Houston flips script on SEC, Vols, advances to Final Four

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INDIANAPOLIS -- The defining theme of the 2024-25 college basketball season has revolved around the dominance of the SEC. The league set a record with 14 NCAA tournament bids, set another record with seven teams in the Sweet 16 and became the first conference to have four teams in each regional final.

But on Sunday in the Elite Eight, the University of Houston showed Tennessee and the SEC that the Big 12 can still play the role of bully. Houston threw a defensive haymaker in the first half and rendered Tennessee's offense overwhelmed and impotent, like so many victims of the SEC this year in a 69-50 win.

In a tournament where SEC teams won often by swallowing teams whole…