LEXINGTON, Ky. — Fueled by its suffocating late-game defense, Florida edged Houston 65-63 in Monday night’s men’s basketball NCAA Tournament finals. The tense victory gave the Gators their third NCAA title of the 21st century.

Since calendars flipped to Jan. 1, 2000, only Connecticut, with five men’s NCAA championships in that time frame (UConn has six NCAA titles overall), has won more “nattys” than has Florida.

Which raises a question: Based solely on 21st century results, have the Gators supplanted longtime league kingpin Kentucky as the Southeastern Conference’s flagship men’s basketball program?

There is, at the least, a viable argument for Florida.

To gauge whether the UK or UF program has been the SEC’s best since the arrival of Y2K, let’s compare the Wildcats and the Gators in the current century alone across a range of benchmarks:

— Overall records: From the 1999-2000 season through the just-completed 2024-25 year, Kentucky is 674-232, Florida is 637-267.

— Winning percentage: Kentucky 74.4%, Florida 70.5%.

— Head-to-head matchups since 1999-2000 season: Kentucky 37 wins, Florida 20. The Wildcats have won 11 of the past 13 meetings with the Gators, including a 106-100 victory at Rupp Arena this past season.

— Number of regular season SEC championships: Kentucky 9, Florida 6.

— Number of SEC Tournament championships: Kentucky 9, Florida 5.

— Number of NCAA Tournament appearances starting in 2000: Kentucky 22, Florida 19.

— Number of NCAA Tournament round-of-16 trips: Kentucky 13, Florida 9.

— Number of NCAA Tournament round-of-eight trips: Florida 9, Kentucky 9.

— Number of NCAA Tournament Final Four trips: Florida 5, Kentucky 4.

— Number of NCAA Tournament championships: Florida 3, Kentucky 1.

— NCAA Tournament wins since 2000: Kentucky 48-21, Florida 45-16.

— NCAA Tournament winning percentage since 2000: Florida 70.3%, Kentucky 69.6%.

The argument for Kentucky having maintained its long-held status as the SEC men’s hoops kingpin in the 21st century is based on overall program success.

By its regal hoops history, UK is in an unprecedented period of championship deprivation.

Kentucky has not won the SEC Tournament since 2018. UK has not won the Southeastern Conference regular season title since 2020. The Wildcats have not won more than two games in an NCAA Tournament since 2019. Kentucky has not visited the Final Four since 2015 nor won an NCAA crown since 2012.

Yet even with that reality, UK still has more overall wins, more NCAA Tourney wins, more SEC regular season titles and more SEC Tournament championships this century than does UF.

Conversely, Florida’s claim to the status as the 21st century SEC men’s hoops flagship program is based on having better maximized its deep NCAA Tournament runs than has Kentucky.

Off of three fewer total NCAA Tourney trips since Jan. 1, 2000, Florida has matched Kentucky in Elite Eights (9 to 9) and has more Final Fours (5 to 4), national championship game appearances (4 to 2) and NCAA titles (3 to 1) than does UK.

Kentucky has been a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament five times in the 21st century — 2003, 2004, 2010, 2012 and 2015 — and has only the 2012 national title to show for it.

Rather than fully supplanting Kentucky as the SEC men’s hoops behemoth in the 21st century, Florida has given the SEC a bi-polar power structure atop the league.

Billy Donovan, the former star player at Providence and assistant coach for Rick Pitino at UK, elevated Florida into an enduring SEC power during his long stint (1996 though 2015) as UF head man. Donovan led the Gators to four Final Fours (2000, 2006, 2007 and 2014) and the school’s first two NCAA titles (2006 and 2007).

With 17 wins (versus 29 defeats) against Kentucky, Donovan has the second-most victories ever for a coach versus UK (ex-LSU head man Dale Brown went 18-33).

Now, Golden, 39, a Bruce Pearl protege, has taken Florida back to the top of the mountain in only three seasons as Gators coach.

Though UK head man Mark Pope, 52, is 13 years older than Golden, the two have a shared history and some similarities in approach.

While both Pope (BYU) and Golden (San Francisco) were head men in the West Coast Conference, Pope went 4-3 vs. Golden.

Both coaches are known for strategic reliance on advanced analytics and for “modern” approaches to offense.

It’s not going to be easy for Pope and Golden to keep UK and UF as the two primary SEC men’s hoops titans.

Since 2017-18, Auburn has won or shared three SEC regular season championships, while Alabama and Tennessee have won or shared two each. Over the same time frame, Alabama and Auburn have each won the SEC Tournament twice and Tennessee has done so once.

In the NCAA Tournament, Auburn has made two Final Four trips since 2019, and Alabama one. Meanwhile, Tennessee has played in back-to-back Elite Eights.

So while Kentucky and Florida have clearly been the top two SEC men’s basketball programs in the current century, the league has over the past eight seasons developed a multi-polar power structure at the top of the conference.

That’s healthy for Southeastern Conference men’s basketball as an institution. It’s not as great for Kentucky fans long accustomed to watching their team rule over the SEC.

21st century NCAA champions

In descending order, the number of men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament championships won by schools since Jan. 1, 2000:

— Connecticut 5

— Duke 3

— Florida 3

— North Carolina 3

— Kansas 2

— Villanova 2

— Baylor 1

— Kentucky 1

— Louisville 1-*

— Maryland 1

— Michigan State 1

— Syracuse 1

— Virginia 1 * — The NCAA subsequently vacated Louisville’s 2013 NCAA title due to rules violations within the Cardinals’ program.

Note: There was no NCAA championship in 2020 because of the pandemic.

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