With a week left in the Southeastern Conference women’s schedule, the standings are shaping out in time for the SEC tournament, which begins March 6-9.
Tennessee (24-3, 12-0 SEC) clinched at least a share of the regular season title with its 68-65 win against LSU Sunday. The Lady Volunteers, who will have the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, finish the regular season with No. 18 Vanderbilt (18-7, 8-4) at home and Kentucky on the road.
LSU can grab the No. 2 seed with wins against Arkansas and No. 17 Vanderbilt and still can share the regular season title with two wins and two Tennessee losses. The Lady Tigers lost to Arkansas on Jan. 19 and played the Commodores close at home, winning, 70-59, Jan. 26.
Georgia is in third place and a game behind LSU in the standings, but the Lady Bulldogs will have to beat No. 12 Mississippi State (20-6, 8-4) in Starkville, Miss., and Florida at home to stay on pace. The team will be without sophomore center Kara Braxton, who coach Andy Landers suspended for the rest of the season.
Mississippi State is a lock for a NCAA bid and could reach as high as a No. 2 seed if it can win the SEC tournament. The Lady Bulldogs played LSU tough at home, losing 77-72, and has wins over Arkansas and Vanderbilt. They finish the season against No. 14 UGA and at Auburn.
Vanderbilt, the defending SEC tournament champions, has won five straight games since falling to Tennessee in Nashville but face the Lady Volunteers again in Knoxville and finish with LSU. The Commodores are tied with Mississippi State for the prized No. 4 seed in the SEC tournament, which means a first-round bye.
No. 16 South Carolina also played LSU close at home but losses to Tennessee and Georgia twice may hurt its conference seed and ultimately its place in the NCAA bracket. The Lady Gamecocks close out their season with Kentucky and Ole Miss. No. 21 Arkansas (19-8, 6-6) struggled since upsetting No. 4 LSU at home and attaining a No. 9 ranking. The team suffered a pair of three-game losing streaks, recently falling to Georgia 69-60. The NCAA committee may like the team if it gets 20 wins, but the team could improve its seed by playing better down the stretch.
For the bottom five teams in the standings, the only hope they have of getting in the NCAA tournament or WNIT is to win out and capture the SEC tournament title in Little Rock.
Auburn (17-8, 5-7) may sneak in with a good showing in the tournament, but the team may have a better chance of getting in a WNIT bracket. Alabama and Mississippi State are left on the schedule, and two wins would put Auburn at .500 in the RPI-rated toughest conference in America.
Kentucky (11-13, 4-8) needs to finish strong in the rest of its games for a shot at postseason play. With games against South Carolina and Tennessee, two of the conference’s top five teams, it will not be easy for the Lady Wildcats to prevent their season from ending soon.
Alabama (2-10 SEC), Ole Miss (1-11) and Florida (0-12) likely will have to win four conference games — a feat all the teams have yet to accomplish — in four days to have any shot at a tournament berth.