SEC Tournament 2017: Bracket Seeds, Odds, Matchups and Predictions

The SEC men's basketball tournament begins Wednesday with the first round, but the real intrigue starts Friday when fans get to see how Kentucky's freshmen stars perform in March.

Here's a look at the tournament schedule, bracket, the latest odds and three predictions for this week.

Schedule

Date	Time (ET)	Game	Round	Matchup	Television
Wednesday, March 8	7 p.m.	1	First	No. 13 LSU vs. No. 12 Mississippi Sate	SEC Network
Wednesday, March 8	25 minutes after Game 1	2	First	No. 14 Missouri vs. No. 11 Auburn	SEC Network
Thursday, March 9	1 p.m.	3	Second	No. 9 Tennessee vs. No. 8 Georgia	SEC Network
Thursday, March 9	25 minutes after Game 3	4	Second	Game 1 winner vs. No. 5 Alabama	SEC Network
Thursday, March 9	7 p.m.	5	Second	No. 10 Texas A&M vs. No. 7 Vanderbilt	SEC Network
Thursday, March 9	25 minutes after Game 5	6	Second	Game 2 winner vs. No. 6 Ole Miss	SEC Network
Friday, March 10	1 p.m.	7	Quarterfinals	Game 3 winner vs. No. 1 Kentucky	SEC Network
Friday, March 10	25 minutes after Game 8	8	Quarterfinals	Game 4 winner vs. No. 4 South Carolina	SEC Network
Friday, March 10	7 p.m.	9	Quarterfinals	Game 5 winner vs. No. 2 Florida	SEC Network
Friday, March 10	25 minutes after Game 9	10	Quarterfinals	Game 6 winner vs. No. 3 Arkansas	SEC Network
Saturday, March 11	1 p.m.	11	Semifinals	Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner	ESPN
Saturday, March 11	25 minutes after Game 11	12	Semifinals	Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner	ESPN
Sunday, March 12	1 p.m.	13	Final	Game 11 winner vs. Game 12 winner	ESPN

Bracket

Odds

Team	Odds
Kentucky	+100
Florida	+165
South Carolina	+900
Arkansas	+1400
Vanderbilt	+1600
Georgia	+3300
Alabama	+3300
Texas A&M	+3300
Tennessee	+4000
Ole Miss	+4000
Auburn	+5000
Mississippi State	+8000
Missouri	+15000
LSU	+20000

Odds via BetOnline (h/t OddsShark)

Predictions

1. No Upsets Take Place

As the odds above imply, Kentucky and Florida are heavy favorites to win the SEC title, with South Carolina having the third-best odds at 9/1.

It's unlikely that any team will challenge UK or UF for the title. The two teams are a cut above the rest of the conference. That's the case for UK because they have four great players (freshmen Malik Monk, De'Aaron Fox and Bam Adebayo and sophomore Isaiah Briscoe), and Florida has one of the best defenses in the country (fourth per the Ken Pomeroy College Basketball Rankings).

Expect the tournament bracket to be fairly boring this year, with the favorites holding serve and advancing through to the following rounds.

2. Sindarius Thornwell Continues His Dominant Play

I'll just leave this tweet here to explain how good South Carolina senior guard Sindarius Thornwell has been this season:

Thornwell shined as the regular season drew to a close. In his last eight games, Thornwell averaged 25.6 points per contest, including a phenomenal 44-point, 21-rebound game against Alabama in a 90-86 four-overtime loss. Even playing an elite defense like Florida didn't slow Thornwell down, as he averaged 21.5 points per game (his season average was 21.2) in two contests versus the Gators.

He has the ability to keep the Gamecocks in every game. The problem is that South Carolina is wilting down the stretch, losing five of its last eight. Can Thornwell and South Carolina right the ship before the NCAA tournament?

The guess here is that Thornwell continues his hot play and that the Gamecocks advance to the semifinals and give Florida a run for its money before bowing out.

3. Kentucky Wins the Title, and the Four Underclassmen Stars Shine

Florida head coach Mike White gave Monk a great compliment after the freshman star dropped 30 of his 33 points in the second half of UK's 76-66 win over Florida:

Monk led the SEC in scoring and also notably dropped 47 points against likely No. 1 seed North Carolina in December as the Wildcats beat the Tar Heels 103-100.

UK is battle-tested this year, facing top teams UCLA, North Carolina, Kansas, Louisville and Florida (twice) this season.

The Wildcats went 2-4 in those contests but came close in each defeat outside a blowout in Gainesville February 4 that they avenged three weeks later.

Kentucky has won eight straight games by an average of 10 points leading into the SEC tournament, and it also ranks in the top 15 offensively and defensively in the Pomeroy Rankings. The Wildcats are going to be a tough out for any team in the country, let alone the SEC.

As far as the conference title goes, UK will win behind the hot shooting of Monk and stellar play of his underclassmen teammates.