AUBURN | The SEC Tournament gets underway Wednesday at noon with the first of four games in the first round.
No. 1 seed Auburn won’t play until Friday against one of three teams: No. 8 seed Ole Miss will play the winner of Wednesday’s game between No. 9 Arkansas and No. 16 South Carolina.
"We're going to Nashville to win another tournament championship," said SEC Player of the Year Johni Broome. "We're going there, and we've got three games to be two-time champs."
The Tigers played all three potential quarterfinal opponents, beating the Gamecocks 66-63 in Columbia, the Razorbacks 67-60 at home, and sweeping the Rebels, 92-82 away and 106-76 at home.
The Razorbacks could be the most dangerous of the trio. Arkansas won four of their final five conference games, and has a lot of length throughout their lineup that could give AU trouble.
If the Razorbacks advance to the quarterfinals, however, they’ll be playing their third game in three days while Auburn would be playing its first.
The Tigers lost just three conference games during the regular season and two of those teams are on the other side of the bracket in No. 2 seed Florida and No. 3 seed Alabama.
The third is No. 5 seed Texas A&M, which would have to beat No. 12 seed Vanderbilt or No. 13 seed Texas in the second round and No. 4 seed Tennessee in the quarterfinals to meet Auburn in the semifinals.
Auburn’s quarterfinal game will be noon CT Friday on ESPN. If they advance, AU will play in the semifinals Saturday at noon and in the championship game Sunday at noon.
Last season, No. 4 seed Auburn beat No. 5 seed South Carolina, No. 9 seed Mississippi State and No. 6 seed Florida to win its third-ever SEC Tournament championship.
