Southeastern Conference
March 9-13. All games at Nashville.
kPOY: Jamal Murray, Kentucky.
The SEC tournament begins on Wednesday with a first-round game at Bridgestone Arena.
There’s really nothing I can surprise you with here. People expected Kentucky to be the best team in the SEC when the season started, and while it wasn’t always smooth sailing, the Wildcats are favored in the SEC tournament. People expected Texas A&M and Vanderbilt to be Kentucky’s top challengers, and the those two teams have the second- and third-best chances respectively.
LSU was expected to be a challenger as well, but that didn’t quite work out. The Tigers have the sixth-best chance and that’s even propped up slightly by getting a bye to the quarterfinals. When my preseason ratings come out, people are surprised that incoming freshmen don’t have a huge effect on the forecasts. But even if LSU salvages some dignity over the next month, this season will be another data point in the regression that waters down the impact of elite freshmen.
Rd1 Qtrs Semis Final Champ 2 Kentucky 100 100 79.1 59.7 37.9 1 Texas A&M 100 100 68.0 41.8 22.5 5 Vanderbilt 100 84.4 61.1 32.7 16.6 3 South Carolina 100 100 57.4 19.1 7.6 8 Florida 100 62.3 22.5 10.7 4.3 4 LSU 100 100 33.5 10.3 3.1 6 Georgia 100 51.3 22.2 6.3 2.1 7 Mississippi 100 55.8 12.6 6.0 2.0 11 Mississippi St. 100 48.7 20.4 5.5 1.8 10 Alabama 100 44.2 8.3 3.5 1.0 9 Arkansas 100 37.7 9.5 3.5 1.0 12 Tennessee 67.5 12.4 4.6 1.0 0.2 13 Auburn 32.5 3.2 0.7 0.08 0.009
SEC tourney records (since 1999)
Kentucky 31-10 Florida 26-13 Mississippi St. 18-15 Arkansas 15-16 South Carolina 15-17 Vanderbilt 14-16 Mississippi 13-16 LSU 13-17 Georgia 11-15 Alabama 12-17 Tennessee 12-17 Missouri 2- 3 Auburn 9-17 Texas A&M 1- 3