SEC Tournament 2015: Bracket, Seeds and Team Predictions

As an appetizer to the Big Dance itself, most will tune in to the SEC tournament to witness the unstoppable Kentucky romp through the bracket in Godzilla-esque fashion.

What the public will instead find is that the SEC isn't just a football conference, nor will the tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee be some boring, predictable affair.

Most of the teams in the SEC are quite competitive, especially among themselves. Add in a dash of season-ending drama in that no team wants to miss the postseason, and the affair promises to be more competitive than most would guess.

Before things get underway, be sure to nail down the schedule, bracket and a few details surrounding the most important teams.

SEC Tournament Schedule 

Wednesday, March 11	Matchup	Time (CT)	TV Info
Game 1	Mississippi State vs. Auburn	6 p.m.	SEC Network
Game 2	South Carolina vs. Missouri	*	SEC Network
Thursday, March 12
Game 3	Florida vs. Alabama	12 p.m.	SEC Network
Game 4	Texas A&M vs. Game 1 Winner	*	SEC Network
Game 5	Vanderbilt vs. Tennessee	6 p.m.	SEC Network
Game 6	Ole Miss vs. Game 2 Winner	*	SEC Network
Friday, March 13
Game 7	Kentucky vs. Game 3 Winner	12 p.m.	SEC Network
Game 8	LSU vs. Game 4 Winner	*	SEC Network
Game 9	Arkansas vs. Game 5 Winner	6 p.m.	SEC Network
Game 10	Georgia vs. Game 6 Winner	*	SEC Network
Saturday, March 14
Game 11	Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Winner	12 p.m.	ESPN
Game 12	Game 9 Winner vs. Game 10 Winner	*	ESPN
Sunday, March 15
Game 13	Game 11 Winner vs. Game 12 Winner	12 p.m.	ESPN

(Note: Each * symbol denotes that a game will tip off 25 minutes following the conclusion of the game preceding it.)  

Bracket

Team Predictions

Top Underdog to Watch: Ole Miss

USA TODAY Sports

Look, the bracket hurts many underdogs and all but removes them from contention for the title.

LSU is desperate and has a two-man combo in Jarell Martin and Jordan Mickey underneath the rim that could spark a deep run. Texas A&M is in full-on desperation mode, too, and may get star scorer Danuel House back from injury at just the right time.

As fun as those two are and as much as they have the right mixture of ingredients to make a run, they just so happen to fall on the same side of the bracket as the Wildcats. 

With that in mind, it's better to look at the other side of things and the 20-11 Ole Miss Rebels.

Andy Kennedy's team doesn't jump right off the page. The Rebels are 1-2 against the RPI Top 25 and 3-7 against the RPI Top 50, per ESPN's RPI profile. It also ended the season on a sour note with an 86-77 home loss at the hands of Vanderbilt.

But the Rebels have the talent and team attitude to make a serious run. Junior Stefan Moody (16.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game) is an elite scorer who can carry the team. It doesn't hurt that complementing him is the strong inside game of forward Sebastian Saiz, who averages 5.4 boards and 0.9 blocks.

These Rebels are a feel-good story at a competitive level unheard of throughout most of its history, as Mike Perchick of WAPT records:

This progress has been evident enough this season.

Back in early January, the Rebels pushed Kentucky to the brink and almost pulled off the unthinkable in an 89-86 overtime thriller. There, Moody poured in 25 points.

The Rebels may encounter a higher seed in Georgia, and while the Bulldogs swept them this year, each contest was within five points. They may also clash with Arkansas, a ranked team they upset on the road back in January before a one-point loss to the Razorbacks about a month later.

There are plenty of teams that are underdogs in the bracket. This happens when Kentucky is at the top. These Rebels, though, have everything to lose and have taken Kentucky to the brink before.

The Winner: Kentucky

Ole Miss and Texas A&M showed the globe back in January that coming close to or winning the battle on the glass will go a long way toward upending the Wildcats.

That doesn't mean it will happen in Nashville this week. 

It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking John Calipari's team will come out lackadaisical with an assured No. 1 seed in hand no matter what happens. That's a dangerous pitfall, because the man himself says there is more at stake than a simple number next to their name, as Matt Jones of KentuckySportsRadio.com captures:

Cheesy or not, the Wildcats can have an off day and still mop the floor with most teams.

Say Karl-Anthony Towns and Willie Cauley-Stein, along with the rest of the platoon, have an off day on the offensive end of the court. Fine, then the burden of production transfers to Aaron Harrison (11.2 points per game), Devin Booker (10.9), Andrew Harrison (8.8) and others.

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

The inverse also holds true. It's why the Wildcats stand undefeated despite 11 encounters with the RPI Top 50. Kentucky's brilliance isn't in its incredible individual star power; it's in its stunning depth of it at each position—depth that places the individual aside in favor of the bigger goal.

Call it a testament to Calipari's genius, and if he says the team will play hard in Nashville, then it would be wise to believe him.

If the Wildcats come out firing on all cylinders, it's hard to envision an upset of wild proportions.

That doesn't mean the tournament won't entertain.

Stats and info are courtesy of ESPN unless otherwise specified.