
SEC Tournament 2023: Full Schedule and Complete Men's Bracket Predictions
The days of Kentucky dominating the SEC men's basketball tournament are long removed. In fact, the Wildcats haven't captured the conference tourney championship since winning four in a row from 2015-18.
It's possible Kentucky will reclaim the title at this year's SEC tournament, which is scheduled for March 8-12 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. But there are quite a few other teams that have strong chances to win that championship as well.
Alabama, aiming to win its second SEC tournament in three years, is having an impressive season. Tennessee could win the tourney title for the second straight season. Texas A&M may win the event for the first time.
Heading into the final week of the 2022-23 season, here's everything you need to know about this year's SEC tournament.
2023 SEC Tournament Schedule
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Wednesday, March 8
Game 1: No. 12 seed vs. No. 13 seed, 7 p.m. ET, SEC Network
Game 2: No. 11 seed vs. No. 14 seed, 9 p.m. ET, SEC Network
Thursday, March 9
Game 3: No. 8 seed vs. No. 9 seed, 1 p.m. ET, SEC Network
Game 4: No. 5 seed vs. Winner of Game 1, 3 p.m. ET, SEC Network
Game 5: No. 7 seed vs. No. 10 seed, 7 p.m. ET, SEC Network
Game 6: No. 6 seed vs. Winner of Game 2, 9 p.m. ET, SEC Network
Friday, March 10
Game 7: No. 1 seed vs. Winner of Game 3, 1 p.m. ET, ESPN
Game 8: No. 4 seed vs. Winner of Game 4, 3 p.m. ET, ESPN
Game 9: No. 2 seed vs. Winner of Game 5, 7 p.m. ET, SEC Network
Game 10: No. 3 seed vs. Winner of Game 6, 9 p.m. ET, SEC Network
Saturday, March 11
Game 11: Winner of Game 7 vs. Winner of Game 8, 1 p.m. ET, ESPN
Game 12: Winner of Game 9 vs. Winner of Game 10, 3 p.m. ET, ESPN
Sunday, March 12
Championship: Winner of Game 11 vs. Winner of Game 12, 1 p.m. ET, ESPN
Alabama Likely to Hold on to No. 1 Seed
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It would be a surprise if Alabama doesn't end up as the No. 1 seed in the SEC tournament. There are much loftier expectations for the Crimson Tide, who have a high chance of ending up as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
The only way Alabama won't end up as the No. 1 seed for the conference tourney is if it loses at home to Auburn on Wednesday and at Texas A&M on Saturday. The Aggies would also need to win at Ole Miss on Tuesday.
It seems unlikely the Crimson Tide will lose at home to the Tigers. On Feb. 11, Alabama went on the road and notched a 77-69 victory at Auburn. The Tide shot 59.2 percent from the field and won despite shooting only 28.6 percent from three-point range and getting outrebounded 36-34.
Alabama, which has already clinched a share of the SEC regular-season title, will be motivated to wrap things up Wednesday in front of its home crowd. With the way freshman forward Brandon Miller has been playing (three straight games with 21-plus points, including 41 at South Carolina last Wednesday), the Tide should have little trouble vs. the Tigers.
That's also why Alabama is the early favorite to win the SEC tournament. Its only conference loss of the season came in a tough road matchup at Tennessee on Feb. 15.
Even if the Crimson Tide drop their regular-season finale in another challenging away contest at Texas A&M, they've shown the ability to bounce back well in the rare cases they've faced adversity this season. So they don't necessarily need to keep the momentum going into tournament play.
So don't be surprised if Alabama makes it to the championship game of the SEC tourney and possibly even wins the title. And expect the Tide to be there as the No. 1 seed, as a late collapse at the end of the regular season shouldn't be coming.
Texas A&M, Kentucky, Tennessee Should Round out Top 4 Seeds
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Texas A&M (13-3 in SEC play), Kentucky (11-5) and Tennessee (10-6) are in the Nos. 2-4 spots in the conference standings with a week to go. Don't expect much of a shakeup, either.
The Aggies are likely to win at Ole Miss on Tuesday. Even if they lose to Alabama after that, they'll still settle in as the No. 2 seed for the SEC tourney.
The Wildcats have a light slate to end the regular season. They play at home against Vanderbilt on Wednesday, then cap it off with a road matchup at Arkansas. Both of those opponents are unranked, so Kentucky will be favored to win both (and likely will).
The Vols have lost five of their past eight games, but they topped Alabama during that span. They'll have a good opportunity to get back on track and re-establish momentum with a home game vs. Arkansas on Tuesday and a road matchup at Auburn on Saturday.
Tennessee needs to hold off a trio of teams with 9-7 conference records: Missouri, Auburn and Vanderbilt. So the Vols have more of an urgency to finish strong than the three teams ahead of them in the SEC standings.
The prediction here is that Alabama, Texas A&M, Kentucky and Tennessee will be the top four seeds (in that order) and earn double byes for the conference tournament. The schedules for those teams sure work in their favor down the stretch to make that happen.






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