The SEC has taken the men’s college basketball world by storm this season. When this week began, the SEC had nine teams in The Associated Press top 25, including six in the top 10.

Auburn and Alabama are in the top 10 and making their marks as favorites to win the national championship. Before they cut down the nets in the Final Four, they will try to win a conference championship.

The SEC regular season conference winner odds for Auburn and Alabama show a pair of teams expected to be there at the end. That’s what we are examining today.

Note: Odds are based on the best value our experts find as of publication; check lines closer to game time to ensure you get the best odds.

SEC regular season conference winner odds

These are the odds for each team to win the SEC regular season men’s basketball conference title from BetMGM Sportsbook:

The top five teams in this betting odds market rank in the top eight in this week’s AP poll. The next two are not far behind at Nos. 10 and 14. After that, the odds drop significantly, but even Ole Miss is a top-25 team.

Don’t nitpick about how the odds and rankings compare. Tennessee entered this week undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the nation but lost to Florida on the road by 30 points. With so much parity in college basketball, the regular season is more of a survival challenge than an expectation to win every game.

Auburn and Alabama were among the favorites to win the regular season title when the season began and both teams have played well thus far. They’ll be favorites if they win a large majority of their games and beat a couple of fellow contenders along the way.

Auburn SEC championship odds

No. 2-ranked Auburn (14-1) has lit the court on fire throughout its 14-1 start, including marquee wins over Houston, North Carolina, Iowa State and Purdue. The Tigers’ only loss came on the road against Duke.

The biggest spark has been forward Johni Broome, who averages 18.7 points, 11.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.7 blocks. His performance has catapulted him to the top of the Wooden Award odds listed by DraftKings Sportsbook. Broome has odds of -280 while Duke’s Cooper Flagg is at +230. No other player has odds better than 16-to-1.

Broome is the MVP, but five other Auburn players average at least 10 points per game. That’s an incredible feat in this day of college basketball.

The Tigers rank fourth in the nation in points per game with 87.9. They rank first in blocks per game with 6.9 and 26th in shooting percentage allowed at 39.2%

Auburn hits the road to play South Carolina on Saturday before returning home to face No. 14 Mississippi State on Tuesday. A home game against Tennessee looms Jan. 25.

Alabama SEC championship odds

No. 5 Alabama (13-2) has had an incredible season with the only blemishes being losses to Oregon and Purdue. The Crimson Tide have big wins over Illinois, Houston, North Carolina and Oklahoma.

The whole SEC schedule will be tough, but the next three games especially stand out for Alabama. The Tide play Texas A&M on the road, Ole Miss at home and Kentucky on the road.

Like Auburn, Alabama has balanced scoring at the top. Five players average double figures, led by Mark Sears’ 18.3 points. Fellow returner Grant Nelson has been pivotal, too. He averages 13.1 points and a team-high 8.8 rebounds.

If Alabama is going to win the regular season title, it will have to earn it over the final handful of games. The Tide’s final five games are against Kentucky, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Florida and Auburn.

Associated Press

North Alabama Lions (10-6, 2-1 ASUN) at Stetson Hatters (4-12, 2-1 ASUN)

DeLand, Florida; Saturday, 4 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: North Alabama visits Stetson after Jacari Lane scored 22 points in North Alabama’s 75-70 loss to the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles.

The Hatters have gone 3-3 at home. Stetson has a 0-2 record in one-possession games.

The Lions have gone 2-1 against ASUN opponents. North Alabama has a 0-1 record in games decided by less than 4 points.

Stetson’s average of 8.1 made 3-pointers per game this season is only 0.2 fewer made shots on average than the 8.3 per game North Alabama allows. North Alabama has shot at a 45.7% rate from the field this season, 0.9 percentage points greater than the 44.8% shooting opponents of Stetson have averaged.

The Hatters and Lions square off Saturday for the first time in ASUN play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Mehki is averaging 15.8 points for the Hatters.

Corneilous Williams is averaging 9.8 points and 8.4 rebounds for the Lions.

LAST 10 GAMES: Hatters: 3-7, averaging 74.5 points, 30.5 rebounds, 12.2 assists, 6.2 steals and 3.4 blocks per game while shooting 42.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 82.0 points per game.

Lions: 6-4, averaging 76.3 points, 34.6 rebounds, 13.5 assists, 7.3 steals and 3.0 blocks per game while shooting 45.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 70.2 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WIAT) — State Superintendent Dr. Eric Mackey said student’s mental health, and cell phone use are at the top of his priorities this year.

“We certainly have a mental health crisis in families,” he said. “And particularly in youth in this country, and we want to make sure we’re addressing that.”

That crisis, Dr. Mackey said, is fueled by cell phone use and social media. He said this is a concern that he will be very vocal about in the upcoming legislative session.

“It’s really limiting social media. But, the only way we can get social media away from students during the school day is to limit the access to cell phones or smartphones,” Dr. Mackey said.

Rep. Mary Moore (D-Birmingham) said it’s not just about cell phone use in schools. She wants to see a better pay frequency for educators, and recruiting in this session.

“Some of the problems that we have is recruiting the type of; not only educators, but child nutrition workers, custodians, bus drivers, and people that can be committed to the system,” she remarked. “If the system was committed to them.”

Rep. Susan DuBose (R-Hoover) said cell phones should be put away from bell to bell. She said she wants to put more money towards the school choice program.

“We probably, with our current budget of $100 million allocated to school choice, only have room for up to 16,000 students,” said DuBose. She said over 11,000 students have applied to the program so far. “So, in less than a week, we’ve almost already utilized our full budget allocation.”

Besides cell phone use, Dr. Mackey said the board wants to see reading and math scores continue to go up. And, he said extended learning programs like after school and summer school will be key in 2025.

“Those times that we have children outside of the regular school day, how are we using that time to make sure that we are promoting learning?” said Dr. Mackey. “But also, promoting high quality childhood, keeping those children off the streets, out of trouble, and in very good, engaging programs.”

Dr. Mackey said he doesn’t know what the solution will be to cell phone use in the classroom. Some bills have already been pre-filed for the upcoming session that address the topic.

The 2025 legislative session starts on February 4th.