Buckle up for a roller-coaster ride in the SEC conference tournament, which is set to commence this Wednesday at Bridgestone Arena, Nashville.
Six out of the 13 teams in the tourney have relatively the same chances of winning the conference title and an automatic bid for the NCAA Tournament. The co-champions in the regular season—the No. 17 Texas A&M Aggies and No. 16 Kentucky Wildcats—are going to be the top favorites in this one, while the likes of South Carolina, Vanderbilt, LSU and Ole Miss will surely make things very competitive and unpredictable.
Who will be the one smiling at the end? Read on below as we break down the SEC conference tournament. And while you’re at it, check our other tournament previews for: ACC, Pac-12, and Big East.
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Kentucky Wildcats
In any case, Kentucky will continue to put its trust on freshman standout Jamal Murray. The 19-year-old guard has been a scoring machine this year, averaging a team-high of 20.0 points on 45.1% shooting from the floor. But the Wildcats’ offense doesn’t stop there, as they still have the trio of Tyler Ulis (16.6 PPG), Alex Poythress (10.0 PPG) and Isaiah Briscoe (9.7 PPG) on their side.
Ulis, in particular, will be the biggest key here. His experience and ability to make plays for others makes the Wildcats very difficult to beat especially during close games. He leads the team in assists with 7.4 per contest.
Texas A&M Aggies
Even though most people still dub Kentucky as the team-to-beat in the SEC, the Aggies can take pride in the fact that they defeated the Wildcats in their one and only meeting in the regular season.
During that contest, Jalen Jones posted a game-high 24 points and eight rebounds to lead the Aggies to the thrilling 79-77 overtime victory. And if it’s still not obvious, expect Texas A&M to continue leaning on Jones, who is tallying 15.8 points and 7.2 rebounds on the season, to lead its offense (76.2 PPG).
Meanwhile, the pair of Danuel House and Tyler Davis will also serve as another crucial factor to the Aggies’ success in the tournament. Both are contributing 26.5 points and 10.8 rebounds combined.
So long as the three players above remain consistent with their productions, the Aggies, who are priced at +200 to win the conference championship, have the best chance to dethrone Kentucky.
South Carolina Gamecocks
South Carolina’s record (24-7, 11-7 in the SEC) seems to be good enough to assure them a spot at the Big Dance. However, that may change if the Gamecocks, who received a bye into the quarterfinals, lose their first game against either Georgia or Mississippi State.
That said, the Gamecocks (+750) better stay focused and hope that their best player, Michael Carrera, is at his full health. He is posting team-bests of 14.5 points and 7.7 rebounds this season. But Carrera was forced to miss the team’s season finale versus Arkansas due to a hip injury.
If his performance slows down because of the injury, head coach Frank Martin better think of ways to keep the offense going even without his No. 1 offensive option.
Sleeper
LSU Tigers
As the No. 4 seed, the LSU Tigers (+1,400) received a bye into the SEC tournament quarterfinals and will ultimately be trying to strengthen their fading bid to enter the Big Dance. Their first game will likely be against Vanderbilt and the Tigers are going to have to beat them without one of their key players in Keith Hornsby, who is dealing with a sports hernia injury.
Even with a win in that game though, it won’t likely be enough to land LSU a ticket to the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers might have to at least reach the conference finals in order to do so. But that’s going to be easier said than done obviously.
Nevertheless, any team that has the likes of Ben Simmons on their team always has a chance to win no matter how ugly the odds are. The all-around forward has been doing it all for the Tigers this season, averaging 19.6 points, 11.9 rebounds and 5.0 assists.
Long Shot
Auburn Tigers
Auburn (+8,000) has been in this situation before. The Tigers will once again be looking to pull off an improbable run as the No. 13 seed. They are set to take on 12th-seeded Tennessee in the opening round in tournament’s opening game. A win here for Bruce Pearl’s boys would definitely renew their confidence, but the odds of that happening aren’t looking too good at all.
The Tigers ended the regular-season having lost 11 of their last 13 games, and all but one of those setbacks came by 10 or more points. Although, it’s worth noting that they emerged victorious, 83-77, in their first meeting with the Volunteers on January 2.
Writer’s Prediction
Kentucky (EVEN) conquers the SEC for the second-straight year.
Create a betting account now and start going crazy for college ball this March.
