The 2011 SEC Tournament brackets reveal that the schedule begins on March 10. The 2011 SEC Tournament will determine which school from the conference gets the automatic slot in the NCAA Tournament. Two teams have stood out from the crowd this year in the SEC, and it seems Florida and Alabama are the favorites to bring home a conference championship. Don’t count out Kentucky or Vanderbilt though, as those are two additional schools that many feel will get an invite to the NCAA Tournament no matter what.
The top two schools in each division get first-round byes, meaning Alabama and Florida are already sitting in the quarterfinals. The other two schools getting byes have yet to be determined, as there are ties atop both sides of the standings. In the SEC East, Kentucky and Vanderbilt are 9-6 in conference play, and Georgia is right behind at 8-6. All three teams have a shot to clinch the No. 2 seed in the East, and it will come down to their final regular-season games this week. A similar situation has developed in the SEC West, where Arkansas and Mississippi State are tied at 7-7 and need to settle things on the court.
All 12 SEC teams get into the postseason tournament, and the schools are alternated in how they make the brackets. In one bracket will be the No. 1, No. 3 and No. 5 seeds from the East as well as the No. 2, No. 4 and No. 6 seeds from the West. The remaining teams go into the other bracket in a format that is intended to level the playing field for the postseason tournament. It is clear the SEC East is much stronger than the West, and splitting up all the teams sets up a scenario where two East teams could be playing in the SEC Championship Game on March 13.
The SEC Tournament will begin on March 10 with four games to decide which schools make it into the quarterfinals. Each new round will be played on successive days. Every game in the first two rounds will be shown live on the SEC Network, then the final two rounds will have live coverage on ABC. All games will be played in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, and that might be exactly what the Georgia Bulldogs need to make a run all the way to the NCAA Tournament. The first game tips off on March 10 at 1 p.m. EST on the SEC Network.
After clinching the first-round byes, Alabama will play its first game at 1 p.m. on March 11, and Florida will play its first game at 7:30 p.m. EST.
More From YCN:
NCAA_Tournament_Schedule
RPI_Rankings_Explored
References:
SEC_Standings
SEC_Tournament_Brackets
SEC_Main_Website
