The SEC men's basketball tournament is the conference tournament in basketball for the Southeastern Conference (SEC). It is a single-elimination tournament that involves all league schools (currently 16). Its seeding is based on regular season records. The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA men's basketball tournament; however, the official conference championship is awarded to the team or teams with the best regular season record.

Format With the abandonment of divisions in SEC men's basketball starting in 2011–12, the top four teams in the conference standings received first-round byes. Bracketing was identical to that of the SEC women's basketball tournament—note that SEC women's basketball has long been organized in a single league table without divisions.

Since the SEC expanded to 14 schools with the arrival of Missouri and Texas A&M in 2012, the 2013 tournament was the first with a new format. Both men's and women's tournaments have the four bottom seeds (#11 throughout #14) playing opening-round games, with the top four seeds receiving a "double-bye" into the quarterfinals.

Divisional format (1993–2011) Before 2012, the top two teams in both the Eastern and Western Divisions received byes in the first round, while #3 in the East played #6 from the West, #4 played #5, etc. Each half of the bracket contained the odd-numbered seeds from one division and the even-numbered seeds from the other division, so that #2 would play the winner of the game involving #3 from the other division, and #1 would play the winner of the game involving #4 from the other division. Barring an upset, the semifinals would pit #1 from one division against #2 from the other division, and the championship game would feature the regular season winners of the two divisions, although this rarely happened in practice.

History Throughout its history, the SEC tournament championship basketball game has been held at various storied sites, including the Georgia Dome, Mercedes-Benz Superdome, Bridgestone Arena, the BJCC Coliseum, the Pyramid, Rupp Arena, Louisville Gardens, and (in a 2008 emergency relocation) Alexander Memorial Coliseum at Georgia Tech.

From 1933 to 1950, the official SEC Champion was determined by a tournament, except for 1935. Beginning in 1951, a round-robin schedule was introduced and the SEC title was awarded to the team with the highest regular season in-conference winning percentage. From 1951 to 1964, the round-robin consisted of 14 games. In 1965 and 1966, it was expanded to 16 games with the departure of Georgia Tech from the league. From 1967 to 1991, the round-robin schedule was 18 games due to Tulane's departure. Starting with the 1991–1992 season, the SEC split into an Eastern and Western Division and began awarding division championships with the re-expansion to 12 members, but continued to recognize the SEC Champion based on a winning percentage over the new 16-game conference schedule. Divisions would be eliminated starting with the 2011–2012 season. With the addition of Texas A&M and Missouri to the conference, the regular season expanded to an 18 conference game schedule starting with the 2012–13 season.

In 1979, the tournament was renewed with the winner receiving the SEC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament,SEC Men's Basketball Tournament History but the official league champion remained the team(s) with the best regular season record.

In 2000, the Arkansas Razorbacks became the first team since the league expansion in 1992 to win the conference tournament by playing all four days, beating Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, and Auburn to receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Basketball Championships. Auburn was the first SEC team to accomplish this feat in 1985 when they defeated Ole Miss, LSU, Florida, and Alabama to win their first SEC tournament. Since then, the feat has been accomplished three times, first in 2008 by Georgia. In 2009, Mississippi State repeated that feat, defeating Georgia, South Carolina, LSU, and Tennessee to receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Basketball Championships. Auburn achieved the feat a second time in 2019, defeating Missouri, South Carolina, Florida and Tennessee.

The first seven games of the 2008 tournament were played at the Georgia Dome. During overtime of Game 7 between Mississippi State and Alabama, a tornado struck the downtown Atlanta area, damaging the Georgia Dome and several buildings surrounding it, including CNN Center. MSU and Alabama returned after a 64-minute delay to finish their game, but the last quarterfinal game of the day, between Georgia and Kentucky, was postponed until the next day, and the remaining four games of the tournament were moved to Alexander Memorial Coliseum at Georgia Tech. Only credentialed individuals were allowed to attend, including players' families, bands, cheerleaders, and media. No other spectators were allowed in the building.

The 2020 tournament was canceled after the first round due to concerns over the spread of COVID-19, after the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a pandemic on 11 March 2020. Initially, a decision was made to play the remaining games without fans in attendance, but as the situation progressed the event was ultimately canceled outright. The conference's NCAA men's basketball tournament auto-bid was awarded to the regular season champion, Kentucky. but ultimately the 2020 NCAA tournament itself would also be cancelled.

Tournaments

Year Champion Score Runner-up Tournament MVP Location 1933 Kentucky 46–27 NoneAtlanta Athletic Club (Atlanta, Georgia) 1934 41–25 None 1935No tournament 1936 41–25 NoneAlumni Memorial Gym (Knoxville, Tennessee) 1937 39–25 None 1938 58–47 None Huey Long Field House (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) 1939 46–38 NoneAlumni Memorial Gym (Knoxville, Tennessee) 1940 51–43 Georgia None 1941 36–33 NoneJefferson County Armory (Louisville, Kentucky) 1942 Kentucky 36–34 None 1943 33–30 None 1944 62–46 None 1945 39–35 None 1946 59–36 None 1947 Kentucky 55–38 None 1948 Kentucky 54–43 None 1949 Kentucky 68–52 None 1950 Kentucky 95–58 None 1951 61–57 Kentucky None 1952 Kentucky 44–43 None 1953–1978No tournament 1979 Tennessee Kentucky Kyle Macy, UKBJCC Coliseum (Birmingham, Alabama) 1980 80–78 Kentucky DeWayne Scales, LSU 1981 Ole Miss 66–62 Dominique Wilkins, UGA 1982 Alabama 48–46 Kentucky Dirk Minniefield, UK Rupp Arena (Lexington, Kentucky) 1983 Georgia 86–71 Alabama Vern Fleming, UGA BJCC Coliseum (Birmingham, Alabama) 1984 Kentucky 51–49 Auburn Charles Barkley, AUB Memorial Gymnasium (Nashville, Tennessee) 1985 Auburn 53–49 Alabama Chuck Person, AUB BJCC Coliseum (Birmingham, Alabama) 1986 Kentucky 83–72 Alabama John Williams, LSU Rupp Arena (Lexington, Kentucky) 1987 Alabama 69–62 LSU Derrick McKey, ALA Omni Coliseum (Atlanta, Georgia) 1988 KentuckyUnofficial Result. Kentucky defeated Georgia in the tournament final, but the championship was vacated later because of NCAA violations. 62–57 Rex Chapman, UK Pete Maravich Assembly Center (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) 1989 Alabama 72–60 Florida Livingston Chatman, UF Thompson–Boling Arena (Knoxville, Tennessee) 1990 Alabama 70–51 Melvin Cheatum, ALA Orlando Arena (Orlando, Florida) 1991 Alabama 88–69 Allan Houston, UT Memorial Gymnasium (Nashville, Tennessee) 1992 Kentucky 80–54 Alabama Jamal Mashburn, UK BJCC Coliseum (Birmingham, Alabama) 1993 Kentucky 82–65 Travis Ford, UK Rupp Arena (Lexington, Kentucky) 1994 Kentucky 73–60 Florida Travis Ford, UK The Pyramid (Memphis, Tennessee) 1995 Kentucky 95–93 Arkansas Antoine Walker, UK Georgia Dome (Atlanta, Georgia) 1996 Mississippi State 84–73 Kentucky Dontae' Jones, MSU Louisiana Superdome (New Orleans, Louisiana) 1997 Kentucky 95–68 Georgia Ron Mercer, UK The Pyramid (Memphis, Tennessee) 1998 Kentucky 86–56 South Carolina Wayne Turner, UKGeorgia Dome (Atlanta, Georgia) 1999 Kentucky 76–63 Arkansas Scott Padgett, UK 2000 Arkansas 75–67 Auburn Brandon Dean, ARK 2001 Kentucky 77–55 Ole Miss Tayshaun Prince, UK Gaylord Entertainment Center (Nashville, Tennessee) 2002 Mississippi State 61–58 Alabama Mario Austin, MSU Georgia Dome (Atlanta, Georgia) 2003 Kentucky 64–57 Mississippi State Keith Bogans, UK Louisiana Superdome (New Orleans, Louisiana) 2004 Kentucky 89–73 Florida Gerald Fitch, UK Georgia Dome (Atlanta, Georgia) 2005 Florida 70–53 Kentucky Matt Walsh, UF 2006 Florida 49–47 Taurean Green, UF Gaylord Entertainment Center (Nashville, Tennessee) 2007 Florida 77–56 Arkansas Al Horford, UF Georgia Dome (Atlanta, Georgia) 2008 Georgia 66–57 Arkansas Sundiata Gaines, UGA Georgia Dome/Alexander Memorial Coliseum2008 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament#Game delays and relocationBecause of a tornado that struck the Atlanta area, the Georgia Dome was declared unsafe to finish the tournament midway through Friday's session. The fourth quarterfinal, semifinals, and final were moved to Alexander Memorial Coliseum with only a few hundred spectators permitted at each game. 2009 Mississippi State 64–61 Tennessee Jarvis Varnado, MSU St. Pete Times Forum (Tampa, Florida) 2010 Kentucky 75–74 Mississippi State John Wall, UK Bridgestone Arena (Nashville, Tennessee) 2011 Kentucky 70–54 Florida Darius Miller, UK Georgia Dome (Atlanta, Georgia) 2012 Vanderbilt 71–64 Kentucky John Jenkins, VAN New Orleans Arena (New Orleans, Louisiana) 2013 Ole Miss 66–63 Florida Marshall Henderson, MISS Bridgestone Arena (Nashville, Tennessee) 2014 Florida 61–60 Kentucky Scottie Wilbekin, UF Georgia Dome (Atlanta, Georgia) 2015 Kentucky 78–63 Arkansas Willie Cauley-Stein, UKBridgestone Arena (Nashville, Tennessee) 2016 Kentucky 82–77 Texas A&M Tyler Ulis, UK 2017 Kentucky 82–65 Arkansas De'Aaron Fox, UK 2018 Kentucky 77–72 Tennessee Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, UK Scottrade Center (St. Louis, Missouri) 2019 Auburn 84–64 Tennessee Bryce Brown, AUB Bridgestone Arena (Nashville, Tennessee) 2020Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2021 Alabama 80–79 LSU Jahvon Quinerly, ALA Bridgestone Arena (Nashville, Tennessee) 2022 Tennessee 65–50 Texas A&M Kennedy Chandler, UT Amalie Arena (Tampa, Florida) 2023 Alabama 82–63 Texas A&M Brandon Miller, ALABridgestone Arena (Nashville, Tennessee) 2024 Auburn 86–67 Florida Johni Broome, AUB 2025 Florida 86–77 Tennessee Walter Clayton Jr., UF 2026 Arkansas 86–75 Vanderbilt Darius Acuff, ARK 2027 2028 2029 2030

Notes

Note A: No tournament was held in 1935. Note B: No tournament was held from 1953 to 1978. Note C: No MVP Selection made from 1933 to 1952. Note D: The Tournament was canceled after the first round in 2020. No MVP selection was made.

Television coverage

Tournament championships by school

School Championships Championship YearsKentucky 31The presidents of the Southeastern Conference voted to strip Kentucky of their 1988 regular season and conference tournament championships due to NCAA violations. Note that these games were not vacated by the NCAA; only Kentucky's 1988 NCAA Tournament games were vacated. 1933, 1937, 1939, 1940, 1942, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1984, 1986, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2010, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018Alabama 8 1934, 1982, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 2021, 2023Tennessee 5 1936, 1941, 1943, 1979, 2022Florida 5 2005, 2006, 2007, 2014, 2025Auburn 3 1985, 2019, 2024 3 1996, 2002, 2009Mississippi 2 1981, 2013Vanderbilt 2 1951, 2012Georgia 2 1983, 2008Arkansas 2 2000, 2026LSU 1 1980Georgia TechGeorgia Tech was a member of the SEC from 1932 to 1964 1 1938Missouri 0 —Oklahoma 0 —SewaneeSewanee was a member of the SEC from 1932 to 19400—South Carolina 0 —Texas 0 —Texas A&M 0 —TulaneTulane was a member of the SEC from 1932 to 1966 0 —

Notes

Venues