2022 SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament Preview

Story posted March 8, 2022 in CommRadio, Sports by Jameson Kramer

The postseason has finally arrived in one of the more chaotic college basketball seasons in recent memory. The SEC has been one of the toughest conferences all season long, with seven different teams earning a ranking in the AP poll at some point this year.

At the bottom of the conference, the tournament kicks off on Wednesday with the first two games. No. 12 Missouri will take on No. 13  Ole Miss, and No. 11 Vanderbilt will take on the last place Georgia Bulldogs.

Thursday will be a very important day for many of the teams in the middle of the pack in this conference.

Teams such as Texas A&M, Florida, South Carolina and Mississippi State might need a deep run in this bracket to have any shot at having their name called on Selection Sunday, which is less than a week away.

South Carolina and the Mississippi State Bulldogs meet Thursday at 6 p.m. in a de facto elimination game, the winner will go on to play No. 2 seed and No. 13 Tennessee on Friday.

In the eight versus nine matchups, the Texas A&M Aggies take on the Florida Gators in a crucial game for both teams.

The winner will have their work cut out for them, as they will go on to face Auburn, the one seed in the tournament and the number one overall seed for much of the year in college basketball.

Alabama and LSU, the two teams who met for the SEC title a year ago, await the winners of the Wednesday games to find out who they will be taking on Thursday.

Moving onto Friday, the top four seeds have all but punched their tickets to the NCAA Tournament, but seeding is far from determined and they still have ample motivation to perform.

The top four teams in the SEC, Auburn, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas are all ranked in the top 14 in the AP poll, making for an exciting last few days of action.

Last year’s SEC tournament was electric, and this year's bracket in Tampa is shaping up to be even better. The championship game will be played on Selection Sunday, and the field will know their fate for the post-season shortly after.

Jameson Kramer is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism, to contact him email jek5650@psu.edu