Easy Draw? No such thing in 2023 SEC Tournament: All Things CW

The All Things CW notes column by Christopher Walsh appears in five parts each week, with the latest on the Alabama Crimson Tide. This is ...

Take 4

Maybe it's good that the Alabama Crimson Tide is getting out of the Southeastern Conference for the weekend. 

Granted, so are most of the other teams as the 10th annual SEC/Big 12 Challenge will be held, featuring 10 games on Saturday including Alabama at Oklahoma.

I mean, have you seen what's been going on in the league this year?

When Alabama last faced Mississippi State, to open league play, the Bulldogs were ranked. This time they were 1-6. 

Kentucky was considered the preseason favorite, but fell out of the AP Top 25, and now appears to have pulled out of the tailspin having won four straight including at Tennessee. 

Texas A&M winning at Auburn on Tuesday night? Don't look now, but the Aggies are 6-1 in league play. 

This is one of those years in which seeding may not matter for the SEC Tournament other than securing byes. 

Do you think that Alabama wants to face Mississippi State for a third time, especially when the Bulldogs may be desperate for a win to keep their season going? Consider what Nate Oats said during his postgame press conference: 

“I have to give a ton of credit to Mississippi State. They came ready to play and I thought they had a great plan. They improved more than we improved from the first time we played them. ...

"We found a way to get a win in a tight game. We haven’t had a lot of tight games, so it’s not the worst. We have to figure out how to win close games. I told the guys about the SEC Championship tournament from two years ago. We were down 15 to Tennessee in the semifinal and had to figure out how to win games like that that aren’t going your way. We shot 18 percent from three tonight, couldn’t buy a bucket and still figured out how to beat a pretty good team. I know their record doesn’t say they’re good, but I think they’re a pretty good team and are going to upset some people. They play really hard and they had us down 11 at one point. They’re a quality team, and at this point, we’ll take the win.”

Even if Alabama secures the top seeding, and at 8-0 in conference play it's looking more and more likely with each win, it could be looking at a nasty draw. For example, the winner of that No. 8 vs. No. 9 could be an unusually tough opponent in the quarterfinals like Arkansas.

The semifinals could feature a rematch with Kentucky, or maybe a third meeting with Auburn (neither of the first two games have been played yet). The team to watch right now, though, is Texas A&M, which is off to a 6-1 start and is trying to elbow it's way into a top-four seeding. 

With roughly six weeks to go until the SEC Tournament is played at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville from March 8-12, here's how the bracket is aiming to look:  

Projected SEC Tournament Pairings

March 8 

Game 1: No. 12 seed vs. No. 13 seed; Ole Miss vs. LSU

Game 2: No. 11 seed vs. No. 14 seed; Mississippi State vs. South Carolina 

March 9

Game 3: No. 9 seed vs. No. 8 seed; Georgia vs. Arkansas

Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. No. 5 seed; Texas A&M

Game 5: No. 10 seed vs. No. 7 seed; Vanderbilt vs. Missouri

Game 6: Winner Game 2 vs. No. 6 seed; Florida 

March 10

Game 7: Winner Game 3 vs. No. 1 seed; Alabama 

Game 8: Winner Game 4 vs. No. 4 seed; Kentucky

Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. No. 2 seed; Tennessee

Game 10: Winner Game 6 vs. No. 3 seed; Auburn 

March 11 

Semifinals 

March 12 

Championship 

See Also:

Take 1: Tale of the Tape, No. 1 Purdue vs. No. 2 Alabama

Take 2: Initial Hot Board for Alabama Offensive Coordinator

Take 3: Give Credit to the Man Who Aimed to Make Alabama a Basketball School