The 2017–18 Southeastern Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2017, followed by the start of the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. Conference play started in early January 2018 and ended in March, after which 14 member teams participated in the 2018 SEC tournament at Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri. The tournament champion was guaranteed a selection to the 2018 NCAA tournament.

Preseason

Preseason All-American teams

Preseason polls

AP AthlonSports BleacherReport Blue RibbonYearbook CBS Sports Coaches ESPN FOX Sports KenPom Lindy'sSports NBC Sports SBNation SportingNews SportsIllustrated USBWA Yahoo SportsAlabamaRV #19#25#27 #23 #21 Arkansas #36RV#65 #49 Auburn #66 #35 #33 Florida#8 #10 #9#7#15 #7#9 #10 Georgia #53RV#57 #58 Kentucky#5 #6 #6#4#9 #8#6 #8 LSU #147 #88 #91 Mississippi State #76 #69 #48 MissouriRV #37RV#71 #25 #39 Ole Miss #88 #59 #53 South CarolinaRV #81RV#40 #61 Tennessee #118 #49 #76 Texas A&M#25 #21 #27RV#19 #19 #29 Vanderbilt #46 #61 #59

Media Day Selections Media 1. Kentucky 2. Florida 3. Texas A&M 4. Alabama 5. Missouri 6. Arkansas 7. Vanderbilt 8. Georgia 9. Auburn 10. Ole Miss 11. South Carolina 12. Mississippi State 13. Tennessee 14. LSU

() first place votes

Preseason All-SEC teams

Media Coaches KeVaughn Allen Florida KeVaughn Allen Florida Hamidou Diallo Kentucky Deandre Burnett Ole Miss Yante Maten Georgia Tyler Davis Texas A&M Michael Porter Jr. Missouri Matthew Fisher-Davis Vanderbilt Robert Williams Texas A&M Kevin Knox II Kentucky Michael Porter Jr. Missouri Quinndary Weatherspoon Mississippi State Robert Williams Texas A&M Media select a five-member first team; coaches select an eight-member first team Players in bold are media choices for SEC Player of the Year; coaches do not select a preseason Player of the Year

Head coaches

Note: Stats shown are before the beginning of the season. Overall and SEC records are from time at current school.

Team Head coach Previous job Season at school Overall record SEC record NCAA Tournaments NCAA Final Fours NCAA ChampionshipsAlabama Avery Johnson Brooklyn Nets 3 37–30 () 18–18 () 0 0 0Arkansas Mike Anderson Missouri 7 128–74 () 60–46 () 2 0 0Auburn Bruce Pearl Tennessee 4 44–54 () 16–38 () 0 0 0Florida Mike White Louisiana Tech 3 48–24 () 23–13 () 1 0 0Georgia Mark Fox Nevada 9 145–118 () 70–68 () 2 0 0Kentucky John Calipari Memphis 9 249–53 () 111–27 () 7 4 1LSU Will Wade VCU 1 0–0 () 0–0 () 0 0 0Mississippi State Ben Howland UCLA 3 30–33 () 13–23 () 0 0 0Missouri Cuonzo Martin California 1 0–0 () 0–0 () 0 0 0Ole Miss Andy Kennedy Cincinnati 12 234–139 () 98–88 () 2 0 0South Carolina Frank Martin Kansas State 6 96–74 () 38–52 () 1 1 0Tennessee Rick Barnes Texas 3 31–35 () 14–22 () 0 0 0Texas A&M Billy Kennedy Murray State 7 115–85 () 51–57 () 1 0 0Vanderbilt Bryce Drew Valparaiso 2 19–16 () 10–8 () 1 0 0

Rankings + Legend   Increase in ranking   Decrease in ranking   Not ranked previous week

  Pre Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 Wk16 Wk17 Wk18 Wk19 FinalAlabama AP RV RV 25 24 RV RV RV RV RV RVRVRV C 25 25 RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV Arkansas AP RV RV RV RV RV RV 22 RV RV RV C RV RV RV RV RV RV RV 23 RV RV RV Auburn AP RV RV RV 22 17 19 11 810 12 14 C RV RV 24 20 19 13 9 11 13 15 Florida AP 8 8 7 6 5 22 RV RV RV RV 20 23 RVRV RV C 7 (1) 7 (1) 7 6 5 22 RV RV RV RV RV 22 24 RV RV RV RV Georgia AP RV RV RV RV C RV RV RV RV RV Kentucky AP 5 7 8 7 8 8 7 16 17 21 18 RV 21 24RV RV 23 C 4 4 8 7 7 5 6 15 14 20 16 RV 22 24 RV RV 25 LSU AP C Mississippi State AP RV RV RV C RV RV RV RV Missouri AP RV RV RV RV C RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV Ole Miss AP C South Carolina AP RV RV C RV RV RV Tennessee AP RV 24 20 21 19 23 24 21 22 18 1518 19 16 C RV RV 20 20 20 22 23 21 21 19 14 17 19 17 Texas A&M AP 25 16 16 9 7 9 8 5 11 RV 21 RV C RV RV 19 10 9 10 9 6 13 RV RV RV RV Vanderbilt AP C

Regular season

SEC regular season This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play. Results updated through February 25, 2018. AlabamaArkansasAuburnFloridaGeorgiaKentuckyLSUMiss. StateMissouriOle MissS. CarolinaTennesseeTexas A&MVanderbiltvs. Alabama – 1-01-10–11–01-00–21–11–01–00–10–10–11–0vs. Arkansas0–1 – 1–01–00–11-02–01–00–10–20–10–11-10–1vs. Auburn1-10–1 – 1-00–20–10–10–10–10–21-00–11–00–1vs. Florida1–00–10–1 – 2–00–10–10–10–11–01–11-00–11-1vs. Georgia0–11–02–00–2 – 1–00–21–01–00–12-00–10–01–0vs. Kentucky0–10–11–01–00–1 – 0–10–11-10–01–02–01–10–2vs. LSU2–00–21–01–02-01–0 – 0–00–10–10–01–00–21-1vs. Miss. State1–10–11–01–00–11–00–0 – 1–11-10–20–00–11–1vs. Missouri0–11–01–01–00–11-11-01–1 – 1-10–10–11–10–0vs. Ole Miss0–12–02–00–11–00–01–01-11-1 – 0–12-01–00–0vs. South Carolina1–01–01-11–10–20–10–02-01–01–0 – 2–01–00–1vs. Tennessee1–01–01–00–11-00–20–10–01–00–20–2 – 0–10–2vs. Texas A&M1–01-10–11–00–01–12–01-01–10–10–11–0 – 0–1vs. Vanderbilt0–11–01–01-10–12–01-11–10–00–01–02–01-0 – Total8–89–712–49–77–99–77–99–78–85–116–1011–57–95–11

Records against other conferences 2017-18 records against non-conference foes as of January 27, 2018:

Regular Season

Power ConferencesRecordACC6–9American8–5Big East2–3Big Ten4–2Big 1210–8Pac-122–7Power 7 Total32–34Other NCAA Division I ConferencesRecordAmerica East2–0Atlantic 106–1Atlantic Sun6–0Big Sky0–0Big South8–0Big West3–0CAA3–0Conference USA7–2Horizon League4–0Ivy League2–0MAAC1–0MAC4–0MEAC3–0MVC2–3Mountain West3–1NEC2–0OVC6–1Patriot League1–0SoCon7–0Southland8–1SWAC5–0Summit League3–1Sun Belt7–0WAC3–0WCC4–0Other Division I Total104–10NCAA Division I Total136–44Division II Total3–0Total139–44

Postseason

SEC Tournament

March 7–11 at the Scottrade Center, St. Louis. Teams will be seeded by conference record, with ties broken by record between the tied teams followed by record against the regular-season champion, if necessary.

2016 SEC men's basketball tournament seeds and results Seed School Conf. Over. Tiebreaker First RoundMarch 7 Second RoundMarch 8 QuarterfinalsMarch 9 SemifinalsMarch 10 ChampionshipMarch 111. ‡Auburn13–525–61–0 vs. Tennessee Bye Bye vs. #9 Alabama L, 63–81 2. †Tennessee13–523–70–1 vs. Auburn Bye Bye vs. #7 Mississippi State W, 62–59 vs. #6 Arkansas W, 84–66 vs. #4 Kentucky L, 72–773. †Florida11–720–11 Bye Bye vs. #6 Arkansas L, 72–80 4. †Kentucky10–821–102–1 vs. Ark/Mizz Bye Bye vs. #12 Georgia W, 62–49 vs. #9 Alabama W, 86–63 vs. #2 Tennessee W, 77–72 5. #Missouri10–820–112–2 vs Ark/UK Bye vs. #12 Georgia L, 60–62 6. #Arkansas10–821–101–2 vs. UK/Mizz Bye vs. #11 South Carolina W, 69–64 vs. #3 Florida W, 80–72 vs. #2 Tennessee L, 66–84 7. #Mississippi State9–921–101–0 vs. Texas A&M Bye vs. #10 LSU W, 80–77 vs. #2 Tennessee L, 59–62 8. #Texas A&M9–920–110–1 vs. Mississippi State Bye vs. #9 Alabama L, 70–71 9. #Alabama8–1017–142–0 vs. LSU Bye vs. #8 Texas A&M W, 71–70 vs. #1 Auburn W, 81–63 vs. #4 Kentucky L, 63–86 10. #LSU8–1017–140–2 vs. Alabama Bye vs. #7 Mississippi State L, 77–80 11. #South Carolina7–1116–152–0 vs. Georgia vs. #14 Ole Miss W, 85–84 vs. #6 Arkansas L, 64–69 12.Georgia7–1116–140–2 vs. South Carolina vs. #13 Vanderbilt W, 78–62 vs. #5 Missouri W, 62–60 vs. #4 Kentucky L, 49–62 13. Vanderbilt6–1212–19 vs. #12 Georgia L, 62–78 14. Ole Miss5–1312–19 vs. #11 South Carolina L, 84–85 ‡ – SEC regular season champions, and tournament No. 1 seed.† – Received a double-Bye in the conference tournament.# – Received a single-Bye in the conference tournament.Overall records include all games played in the SEC tournament.

NCAA tournament

Seed Region School First Round Second Round Sweet 16 3 South Tennessee #14 Wright State W 73–47 (Dallas) #11 Loyola–Chicago L 62–63 (Dallas) 4 Midwest Auburn #13 Charleston W 62–58(San Diego) #5 Clemson L 53–84 (San Diego) 5 South Kentucky #12 Davidson W 78–73 (Boise) #13 Buffalo W 95–75 (Boise) #9 Kansas State L 58–61 (Atlanta) 6 East Florida #11 St. Bonaventure W 77–62 (Dallas) #3 Texas Tech L 66–69 (Dallas) 7 East Arkansas #10 Butler L 62–79 (Detroit) 7 West Texas A&M #10 Providence W 73–69 (Charlotte) #2 North Carolina W 86–65 (Charlotte) #3 Michigan L 72–99 (Los Angeles) 8 West Missouri #9 Florida State L 54–67 (Nashville) 9 East Alabama #8 Virginia Tech W 86–83 (Pittsburgh) #1 Villanova L 58–81 (Pittsburgh)

National Invitation Tournament

Seed Bracket School 1st Round 2nd Round 3 Saint Mary's LSU W 84–76 vs. #6 Louisiana – (Baton Rouge) L 71–95 vs. #2 Utah – (Salt Lake City)

Honors and awards

Players of the Week Throughout the conference regular season, the SEC offices named one or two players of the week and one or two freshmen of the week each Monday.

Week Player of the week Freshman of the week 1 Admon Gilder, A&M Tremont Waters, LSU 2 Egor Koulechov, UF John Petty, BAMA 3 Jalen Hudson, UF Collin Sexton, BAMA 4 Tyson Carter, MSU Chuma Okeke, AUB 5 Duop Reath, LSU Daniel Gafford, ARK 6 Daryl Macon, ARK Hamidou Diallo, UK 7 Yante Maten, UGA Savion Flagg, A&M 8 Daryl Macon (2), ARK John Petty (2), BAMA 9 Mustapha Heron, AUB Tremont Waters (2), LSU 10 Grant Williams, TENN Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, UK 11 Jalen Hudson (2), UF Daniel Gafford (2), ARK Tyler Davis, A&M 12 Daryl Macon (3), ARK Kevin Knox II, UK Mustapha Heron (2), AUB 13 Kassius Robertson, MIZ Nick Weatherspoon, MSU 14 Kassius Robertson (2), MIZ T. J. Starks, A&M 15 Jeff Roberson, VAN Daniel Gafford (3), ARK 16 Lamar Peters, MSU Jarred Vanderbilt, UK Admiral Schofield, TENN

All-SEC Awards

Coaches

2018 SEC Men's Basketball Individual Awards Award Recipient(s)Player of the Year Grant Williams, TennesseeCoach of the Year Rick Barnes, TennesseeDefensive Player of the Year Chris Silva, South Carolina & Robert Williams, Texas A&MFreshman of the Year Kevin Knox II, Kentucky & Collin Sexton, AlabamaScholar-Athlete of the Year Juwan Parker, GeorgiaSixth Man Award Jontay Porter, Missouri & Lamonte Turner, Tennessee

2018 SEC Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams First Team Second Team All-Freshman Team All-Defensive Team Jaylen Barford Sr., G, ArkansasChris Chiozza Sr., G, FloridaTyler Davis Jr., C, Texas A&MKevin Knox Fr., F, KentuckyYante Maten Sr., F, GeorgiaKassius Robertson GS, G, MissouriChris Silva Sr., F, South CarolinaGrant Williams So., F, Tennessee Bryce Brown Jr., G, AuburnShai Gilgeous-Alexander Fr., G, KentuckyJared Harper So., G, AuburnDaryl Macon Sr., G, ArkansasAdmiral Schofield Jr., F, TennesseeCollin Sexton Fr., G, AlabamaJeff Roberson Sr., F, VanderbiltQuinndary Weatherspoon Jr., F, Miss State Daniel Gafford ArkansasShai Gilgeous-Alexander KentuckyKevin Knox KentuckyJontay Porter MissouriCollin Sexton AlabamaTJ Starks Texas A&MTremont Waters LSUNick Weatherspoon Miss State Chris Chiozza Sr., G, FloridaDonta Hall Jr., F, AlabamaAnfernee McLemore So., F, AuburnChris Silva Sr., F, South Carolina Robert Williams So., F, Texas A&M † - denotes unanimous selection

AP 2018 SEC Men's Basketball Individual Awards Award Recipient(s)Player of the Year Yante Maten, GeorgiaCoach of the Year Rick Barnes, TennesseeNewcomer of the Year Collin Sexton, Alabama

2018 SEC Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams First Team Second Team Bryce Brown Jr., G, AuburnDaryl Macon Sr., G, Arkansas†Yante Maten Sr., F, GeorgiaCollin Sexton Fr., G, Alabama†Grant Williams So., F, Tennessee Jaylen Barford Sr., G, ArkansasChris Chiozza Sr., G, FloridaJared Harper So., G, AuburnMustapha Heron So., G, AuburnKassius Robertson GS, G, Missouri † - denotes unanimous selection

NBA draft

PG Point guard SG Shooting guard SF Small forward PF Power forward C Center

Player Team Round Pick # Position School Collin Sexton Cleveland Cavaliers 1 8 PG Alabama Kevin Knox II New York Knicks 1 9 SF Kentucky Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Charlotte Hornets 1 11 PG Kentucky Michael Porter Jr. Denver Nuggets 1 14 SF Missouri Robert Williams Boston Celtics 1 27 PF/C Texas A&M Jarred Vanderbilt Orlando Magic 2 41 SF Kentucky Hamidou Diallo Brooklyn Nets 2 45 SG Kentucky

Attendance Note: teams that played more than 16 home games have a * by them