best regular-season record since the 1950–51 season.^[116] It is a single-elimination tournament and seeding is based on regular season records.

With the expansion to 14 members in 2012, the 2013 tournament was the first with a new format covering five days. The teams seeded eleven through fourteen play on the first day, with the winners advancing to play the No. 5 and No. 6 seeds on Thursday. The top four teams receive a "double bye" and do not play until the quarterfinals on Friday. The expansion to 16 teams in 2024 will result in two additional tournament games, but the top four teams will continue to receive "double byes" into the quarterfinals.^[7]

As of the 2022–23 season, the tournament has most often been held at two venues that have each hosted twelve times.Louisville Gardens inLouisville, Kentucky, served as the regular host from 1941 until the tournament was discontinued after the 1952 edition. TheGeorgia Dome inAtlanta first hosted the tournament in 1995 and most recently hosted in 2014.Bridgestone Arena inNashville, Tennessee, is now the regular host, with that venue hosting the tournament from 2015 through 2030, except in 2018 and 2022 (years in which it instead hosted the SEC women's basketball tournament).^[117] Sometimes, the tournament will take place at theSmoothie King Center inNew Orleans, orAmalie Arena inTampa, Florida. The 2018 tournament was held at Scottrade Center, nowEnterprise Center, inSt. Louis, Missouri, and the 2022 tournament was at Amalie Arena.^[118]

Prior to moving to the Georgia Dome, the tournament (during its modern, post-1979 era) was most often contested at the venue now known asLegacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama, home of the SEC's headquarters and centrally located prior to the addition of Arkansas and South Carolina. Other sites to host include on-campus arenas at LSU, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt;Rupp Arena in Lexington; and theOrlando Arena.

† denotes overtime games. Multiple †'s indicate more than one overtime.

TheSEC Men's Basketball Player of the Year is awarded to the player who has proven himself, throughout the season, to be the most exceptional talent in the Southeastern Conference. Various other awards, such as the best tournament player in theSEC tournament and all conference honors are given out throughout the year.

Starting in 2025 with the addition of Oklahoma and Texas, schools play a 30–game league schedule (10 three-game series), with two permanent opponents and eight rotating opponents. Between 1996-2012, the SEC consisted of two divisions, where schools played all five teams within their division and five schools from the opposite division, resulting in only one missed opponent in any given season. From 2012-2024 with the addition of Missouri and Texas A&M, schedules consisted of games played against all six other divisional opponents and four opponents from the opposite division, meaning three missed opponents in a given season.

Since 1990, the SEC has become the most successful conference on the college baseball diamond. That year, Georgia captured the conference's first national championship at theMen's College World Series (MCWS). Following that, LSU won six of the next 19 titles, including five of ten between 1991 and 2000 and its sixth title in 2009. This was followed by South Carolina winning back-to-back titles in 2010 and 2011, Vanderbilt winning its first title in 2014, Florida winning its first title in 2017, Vanderbilt winning again in 2019, Mississippi State claiming its first title in 2021, Ole Miss winning its first title in 2022, LSU winning again in 2023, and Tennessee winning its first title in 2024. During that same span, 13 teams have also been runners-up at the MCWS. The MCWS final series featured two SEC teams in 1997, 2011, 2017, 2021, 2023, and 2024, and the 2022 final involved a current member and a future member.^[a] The 2022 MCWS featured four current members, all from the SEC West, and both future members. Every current member has appeared at least 5 times exceptKentucky, which made its first MCWS appearance in2024. The only pre-2024 SEC member that has not appeared in the MCWS as an SEC member isMissouri, which has yet to make the NCAA tournament as an SEC member, although it made six MCWS appearances in the 1950s and 1960s while in theBig Eight Conference. Both Georgia Tech and Tulane have made appearances in the MCWS after leaving the SEC. One of the two newest SEC members, Texas, leads all schools in MCWS appearances with 38, and its 6 titles trail onlyUSC (12 titles) and LSU (7). The other new member, Oklahoma, has two titles from 11 MCWS appearances.

SEC teams have also become leaders in total and average attendance over the years. In 2022, the top seven programs in average home attendance and the top eight programs in total home attendance were all c SEC members, with the exception of future SEC member Texas. The only SEC members to place outside the top 30 in both measures of attendance were Kentucky and Missouri, with the latter being the only one outside the top 50.^[119]

The NCAA automatic berth is given to the winner of the SEC Baseball Tournament, which was first started in 1977. The 2025 tournament, the first after the addition of Oklahoma and Texas, is the first to include all conference members, and also the first to use a single-elimination format throughout. Previously, at least some rounds used a double-elimination format. Regardless of the format, seeding is based on regular-season records. Since 1998, the tournament has been held atHoover Metropolitan Stadium inHoover, Alabama and contested under the format used at the MCWS from 1988 through 2002, with two four-team brackets leading to a single championship game. The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to theNCAA Division I baseball tournament.

SEC presidents and athletic directors voted to expand the SEC Tournament to ten teams starting in 2012. The division winners received a bye on the first day of competition, and the tournament became single-elimination after the field is pared to four teams.

With the addition of Missouri and Texas A&M for the 2013 baseball season, the tournament was expanded to 12 teams. The top four seeds receive a bye on the first day, with seeds 5–12 playing single elimination. The tournament is double-elimination for the next three days, then reverts to single elimination when four teams are remaining.

Because of the arrival of Oklahoma and Texas for the 2025 baseball season, the tournament was expanded to a 16-team, single elimination tournament. The top 4 seeds will earn a double-bye to the quarterfinals, and seeds 5–8 will earn a bye to the second round.

In addition to the winner of the SEC Baseball Tournament, the Southeastern Conference usually gets several at-large bids to the NCAA tournament. Many teams have qualified for the NCAA tournament despite failing to win a game in the SEC Tournament. Two of these reached the MCWS despite going 0–2 in the SEC Tournament — Mississippi State in 2007 and Texas A&M in 2024, with Texas A&M reaching the MCWS championship series.

Southeastern Conference baseball programs have combined to win 16 NCAA baseball championships as SEC members. LSU has won seven, South Carolina and Vanderbilt have won two, and Florida, Georgia, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Tennessee have won one national championship each as SEC members. Texas has won six, Oklahoma has won two, and Missouri has won one championship prior to joining the SEC. Every SEC team has advanced to the Men's College World Series at least once in its history, and only Kentucky has made fewer than five MCWS appearances. Twelve SEC schools (Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt) are among the national top 50 in all-time NCAA tournament appearances.

Seasons are listed by the calendar years in which they ended.Italics indicate honors earned before the school competed in the SEC.

Note: Teams inbold are current SEC members who advanced to the MCWS while in the conference. Teams inbold italics are current SEC members who were either in another conference or an independent at the time of their appearance.

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Several baseball rivalries have developed in the SEC:

• LSU–Tulane

Historically these schools were arch-rivals in all sports, but following Tulane's decades-long de-emphasis of sports, including its exit from the SEC in 1966, baseball is the only sport in which the two schools are relatively evenly matched. On several occasions match-ups between the two have drawn national record-setting attendances. Tulane reached its firstCollege World Series in 2001 by defeating LSU in three games in the NCAA Super Regional. In 2002, the Tigers and Green Wave drew an NCAA regular season record crowd of 27,673 to theLouisiana Superdome.

• LSU–Mississippi State

Before the arrival ofSkip Bertman as LSU's baseball coach in 1984, Mississippi State had long dominated the conference in baseball, with most of that success coming under coachRon Polk, who returned to coach the Bulldogs in 2002 after retiring in 1997. When Bertman arrived in Baton Rouge, LSU's long-dormant program took off, winning eleven SEC championships and fiveCollege World Series championships between 1984 and 2001.

• South Carolina–Clemson

This instate rivalry is an intense local affair, with the Gamecocks and Tigers meeting each regular season, and has gained national prominence as both teams are often ranked in the top ten nationally. The highlights of the rivalry include the2002 and2010 meetings in the final four of theCollege World Series. Each time, South Carolina emerged from the losers bracket to beat Clemson twice and advance to the national championship series.

• South Carolina–North Carolina

The Gamecocks and Tar Heels met five times in the NCAA tournament between 2002 and 2013, including the2002 NCAA Regional,2003 NCAA Super Regional,2004 NCAA Regional and2013 NCAA Regional, with the Gamecocks holding a 3–2 edge.

The SEC has historically been a strong conference in women's basketball.^[120] Since the 2009–10 season, teams have played a 16-game conference schedule with a single league table; prior to that time the conference schedule was 14 games, again in a single table.^[121] Like SEC men's basketball, women's basketball used the divisional alignment for scheduling purposes through the 2011–12 season; however, the women's scheduling format was significantly different from the men's. Each team played home-and-home games against five schools—one permanent opponent, two teams from the same division, and two teams from the opposite division; the non-permanent home-and-home opponents rotated every two years.^[122] The remaining games were single games against the six other schools in the conference, with three at home and three away.

The league voted to keep a 16-game league schedule even after the addition of Missouri and Texas A&M. Arkansas and LSU are no longer permanent opponents, with the Razorbacks picking up Missouri and the Lady Tigers picking up Texas A&M. The other permanent opponents are the same as men's basketball, except for Florida-Georgia and Kentucky-South Carolina (both pairs had been permanent women's basketball opponents before the 2012 expansion). Each school plays two others home-and-home during a given season and the other ten once each. The divisional alignments no longer play any role in scheduling.^[123]

The conference schedule will remain at 16 games after the 2024 arrival of Oklahoma and Texas. Each team will play home and away against one permanent opponent, with single games against all other teams, evenly divided between home and away games.^[7]

SEC women's basketball was historically dominated byTennessee, who won regular-season and/or conference tournament championships in 25 seasons through 2015, as well as eight national championships since 1987. In more recent times, the dominant team has beenSouth Carolina, winning eight regular-season and eight tournament titles since 2014, as well as national titles in 2017, 2022 and 2024. In the 28 seasons theNCAA Division I women's basketball tournament has been held, SEC schools have reached the Final Four 32 times, more than twice as often as any other conference.^[124]

Southeastern Conference basketball programs have combined to win 12 NCAA women's basketball championships as SEC members. Tennessee has won eight, South Carolina has won three, and LSU has won one national championship each as SEC members. Texas and Texas A&M have won championships prior to joining the conference. Twelve teams have advanced to the Final Four at least once in their history. Eleven SEC schools (Auburn, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, and Vanderbilt) are among the national top 50 in all-time NCAA tournament appearances.

Seasons are listed by the calendar years in which they ended.Italics indicate honors earned before the school competed in the SEC.

TheSEC women's basketball tournament is currently held a week before the men's basketball tournament. Like the men's version, it is a single-elimination tournament involving all conference members, with seeding based on regular season records. With the expansion to 14 schools, the bottom four teams in the conference standings play opening-round games, and the top four receive "double byes" into the quarterfinals. The winner earns the conference's automatic bid to theNCAA women's basketball tournament. Also paralleling the men's tournament, the women's tournament does not determine the SEC champion; that honor has been awarded based on regular-season record since the 1985–86 season.^[125] The expansion to 16 teams will result in the addition of two extra games, but the top four teams in the conference standings will continue to receive "double byes" into the quarterfinals.^[7]

The tournament, inaugurated in 1980, was originally held on campus sites; the first tournament to take place at a neutral site was in 1987. The three most frequent sites for the tournament have beenMcKenzie Arena inChattanooga, Tennessee (seven times), theAlbany Civic Center inAlbany, Georgia (six times), and Bridgestone Arena in Nashville (six times). However, the only one of these venues to have hosted the tournament in the 21st century is Bridgestone Arena. Because demand for women's tournament tickets is generally lower than for the men's tournament, it is typically played in a smaller venue than the men's tournament in the same season. The most frequent venues since 2000 have been Bridgestone Arena,Gas South Arena atDuluth, Georgia (four), andSimmons Bank Arena inNorth Little Rock, Arkansas (four).

† denotes overtime games. Multiple †'s indicate more than one overtime.

Teams inbold represented the SEC at the time of their championship appearance. Teams inbold italics made their appearances before joining the SEC.