Location: Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
Conference: Southeastern Conference
Number of teams in the SEC: 14
Type of Tournament: Single elimination brackets
Televised Channel: SEC Network
The SEC is a powerhouse conference with a reputation for having some of the most powerful athletic teams in the US. Every year, the teams meet postseason to claim the title of the best team in the SEC, and many times these SEC champions advance as far as the Sweet Sixteen in the
NCAA Tournament
. As of 2018, 26 SEC Tournament champions have made it to the Sweet Sixteen. The last 13 SEC Tournament champions up to 2018 have won the national championship. In 2017, there was an SEC basketball team in the Final Four for the fifth time in seven years. The SEC basketball alumni are very successful in professional basketball careers after leaving the SEC. For 2017, the SEC has the most lottery picks of all the conferences with 20. 57 SEC players have had their names picked over the last eight NBA drafts through 2017. Thirty-four were selected during the first round, and four were the No. 1 choice overall. Get your SEC Tournament tickets at StubHub today.
The SEC has held its basketball tournament series every year since 1933. These are the winners in this century with their win-loss records or the scores of the final game, beginning in 2000: 2000 -
Florida
12-4,
Kentucky
12-4, LSU 12-4,
Tennessee
12-4; 2001 - Florida 12-4, Kentucky - 12-4; 2002 -
Alabama
12-4; 2003 - Kentucky 16-0; 2004 -
Mississippi State
- 14-2; 2005 - Kentucky 14-2; 2006 -
LSU
14-2; 2007 - Florida 13-3; 2008 - Tennessee 14-2; 2009 LSU 13-3; 2010 Kentucky 14-2; 2011 Florida 13-3; 2012 - Kentucky 16-0; 2013 - Florida 14-4; 2014 Florida 18-0; 2015 Kentucky 18-0; 2016 -
Texas A&M
13-5, Kentucky 13-5; 2017 - Kentucky 16-2; 2018 - Kentucky 77-72 and 2019 -
Auburn
84-64.
The SEC Basketball Tournament series of games will be held in March 2020. The games will be advertised on the SEC network for the entire series. This is the schedule for the 2019-2020 season: The first round is Wednesday, March 11, at 6 p.m. for Game 1 and Game 2. The second round is Thursday, March 12, at 12 p.m. for Game 3 and Game 4 and at 6 p.m. for Game 5 and Game 6. The quarterfinals are Friday, March 13, at 12 p.m. for Game 7 and Game 8 and at 6 p.m. for Game 9 and Game 10. The semifinals are Saturday, March 14, for Game 11 and Game 12. The championship match is Sunday, March 15, for Game 13.
The
Bridgestone Arena
was opened in 1996 and has won the Arena of the Year award twice. It is home to the
Nashville Predators
, and it has hosted the SEC Basketball Tournament eight times and will be hosting a ninth time in 2020. The SEC has an agreement with the Nashville Sports Council to hold the Tournament in Nashville through 2030, excepting 2022, and there is an option to extend the agreement through 2035.
As of 2018, Alabama has appeared the most times in the SEC Basketball Tournament with a record 58 appearances. However, Kentucky has won the most SEC Championships, for an outstanding total of 31 wins.
The highest game attendance for an SEC Basketball Tournament was at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta in 1995. The average attendance per game was 22,755 attendees, and the overall attendance was 250,301.