SEC Tournament Prediction
The 2018 SEC Tournament looks to be one of the most competitive conference tournaments set to take place this week. Here’s our pick on Monday, March 5, 2018 for the eventual winner of the event.
The SEC Tournament is a 14-team, single-elimination tournament that starts on Wednesday with two opening-round games for the bottom four seeds. Seeds 5-10 are on to the second round on Thursday and the top four seeds are in the quarterfinals, which start on Friday. This year’s tournament takes place from the Scotttrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
According to oddsmakers at YouWager, both Auburn (14160) and Tennessee (14161) are the co-favorites to win with +400 odds while Kentucky (14163) has +450 odds and Florida (14165) has +500 odds.
Auburn has the top seed in this tournament after going 13-5 in the SEC and 25-6 overall this season. The Tigers have only won this tournament one time, which came in 1985.
Tennessee is the second seed this week. The Vols also were 13-5 in the SEC this season, but lost to Auburn in the tiebreaker. They were 23-7 overall. The Vols have won the SEC Tournament four times, the last coming in 1979.
Kentucky is the fourth seed this week after going 10-8 in the SEC and 21-10 overall. The Wildcats have shown a lot of youthfulness this season, which has led to 10 losses. However, Kentucky is still a 31-time champion of this tournament.
Florida is the third seed this week. The Gators are 11-7 in the SEC and 20-11 overall. Florida has won the SEC Tournament four times, the last of which came in 2014.
There are a lot of contenders, but I like Tennessee this week. The Vols have a little easier path to the title in my mind. They will open against Mississippi State or LSU and then draw Florida in the semifinals. The Vols are 3-0 against the likes of Kentucky and Florida this season. While they lost to Auburn, the Tigers may have to get through Kentucky to get to the finals and I think Tennessee has improved a lot since the Jan. 2 meeting with Auburn.
SEC TOURNAMENT PREDICTION: 14161 TENNESSEE +400