Rhode Island head coach Archie Miller chided the SEC for being 54-54 against itself in conference play. Screen grab: Rhode Island basketball
By Ben Axelrod on

As it turns out, questioning whether or not the SEC is overrated isn’t just a college football thing.

During a media availability on Monday, Rhode Island men’s basketball coach Archie Miller gave a lengthy answer regarding his team’s struggles on the road and the rigors of the college basketball season. And in doing so, the Rams head coach made a curious comment about the Southeastern Conference, which is widely considered the sport’s most dominant league, with nine teams ranked in the most recent AP Top 25, including three in the top five.

“You look at it all over the country, man, it’s difficult,” Miller said during his press conference. “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.'”

Miller admitted: “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 — so long as he’s referencing the SEC’s record in conference play. And as you’ve likely figured by now, the stat in question is largely academic, as every league game has had a winner and a loser, thus necessitating that the SEC’s record against itself — like every other conference in the country — is, in fact, .500.

While Miller’s comment was curious, it also wasn’t hard to figure out where he likely got it from. On Sunday, an X user with the handle @pickleo7 posted: “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.”

As of Tuesday morning, the clearly sarcastic post had garnered more than 190 retweets and 7,500 likes. It also, apparently, made its way to Miller, who proceeded to cite the stat as if a conference being .500 against itself is anything but the only possible outcome.

To Miller’s credit, he wasn’t using the statistic to chide the SEC so much as he was using it to illustrate the difficulties every college basketball team faces each season. And he also questioned the veracity of the state almost immediately, while admitting that it wasn’t something he had looked into himself.

But by that point, it was too late.

Presumably, somebody in Archie Miller’s orbit saw the post and passed it along as if it were serious, only for the head coach to parrot it in an embarrassing manner on Monday. And while X has recently taken steps to restrict parody accounts, only a sarcasm font — or actual due diligence — could have saved the former Indiana head coach from going viral for all the wrong reasons here.

About Ben Axelrod

Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.

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