BATON ROUGE – Starting with a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Keith Hornsby that propelled the LSU men’s basketball team to an 81-78 win at Arkansas in mid-afternoon and ending around 10 p.m. when Vanderbilt knocked off Ole Miss in Oxford, the seeds for the 2015 Southeastern Conference men’s basketball tournament were finally decided Saturday for next week’s event in Nashville.
The tournament begins at the Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville on Wednesday night when seeds 11-14 take to the court. The finals are set for next Sunday, March 15.
With the LSU win, a Texas A&M home loss to Alabama, a road win by Georgia and the Vanderbilt victory, the league was left with a four-way tie for third among Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss and Texas A&M at 11-7. Kentucky is the top seed and Arkansas had already clinched the second seed prior to today’s game with LSU.
In the tiebreaker of results among the tied teams, Georgia became the third seed with a 3-1 record against the tied teams (0-1 vs. LSU, 2-0 vs. OM, 1-0 vs. A&M); LSU earned the fourth seed with a 3-2 record (1-0 vs. UGA, 2-0 vs. OM, 0-2 vs. A&M); Texas A&M is the fifth seed with a 2-2 record (0-1 vs. UGA, 2-0 vs. LSU; 0-1 vs. OM); and, Ole Miss, which could have been the third seed with a win, is the sixth seed after going 1-4 against the teams (0-2 vs. UGA, 0-2 vs. LSU, 1-0 vs. A&M).
That means Georgia and LSU get the final two double byes to Quarterfinal Friday at the SEC Tournament, while A&M and Ole Miss will play in the second round on Thursday. LSU will play the second game of the afternoon session on Friday which begins at noon with top-seed Kentucky meeting the winner of the 8-9 game between Florida and Alabama.
LSU will play 25 minutes after the conclusion of that game against the winner of the game between 5-seed A&M and the winner of the 12-13 game between Mississippi State and Auburn from Wednesday night.
If LSU wins, it will play the noon game on Semifinal Saturday.
The first three days of the tournament will be exclusively televised on the SEC Network with the Saturday and Sunday contests televised by ESPN. All games will also be available on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network.
Here is the complete bracket for the 2015 SEC Tournament (All Times CT and all games at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena):
First Round, Wednesday, March 11 (SEC Network)
Game 1 – 6 p.m. 12 Mississippi State vs. 13 Auburn
Game 2 – 25 minutes after game 1- 11 South Carolina vs. 14 Missouri
Second Round, Thursday, March 12 (SEC Network)
Game 3 – Noon, 8 Florida vs. 9 Alabama
Game 4 – 25 minutes after game 4- 5 Texas A&M vs. Game 1 winner
Game 5 – 6 p.m. 7 Vanderbilt vs. 10 Tennessee
Game 6 – 25 minutes after game 5- 6 Ole Miss vs. Game 2 winner
Quarterfinals, Friday, March 13 (SEC Network)
Game 7 – Noon, 1 Kentucky vs. Game 3 winner
Game 8 – 25 minutes after game 7 – 4 LSU vs. Game 4 winner
Game 9 – 6 p.m. 2 Arkansas vs. Game 5 winner
Game 10 – 25 minutes after game 9 – 3 Georgia vs. Game 6 winner
Semifinals, Saturday, March 14 (ESPN)
Game 11 – Noon, Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner
Game 12 – 25 minutes after game 11 – Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner
Championship, Sunday, March 15 (ESPN)
Game 13 — Noon