The Southeastern Conference Tournament will take place in Atlanta, Ga., this weekend.
The Alabama Crimson Tide and the Florida Gators earned No. 1 seeds in their respective divisions. The Tide and the Gators, along with Mississippi State and Kentucky, earned first-round byes.
For Alabama (20-10, 12-4 SEC), their first matchup of the tournament will be against a familiar opponent. On Friday, the Tide will face the winner of the Auburn/Georgia game, which is the first game of the tournament on Thursday. Alabama has played and defeated both teams in the last two weeks. Head coach Anthony Grant said that will help with preparation.
“When you go back and evaluate film you always look at things like if you had a chance to do it over again, you would do them differently,” Grant said. “It’s the same for our opponents. If you look at the first time we played Auburn compared to the second time, you will see that they made some adjustments that bothered us. I’m sure if we have to play Georgia or Auburn there will be some changes on both ends of the floor. It certainly helps to be familiar with your opponents and to be able to anticipate what is going to happen so that you will be prepared for it.”
After having an up and down start to the season, the Tide finally got its season on track and has won 15 of its last 19 games, including an undefeated record at home. During the regular season, the Tide led the SEC in opponents points per game, opponents field goal percentage, turnover margin and steals per game. Despite the hot streak and the accomplishments, Grant has kept the team focused on the task at hand.
“Our focus is on controlling the things we can control,” Grant said. “We want to make sure that we are playing the best that we can play individually and collectively. We also want our team to understand the preparation that goes into trying to win against the caliber of competition that we are playing. That has been the theme all year, and we have high expectations for the things we want to do and accomplish.”
Junior forward JaMychal Green, sophomore forward Tony Mitchell, and freshman point guard Trevor Releford will look to lead the Tide to their first SEC tournament championship since 1991. Green earned first team All-SEC honors while Mitchell was selected to the second team. Releford earned all-freshman honors.
“It was a great honor for each of those guys and also for our team,” Grant said. “Those guys will tell you that it is a result of the success that our team has enjoyed this season and they were a big part of that success. I’m really proud of them for getting the recognition. It’s well deserved.”
Other first round games include South Carolina versus Mississippi, Tennessee versus Arkansas and LSU versus Vanderbilt. The tournament’s championship game will be Sunday, March 13 at 1 p.m. EST.
