Justin Jackson Exposes Shocking SEC Power Play Behind WVU vs. Kentucky NCAA Showdown

Ever feel like the Southeastern Conference is that unshakable giant in college sports, looming large and casting a shadow over every game, every season? Yeah, me too — and it’s not just football; basketball and baseball have felt that same overwhelming presence. It’s almost as if Greg Sankey isn’t just the SEC commissioner but more like the wizard behind the curtain, wielding influence and stacking cash with ESPN and major sports networks in a way that feels unstoppable. But here’s where it gets interesting: Steve Sabins, the head coach for West Virginia’s baseball team, might just be a small but crucial piece in challenging that dominance. When the 24th-ranked Mountaineers face Kentucky in the NCAA tournament opener, it’s more than just a game — it’s a subtle nudge against the status quo. Before diving into why this matters, let’s rewind and set the scene on how the SEC came to hold this crown, why pandemic-era playoff expansions and big money deals reinforce their grip — and why some outside voices, like Sabins’, dare to push back. Curious to see the undercurrents beneath that SEC supremacy? LEARN MORE

When it expands even further — possibly as early as 2026 — to 16 teams, it will be Sankey spearheading that movement, too.

MORGANTOWN — If you’ve paid attention at all to college athletics over the last 10 years, chances are you have symptoms of the ailment known as Southeastern Conference overload.

Kentucky (29-24) finished 13th in the SEC and was the last of the record 13 SEC teams to make it into the tourney’s field.

There would also be one guaranteed spot for the top Group of Six school, as well as three at-large bids, which if you were to get Sankey’s truest sentiment, it should be a law that two of those at-large bids should go to SEC schools, too.

In last season’s playoff, a conference earned an additional million per team that made the playoff. It was another million if a school in your league advanced to the quarterfinals, million for reaching the semifinals and another million for reaching the national championship game.

If you’re exhausted from hearing ESPN and other outlets talking only about SEC dominance in college athletics, then beat them. And then beat them again and again after that.

For most of us, all we can do is read, analyze and theorize as to what will happen down the road.

Whether it’s college football, basketball or certainly baseball, most by now are under the impression that Greg Sankey is not the commissioner of the SEC, but rather he’s the man behind the big red curtain swimming in cash and pulling the strings of ESPN and the entire sports world as we know it.

I don’t have to tell you that money drives all of this, meaning the more teams you have from your conference, the more money that conference earns to spread out to its schools.

WVU (41-14) is the regular season champ of the Big 12, one of the “power” leagues out there in most minds.

That 12-team College Football Playoff that was unveiled last season, much of the creation of that expanded tournament fell on Sankey’s shoulders.

On paper, it should be read as a no contest, except we hesitate to call it that just because it’s an SEC school on the opposite side.

Arizona State earned million for the Big 12, so you see where the inferiority complex sets in.

The Mountaineers matchup on Friday against Kentucky actually serves as a terrific example.

It would also guarantee four sports for Big Ten teams and just two for the Big 12 and two for the ACC.

Now, it’s impossible to argue — currently — that the rest of the sports world shouldn’t get down on its hands and knees and kiss the ring and sing praises for Sankey and to every one of its 16 member schools, even if six of those schools are there only after the SEC raided other leagues at one time or another.

It’s that way of thinking that has Sankey asking for the world when it comes to football playoff expansion, and he’ll probably get it, too.

WVU baseball coach Steve Sabins — whether he realizes it or not — can play a minor role in relieving the rest of the sports world of its inferiority complex with the SEC when the 24th-ranked Mountaineers play Kentucky in the opening round of the NCAA tournament on Friday.

You bet your (butt) it would be.

“If you win 13 league games in the SEC, you get in,” to the NCAA tournament, Sabins began his take on recruiting against SEC bias. “I think that’s a travesty.

The problem with that theory is Sankey is simply assuming what is true today will also be true tomorrow and next year and the years that follow.

Is that all on WVU’s shoulders this weekend? Absolutely not, but wouldn’t it be cool if 10 years from now if the SEC is no longer the king of the mountain that the WVU baseball team played a small percentage in swinging the pendulum?

It also set a record for sending 13 teams to the NCAA baseball tournament that begins Friday, with eight of those schools representing half of the 16 host schools for the regionals.

The SEC sent a record 14 teams to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament last season.

Yes, all of that also means more money for the SEC than any other conference in the country.

More on that in a moment, but first we have to give some context on how we got here.

Now, if the Big 12 champ can’t beat the 13th-place team from the SEC, you and I both know how that’s going to look to Sankey and to everyone else who is on the SEC bandwagon.

Which is where we bring Sabins into the story.

Sabins, as a college coach outside of the SEC, actually gets to play a small role as to if anyone out there can actually step up and compete and knock the SEC off its lofty perch.

In short, Texas earned the SEC a whopping million last season for its run to the semifinals. Ohio State earned the Big Ten an extra million for its national championship.

The reality of it all is the conversation can only change when there becomes something different to talk about.

But it will come at a price that, under Sankey’s proposition, would guarantee four spots in that playoff to schools from the SEC.

“It’s more about program development and opportunity, so some kids will choose different schools based on what their belief of the opportunity is and the resources. For us, it’s just win. If we win, what’s the difference between our regional and their regional? Now, is it more difficult in our league? You bet your (butt) it is.”