SEC Tournament 2023: Schedule and Bracket Predictions for Men's Conference Tourney

The Alabama Crimson Tide are in the best shape possible to win their second SEC tournament in three years.

Nate Oats' team clinched the SEC regular-season title on Wednesday. The Crimson Tide are 16-1 in league play heading into their regular-season finale against the Texas A&M Aggies.

Texas A&M will be the No. 2 seed in Nashville next week, but it feels like the Aggies are in a different class of team as the Crimson Tide right now.

Alabama has been one of the most dominant teams in the country all season long, while other teams in the SEC have been hurt by injuries or suffered a poor stretch of games in league play.

In Texas A&M's case, it stumbled in three road games against the Arkansas Razorbacks, Kentucky Wildcats and Mississippi State Bulldogs, all of whom should be headed to the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

The SEC tournament will also serve as a test for the Tennessee Volunteers and how they look without Zakai Ziegler, who tore his ACL in Tuesday's win over Arkansas.

Tennessee could be the top-four seed most susceptible to an upset in Nashville. The Vols could run into one or more of the eight projected NCAA tournament teams in the SEC, some of whom will try to improve their seeding with wins inside Bridgestone Arena.

---

SEC Tournament Schedule

Wednesday, March 8

No. 12 seed vs. No. 13 seed (7 p.m. ET)

No. 11 seed vs. No. 14 seed (9:30 p.m. ET)

---

Thursday, March 9

No. 8 seed vs. No. 9 seed (1 p.m. ET)

No. 5 seed vs. Game 1 winner (3 p.m. ET)

No. 7 seed vs. No. 10 seed (7 p.m. ET)

No. 6 seed vs. Game 2 winner (9 p.m. ET)

---

Friday, March 10

No. 1 seed vs. Game 3 winner (1 p.m. ET)

No. 4 seed vs. Game 4 winner (3 p.m. ET)

No. 2 seed vs. Game 5 winner (7 p.m. ET)

No. 3 seed vs. Game 6 winner (9 p.m. ET)

---

Saturday, March 11

Semifinal No. 1 (1 p.m. ET)

Semifinal No. 2 (3:00 p.m. ET)

---

Sunday, March 12

Championship Game (1 p.m. ET)

All games to be televised on SEC Network and ESPN.

---

Bracket Predictons

1. Alabama

2. Texas A&M

3. Tennessee

4. Missouri

5. Kentucky

6. Vanderbilt

7. Mississippi State

8. Auburn

9. Arkansas

10. Florida

11. Georgia

12. South Carolina

13. Ole Miss

14. LSU

---

Alabama has to be viewed as the favorite to cut down the nets in Nashville.

The Crimson Tide's lone league loss came away at Tennessee on February 15. They would be expected to avenge that loss if a matchup happened in Nashville because of Ziegler's injury.

Brandon Miller and Co. have a chance to reinforce their dominance atop the SEC on Saturday with a road win over Texas A&M, who posed the closest fight to the Crimson Tide.

The Aggies' success comes through their defense. They conceded 65 points twice since the start of February.

A high-scoring team could take A&M out of the SEC tournament early. The Aggies conceded over 70 points in six of their eight losses this season.

Alabama and the Missouri Tigers rank in the top 25 in points per game in Division I. They would be the least favorable opponents for the Aggies in Nashville.

If Tennessee beats the Auburn Tigers on Saturday, A&M would have the Vols on its side of the bracket instead of Mizzou.

A potential Alabama-Missouri semifinal could be the highest-scoring game across all conference tournaments. Both teams average over 80 points per game.

The strengths of the top SEC teams could prevent an underdog from running the show in Nashville.

Auburn and Mississippi State have the most on the line in Nashville. ESPN's Joe Lunardi had both teams projected as No. 11 seeds in his latest bracket update.

The Vanderbilt Commodores might make a case to get into the field of 68 in Nashville, but they need a few wins to be included on the bubble.

Vandy is 7-1 in its last eight games, and it won inside Rupp Arena against the Kentucky Wildcats on Tuesday, but it is also 1-5 against Alabama, A&M, Tennessee and Mizzou.

Jerry Stackhouse's team likely needs to beat one of the top four seeds to even have a chance of working its way on to the bubble.