A couple more results in the Southeastern Conference on Wednesday night and we are two steps closer to knowing exactly how the SEC Tournament field will look next week in Nashville, Tenn., and more specifically, what Kentucky’s path looks like.Florida defeated Vanderbilt, 66-40, to clinch the league title and the No. 1 outright, while Tennessee pulled away late for an 82-75 win over Auburn. UK still remains in sole possession of second place, meaning the Wildcats would open postseason play in a Friday quarterfinal against either the No. 7 seed or No. 10 seed (LSU or Vanderbilt as of now) at 7:30 p.m. ET. The Cats still control their own fate, but must win at least one game to secure a bye to the quarterfinals.Let’s take a look at exactly what could happen in the next three days.1. UK defeats both Georgia and Florida.
- UK clinches No. 2 seed outright regardless of all other results.
2. UK wins at Georgia and loses to Florida.
- 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. In this case, Tennessee would be the No. 5 seed based on a 1-0 head-to-head record against Missouri. Ole Miss would therefore 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. - 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 tiebreaker 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, 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 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 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, 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 and 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 Alabama wins, 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 Missouri, Ole Miss and
Alabama all lose, 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.