SEC Men's Basketball Tournament

The SEC Men's Basketball Tournament (sometimes known simply as the SEC Tournament) is the conference championship tournament in basketball for the Southeastern Conference (SEC). It is a single-elimination tournament that involves all league schools (currently 12). Its seeding is based on regular season records. The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

Format

The top two teams in both the Eastern and Western Divisions receive byes in the first round, while #3 in the East plays #6 from the West, #4 plays #5, etc. The brackets are set up so that #2 will play the winner of the game involving #3 from the other division, and #1 will play the winner of the game involving #4 from the other division. Barring an upset, the semi-finals will pit #1 from one division against #2 from the other division, and the championship game will feature the regular season winners of the two divisions, although this rarely happens in practice.

History

Throughout its history, the SEC Championship basketball game held at various sites, including the Georgia Dome, Louisiana Superdome, the Sommet Center, the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex, the Pyramid, Rupp Arena, and (in an emergency relocation) Alexander Memorial Coliseum at Georgia Tech.

From 1933-50, the SEC Champion was determined by a tournament, except for 1935. Beginning in 1951, a round-robin schedule was introduced and the SEC title was awarded to the team with the highest in-conference winning percentage. From 1951-64, the round-robin consisted of 14 games. In 1965 and 1966, it was expanded to 16 games. From 1967-91, the round-robin schedule was 18 games. In 1992, the SEC split into an Eastern and Western Division but continued to recognize an SEC Champion based on a winning percentage over the new 16-game conference schedule. The league also began awarding division championships. In 1979, the tournament was renewed with the winner receiving the SEC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. [ [http://utsports.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/020905aaa.html SEC Men's Basketball Tournament History] ]

In 2000, the Arkansas Razorbacks became the first team since the league expansion in 1992 to win the conference tournament by playing all four days, beating Georgia, Kentucky, LSU and Auburn to receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Basketball Championships.

The first seven games of the 2008 Men's Tournament were played at the Georgia Dome. During overtime of Game 7 between Mississippi State and Alabama, a tornado struck the downtown Atlanta area, damaging the Georgia Dome and several buildings surrounding it, including CNN Center. MSU and Alabama returned after a 64-minute delay to finish their game, but the last quarterfinal game of the day, between Georgia and Kentucky, was postponed until the next day, and the remaining four games of the tournament were moved to Alexander Memorial Coliseum at Georgia Tech. Only credentialed individuals were allowed to attend, including players' families, bands, cheerleaders, and media. No other spectators were allowed in the building.

Champions

References