It appears that questioning the reputation of the SEC isn’t solely a topic in college football. During a media session on Monday, Rhode Island’s men’s basketball coach, Archie Miller, elaborated on his team’s challenges while on the road and the overall demands of the college basketball season. In his commentary, he made an interesting remark regarding the Southeastern Conference, known for being the most dominant league in the sport with nine teams currently featured in the latest AP Top 25, including three in the top five.
Miller stated, “You look at it all over the country, man, it’s difficult. I heard somebody say the other day, ‘the SEC’s the best league in the country. But in all games they’re like 54-54.’” He continued, “Somebody said that. I don’t know if that’s even accurate. But like, do you know how hard it is to win in every league? It’s hard to win any game.”
Technically, Miller is correct if he’s referring to the SEC’s record in conference play. However, as you may have surmised, this statistic is mainly academic since every league game results in a winner and a loser, meaning the SEC’s record against itself, like that of all conferences across the country, inherently sits at .500.
While Miller’s comment was intriguing, it was not too hard to trace its origin. On Sunday, an X user with the handle @pickleo7 tweeted: “Wow. The ‘best conference in the history of college basketball’ is 54-54 since January 4th. ESPN once AGAIN showing their SEC bias for some teams that can’t even get above .500.”
Wow. The “best conference in the history of college basketball” is 54-54 since January 4th. ESPN once AGAIN showing their SEC bias for some teams that can’t even get above .500🤣🤣🤣
— Jacob Pickle (@pickleo7) January 26, 2025
By Tuesday morning, this clearly sarcastic post had accumulated over 190 retweets and 7,500 likes, eventually catching Miller’s attention. He then mentioned the statistic as if a conference being .500 against itself wasn’t simply the only possible outcome.
Oh no Archie. Oh no.
pic.twitter.com/vn6E7SrkyH https://t.co/p0tESIokGQ— Mark Titus Show (@MarkTitusShow) January 28, 2025
To Miller’s credit, he didn’t use the statistic to criticize the SEC; rather, he aimed to illustrate the challenges faced by every college basketball team during the season. He even questioned the accuracy of the information shortly after, admitting he hadn’t verified it himself. However, by then, it was already too late.
It seems likely that someone in Miller’s circle encountered the tweet and passed it on as if it were a serious claim, prompting the head coach to unwittingly echo it on Monday in a rather unfortunate fashion. While X has recently implemented measures to limit parody accounts, a sarcasm font—or a bit of due diligence—might have spared the former Indiana head coach from going viral for the wrong reasons.
