A case study in college basketball played out before our eyes this week as the SEC and ACC competed in a basketball challenge. Each conference took eight of its teams and sent them to eight arenas in the other conference to compete against the other half of each conference. That was a confusing way of saying each conference was allowed to host eight games. This challenge revealed something surprising about college basketball in 2024-2025. The SEC appears to be loaded from top to bottom.

The SEC won the challenge 14-2. Last year it was an even split of 7-7 (back when each conference only had 14 teams). The SEC dominated, and there was only one SEC loss each night. The surprising thing is that these two losses came to two of the top-ranked SEC teams. Auburn, ranked No. 2 nationally, lost to Duke and Kentucky, ranked No. 4 nationally, lost to Clemson. So what happened? I see two main reasons.

-The ACC is top heavy-

The ACC is not a very deep conference this season; it wears off after the first few teams. The conference put a heavy burden on Duke, Pitt, Louisville, North Carolina and Clemson to prop it up. Pitt was defeated by Mississippi State in that challenge, 90-57. Louisville suffered two serious injuries before this game, which could derail their season. The Cardinals were defeated 86-63. North Carolina just doesn’t seem like a great team this year. They’ll be good but not great and couldn’t do it against Alabama. They have suffered four defeats this season.

That leaves only Duke and Clemson to hold things back, and they did it. Some other ACC teams could come together later in the season, like NC State, Miami or even Florida State, but that remains to be seen.

Clemson and Duke are both really good and will be NCAA Tournament teams. They will both be part of the ACC Conference Champions conversation.

-Hostile Environments-

Auburn and Kentucky both had to play in tough environments. Cameron Indoor is famous for its madness, but Clemson has done a great job on its own. Students had to wait over five hours to start playing in the cold. They were loud and annoying, causing problems for the Wildcats and energy for the Tigers.

It was the first true road game between Auburn and Kentucky. They had competed hard on neutral pitches, but never in a hostile away game. It was the first time this season for both teams and that is important for every team when it comes to getting used to the season.

Bottom line: It was more than Kentucky and Auburn could overcome this early in the season, facing two of the best ACC teams in hostile environments in both teams’ first true road games. Ultimately, though, both Auburn and Kentucky will be fine, and neither loss will ultimately hurt their resume, as both are Quad 1 losses. It’s an opportunity to grow and prepare for their own anti-conference road games.