What the SEC Basketball Tournament Picture Looks Like With Three Games Remaining – Sports Illustrated

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The SEC just finished up its penultimate set weekday games before the final push for the regular season. With three games to go for all 16 conference teams, the conference tournament is starting to vaguely take shape, but there are plenty of scenarios that could happen as well as tiebreakers that can occur as a result of the range of possible outcomes.
For Vanderbilt, the Commodores are coming off a Senior Day win over Georgia 88-80 in a game where Vanderbilt played great at times and not so great at other times during the game. But with the win, Vanderbilt moved to 22-6 overall and 9-6 overall.
Wednesday night was the best possible outcome for Vanderbilt. The Commodores got their win while Texas lost to Florida to fall a game behind Vanderbilt and Texas A&M lost to Arkansas. The Aggies’ loss now causes a four-way tie between Vanderbilt, Texas A&M, Missouri and Kentucky for fifth place in the SEC heading into the final three games of the regular season.
Additionally, the teams vying for fifth are now just a game behind Tennessee for the final double-bye spot in the SEC Tournament.
There is plenty left to figure out, but here are the current SEC standings heading into Saturday, Feb. 28. Tiebreakers are included.
As a result, here are the day-by-day matchups and full schedule for the SEC Tournament if it started today.
Game 1: (16) South Carolina vs. (9) Texas, 11:30 a.m. CT
Game 2: (13) Oklahoma vs. (12) Mississippi State, 25 minutes after the conclusion of Game 1
Game 3: (15) Ole Miss vs. (10) Georgia, 6 p.m. CT
Game 4: (14) LSU vs. (11) Auburn, 25 minutes after the conclusion of Game 3
Game 5: Winner of Game 1 vs. (8) Texas A&M, 11:30 a.m. CT
Game 6: Winner of Game 2 vs. (5) Missouri, 25 minutes after the conclusion of Game 5
Game 7: Winner of Game 3 vs. (7) Kentucky, 6 p.m. CT
Game 8: Winner of Game 4 vs. (6) Vanderbilt, 25 minutes after the conclusion of Game 7
Game 9: Winner of Game 5 vs. (1) Florida, 12 p.m. CT
Game 10: Winner of Game 6 vs. (4) Tennessee, 25 minutes after the conclusion of Game 9
Game 11: Winner of Game 7 vs. (2) Alabama, 6 p.m. CT
Game 12: Winner of Game 8 vs. (3) Arkansas, 25 minutes after the conclusion of Game 11
Semifinal Game 1: Winner of Game 9 vs. Winner of Game 10, 12 p.m. CT
Semifinal Game 2: Winner of Game 11 vs. Winner of Game 12, 25 minutes after the conclusion of Semifinal Game 1
SEC Championship: Winner of Semifinal Game 1 vs. Winner of Semifinal Game 2, 12 p.m. CT
There is a lot to sort out, but Vanderbilt would currently be at the sixth spot because Vanderbilt beat Alabama in conference play while Kentucky and Texas A&M both lost to the Crimson Tide. None of the three teams play Alabama again. Missouri would have the tiebreaker over Vanderbilt and the two others in the tiebreaker because the Tigers beat Florida.
Vanderbilt could theoretically still get a double-bye, but it would have to more than likely beat Tennessee and probably win out to have the best chance of climbing into the top four. Vanderbilt could also fall to playing on the first day as well if things go south for the Commodores to end the season and a team like Texas ends the season well.
All this to say that March is coming and chaos is coming. But as of now, this is the current state of the SEC heading into the final weekend of February.
Graham Baakko is a writer for Vanderbilt Commodores On SI, primarily covering football, basketball and baseball. Graham is a recent graduate from the University of Alabama, where he wrote for The Crimson White, WVUA-FM, WVUA 23 as he covered a variety of Crimson Tide sports. He also covered South Carolina athletics as a sportswriting intern for GamecockCentral.
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