UK won the SEC Tournament the last time it was hosted in Nashville in 2010. (UK Athletics)

The Southeastern Conference Tournament picture is finally beginning to come to focus (well, at least you might think so until you see the tiebreaking scenarios below).With just two games left in its regular season, Kentucky projects as the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament, which to be played in Nashville, Tenn. A loss by Alabama at Ole Miss on Tuesday night created a logjam from second to fifth in SEC standings as four teams all now have 11 wins. UK, though, is the only of those four teams with two games left, so the Wildcats are temporarily in second by themselves.That, however, is very much subject to change.A win on Thursday at Georgia and UK moves a game ahead of Missouri, Ole Miss and Alabama and clinches a double bye and will open SEC Tournament play on Friday. In the case of a loss, there will be a four-way tie heading into the final weekend. Here are the tie-breaking procedures if three or more teams finish with the same record.Three-Team Tie (or more). When three or more teams are tied, the following procedure will be used in the following order until the tie is broken. If two teams remain tied after a tiebreaker provision, the two-team tiebreaker formula will be used.

A. Best winning percentage of games played among the tied teams (Example: Team A is 3-1, Team B is 2-2 and Team C is 1-3 – Team A would be seeded highest, Team B second-highest and Team C lowest of the three).B. Best winning percentage of the tied teams versus the No. 1 seed (and proceeding through the No. 12 seed, if necessary).C. If two teams remain, coin flip by the Commissioner.D. If three or more teams remain, draw by the Commissioner.

For UK, this is good news. The Cats have a combined record of 2-1 against teams knotted at 11-6.Based on this, let’s take a look at seeding scenarios.1. UK defeats both Georgia and Florida.

  • If Florida wins vs. Vanderbilt on Wednesday, Florida wins SEC title and UK is the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament.
  • If Florida loses vs. Vanderbilt on Wednesday, UK and Florida share SEC title. SEC Tournament seeding would be determined based on records against the third-seeded team and proceeding through the No. 14 seed if necessary. Against current No. 3 seed Missouri, UK is 1-0 and Florida is 1-1. Against current No. 4 seed Ole Miss, UK is 1-0 and Florida is 1-0. Against current No. 5 seed Alabama, UK is 0-1 and Florida is 1-0.

2. UK wins at Georgia and loses to Florida.

  • Florida wins SEC title.
  • If Missouri beats Tennessee, Ole Miss beats LSU and Alabama defeats Georgia, UK wins the four-way tiebreaker and receives the No. 2 seed based on its 2-1 record against Missouri, Ole Miss and Alabama. Missouri and Ole Miss are both 2-2 against tied teams in that case, Alabama 1-2.
  • If Missouri and Ole Miss win, UK wins the three-way tiebreaker for the No. 2 seed with a 2-0 record against tied teams.
  • If only Missouri and Alabama win, all three teams would have identical 1-1 records against tied teams. Missouri would receive the No. 2 seed based on its 1-1 record against No. 1 seed Florida. UK would be 0-2 against Florida and Alabama 0-1, so the tiebreaker would go back to head-to-head matchups for the No. 3 seed. Alabama defeated UK, so the Crimson Tide would be the No. 3 seed and UK No. 4.
  • If only Ole Miss and Alabama win, all three teams would have identical 1-1 records against tied teams. All three teams are winless against Florida, so seeding would be determined based on records against the No. 5 seed proceeding through No. 14. If Missouri is the No. 5 seed, UK would receive the No. 2 seed based on a 1-0 record against the Tigers. If Tennessee is the No. 5 seed, Ole Miss would receive the No. 2 seed based on a 2-0 record against the Volunteers, while Alabama and UK are both 1-1 against Tennessee. Alabama would receive the No. 3 based on its 1-0 record against UK. The Wildcats would be seeded fourth. (Editor’s note: It was originally stated that UK would be the No. 3 seed in this scenario. That has been corrected.)
  • If only Missouri wins, UK wins the two-way tiebreaker for the No. 2 seed with a 1-0 head-to-head record against Missouri.
  • If only Ole Miss wins, UK wins the two-way tiebreaker for the No. 2 seed with a 1-0 head-to-head record against Ole Miss.
  • If only Alabama wins, Alabama wins the two-way tie-breakers for the No. 2 seed with a 1-0 head-to-head record against UK. UK would receive the No. 3 seed.
  • If Missouri, Ole Miss and Alabama all lose, UK finishes second outright and receives the No. 2 seed.

3. UK loses at Georgia but defeats Florida. In this case, the scenarios are the same as above, only Kentucky would then have a 1-1 record against top-seeded Florida, altering the following two scenarios.

  • If only Missouri and Alabama win, all three teams would have identical 1-1 records against tied teams. Missouri and Kentucky would both have 1-1 records against No. 1 seed Florida, while Alabama is 0-1. Missouri would then win the tiebreaker for the No. 2 seed with a 1-0 record against No. 4 seed Alabama. UK would be the No. 3 seed.
  • If only Ole Miss and Alabama win, all three teams would have identical 1-1 records against tied teams. UK would be the only team of the three with a win over Florida, so UK would win the tiebreaker for the No. 2 seed.

4. UK loses to both Georgia and Florida.

  • Florida wins SEC title.
  • If Missouri beats Tennessee, Ole Miss beats LSU and Alabama defeats Georgia, UK receives the No. 5 seed.
  • If only Missouri and Ole Miss win, Alabama wins the two-team tiebreaker for the No. 4 seed based on a 1-0 record against UK. UK would receive the No. 5 seed.
  • If only Missouri and Alabama win, UK wins the two-team tiebreaker for the No. 4 seed based on a 1-0 record against Ole Miss.
  • If only Ole Miss and Alabama win and Tennessee wins at Auburn on Wednesday, a three-team tiebreaker between UK, Tennessee and Missouri would be decided based on combined records against tied teams. UK and Tennessee would both be 2-1 and Missouri 0-2, so it would return to a head-to-head tiebreaker between UK and Tennessee. The two teams split the season series, so Tennessee would receive the No. 4 seed based on a 1-1 record against Florida. UK would be the No. 5 seed.
  • If only Ole Miss and Alabama win and Tennessee loses at Auburn on Wednesday, UK would win a head-to-head tiebreaker with Missouri for the No. 4 seed.
  • If only Missouri wins, UK, Ole Miss and Alabama would be tied at No. 3. Each team in the tiebreaker has a 1-1 record against other teams in the tiebreaker and all three teams are winless against Florida, so seeding would be determined based on records against the No. 2 seed Missouri. UK would win the tiebreaker for the No. 3 seed based on its 1-0 record against the Tigers.
  • If only Ole Miss wins and Tennessee defeats Auburn, Tennessee wins the four-team tiebreaker for the No. 3 seed based on a 3-2 record against UK, Missouri and Alabama. Alabama and UK would both be 2-2 against tied teams so Alabama would then win a head-to-head tiebreaker with UK for the No. 4 seed. UK would receive the No. 5 seed.
  • If only Ole Miss wins and Tennessee loses to Auburn, UK, Missouri and Alabama would all be tied for third with 1-1 records against one another. Missouri would receive the No. 3 seed based on a 1-1 record against top-seeded Florida and Alabama would win a head-to-head tiebreaker with UK for the No. 4 seed. UK would be seeded fifth.
  • If only Alabama wins and Tennessee defeats Auburn, UK, Tennessee, Missouri and Ole Miss would be tied for the No. 3 seed. UK would win the tiebreaker based on a 3-1 record against tied teams.
  • If only Alabama wins and Tennessee loses to Auburn, UK, Missouri and Ole Miss would be tied for the No. 3 seed. UK would win the tiebreaker based on a 2-0 record against tied teams.
  • If Missouri, Ole Miss and Alabama all lose and Tennessee defeats Auburn, there would be a five-way tie for the No. 2 seed. Ole Miss would win the tiebreaker with a 4-2 record against tied teams. UK would receive the No. 3 seed based on a 3-2 record against tied teams.
  • If Missouri, Ole Miss and Alabama all lose and Tennessee loses to Auburn, there would be a four-way tie for the No. 2 seed. UK wins the four-way tiebreaker and receives the No. 2 seed based on its 2-1 record against Missouri, Ole Miss and Alabama.

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