The TV schedule for the 2027 SEC Men’s Basketball season was released on Wednesday, and it was a reminder of something that was known ahead of time, but still doesn’t make us happy:
Florida is only playing Kentucky once in 2027.
Unlike a couple of years ago, the lone game this year is at least in Gainesville. But after returning to a home-and-home in 2026, the two longtime rivals are back to a one-off game. It’s a reminder of the strain an expanded SEC has put on longtime matchups and, once again, makes us wonder if conference expansion has been worth it.
Florida set to play Kentucky just once in 2027
When Texas and Oklahoma joined the SEC ahead of the 2024/25 academic year, it expanded the SEC to 16 teams. In men’s and women’s basketball, the conference opted for a format where everyone would play each other at least once, and with three opponents being played twice in a home-and-home.
In 2025, Florida played South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee twice, which meant the Gators traveled to Lexington but didn’t get a home game in return. This past season, Kentucky replaced Tennessee, and the two teams played twice in the regular season. Coincidentally, or on purpose, the three opponents in football that Florida is set to see annually while rotating with everyone else is South Carolina, Georgia, and Kentucky.
But then, for reasons unknown, the conference moved things around again, and in 2027 the Gators will play Kentucky just once while playing Texas twice.
Texas is a big-time brand, and it’s better than some other alternatives, but taking Kentucky from an annual rival in basketball to being just another opponent chips away at the very fabric of what makes college sports special in the first place.
When Walter Clayton Jr. drilled a three in 2024 at Rupp Arena to send the game into overtime, which Florida would win, there was catharsis in that moment. This past year, when Florida traveled to Rupp Arena and handed out a first-half beatdown, it meant more than traveling to somewhere like College Station and doing the same.
But we are here because the SEC added Missouri, Texas A&M, Texas, and Oklahoma. We’ve made it clear over the years that even when Missouri is remotely good, it still adds nothing of value to the conference. The other three are big brands in their own right, but they don’t have the history or lore attached to them the way the longtime members of the SEC do.
And with college athletics as a whole feeling the need to continue to expand these super conferences, we can’t help but feel that what made college athletics special in the first place is at risk of being lost.
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