SEC Tournament 2015: Bracket, Schedule and Championship Odds

The SEC tournament returns to Nashville's Bridgestone Arena for the 2015 edition, and one of college basketball's marquee conference tournaments revolves around one historic run.

Unlike last season, the top-ranked Kentucky Wildcats have validated talk of a potential unbeaten season throughout a dominant 31-0 regular season. They have overcome a plethora of close calls throughout SEC play to remain undefeated, but they will have to win three more times to enter the NCAA tournament with that same moniker.

Although they have already disposed of their 18-game SEC slate during the season, a few schools that gave Kentucky fits throughout conference play will get one last crack at John Calipari's crew before tournament time.

Here's an early look at everything you need to know about the SEC tournament.

Date	Time (ET)	Game	TV
March 11	6 p.m.	Game 1: No. 12 Mississippi State vs. No. 13 Auburn	SEC Network
March 11	-	Game 2: No. 11 South Carolina vs. No. 14 Missouri	SEC Network
March 12	Noon	Game 3: No. 8 Florida vs. No. 9 Alabama	SEC Network
March 12	-	Game 4: No. 5 Texas A&M vs. Game 1 winner	SEC Network
March 12	6 p.m.	Game 5: No. 10 Tennessee vs. No. 7 Vanderbilt	SEC Network
March 12	-	Game 6: No. 6 Ole Miss vs. Game 2 winner	SEC Network
March 13	Noon	Game 7: No. 1 Kentucky vs. Game 3 winner	SEC Network
March 13	-	Game 8: No. 4 LSU vs. Game 4 winner	SEC Network
March 13	6 p.m.	Game 9: No. 2 Arkansas vs. Game 5 winner	SEC Network
March 13	-	Game 10: No. 3 Georgia vs. Game 6 winner	SEC Network
March 14	Noon	Game 11: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner	ESPN
March 14	-	Game 12: Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner	ESPN
March 15	Noon	Game 13: Game 11 winner vs. Game 12 winner	ESPN

Note: Tournament info courtesy of SECSports.com.

Bracket

Per the SEC's Craig Pinkerton:

SEC Tournament Odds

Team	Odds
Kentucky	1-4
Arkansas	15-1
LSU	20-1
Georgia	20-1
Texas A&M	30-1
Ole Miss	50-1
Vanderbilt	50-1
Florida	80-1
Alabama	80-1
Tennessee	80-1
Mississippi State	100-1
South Carolina	100-1
Auburn	100-1
Missouri	100-1

Note: Tournament odds were devised by the author.

SEC Tournament Preview

Steve Helber/Associated Press

A Big Blue Nation invasion is about to hit Music City.

The rabid Kentucky fanbase that travels en masse for any men's basketball event—whether it be preseason tournament, regular-season road game or especially the postseason—will descend upon Nashville, but this could turn out much more special than any of those other trips. None of them involved a team just a few wins away from entering the NCAA tournament undefeated.

Calipari's Wildcats might have the No. 1 overall seed in the Big Dance locked up by now—in fact, they almost certainly do. But there's no issue in Kentucky also playing for history, which would be impossible with a loss in Nashville.

Kentucky apparently has the fans in mind as much as anything, as it hopes to give them a show, per Matt Jones of KentuckySportsRadio.com:

It's just hard to bet against the Wildcats, considering they made it through their 18-game SEC slate unblemished and only had a few close calls among them. But should Kentucky struggle, there are plenty of suitors in the mix that could steal the spotlight.

Arkansas comes in as the No. 2 seed and is the safest bet to meet Kentucky in Sunday's championship, but the Razorbacks fell to LSU on a buzzer-beater on Saturday to end their regular season.

They also failed to give Kentucky much of a game in what was expected to be one of the Wildcats' toughest of the season on Feb. 28.

David Quinn/Associated Press

Georgia and LSU have a more realistic opportunity of knocking off the Wildcats, if the regular season is any indication. Both the Bulldogs and Tigers had Kentucky on the ropes in their home arenas, before late defeats.

Don't be surprised if Vanderbilt makes a run, as the Commodores are one late collapse against Tennessee and a three-point loss to LSU away from finishing the season on a 10-game win streak.

The red-hot Commodores have a hometown advantage, but recent history against Thursday opponent Tennessee isn't promising, as Knoxville News Sentinel's Ben Frederickson noted:

The bottom half of the bracket has plenty of intrigue, but without Kentucky, it has no chance of drowning out noise over the top portion of the bracket. 

Those in that part of the bracket can't help but look ahead, as Tuscaloosa News' Cecil Hurt noted a meeting between Florida and Alabama will decide Kentucky's first opponent in Nashville:

There are no certainties when it comes to conference tournaments, as any team can go from the verge of no postseason to the NCAA tournament simply by winning out.

But it's hard to envision any possibility of Florida repeating as champions, as the eighth-seeded Gators would have to make it through Kentucky early on in the process.

But that's what makes this time of year unlike any other part of the American sports calendar. You have your favorites and your can't-miss teams, but anything can happen in the span of 40 minutes—which leaves any possibility open entering this five-day affair.