Reflecting On The SEC's Disappointing Regional Performance: SEC Daily, June 5, 2025

Any fan of an SEC school who has been on social media in any capacity is now almost certainly aware of the abysmal weekend that the conference had in the NCAA Baseball Tournament regionals. After landing a record 13 schools in the field of 64, the SEC is down to just four teams remaining, a stunning development for a conference that appeared primed to dominate across the board all the way through Omaha.

The trouble started on day one— East Carolina routed Florida, West Virginia eked out a win over Kentucky, Alabama's walk-off attempt fell a foot short against Miami, and Murray State stunned No. 10 Ole Miss— but nine of the thirteen schools won on Friday. Despite questionable results, including No. 1 Vanderbilt's near-loss to Wright State, there was no real reason to believe that the conference as a whole wouldn't display its dominance throughout the remainder of the weekend.

By the end of Saturday's action, it was clear that a problem had arisen, as six teams had lost. Alabama became the lone SEC squad to be eliminated before Sunday, as the Crimson Tide blew an eighth-inning lead to No. 16 Southern Miss. Vanderbilt was stunned by Louisville, and No. 2 Texas was humiliated by UTSA. No. 3 Arkansas, No. 4 Auburn, No. 6 LSU, and No. 14 Tennessee were the only undefeated teams remaining, meaning that eight of the twelve schools still alive were a loss away from elimination.

Sunday's early window was shaping up to be a good one for the conference, as Mississippi State staved off Northeastern, Texas rebounded against Kansas State, Ole Miss survived Georgia Tech, Oklahoma destroyed Nebraska, and Kentucky ended No. 4 Clemson's season with a 16-4 thrashing. Just as things were starting to look up, Wright State delivered the upset of the year, ending the Commodores' season in Nashville with a 5-4 win. It's the first time the No. 1 overall seed has failed to advance to a Super Regional in the tournament's current format. Florida and Georgia were also eliminated.

Sunday's evening window was where things truly disintegrated for the conference. Arkansas and Auburn won, securing their spots as hosts next weekend, while Ole Miss and Oklahoma avoided elimination. However, Kentucky and Mississippi State were sent packing, Wake Forest upset Tennessee, and Little Rock stunned LSU. And, in a perfect summation of the conference's entire weekend, UTSA earned its second win over the Longhorns, giving the satellite school a trip to the Super Regional over its main campus. It is the first time since 1999 that the top two overall seeds both failed to make it out of regional play.

Tennessee and LSU avenged their upset losses from the day before to advance on Monday, but it did little to assuage the disappointment from the conference's weekend. North Carolina fans chanted "ACC" down the stretch of the Tar Heels' win over Oklahoma in a game that pushed the ACC's record to 8-4 over SEC teams over the weekend. The final bit of salt was added to the wound when Murray State earned its second win over Ole Miss, giving the four-seed a trip to Super Regionals over the No. 10 Rebels. With that, the SEC's abysmal weekend was complete.

How did this happen? How did a conference that dominated all year fall apart so stunningly on the big stage? For this all to happen in the same week that rumors of a potential SEC secession from the NCAA went viral following Greg Sankey's statements in Destin, Fla., is about as bad a look as possible. At the end of the day, the SEC had a chance to assert its dominance as the undisputed baseball capital of the nation. Few would argue that the SEC is the best conference in the nation— even with the weekend's struggles, it is still apparent that baseball does run through the southeast— but the talent gap may be much smaller than many thought.

With four top-16 teams remaining, the SEC should still do some damage in Omaha. No. 3 Arkansas and No. 14 Tennessee are matched up against each other, ensuring that at least one conference team will advance. No. 6 LSU has a favorable matchup against unranked West Virginia, and No. 4 Auburn should be able to take care of business against No. 13 Coastal Carolina, but if there is any lesson to learn from last weekend's action, it is that there is no telling what will happen in postseason baseball.

Super Regional play is a best-of-three series hosted by the lower seed. Auburn's series gets underway on Friday, while Tennessee, Arkansas and LSU open on Saturday.