What the SEC Tournament Picture Looks Like Going Into the Final Conference Games – Sports Illustrated

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The final weekend of the college basketball regular season is upon us, at least for power conferences. Plenty of mid-major tournaments have started, but for the SEC, there is one more game to go before the SEC Tournament bracket is set.
With a logjam in the middle of the league, there are what feels like millions of statistical possibilities for how the bracket is going to shape.
For Vanderbilt, the Commodores are coming off a 89-86 overtime win over Ole Miss in which point guard Tyler Tanner put on the Superman cape and saved the day for Vanderbilt with a 34-point effort and willing his team to victory. The win was crucial for Vanderbilt to stay live for a double-bye in the SEC Tournament.
Entering Saturday, Vanderbilt can end up anywhere from the No. 4 seed in the conference down to the No. 10 seed. Vanderbilt could go to bed Saturday night not having to play until Friday, or it could go to bed knowing it has to play on the first day of the tournament on Wednesday.
With the vast amounts of possibilities that can happen Saturday, here are where things stand in the SEC going into the regular season finale. Tiebreakers are included.
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 Georgia, 11:30 a.m. CT
Game 2: 13 Mississippi State vs. 12 Oklahoma, 25 minutes after the conclusion of Game 1
Game 3: 15 LSU vs. 10 Texas, 6 p.m. CT
Game 4: 14 Ole Miss vs. 11 Auburn, 25 minutes after the conclusion of Game 3
Game 5: Winner of Game 1 vs. 8 Kentucky, 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 Texas A&M, 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
Vanderbilt only has one path to the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament. The first thing that must happen is Vanderbilt has to go to Knoxville and beat Tennessee. In addition to that, Vanderbilt needs Missouri to lose to Arkansas and Kentucky to lose to Florida. Vanderbilt did need Texas to lose one of its final two games and it happened Wednesday night with a loss to Arkansas.
Whether Texas A&M wins or loses against LSU makes no difference. Vanderbilt will win a three-way tie between itself and Tennessee and Texas A&M and the Commodores will also win a two-way tie between itself and Tennessee.
However, Vanderbilt can also fall down to having to play on the first day of the tournament with a loss. The scenarios seem endless, but Vanderbilt needs to control what it can control. The Commodores tipoff against Tennessee at 1 p.m. CT on ESPN.
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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